Even in this age of nearly omnipresent advertising, there are still some places where it’s in very bad taste to force coupons on the public, like outside the site of a former concentration camp. [More]
germany
German Officials Tell Parents To Destroy Doll That Records Conversations
By 2.17.17
Late last year, research indicated that certain toys may be collecting audio recording and personal information from children and sending that data to a company that used the information to improve the voice-recognition tools it sells to the military and law enforcement agencies. While consumer advocates quickly filed complaints with federal regulators in the U.S., across the pond, authorities in Germany are now directing parents to get rid of the “My Friend Cayla” doll. [More]
Facebook: There Is No “Wonder Machine” To Automatically Detect Hate Speech, Abuse
By 2.6.17 — Updated: 4.5.17
Social media services like Facebook and Twitter have taken a lot of heat in recent years over many of the hateful things their users share with the rest of the world. Some have accused these companies of not doing enough to prevent this sort of behavior in the first place, but Facebook says there is really not much else it can do right now. [More]
Germany Asks Tesla To Rename “Misleading” Autopilot Feature
By 10.17.16
Two months ago, Tesla revised its website in China to make it more clear that the company’s Autopilot assisted-steering feature is not a fully hands-off autonomous driving function. Now, German authorities are calling on the electric vehicle maker to rethink the Autopilot name to avoid any confusion that could lead to dangerous collisions. [More]
Report: Volkswagen Knew Of “Defeat Devices” Eight Years Before EPA Action
By 9.28.15
An internal review spurred by the emissions scandal that has engulfed Volkswagen over the past week found that the carmaker knew that so-called “defeat devices,” used to trick emissions tests, were used in more than 11 million VW and 2.1 million Audi diesel vehicles for several years before the Environmental Protection Agency issued a violation notice to the manufacturer ordering it to recall some 500,000 sedans. [More]
McDonald’s Now Offering A 100% Organic Burger… In Germany
By 9.25.15
In an attempt to turn around sluggish sales and capture the always desirable millennial market, McDonald’s has introduced new and revised old menu items: offering kale, beefing up the Quarter Pounder, and adding all-day breakfast just to name a few. The company’s latest ploy: an organic hamburger. But there’s a catch — it’s only available in Germany. [More]
Amazon & DHL Testing Delivery To Customers’ Car Trunks
By 4.22.15
It’s not uncommon for consumers to shuttle around packages and shopping bags in the trunks of their cars. While most people put those items there themselves, Amazon wants to take that task off the hands of a very exclusive group of Prime members. [More]
McDonald’s Introduces Table Service In Germany For Some Reason
By 3.30.15
Imagine that you’re visiting a large restaurant at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. You take a seat and give your order to a roving server, who taps it into a tablet computer and takes payment. Then your food arrives, which is…Big Macs and fries? What is this? When did McDonald’s start offering table service? [More]
Germany Bans Uber For Second Time, Fines Company $264,825 For Each Violation
By 3.18.15
Uber’s fight to transport customers in Germany hit yet another roadblock today as it was banned from operating within the country for the second time in 12 months. And this time, if the company breaks the imposed injunction, it can expect to pay a hefty to the tune of $264,825 per violation. [More]
Coca-Cola Pulls Fanta Ad Suggesting Nazi Germany Was “Good Old Times”
By 3.3.15
In a recent video recounting the birth of Fanta soft drinks, Coca-Cola explains that its German operation had trouble getting cola-making ingredients to the country’s bottling plants 75 years ago, leading the bottlers to dream up a beverage they could make without Coca-Cola syrup. Perhaps Coke was hoping people wouldn’t do the math and realize that the reason for the syrup scarcity had a little something to do with the Nazis. [More]
Woman Allegedly Squirted Breast Milk At Pharmacy Staff, Then Stole Money
By 10.29.14
When you need to distract someone in order to steal money, simply use what you have at hand. A woman in Germany allegedly stole cash from a pharmacy earlier this week after she distracted employees. Police say that she distracted the employees by whipping out a boob and squirting milk at them. [More]
Uber Wants To Hire German Taxi Drivers, Not Fight With Them
By 9.29.14
Uber is best known as an app that dispatches limos, black cars, or regular drivers in regular cars to wherever you and your smartphone are, but has a less-known feature called UberTaxi. In Germany, where the company and taxi drivers are in a legal fight over whether the company should be allowed to compete with licensed taxis, the company is trying something new: hiring taxi drivers. [More]
What Do You Mean, This German Beer Was Brewed In Missouri?
By 9.24.14
You can’t really blame reader Nathan for thinking that Beck’s beer comes from Germany. Until just a few years ago, it was an import. Then InBev, the brand’s owner, acquired Anheuser Busch, and with that lots of breweries in the United States. Breweries where they might as well make InBev-owned brands, since most consumers won’t be able to tell the difference. Or so they thought. [More]
Germany Un-Bans UberPop, Ride-Sharing Rolls On
By 9.16.14
Uber is a smartphone app that connects people in need of a ride with drivers willing to accept money in exchange for rides. Or it’s a fancied-up taxi dispatch service that’s out to destroy the world’s livery services. What it is depends on who you ask. Germany’s taxi drivers asked the Frankfurt Regional Court, which this week allowed Uber to do business in Germany again. [More]
Business At Uber In Germany Is Booming, Thanks To Publicity From Ban
By 9.3.14
Yesterday, we shared the news that ride-sharing service Uber had been banned in Germany. The company’s service that lets people summon a limo with a smartphone was fine, but the peer-to-peer, lower-cost UberPop service had to stop accepting passengers under a temporary injunction. A strange thing happened when this story hit the news, though: people in Germany thought that this UberPop thing sounded like a great idea, and started hailing rides. [More]
Germany Bans Uber’s Ride-Sharing Service, Threatens $328,225 Fine Per Ride
By 9.2.14
When your company’s goal is to disrupt the entire livery industry, current taxi and other car-for-hire operators and livery regulators are not going to like you very much. The idea of a car-sharing service that connects non-professional drivers with strangers in need of rides horrifies regulators and existing professional drivers, and now UberPop (similar to UberX elsewhere) has been banned in Germany under penalty of a €250,000 ($328,225) fine. [More]
German Brewers Fight Fracking To Maintain Purity Of Beer
By 5.28.13
Fracking — the process of obtaining natural gas and other resources through the use of hydraulic fracturing — is a controversial and divisive issue, with proponents claiming it is a clean and safe way to tap needed fuel sources while opponents say fracking wreaks havoc on the environment and ecosystem. In Germany, some of the biggest names in beer have joined together to ask the German government to stop fracking there until it can be proven that it won’t taint the groundwater — and by extension, German beer. [More]
Somewhere, There’s A Massive, Chocolatey, Delicious Black Market For Nutella
By 4.8.13
As mass-market food products go, chocolate-hazelnut spread and noted health food Nutella is pretty expensive per ounce. So it’s not really surprising that thieves made off with more than $20,000 worth of the stuff in the theft on seven pallets, from a parked semi-trailer truck in Germany. [More]
