A couch is a big investment — a really nice piece of furniture can cost thousands of dollars. So you can imagine how excited some shoppers were to find Anthropologie selling an $8,000 couch online for… nothing. Alas, that excitement was short-lived, after the company explained that it had all been a mistake. [More]
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Mom Not Thrilled That Teen Daughter’s New Mobile Number Used To Belong To Escort
By 9.6.17
With just about every person in every family having their own cellphone, odds are that whenever you get a “new” number, it’s actually a recycled number that previously belonged to at least one other person. But not all of us can hit the recycled number lottery and end up with Sir Mix-A-Lot’s old digits. No, some folks will be stuck having to explain to strange callers that they are not “Pebbles,” the escort who once used that phone number. [More]
Company Behind “Healing” Stickers Says NASA Connection Claim Was A Misunderstanding
By 6.26.17
Last week, officials with NASA called out Gwyneth Paltrow’s “modern lifestyle brand” Goop for promoting “healing” stickers that it claimed were made from material designed for NASA space suits. Now, the company behind the stickers has apologized, claiming the inaccurate affirmation was just a big ol’ misunderstanding. [More]
Out-Of-Order Birth Control Pills Not Great At Preventing Pregnancy, Prompt Recall
By 6.1.17
As anyone who’s ever used an oral contraceptive knows, it’s important to take the pills in the right order, because each dose is different: Some pills contain hormones and some are inert and don’t do anything. Mixing those up could mean the difference between remaining unpregnant and getting pregnant. To prevent the latter, the maker of one birth control product is recalling pills that are packaged incorrectly. [More]
Comcast Customer Not Thrilled To Find His Bedroom Cable Box Is Named The “F- Palace”
By 4.14.17
A Comcast customer says he was mortified to find out — through his pre-teen son, no less — that, according to the Comcast website, the set-top box in the family’s master bedroom has the delightfully profane name of “F- Palace.” [More]
DMV Glitch Mistakenly Adds Inches To Thousands Of Drivers’ Heights
By 3.8.17
In what sounds like a dream come true for anyone who has ever fudged their height on an online dating profile and needs paperwork to prove that they are much taller than they seem, the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles says a mixup accidentally added extra inches of height to thousands of drivers’ licenses recently. [More]
Amazon Employee Accidentally Took Down The Internet Earlier This Week
By 3.2.17
You might remember earlier this week — Tuesday to be exact — a disruption of Amazon Web Services caused people all over the East Coast to experience trouble accessing a large number of websites that rely on AWS. Now we know why: An employee accidentally turned off too many computer servers. [More]
Calphalon Recalls 2M Kitchen Knives Because Blades Shouldn’t Break Off And Cut You
By 2.23.17
There are safe ways and unsafe ways to use a knife in the kitchen. But no matter how you’re holding it, the blade shouldn’t ever pop out of the handle and cut your hand on its way. And yet, kitchen stalwart Calphalon is now recalling two million pieces of cutlery because of exactly that problem. [More]
Sierra Nevada Issues Beer Recall In 35 States Because Glass Is Not Part Of An IPA
By 1.23.17
Whether or not you like an India Pale Ale or a hoppy beer is a matter of personal taste, but glass is never supposed to be part of a cool beverage. Unfortunately, thanks to a manufacturing defect, it’s possible that some could end up in a variety of Sierra Nevada beers, and so the company has issued a massive recall of recently-bottled beer spanning 35 states and DC. [More]
Some Android Phones Might Be Sending All Your Texts To China
By 11.15.16
Smartphones are ubiquitous. Everyone has one, and they come with all kinds of features. Some Android phones, though, apparently have an unwanted extra: a secret backdoor that sends all of your text messages to China. [More]
Early Posting Leaks Pictures, Specs Of New Google Pixel Phone
By 10.3.16
Home isn’t the only new product Google will be launching this week. Joining it is the new, long-awaited Pixel phone. Except thanks to an “oops” on one retailer’s site, the wait for news ended a bit early. [More]
Mom Sues JetBlue After Airline Flies Unaccompanied 5-Year-Old Son To Wrong City
By 9.30.16
September began with news of a New York City mom whose unaccompanied 5-year-old son somehow ended up on the wrong JetBlue flight, and now the month comes to an end with that mom filing a lawsuit against the airline that misrouted her child. [More]
TopShop Stops Selling $700 Jacket That Uses Band’s Logo Without Permission
By 9.19.16
If you’re going to make a shirt using a trademarked name and logo, you’d better have permission from the trademark holder. Just ask TopShop, which was called out for selling a $700 leather jacket, complete with an apparently unauthorized use of name and logo for the band Against Me! [More]
Samsung U.S. President: Sorry About That Whole Exploding Note 7 Battery Thing; New Phones Coming 9/21
By 9.16.16
Yesterday, two weeks after halting all sales of the Galaxy Note 7 following reports of exploding and overheating batteries, Samsung and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission finally made the recall official yesterday afternoon. Now, the head of Samsung’s U.S. division is standing outside your window with a boombox over his head, playing an apology tune in the hope that you won’t go running into the arms of Apple. [More]
Did Apple Accidentally Upload Some iPhone 7 Info Early?
By 9.6.16
You may have heard that Apple plans to unveil its latest version of the iPhone tomorrow, but it appears that someone working on the tech giant’s website may have jumped the gun a bit. [More]
Facebook Internet Satellite Destroyed Spectacularly In Rocket Failure
By 9.1.16
There was an “anomaly” today during testing of a SpaceX rocket at Cape Canaveral… the kind of “anomaly” that creates a spectacular fireball, goes “BOOM,” and leaves a smoke plume in the sky. Happily, nobody was hurt during the incident. However, one very expensive piece of high-profile technology went BOOM along with. [More]
JetBlue Puts Kids On Wrong Planes In Unaccompanied Minor Switcheroo
By 9.1.16
It sounds like a classic movie switcheroo, but it’s one that gave the families of two five-year-old boys a bit of a real-life scare: JetBlue apparently confused the children, putting a boy who was supposed to go New York City on a flight to Boston, and a boy meant for Boston on a plane to New York City. [More]
Don’t Expect To Keep Your Job At Texas Roadhouse After Tweeting You’d “Kill As Many Mexicans As I Could”
By 7.26.16
Just because you can go on Twitter and type whatever words come into your head, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. And that First Amendment right to express yourself doesn’t protect you from your employer firing you over the embarrassing and hateful things you say in public. [More]
