The Stupid Shipping Gang strikes again! Their visit to Cisco led to a lovely set of matryoshka wireless access points being shipped to an unsuspecting university in Oregon. Reader Eliot had the confusing experience of opening these packages, and took pictures of the process and the mind-boggling pile of waste it left behind.
technology
ThinkGeek Embraces Accidental Giveaway, Lets People Keep Freebies
By 8.9.09
What do you do when your server suddenly contracts swine flu and starts giving away free merchandise? If you’re ThinkGeek, nothing! The geek toy store celebrated a server glitch by announcing that anyone who picked up free schwag would get to keep it, no questions asked. Why? Read on for the awesome explanation…
By 7.29.09
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If you’ve got $2600 and a desire to really be remembered after you die, consider buying a personalized, three-dimensional urn modeled after a photograph of your own head. (Or buy the smaller version for $600 and keep candy in it.) [OhGizmo!]
New Jack In The Box Order Kiosk Removes Final Human Obstacle In Food Supply Chore
By 7.23.09
No matter how much you try to close yourself off from humanity—by not giving out your phone number, by staying in your home on weekends, or by getting a job as a blogger—you still have to speak to horrible, filthy humans when you order from fast food restaurants. A Jack in the Box in Bellevue, Washington has solved that problem.
This Machine Is Sort Of a Humongous Kindle
By 6.30.09
Behold, the Espresso Book Machine, which is more impressive and powerful than nine out of 10 Transformers. This beast has the capability to print a book for you right on the spot.
By 6.20.09
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Don’t know how to take your new baby’s temperature? Babyglow will take care of it for you! These new $35 outfits, which seem to be coming out in the U.K. only, change color when your infant has a fever. This makes a lot more sense than wrapping the baby in a blanket made out of color-changing coffee mugs.(Also: doesn’t babyglow+fever sound radioactive?) [OhGizmo!]
Well Hello There, New Bar Codes
By 6.8.09
Snazzy new bar codes are starting to adorn our fruit and vegetables to stop blurry-eyed cashiers from ringing up organic produce as the cheaper-priced regular stuff. They’re called GS1 DataBars, and they’re already appearing in select supermarkets to help consumers move faster through checkout lines.
Behold The Shocking Popularity Of Chipotle's Burrito-Ordering iPhone App
By 1.13.09
Yesterday, a magical new application appeared in the iPhone App Store. What did it do? Well, it allowed you to order burritos from Chipotle (for pick-up). From your iPhone.
How To Cancel Cable/Satellite TV Without Being Miserable
By 12.19.08
CNet has an article about a couple who saw the writing on the wall, recession-wise, and canceled their satellite TV package. Surprisingly, they are, in fact, still alive and not at all depressed.
By 10.20.08
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If we save up and buy two of these, we should be able to replace Chris and Carey.
Staples Installs Two-Way Video Customer Service Stations
By 7.16.08
For stores that find it too expensive to hire floor employees that care or can actually tell you where an item is without being insolent and rude (we’re looking at you, Home Depot), your solution is here.
Apple Sued: New 20" iMac Screens Display 260k Colors, Not Millions
By 4.2.08
Anyone who has been on the receiving end of an Apple ad campaign in the past 10 years knows that they tend to play fast and loose with the truth in their ad copy. Their towers are the fastest, their laptop is the thinnest, their phone is the most advanced. With so many unchecked exaggerations, Apple sometimes comes across as the consumer electronics version of Donald Trump, augmented by killer industrial and UI designers. Now a law firm in California has filed a class-action suit against the company for misrepresenting its new 20-inch iMac models as being capable of producing millions of colors, when in fact they use a substandard el-cheapo screen that is nowhere near as capable as what’s in the 24-inch models.
Citigroup Developing Citi-Branded Phone That Can Make Contactless Payments
By 3.28.08
Do you wish you had a way to spend your money more easily, without all that opening-the-wallet or punching-the-pin-number manual labor? The trade publication Cards & Payments (registration required) says that it’s received a copy of a report filed with the FCC that indicates Citigroup is developing a Near Field Communication, or NFC, mobile phone that would allow its customers to make contactless payments at participating retailers.
By 3.8.08
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Here’s a free idea for the taking: why doesn’t a bank (cough HSBC cough) offer the option to have text message alerts sent to a registered phone number any time a withdrawal is made from a specific account via ATM? “$120 was withdrawn at 2:51pm EST in Palo Verde, CA. Reference #293005” See how easy that was? Such exception-based reporting would drastically cut down on fraud (we’re guessing) by enlisting the help of customers to report unauthorized transactions immediately.
When "FireDogs" And "Geeks" Don't Know What's Wrong, You Pay
By 2.25.08
Channel 10 out of Columbus, Ohio recently conducted a sting operation in which they equipped themselves with an easily repaired laptop and took it to Geek Squad, FireDog and Micro Center to see who could figure out what was wrong.
Would You Scan Checks At Home For Deposit?
By 2.9.08
Banks have hesitated to adopt technology that would let us scan paper checks at home for deposit. The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act allows banks to exchange electronic images instead of paper checks, but USAA, a credit union associated with the military, is currently the only bank to offer customers a check scanning option. Sure, it’s easy enough to stand on line for a teller or wait for an ATM, but we fear sunshine and people and prefer to stay indoors, thank you. Assuming it was free, is this something you would use if it was offered by your bank? Vote in our poll, after the jump.
NYC's New High-Tech Public Bathroom Is Freaky, Robotic
By 1.26.08
For years, New York City was a grim place to be when you had to use the bathroom, since there are almost no public facilities (not counting Starbucks). But earlier this month the first of 20 high-tech pay toilets opened in the city, in Madison Square Park just north of 23rd Street. Now the next time you visit the city and need to answer nature’s call, grab a quarter and head over there to experience the strange combination of a $100,000 prison cell/car wash/elevator/Louvre. It’s the cheapest “experience” you’ll probably find in the city.
