Just 16 months or so after Ralph Lauren (the person) stepped down from the top spot at Ralph Lauren (the company), his replacement is already on his way out the door. [More]
that was fast
Walmart Ditching $50/Year ShippingPass For Free Two-Day Shipping
By 1.31.17
Less than a year after its national launch, Walmart is pulling the plug on its $50/year ShippingPass subscription service that was intended to compete directly with Amazon Prime. In its place, the big box retailer plans to offer free-two day shipping on millions of products with a lower minimum purchase price. [More]
Aeropostale Is Back, Re-Opens More Than 500 Stores
By 1.12.17
Last month, signs in Aeropostale stores blared, “EVERYTHING MUST GO!” The stores sold off their inventory, then closed up. Then something surprising happened: more than two-thirds of those stores opened back up under new ownership. [More]
McDonald’s Removes Fitness Trackers From Happy Meals Over Skin Irritation Concerns
By 8.18.16
Just days after McDonald’s began stuffing kid-friendly fitness trackers in its Happy Meal boxes, the fast food giant has removed the devices from the menu — not over claims of pointless “health washing,” but because some kids complained the trackers were causing skin irritation. [More]
Congress Passes Bill Outlawing Vermont’s GMO Labels, Replacing Them With Barcodes
By 7.14.16
After skipping over the entire debate and amendment process the Senate, and then going virtually un-discussed in the House of Representatives, a last ditch effort to overturn Vermont’s new food labeling requirement is destined for the President’s desk. [More]
Airline Official Says TSA Cut O’Hare Security Wait Times Down To 10 Minutes
By 5.25.16
It seems some of the Transportation Security Administration’s efforts to ease long lines at security checkpoints at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport have worked: according to one airline official, wait times at O’Hare have been cut down to only 15 minutes since TSA moved 100 part-time officers to full-time status last week, and brought in four more bomb-sniffing dogs. [via Chicago Tribune] [More]
Dish, Sinclair End Broadcast Network Blackout… For Now, At Least
By 8.27.15
Dish’s latest contract fight with the networks it airs has wrapped up much more quickly than usual: less than a day after nearly 130 Sinclair channels went dark on the satellite provider, the local channels are back on in 5 million subscribers’ homes. At least, for now. [More]
Verizon Completes $4.4B Acquisition Of AOL
By 6.23.15
It’s not often you hear about a shotgun wedding between two tech companies, but that’s apparently what happened for Verizon and AOL, as the recently betrothed said today that they had officially completed a $4.4 billion acquisition proposed just a month ago. [More]
The First Complaint Of Net Neutrality Violation Is In, And It’s Against Time Warner Cable
By 6.17.15
Net neutrality only went into effect last Friday, but the first formal complaint against an ISP for breaking the rule is already on its way. The target? Time Warner Cable. [More]
CurrentC, Walmart-Led Competitor To Apple Pay, Has Already Been Hacked
By 10.29.14
A number of major retailers, most notably Walmart, have yet to allow shoppers to use the recently launched Apple Pay system at checkout, and national drugstore chains Rite-Aid and CVS stopped offering Apple Pay as an option after only a few days. That’s because all of these retailers are part of a consortium working on a competing system called CurrentC, which by the way, has already been hacked. [More]
Free Starbucks Drink Record Was Set July 4th With 77-Shot $71 Drink
By 7.17.14
Hey, remember how we reported earlier this week that a new record had been set for the most expensive single Starbucks drink to be paid for with a free drink coupon? Well, we were wrong. Record-seeker Sameera didn’t know it either at the time, but the record had actually been set on July 4th, with a 77-shot concoction costing $71.35. America! [More]
Mozilla CEO Steps Down; Company Says It “Must Do Better”
By 4.3.14
Amid growing concern over his stance on equal marriage rights, Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich has decided to step down from his role atop the Internet biggie; a job he only began in March. At the same time, Mozilla’s leadership is issuing an apology to those who took issue with its decision to put the company co-founder in that CEO position. [More]
Lenovo Agrees To Buy Motorola From Google For $3 Billion
By 1.29.14
Not even three years after Google bought wireless device biggie Motorola for $12.5 billion comes news that it’s made a deal with Lenovo to take the manufacturer off Google’s hands for a fraction of that amount. [More]
The "New" CircuitCity.com Ships Shoddily-Wrapped TV Mount Missing Half Its Parts
By 6.13.09
The new CircuitCity.com is already disappointing customers, this time by shipping a half-complete TV mount that looks like it was wrapped by an over-caffeinated octopus. Unsurprisingly, our anonymous tipster had to slog his way through two customer service departments before extracting a promise to ship out the missing parts. Why can’t CircuitCity.com just ship him a new mount? Apparently, they have to first botch the parts shipment. Our tipster decided this wasn’t worth his time, and instead ordered a second mount. Circuit City promises to refund his money once they receive back the defective mount…
Sign Up For Virgin America's Frequent Flier Program, Lose Your Discount Airfare
By 8.9.07
Mike writes to us on Virgin America’s maiden day of service to complain that his discount fare vanished after he signed up for Virgin’s frequent flier program. Mike and his girlfriend tried to buy $44 tickets from San Francisco to Los Angeles, but after signing up for the frequent flier program, the fare jumped to $79. Though Virgin has invested in a state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system, from the looks of Mike’s letter, they haven’t invested nearly enough in customer service. Mike writes:
