ConsumerFinance.gov, the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new website, is live and in full effect. So is their Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. They want your suggestions and ideas so send ’em in! As they announced on their website their central role is “to make markets for consumer financial products and services work for America…The CFPB belongs to the people it serves. If you have suggestions, we want to hear them.” [More]
videos
Hotmail Sucks: The Rap Video!
By 2.3.11
Dan Bull has been using Hotmail for 10 years but he’s just about reached his breaking point. So the U.K. bedroom rhymesmith made a rap video open letter to Microsoft about how much their product sucks a giant brick. In the vocal style of The Streets, Dan takes aim at the emails that don’t arrive, their weak spam filters, and MSN’s wack way of adding extra steps when you try to make links. [More]
Debt Junkies, Have A Cup Of Instant Money!
By 2.2.11
This curious 1960’s ad for a Bank of America personal loan portrays needy borrowers as jerky junkies twitching for a fix. Thankfully, BofA has a storehouse of jars of “instant” money (that operate suspiciously like a cup of cappuccino) that is the balm for your frayed nerves. [More]
The Daily: Will Murdoch's Fancy New iPad Newspaper Save Publishing?
By 2.2.11
Probably not. But it does have lots of widgets and video modules. [More]
Assange Tells 60 Minutes He Likes Watching Banks Squirm As They Prep For His Next Leak
By 1.31.11
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange played coy in his 60 Minutes interview last night as reporter Steve Kroft tried to press him about the identity of the big bank he supposedly has a 5GB hard drive of secrets on. [More]
Get A Carved Body With This 15-Minute No-Equipment Workout Craze From 1904
By 1.27.11
Who needs a Craigslist gym or any kind of gym at all? They certainly didn’t have the list of Craig back in 1904 when Danish fitness master J.P. Müller invented his 15-minute workout called “My System.” It requires no equipment at all, took Europe by storm, and is still effective to this day, reports Slate. [More]
Mom Jailed For Falsifying Address To Send Kids To Better School District
By 1.27.11
An Ohio mom has been convicted and sent to jail for lying about her address so she could send her daughters to a better neighboring school district. School officials said she was cheating the system by having her daughters receive an education she hadn’t paid the taxes for. “Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” said school officials. To snare her, the school hired a private investigator, who videotaped her driving the children into the district. [More]
Ninja Hacks For Doing Everyday Stuff A Lot Faster
By 1.25.11
As someone who fights a continuing war against physical objects – any pair of sunglasses over $10 gets broken or lost, pasta dinners somehow crawl up my hand and cover it in sauce – I am appreciative of this 5-minute compilation showing you how to do a lot of everyday things faster. It shows you how to quick-dry your nails with cooking spray, peel an egg in seconds with the “tap and blow” method, and how to take off your shirt with one hand in one smooth motion. [More]
Realtor Slices Price On Snake Infested Home
By 1.24.11
Sounds like a ssssteal. A beautiful five-bedroom house in Idaho for only $109,000. It comes with a tiny catch: The house is infested with thousands of live, writhing garter snakes. [More]
Guy Makes Comedy Videos Asking For $1 Million… And Gets It
By 1.20.11
Comedian Craig Rowin made a series of videos asking for random rich strangers online to give him $1 million. He made no attempt to justify his need or worthiness for this bequest. He simply and emphatically outlined the rules for giving him the money and went through the various options of individuals and companies who might possibly give him the money. And now, by some insane kinky power of the internet, a millionaire has stepped up and will give him the cash. By all accounts, this is not a joke. It is actually happening. [More]
Texting Woman Who Fell Into Fountain May Sue Mall
By 1.20.11
A woman who was so focused on texting that she fell into a fountain is suing is hinting that she may sue the mall after leaked security footage of the incident went viral. [More]
Dreams For Sale: Lehigh Acres
By 1.10.11
Consumerist reader Raymond Schillinger made a documentary called called Dreams For Sale: Lehigh Acres about Lehigh Acres, a town in Florida carved out of nothing, filled up with speculative houses during the boom, and now seems destined to ruin, though a contingent of hopeful/hopeless homesteaders still cling on. Through interviews with townsfolk, local business owners and politicians, Raymond captures, “both the history of deceptive real estate practices that helped build Lehigh Acres a half-century ago and the contemporary foreclosure crisis that has ravaged the area.” [More]
Ron Paul Wants Us To Use Gold And Silver Along With Paper Money
By 1.5.11
Ron Paul, career-long proponent of outmoded and discredited Austrian economic theory, went on Colbert last night to talk about how paper money sucks and he wants you you to be able to go into a store and buy a six-pack with some gold ingots. His proof? Paper money can rot and people have believed in the value of gold for centuries. So, gold is “better” because the collective hallucination around it is stronger. This wouldn’t be disturbing except for the fact that Ron Paul is the new Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy. Yeeeeeks. [More]
PowerBalance Admits There's No Proof It Works
By 1.4.11
PowerBalance was forced to announce in Australia that there’s no proof its magical wristbands work. These bands contain holograms, yes, frickin’ holograms, that are “designed to optimize your natural energy flow.” Did we really need an announcement? Apparently, because the bands are selling well and have been showing up on celebrities’ wrists. And you know they only use products when they are effective and reasonably-priced. [More]
Pack A Suit Coat Without Wrinkles
By 1.3.11
Here’s how to perform that heretofore impossible trick of packing a suit coat without a garment bag or putting up with wrinkles. This soundless video shows how you turn the coat inside out and perform the necessary suit origami so you can pack light and not look like a schlump. Just pay more attention to the moves than to the actor’s shirt. [More]
The Tush Turner Is Perhaps The Stupidest Infomercial Product Ever
By 12.29.10
You need no better sign that The Empire is on the wane then the “Tush Turner,” a swiveling seat cushion that makes it easier to get in and out of your car without all that “contorting.” Just sit your ass down and spin in and out. And maybe with the few extra seconds it gives you you’ll be able to escape the Visigoths hunting you down as fuel for their war machines. [More]
Get Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper App For Only $4.99 Through Dec 31
By 12.29.10
(iOS4 only) For a limited time, you can get a one-year subscription to the Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper App for only $4.99, now through December 31. It’s a sweet way to get Consumer Reports ratings and reviews on-the-go—perfect for when you’re trying to figure out what to exchange gifts for when you’re in the store. The price will bump up to $14.99 after Jan 1, so now’s a great time to give it a shot if you’ve been holding out. [More]
Welcome To Infomercial Hell
By 12.28.10
“Infomercial Hell” is a mashup of 90 different horrible infomercial moments into one 5-minute masterpiece. [More]
