We sent Gawker video wunderkid Alex Goldberg to the front of Macy’s in New York to ask shoppers if they were debt free, and if that would have any effect on their holiday spending. Overall the answer is no.
videos
The Long Johns Explain The Subprime Meltdown
By 11.29.07
John Bird and John Fortune are British satirists who, as The Long Johns, explain in eminently practical terms exactly how the subprime meltdown came to be.
"Free Money" Computer Glitch Leads To Kmart Melee
By 11.27.07
A computer glitch at Kmart leads to everyone being granted store credit cards – and a large-scale brawl erupting.. Two women started scrapping and then several men got involved. A Kmart worker was punched in the nose and smashed through a glass display case. Customers were calling up friends and telling them to come down to get the “free money,” $850 to $4000 in credit After applications ran out, one customer grabbed more from another Kmart and started selling them in the parking lot for $20 a pop. Watch out, when the American Dream is a blue-light special, consumers are liable to get bloodthirsty.
Thousands Mash Through Boise Mall Doors
By 11.23.07
Doors were broken, and shoppers were scraped and bruised as thousands surged through the Boise Towne Square Mall in Boise, Idaho at 1am this morning. Raw video shot by KTVB shows rampage hordes trying to squeeze themselves through just two doors at one mall entrance. It appears that some of the doors swung outward and it was impossible to open them with the crush of consumers pushed up against the glass.
30% Of Dinner Plates Contain Lead
By 11.21.07
A PDF containing the results and brands tested is available here.
Q-RAY Bracelet Investigated For False Claims
By 11.15.07
CBC Marketplace investigated the Q-RAY, a bracelet whose “ionization” is supposed to “balance your chi” and provide chronic pain relief. The FTC sued Q-RAY for false advertising claims and ordered the makers to return $87 million to it customers. Now Q-RAY only says it improves “well being” and “performance” in its infomercials, but stores themselves still market it as a pain relief product. And when Marketplace took the bracelet to a lab, they found the darn thing wasn’t even ionized. [More]
Great Moments In Commercial History: Good Old Tom
By 11.15.07
As a criminal defense attorney, I must say, I am extremely suspect of where all these heaps of “scrap gold” Tom’s customers have lying around came from.
Verizon Misquotes Rates 93% Of The Time
By 11.13.07
1) What is the data overage rates for the basic 10MB data package for $29.99?
Reader Run Over By Bus That Slammed Doors In His Face
By 11.7.07
UPDATE: Here is the full video of the incident (32 MB, ZIP).
It's Been Declined: Dedicated To Bank Of America
By 11.6.07
The perils of credit card abuse are given play in this amusing music video made by YouTube personality Remy. It’s set to the tune of “A boy named Sue” by Johnny Cash (we think, or at least it’s channeling it). A college student maxes out his credit cards and gets declined in a fancy restaurant.
PetSmart Employee Beats Dogs, Keeps Job
By 11.4.07
Reader Matt watched a PetSmart PetsHotel employee strike several dogs while waiting to pick up his pet. Matt immediately spoke with the store manager, who called the next day called to condemn the employee’s actions as ‘horribly inappropriate,’ and to promise that the employee would no longer work with dogs. Ten days later, Matt received another call, this time from the District Manager.
..the District Manager called us back and stated that she watched the video in slow motion, and that while she could understand how we interpreted the employee’s gestures to have been inappropriate, that she has concluded that the man was just playing with the animals, did not in fact strike any dogs, and was not inappropriate.
Matt writes:
The Business Of Death
By 11.2.07
GOOD magazine presents a quirky little video looking at the multi-million dollar business of dying. It’s crazy to think how much steel, concrete, wood and brass we bury in the ground in one year just to take entomb our useless corpses.
Consumer Reports Dissects Ad For Restless Leg Syndrome Drug Requip
By 11.2.07
Consumer Reports deconstructs the ad for “restless leg syndrome” drug Requip in this amusing video. Restless Leg Syndrome, while a real condition, affects less than 3% of adults, but the ad offers a vague enough definition that it could apply to anyone. The ad does warn against some of the side effects, like nausea, diarrhea, drowsiness while driving and increased gambling and sexual urges. Consumer Reports tells us that in one Mayo clinic study, two people with no previous gambling history took it and subsequently went to lose over $100,000 in gambling. But, hey, at least their legs weren’t restless underneath the roulette table.
How Gmail Stops Spam
By 11.1.07
My spam has gone down like a million % since switching to Gmail from Yahoo mail. This amusing video shows you some of the techniques Google uses to keep spam out of your inbox. Just about all the spam we get is as a result of the forward set up from our old yahoo to our new gmail account.
Airport Security Lapses Revealed On PBS Exposé
By 10.31.07
The latest episode of PBS’s Exposé shows local new investigators uncovering three different chasms in airport security. At one airport, a graveyard shift security guard lets in employees and delivery guys without doing a security screening, how easy it is to walk up to a regional commercial jet, and a woman with a IED taped to her leg getting past the TSA. The full show is available for free online.
AT&T Asks CA Wildfire Victims If They Remembered To Pick Up Satellite Receiver As They Fled Their Burning House
By 10.26.07
When this Azola couple got back from their honeymoon, they had about an hour of matrimonial bliss before being forced to flee as their house was engulfed in flames. So you can understand they had some things on their mind other than the status of their AT&T | Dish receiver as they ran for their lives. When they called to cancel service, the customer service rep asked if they had “remembered to pick up the receiver” as they left the house…
