Last month, Daniel wrote in to complain that the Art Institute Online, which is part of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, had completely jacked up his final semester with them. When he wrote to us, he had no diploma, and he was being charged nearly $3,000 for undisclosed course requirements that the school had promised to comp. Fortunately, he’s written back with some good news. [More]
online
Want To Design It Before You Buy It? Try These Retailers
By 4.5.10
Mass customization isn’t really that hard to pull off anymore, if a retailer is willing to invest the time building a good interface for customers. BusinessWeek has a slideshow of 10 retailers that let you customize the product before purchasing it. You can buy sneakers, purses, shirts, and even jewelry this way, or if you’re feeling really DIY you can go to a site like Ponoko or Shapeways and have product parts made to order. [More]
Which Retail Bank Has The Best Online Service?
By 3.29.10
Tom is moving here from New Zealand in a few weeks and he needs to find a bank. He writes, “I’ve checked out the major players, but the number one thing that’s turning me off is their online banking systems are horrible! I use online banking A LOT, so this is important to me. In terms of services I’d want, I need a debit card, and that’s about it. Maybe I’ve been spoiled, but this is what I’m used to.” He sent us a screen grab of his current bank’s online presence, and it’s quite attractive (see bigger screenshot below). [More]
Test Your Broadband Speeds For The FCC
By 3.15.10
Last Thursday, the FCC started collecting information from consumers about the quality of their broadband service. If you’ve got a PC that can run Java, you can go to Broadband.gov and run the test now. (The FCC will collect your IP address and physical address, but not your name or email address, reports Wired.) If you’ve got an iPhone or Android smartphone, you can download an app to measure your connectivity and report it. [More]
Find Out Where Your Dairy And Produce Items Came From
By 3.8.10
A longtime reader sent in a couple of links to websites that let you find out more about your food supply chain, if you’re into that sort of stuff. Where is my milk from? matches carton codes with a list of dairies published by the FDA. FoodLogiq is less user-friendly and requires free registration, but you can apparently use it to track produce from participating growers. (Thanks to Cy!) [More]
No More Daily Show Or Colbert Report On Hulu
By 3.2.10
The New York Times is reporting that Viacom plans to pull its Comedy Central programming from Hulu next week because it can’t reach an agreement with the video site on compensation. In a post today on its blog, a Hulu executive notes that Hulu was “unable to secure the rights to extend these shows,” and that they’ll be gone as of 11:59 pm PST next Tuesday, March 9th. After that, you can continue watching them on TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com. [More]
Websites Offer After Death Services For Your Online Life
By 2.26.10
If you don’t want all your various online accounts left unattended when you permanently go off the grid, you can now hire several different services to clean up any loose ends–closing accounts, sharing passwords with survivors, transferring gaming accounts, and so on. Wired says they cost anywhere from $10 a year to $300 for a lifetime account, although after reading about this you may find it’s cheaper and more efficient to just add the necessary info to your will. [More]
Here's A Simple Flowchart To Help Thwart Phishing Attacks
By 2.12.10
I like flowcharts because they appeal to the part of me that wants to be a robot. I also like them because they make multi-step decision paths incredibly simple to follow, even if you don’t have a lot of insight into the big picture. This flowchart from LoginHelper.com will help even your PowerPoint-slideshow-forwarding relative (yes, that one) shoot down phishers as soon as they hit the In Box. [More]
Yes Virginia, There Are Taxes For Shopping Online
By 2.11.10
People of Virginia: Online shopping is great, right? High discounts, cheap shipping and no taxes… oh, wait. Looks like the commonwealth’s State Senate Finance Committee voted 14-1 to get the ball rolling on a bill that would levy a sales tax on some products purchased through online retailers. [More]
Blame Manufacturers For Annoying Hidden Prices Online
By 2.10.10
Have you been noticing more and more lately that no matter which online retailer you visit, you have to add the item to your shopping cart to see the price? Blame it on manufacturers, who are taking advantage of a 2007 Supreme Court ruling to be more aggressive about controlling pricing online, writes the New York Times. [More]
Jack In The Box's Free Wi-Fi Experiment Ended. Did Anyone Notice?
By 2.9.10
Knowzy.com, the website that’s been tracking which Jack in the Box stores were offering free Wi-Fi, reports that the restaurant chain has pulled the plug. The Wi-Fi offer came with the installation of HDTVs that displayed ads in the dining area, but those are gone too: “In mid-2009, the TVs and the Wi-Fi began disappearing. By the time McDonald’s made their free Wi-Fi announcement in December, Jack had completely dismantled his Wi-Fi network.” [More]
Check Out The Department Of Transportation's New Site For Airline Passengers
By 1.29.10
If you’ve got a complaint about an airline, or you want to find out more about whether your complaint is valid, oh boy is there a treat in store for you! Earlier this month, the DOT launched a redesigned consumer aviation website at airconsumer.dot.gov. The goal of the site is “to make it as easy as possible for consumers to find the information they need to make their air travel experience as smooth and hassle-free as possible.” [More]
YouTube To Rent Movies
By 1.21.10
Tomorrow, YouTube will start renting online movies at $4 for 48 hours. At launch, the selection will consist of five titles from the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, says the Associated Press, but Google hopes to get studios on board in the coming months. Studios will be able to set their own prices and rental periods, however, should they participate. [More]
Harrah's Las Vegas Resorts Say No To Resort Fees
By 1.13.10
If you don’t like the idea of paying a resort fee the next time you visit Las Vegas, make sure you check out the various Harrah’s Entertainment resorts. Today they sent a press release to travel blogger and temporary TSA aggravator Chris Elliott in which they state that all of their Vegas resorts “exclude mandatory resort fees.” [More]
You Trick Home Depot Into Price Matching Their Own Website
By 1.12.10
Reader Aaron was trying to buy a toilet from Home Depot, but they, like other retailers, would not price match their own website — that is until Aaron told them he would just go to Lowe’s and have them price match Home Depot’s website. [More]
Kill Off Your Online Identities With The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
By 12.30.09
Supposedly the most depressing day of the year is just a few weeks away, and that sucks. But if you off yourself, you can’t drink, so it’s a conundrum. What you can do is use the website suicidemachine.org to remove yourself from unnecessary social media sites that either you’ve stopped using or don’t really enjoy anymore. [More]
Everything You Wanted To Know About BestBuy.com
By 12.28.09
Someone who says he’s worked with BestBuy.com for a couple of years now sent us an exhaustive list of topics related to buying from the website. Learn about the Satisfaction Matrix that determines how a CSR treats you! Discover the best way to ensure a new shipping address is accepted into the system! Exciting stuff like that follows. [More]
Shoes.com Website Doesn't Want To Ship To Lora
By 12.21.09
Shoes.com doesn’t seem to like Lora. Not the people at Shoes.com, who were helpful enough, but the website itself. Each time Lora places an order, the system cancels it–and naturally, owing to its hatred of this woman, it won’t tell anyone why. Whatever Lora did to hurt Shoes.com’s feelings, it worked.
(Okay, it may have something to do with billing addresses, but nobody is sure.)
