Philadelphia is just the second municipality in the United States (after Berkleley, CA) to pass a tax on sugary beverages, though dozens of places have tried it. Well, okay, but what does that mean for soda drinkers in Philadelphia, and could your city or county be next? [More]
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Police Tried To Disguise Surveillance Vehicle As “Google Maps” Truck
By 5.13.16
While Google’s Street View camera cars may have gotten less ridiculous-looking over the years, they are still pretty obvious when they roll down the streets, snapping photos in all directions for later use on Google’s Maps service. So it didn’t take long for savvy folks to sniff out something off about the alleged “Google Maps” truck recently spotted on the streets of Philadelphia. [More]
Philadelphia Investigating Verizon’s Completion Of FiOS Buildout
By 5.12.16
The city of Philadelphia gave Verizon until Feb. 25 to complete a seven-year agreement to bring FiOS service to all residents. While the company says it completed the job, the city is double checking the status by enlisting the help of those living within its borders. [More]
“This Is Underwear Time” — The Most Brilliant Catalog Cover You Will See Today
By 4.14.16
While we don’t often deal in absolutes, there are some things we are 100% certain about. The cover of a 1920s trade catalog with the title “This is Underwear Time” — complete with the illustration of a a man getting dressed while his dog looks on — is one of those times where we can unequivocally proclaim to have found a truly (possibly unintentionally) brilliant piece of marketing. [More]
14 More Tiny Urban Target Stores Will Open In 2016-2017
By 12.29.15
Yes, Target is a chain of big-box stores, but the company sees its future in considerably smaller boxes. Instead of suburban stores of more than 100,000 square feet in the suburbs, all but one of the stores that Target has planned in 2016 and 2017 are small-format stores in urban areas across the country. [More]
Comcast Starts Test Of Super-Fast Next-Gen Broadband Over Existing Cable Lines
By 12.23.15
Earlier this year, Comcast confirmed that it would soon begin testing next-generation broadband technology that is supposed to provide faster connections than current fiberoptic networks, but over the same old cable lines. Yesterday, the nation’s largest cable company announced that it has taken the first important step in doing real-world testing of this new tech. [More]
Philly Gets Comcast To Agree To Better Franchise Terms; Now Seattle Wants Them, Too
By 12.9.15
After a tense year of negotiations, the city of Philadelphia and one of its biggest corporate residents, Comcast, finally came to a new agreement over a cable franchise. The terms of the new 15-year contract are generally good news for Philadelphians, but now Comcast customers on the other side of the country are demanding that they get treated better, too. [More]
Restaurant Critic Rails Against “Stupid And Broken” Star-Rating System
By 10.27.15
We’ve said before that star ratings for restaurants are often arbitrary and may not be an accurate representation of the review’s content or of other diners’ standards. You might think that critics who get paid to give such ratings would defend the practice, but at least one of them has come out swinging against the stars, bells, and other dingbats he and his fellow reviewers are often compelled to use. [More]
If You Want To Use Amazon Fresh You’ll Have To Pay $299/Year For PrimeFresh First
By 10.19.15
How much are you willing to pay to have bags of fresh produce, and other grocery items delivered to your door anytime of the year? If you live in Seattle, Philadelphia, or New York, Amazon’s hoping $299/year is the magic number. [More]
Court Okays $50M Comcast Settlement But Some Customers Won’t Even Get The $15 Bill Credit
By 9.25.15
Eleven months after Comcast reached a $50 million deal that would close the books on a class-action lawsuit originally filed back in 2003, the settlement has been approved by a federal court. However, because the window for filing a claim has already closed, a number of the affected 800,000 customers won’t get a bill credit; just two free months of The Movie Channel. [More]
How Wireless Carriers Are Prepping To Handle Texts, Tweets & Data Of 1M Pope Watchers
By 9.24.15
The last time a pontiff visited Philadelphia, it was 1979 and the throng of onlookers — my family included — jostled to get photos with our film cameras (only to find out days later after getting the photos printed that all we had was a motion blur of part of Pope John Paul II’s car). It will be a very different story for the expected million people who will pack Philly’s Ben Franklin Parkway on Saturday and Sunday. [More]
Philadelphia Sues, Fines Uber $300K Over Allegations Of Operating Illegally
By 9.2.15
After 10 months of driving the streets in Philadelphia, Uber now faces a lawsuit and $300,000 fine for providing ride-hailing services in violation of city regulations. [More]
Philadelphia Asks Comcast Why It’s Not Treating Its Hometown As Well As Other Cities?
By 8.11.15
Philadelphia is Comcast’s hometown. Its current skyscraper looms like a giant thumb drive over the city’s skyline and its second tower will only establish Comcast as the dominating corporate presence in Philly. And yet, when Comcast announced its first (and second, and third) markets for a new super-high-speed fiber network, it looked elsewhere. And in spite of the fact that Philadelphia is one of the poorest urban markets in the country, Comcast chose to test an expansion of its low-cost Internet Essentials program more than 1,000 miles away in Florida. With Comcast’s Philly franchise up for renewal, the city is finally asking why its supposed hometown hero is helping everyone else first. [More]
Florida Man Spends 17 Years Challenging Debt He Never Owed In The First Place
By 8.10.15
Imagine you wake up one day to find out that you suddenly owe nearly $100,000 on a house you’ve never owned, in a city where you’ve never resided. Should be easy enough to sort that out, right? Tell that to the Florida man who has spent the better part of two decades trying to convince creditors he didn’t buy property in Philadelphia when he was 12 years old. [More]
Lawsuit Accuses Comcast Of Making 9 Months Of Robocalls To Collect On Paid Bill
By 7.17.15
A Philadelphia woman is suing Comcast, alleging that the hometown cable company not only spent nine months hassling her with debt collection calls but that the bill in question had already been paid. [More]
Delaware Becomes The Only State Without Commercial Air Travel After Frontier Airlines Flies Away
By 6.30.15
While flying is often the easiest and quickest way for travelers to get from one place to another, the nearly one million residents in Delaware will have to find a different mode of transportation in their home state — unless they want to fly privately. That’s because the state’s lone commercial airline servicer quietly exited the market last week. [More]
Is Comcast Running Manipulative “Push Poll” In Response To Philly Customer Service Study?
By 6.9.15
Earlier this spring, Philadelphia released its Needs Assessment Report regarding Comcast, the city’s primary cable/broadband provider, one of its biggest employers, and the tenant of its tallest tower. The results of the survey were not good, with 99% of the written responses unfavorable to Comcast. At the time, the company said the report was innaccurate and said it would “deliver comprehensive proof” to the city. A new telephone poll being conducted on Comcast’s behalf appears to be in response to the city’s report, but some who’ve taken the survey say the questions being asked are designed to put Comcast in the best possible light. [More]
Comcast Says Customer Must Sign Non-Disclosure Agreement To Get $600 Refund
By 5.7.15
When your cable company has charged you hundreds of dollars for a cable box you returned five years ago, you’d hope that the response would be “Sorry about that. Here’s your money back,” not “We’ll give you your refund if you agree to not tell anyone about this.” [More]
