Newegg wants everyone who lives near our reader Deaf Mute to know that he just bought a Sony Blu-ray player. It arrived from their warehouse last week in its bright blue retail packaging, with a shipping label slapped on it. “If I lived in a worse neighborhood and/or my father didn’t see it,” he writes, “Someone could have stolen it. Not only that, but the gift recipient may have had their gift spoiled.” [More]
online
It's Hard To Do Your Christmas Shopping Online When The Items Arrive In Their Retail Boxes
By 12.16.09
Walmart Accidentally Sells All-Nude Beefcake Calendar Online
By 12.15.09
A woman in Phoenix was shopping for travel calendars on Walmart.com when she came upon one called “All About the Boys 2010.” It wasn’t so much about travel as it was about fully nude models of a European porn company, which didn’t sit well with Wendy McNaughton. [More]
PayPal Abandons Another Scammed Seller
By 12.8.09
Todd got ripped off by a scammer on an eBay purchase. He made sure to insure the device before shipping it off via the United States Postal Service, but it turns out that an insurance claim won’t help him get PayPal to step up. [More]
Apple Buys Lala
By 12.7.09
Lala, the music streaming/backup service that’s also a reasonably priced mp3 store, has been purchased by Apple. Does this mean Apple may introduce some sort of streaming service in the future? On Lala, you can pay 10 cents per song to stream it as much as you want, or $.99-1.29 to own it outright. At any rate, if you buy from Lala now, you’re buying from Apple. [More]
Diablo 2 Scammer Inadvertently Shines Spotlight On Self
By 12.3.09
Robert usually writes about energy and the environment on his blog. However, he recently ran into a scammer online, and surprised the scammer by fighting back: [More]
Video Professor Goes After TechCrunch, Washington Post Over Scam Accusation
By 12.1.09
The people at Video Professor, a mail order company that lures in customers with words like “free” and “trial” and then hits them with $290 in charges, are drifting back to their old habits again. They don’t like it when people accuse them of being a scam, even though they deliberately minimize or leave out altogether the expensive details of their offer, and even though hundreds of people have complained about difficulties getting refunds. This time, the targets are TechCrunch and the Washington Post, but as usual the whole “silence my online critics” strategy has backfired. [More]
See Which Retailers Offer Free Shipping
By 11.20.09
The website istobe offers a daily free shipping report for over 500 online retailers, where you can quickly see whether there’s a minimum purchase requirement or if the retailer offers free shipping at all. It’s a good resource to use as you compare prices, and istobe says they update it daily.
Google Offering Temporary Free WiFi Access At 47 Airports
By 11.10.09
From now until January 15th, 2010, Google will offer free WiFi access at 47 airports around the country. As part of the promotion, they’ll be collecting donations through Google Checkout for three non-profit organizations and will provide matching funds up to $250,000. But whether you donate or not, there’s a much better chance now that you’ll be able to go online while waiting for your flight. Imagine all the airline tips you can send to us!
Rent Someone's Home On Your Next Vacation
By 10.30.09
The next time you travel to another city, it might be cheaper, or at least more interesting, to rent directly from a local homeowner. Cool Tools says Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO.com) is a great way to find rental opportunities when you travel.
Google's New Music Search Launches, But Your Buying Options Remain The Same
By 10.29.09
The new music search capabilities that Google introduced today will make it easier to quickly find a song you can’t remember the name of, or sample some tracks from an artist you’re interested in. But it’s not so much a new service as a more efficient combination of a bunch of services already scattered around the web.
State Job Website Has Great Opportunities For Self-Starting Identity Thieves
By 10.26.09
CBS 5 exposed a “gaping hole” in the code of California’s state-run employment website that allows anyone who views the site to access and modify other users’ resumes and personal info simply by changing some numbers in the URL.
Now Report Spammers On Twitter With A Single Click
By 10.13.09
It used to be that when you were followed by a spammer on Twitter, you had to go report them by sending a direct message to Twitter’s official spam account. Now they’ve updated their reporting system, so all it takes is a single click. Have fun turning in the bots!
Ask.com Launches New Service To Find The Best Deals
By 10.7.09
Ask.com has launched a new service—ask.com/deals—dedicated to finding the best deals online. We don’t know how well it works, but we like the tabs that let you quickly jump to free shipping offers and printable coupons. It might be a decent starting place if you’re in the market for something and need to comparison shop first. Update: Our readers say it’s not worth your time, at least in its current state—results are paltry and frequently old or expired.
Borders To Offer Free Wifi
By 10.1.09
Later this month, Borders and Verizon will roll out free Wifi access in “virtually all” Borders stores, with no password or access fee required. Borders’ CEO Ron Marshall says their goal is to extend “the open atmosphere of exploration that is at the core of every great bookstore experience,” and then he said something about building a community, yakkity yak. You know how press releases are. Whatever, Marshall, we’re just happy you’re offering free Wifi access!
Internet Speeds Are Lower Than Advertised 50-80% Of The Time
By 9.30.09
Anyone who reads the fine print when signing up for Internet access knows that the speeds advertised are “best case” scenarios, or more cynically that they’re total fabrications meant to lure in customers. Now the FCC, as part of its larger study of how to expand broadband access, has reported that “actual broadband speeds lag advertised speeds by as much as 50% to 80%.”
American Express Wants You To Use Lame Passwords
By 9.24.09
We’re no longer indignant about Amex’s weirdly lax security policies anymore, we’re just confused. Why would a major credit card company cold call new customers and insist they give up bank and address info over the phone, or email sensitive data to strangers? Or, we just learned, demand that you use a lame password that isn’t case sensitive, is only 6 to 8 characters long, and can’t contain special characters?
Where To Find Great Personal Finance Writing Online
By 9.21.09
If you don’t know about the Carnival of Personal Finance, it’s a weekly round-up of interesting posts from the glut of personal finance blogs and websites that now litter the web. I discovered two of today’s posts—the 23 debt-saving tips and the the alkaline-vs-rechargeables story—through the most recent Carnival.
Microsoft Goes After Malicious Ad Suppliers
By 9.18.09
If you visited the New York Times website last week, you may have been surprised to have your browsing interrupted by one of those scammy “we’re scanning your computer for viruses OH NO YOU HAVE A VIRUS!” ads that overtake your window. Now Microsoft has filed 5 lawsuits in an attempt to fight back against the jerks who may have been responsible for it, and certainly for other ads like it all over the web.
