It might be hard to remember, but before Facebook existed, people would call each other on the phone to wish them a happy birthday. A woman who lives near Boston and was turning 84 waited for friends and family to call her, but the calls never came. [More]
happy birthday
Blowing Out Birthday Candles Means Blasting Cakes With Spit
By 7.27.17
When celebrating birthdays, blowing out a cake full of candles and singing a public domain song is a time-honored tradition. Yet has it ever occurred to you that this ritual means that the birthday celebrant is just blasting spit over the candles and the top layer of the cake? Well, now it has. [More]
Facebook Will Encourage Everyone To Post 15-Second Wall Videos For Your Birthday
By 2.22.16
Hey, “Happy Birthday” is now in the public domain, and Facebook wants to encourage us all to make our interactions more personal as well as stream more videos at us, so what’s the perfect combination of those things? Encouraging us to leave impersonal birthday messages to people we haven’t seen in years in video form, not text. [More]
Settlement Means “Happy Birthday” Song Will Finally Enter Public Domain
By 12.10.15
The next time you decide to perform a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday To You” on TV, or in a movie or on your debut album, you won’t have to worry about paying anyone for the right to do so: after two years of legal wrangling over who owns the copyright to the classic tune, the parties involved have agreed to settle their differences. [More]
Starbucks Shrinks Redemption Time For Birthday Reward To 4 Days
By 10.5.15
It’s lots of fun to spend your birthday scooping up your favorite rewards from restaurants and stores, and some are even kind enough to give you a longer deadline to redeem them. Watch out, though: as of the end of September, Starbucks shrank the redemption window from one week around your birthday to just four days. [More]
Filmmakers Claim To Have Conclusive Proof Against “Happy Birthday” Copyright Claim
By 7.28.15
“Happy Birthday” (aka “Happy Birthday To You”) may be sung millions of times a day at birthday bashes around the world, but putting it in a movie or recording a version of the brief ditty will set you back some money for royalties to Warner Music Group, which has long claimed to hold the copyright for the song. But a recently filed court document claims that there is conclusive proof that the song belongs in the public domain. [More]
Watch The Very First YouTube Video, Uploaded 10 Years Ago Today
By 4.23.15
It might be hard to remember a time when getting one’s mug on the Internet involved more than just point, shoot and upload, but it was only 10 years ago that we came stumbling out of the Dark Ages and into the light of web videos for all, where we promptly posted whatever the heck we wanted to YouTube for strangers to watch. To that end: The first video ever uploaded, 10 years ago today, features thrilling commentary on the nature of elephants. [More]
Old Navy Celebrating Birthday By Rendering Selfies In Balloons For Some Reason
By 10.21.14
Twenty years ago, I was impressed with technology that let me print a pixelated version of my own picture on a dot matrix printer in my middle school technology class. I also was impressed with a new Gap brand then in pilot phase, called “The Old Navy Clothing Company.” Now people photograph ourselves daily, and Old Navy is everywhere. The clothing brand is celebrating its 20th anniversary with…pixelated selfies. [More]
You Have No Right To Sing “Happy Birthday” — At Least, Not On Film
By 6.14.13
The next time you get the bright idea to film your family party singing “Happy Birthday” and use it in a movie, be prepared to pay up. Because although you might think it’s the sort of thing that’s in the public domain, someone actually owns it. Unless, that is, a movie company gets its way and wins the right to make it free for you and me. [More]
Facebook Hopes You Want To Back Up Your Boring ‘Happy Birthday’ Messages With Actual Boring Gifts
By 9.28.12
One virtually indisputable positive aspect of Facebook is that it reminds you of your friends’ birthdays so you can pile on to the “Happy birthday ol’ pal!” messages and not feel at all guilty that you didn’t buy a card or gift for the birthday person. But now Facebook is really hoping people will take those few moments you spend mindlessly writing someone a generic birthday message and decide to use Facebook to send that friend — who you may not have seen in decades — an equally thoughtless birthday present. [More]
This 1-Year-Old Happy Meal Has Aged Surprisingly Well
By 3.17.10
Have you ever wondered what a McDonald’s Happy Meal looks like after it’s sat on a shelf (not in a freezer) for a year? This seems like one of those things I would learn accidentally, but writer Nonna Joann Bruso decided to find out on purpose.
The results? Not as disgusting as you might think, which itself is sort of disgusting.
By 9.25.07
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This month marks the 50th year of Which?, a British magazine that conducts Consumer Reports-style independent product tests and campaigns on behalf of consumer rights in the UK. [Easier Finance]
Consumerist Turns 1 and 1/12
By 12.4.06
We weren’t paying attention and then we realized, happy one and one-twelfth birthday to us! One year, one month and 8 days, ago, The Consumerist made its first post.
