Poor Comcast. It put its heart, its soul, and several millions of dollars into its 2014-2015 attempt to buy Time Warner Cable, only to end up completely blocked and forced to scrap the plan. And while consumers, consumer advocates, and even we here at Consumerist may have felt a bit celebratory over its demise, the Comcast executives who tried to make it happen were oh so very sad. [More]
the future
GameStop Is Not Going To Change Its Name Anytime Soon
By 4.15.16
GameStop’s executives predict that three years from now, at least half of the company’s revenues will come from things that aren’t games. Should they think about changing their name, then? Nah, CEO Paul Raines said in an interview this week: they could change their name in the future, but for now games are still what they’re about. Like most things in life, though, that could change in the future. [More]
Why Did Two Of My Kohl’s Store Credit Card Payments Go Missing?
By 2.23.16
You’re often better off not bothering with store credit cards and gift cards, but sometimes the rewards are too good to resist. Reader Shannon’s family had a clever plan to get extra discounts from Kohl’s and raise money for their kid’s school, but it didn’t quite go as anticipated. Two months of credit card payments vanished into thin air instead of being credited to their account because they used Apple Pay when paying off their bills in the store. [More]
Watch An Amazon Fulfillment Center In Action
By 8.13.15
Amazon recently announced that it will open a new fulfillment center in Dallas, which will employ 1,000 more people. To give the public an idea of what these jobs will be like, the Dallas Morning News sent a reporter, a photographer, and a videographer over to an existing center in the area to watch humans and robots work together in perfect harmony to get a pack of socks to you in 2 days. [More]
Future Travel Apps Will Plan Your Road Trip Bathroom Breaks
By 2.11.15
A three-hour drive is never a three-hour drive, thanks to traffic snarls, pit stops, and weather conditions. While current mapping apps are better able to predict how long it will take us to get somewhere, what if they could also recommend the best time and place for you to stop based on past traffic data? An algorithm from researchers at MIT might help real-life travelers do this. [More]
Decisions You Need To Make About Retirement
By 2.2.11
At some point, whether by your own choice or that of those who pay you, you’re most likely going to have to call it a career and move on to a life of shuffleboard and early-bird specials. [More]
You Can Finally Get Your Own Jetpacks
By 10.8.10
The future is finally here, but it’s not coming cheap. New Zealand-based Martin Aircraft is selling the means to turn yourself into the Rocketeer, but it will cost you $100,000 to partake. If you only want 15 minutes of terrifying flight action, that will run you $215. [More]
Bloom Box Can Supposedly Power A Small Home, But You Can't Afford It
By 2.22.10
60 Minutes has reported on a new fuel cell product called a Bloom Box, a big metal box containing a small stack of ceramic disks and “ink” that can supposedly provide enough power to run a Starbucks. The big questions are: Does it work? And will it ever help the average homeowner save on energy costs? Google has supposedly been using four of them to power one of its data centers for the past 18 months, so yes to the first question. As for home use, a Bloom Box currently costs over $700,000, so no. Inventor K.R. Sridhar optimistically says he wants to get the price to under $3,000 in the next 5 to 10 years, though. Watch the 60 Minute segment below. [More]
Google Wants To Be Facebook, Facebook Wants To Be Gmail
By 2.8.10
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google has plans to make Gmail “more social,” according to an anonymous source. The idea is to make it easier to post links and share status updates. Meanwhile, Facebook is apparently planning a “Gmail killer.” [More]
Svedka Can See The Future: Fortunately, It Has Vodka
By 12.16.09
This liquor store is a very forward-thinking establishment. So forward thinking, in fact, that it has looked twenty-four years into the future to tell us what the top vodka of 2033 C.E. will be. It will be Svedka. [More]
Buy Or Be Stabbed
By 10.11.08
The global economy is crashing, credit markets are playing ice age, and you consumers have a simple choice: buy things now or prepare to be stabbed next year.
