Does the shiny new Xbox One that Santa left under the tree work when you turn it on, but not actually do the whole online gaming thing so well? If you’re also a Comcast customer, you could be encountering a big bug. [More]
bugs
Species Of Cockroach Showing Up For First Time In NYC Laughs At Your Feeble Attempts To Kill It
By 12.9.13
Usually when winter crawls into the hearts and apartments of city dwellers, there’s at least the sweet relief from knowing that cockroaches simply hate the cold. But there’s a new kind of critter, recently arrived on our shores, that doesn’t scurry away from the cold: A hardy species of cockroach that was first discovered in New York City’s High Line park. [More]
Strawberry Frappuccinos No Longer Vegan, Contain Ground-Up Bugs
By 3.23.12
A few years ago, we happily passed on the news that a change in Starbucks Frappuccino flavors meant that you could get some flavors in a vegan formulation. But now, if you’re a Frappuccino lover who eschews eating animals, you’ll have to stay away from the strawberry variety from here out. The good news is that the newest base doesn’t contain artificial red food dye. The bad news is that’s because it’s been replaced with cochineal extract, a dye made from dried, ground-up insects. [More]
Comcast Balks On Replacing Cockroach-Infested Cable Box
By 1.3.12
We’ve certainly gotten a number of complaints about Comcast cable boxes containing bugs of the electronic glitch variety, but an Illinois man received a box from Kabletown that he says was full of actual cockroaches. [More]
How The Biggest Sites Are Stalking You And Reselling Your Info
By 7.29.11
Most websites you visit are monitoring your behavior, even after you leave. They install little files like cookies, beacons, and flash cookies to see where you go, what you buy, even what text you’re typing. WSJ analyzed the tracking behavior of the top 50 websites online to see how each of them is watching your every step, and then reselling the info to the highest bidder. For instance, did you know that Dictionary.com gives its users up to 159 cookies, 23 flash cookies and 41 beacons for third parties? [More]
GameStop's New Preorder Bonus: Dead Roaches
By 3.1.11
Here’s a horrible Gamestop shopping experience that we never would have expected: a customer bought a few inexpensive used games, got them home, and discovered that they were terribly buggy. And by “buggy,” we mean “the cases were filled with dead roaches and roach eggs.” [More]
Turn On A Fan To Swat Mosquitoes
By 7.16.10
Forget about coating yourself with DEET, turning on that bug zapper or buying one of those gas-powered, suction-enhanced instruments of mass annihilation. If you want to rid your yard of mosquitoes, the answer may be as simple as turning on a fan. [More]
Save Money On Head Lice Removal
By 6.2.10
You’re a good Consumerist. You make your own kids at home. You grow your own lice in a coffee can you found on the street. You dump the lice on the kids’ heads before you send them off to school. After all that, the last thing you want to do is spend a fortune on lice removal treatments, right? You’re in luck: the New York Times says you don’t have to spend a lot of money de-lousing your itchy little child. [More]
When Should You Freak Out About Critters In Your Food?
By 2.4.10
One frequent comment on posts such as Saturday’s ““This Weight Watchers Meal Includes A Free Frozen Frog” is that Americans are too far removed from where our food really comes from, and it’s unreasonable to expect that our food be 100% critter-free. Is it? [More]
Database Bug At Woot Leaves Reader Wary Of Ordering
By 10.31.09
Robear wanted to order from shirt.woot, but something strange happened when he went to register. After choosing a username and entering his e-mail address, he noticed that all of the forms were pre-populated with another customer’s information…including that user’s credit card information. He contacted Woot to try to find out what could have happened, but Woot either hasn’t figured it out yet, or just isn’t responding. (UPDATE: Response from Woot below.)
Help, There Are Bugs In My Kitty Litter!
By 7.27.09
Dawn is freaked out because when she got up this morning, she found bugs in her cat’s litter box. She called the company that makes the litter to ask them what to do, and they offered coupons but no real explanation. “Maybe some of your readers have had the same experience and could help me figure out what to do,” she writes. “Thanks!”
By 3.26.09
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The Best Method For Detecting Head Lice Don’t be alarmed. Head lice are very common! Researchers found that wet-combing identified active infestations in 90 percent of the cases, compared with about 29 percent for visual inspections. [Consumer Reports Health]
By 3.20.09
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UPDATE: It’s getting worked on!
Comments still not functioning correctly for you? As Ben suggested, I’ve opened a complaint on GetSatisfaction.com to try to reach Gawker’s tech team. If the comment reply/preview feature is still broken for you (it seems to be working for some, not others), why not head over there and add your two cents to my complaint? [GetSatisfaction.com]
Alert: You Cannot Buy Consumerist With Doodle Money
By 11.17.08
Our post last Friday gave people some great business ideas. We appreciate the offers, but we must insist that you do not try to purchase Consumerist with doodle currency that you have minted yourself, probably while drinking. You can, however, try to bail out the auto industry with it if you want.
By 10.1.08
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A Days Inn in Cleveland, Ohio, has bedbugs, a mother of four found out when the Red Cross put her family there for the night after her house burned down. Yes, it’s another bedbugs-in-hotels story, but this time there are pictures! [WKYC.com]
Citibank's Website Glitch Tricks Man Into Overpaying $755, But They Won't Issue Refund
By 8.12.08
Citibank’s website isn’t reliable, at least according to them. Matt assumed that a website from a bank could be trustworthy, and that if there was no scheduled payment showing up, then he must have forgotten to arrange it. He scheduled a second payment, but then both payments went through one day apart. Now Citibank refuses to give him a refund: he should have called or emailed before rescheduling, they’ve told him, and not trusted what the website was telling him.
Sitemeter Bug Breaks Parts Of The Internet For Internet Explorer Users
By 8.2.08
A bug in the popular metrics-tracking platform Sitemeter has boxed Internet Explorer users into a quiet little corner of the internet since late yesterday afternoon. Any site using Sitemeter now displays the following cryptic message to IE users: “Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site – Operation aborted.” The bug affects IE 5.5, 6, and 7, but we have three ways—including use another browser!—to restore access to the full internet in all its horrible glory, inside. (Note: we’ve put in a fix so IE users can continue to read Consumerist without changing their settings.)
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Attention: We are currently experiencing a problem with the anonymous commenting system. We are aware of the issue and it has been reported to tech. Thanks for your patience and we apologize for the inconvenience. The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. Thank you.