New Sam’s Club stores have a useful feature for people who are in a hurry, or who dislike human interaction. Instead of taking your cart to a cashier at the end of your shopping trip, you can scan items with your mobile phone before putting them in your cart, then check out on your phone as well. [More]
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“Do Not Track” Bill Hopes To Let Consumers Just Say No To Online Tracking
By 12.15.15
Just about anywhere you go online, at least some of your actions are being tracked. Sometimes, it’s as simple and innocuous as measuring unique visits to a website. Other times, it’s more invasive — keeping track of the pages you browse to provide you more targeted advertising. A newly introduced piece of federal legislation aims to give consumers more choices about when their browsing behavior is being tracked. [More]
Why Do Robocalls Continue In An Age Of “Do Not Call” And Strict Telemarketing Rules?
By 3.12.15
Even though millions of Americans are on the federal Do Not Call list to limit unwanted telemarketing calls, and even though it’s illegal for anyone to make a commercial prerecorded robocall to a consumer who hasn’t given their express consent to receive such calls, the problem persists and is getting worse, with no cure-all solution in the offing. [More]
Shoppers Would Rather Stare At Their Phones Than Talk To A Salesperson
By 12.3.14
When you’re shopping at a store in the real world, would you rather have a conversation with a sales associate or look up information on your own mobile phone? The results of a study by the Consumer Electronics Association will shock nobody who has ever received inaccurate or misleading information from a salesperson, or had to get away from an aggressive salesperson who wants nothing more than to close a sale. [More]
Block Unwanted Calls And Texts With PrivacyStar
By 2.28.11
It’s always puzzled me why smartphones are smart enough that I can toss virtual birds at virtual pigs, but they’re somehow too stupid to let me block unwanted calls or texts. Well now there’s PrivacyStar, an app for Android and Blackberry that lets you do just that. [More]
Verizon Wireless Wants You Back, Turns Into Creepy Stalker With No Concept Of Time Zones
By 9.15.10
Verizon Wireless really, really loved Mike. That’s the only conclusion we can draw from the carrier’s attempts to woo him back. Unfortunately, the company with a nationwide customer base doesn’t seem to understand this whole “time zones” thing we have going on, and called Mike a little too early for his taste. [More]
