The Federal Housing Administration insures mortgages, which makes it easier and more affordable for people to buy homes. That’s good. Quicken Loans happens to be an FHA lender, which is also good. What’s kind of confusing, though, is how the web page where you start your FHA loan application explicitly exempts FHA loans. Sort of. [More]
websites
IKEA’s Website Hates Me And I Don’t Know Why
By 5.22.13
Rob really likes IKEA. IKEA doesn’t seem to have any strong feelings about Rob, but the store’s web site hates him. They don’t want to do business with him. It’s nothing personal, surely, but the web site believes that he doesn’t exist, and not even anyone at IKEA has ben able to figure out why this is or what to do about it. [More]
Protect Your Brand From Becoming A .XXX Domain
By 10.24.11
Recently the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), who are the guys who decide all sorts of things about how website addresses work, approved the creation of a new .xxx domain. It’s intended for the adult entertainment industry, but brands have only until October 28th to act before fleshpot slingers start using addresses like mcdonalds.xxx and johndeere.xxx to steal traffic. [More]
OpenTable Rewards Loyalty, Refunds Loyalty Points After Coupon Expires
By 8.26.11
As a frequent user of online reservation service OpenTable, Ben’s girlfriend had earned a fair number of loyalty points. She turned these in for a $50 voucher, which she promptly forgot to use. Oh, well, her loss, right? Not exactly. [More]
Web Analytics Firm, 20 Clients Sued For Web Tracking
By 8.4.11
There’s big business in tracking web browsing, and temptation to grab more information than is legally acceptable. A lawsuit alleges a web analytics company and its clients stepped over the line in snooping on browsing habits, particularly of those who try to cover their tracks. [More]
How The Biggest Sites Are Stalking You And Reselling Your Info
By 7.29.11
Most websites you visit are monitoring your behavior, even after you leave. They install little files like cookies, beacons, and flash cookies to see where you go, what you buy, even what text you’re typing. WSJ analyzed the tracking behavior of the top 50 websites online to see how each of them is watching your every step, and then reselling the info to the highest bidder. For instance, did you know that Dictionary.com gives its users up to 159 cookies, 23 flash cookies and 41 beacons for third parties? [More]
Best Buy Store Flat Out Says They're Not Gonna Price Match Their Website
By 5.26.11
There’s no more pussyfooting around the bush. Reader Daniel snapped a picture of this sign on the front door of his local Best Buy of a sign that just comes right out and says, hey, if you want the price shown on the Best Buy website, we’ll be happy to sell you a computer that will connect to bestbuy.com so you can order it there and have it shipped to your house or held for in-store pickup. Ok, it doesn’t really say all that, but it does say that they’re not going to bother honoring the prices shown on the website within the store at all. [More]
Nielsen Partners With Facebook, Other Websites To Measure Ad Views Online
By 9.28.10
If you don’t like the concept of having your online actions tracked for marketing purposes, you can add Nielsen to you list of sworn enemies. The audience measurement company is better known for its TV viewer ratings, but yesterday it announced a new partnership with websites like Facebook where it will access user info (age and gender only, it says) to collect aggregate data on ad views around the web. [More]
CAPTCHA Codes, Now With Ad Slogans
By 9.22.10
A company called Solve Media is rolling out a new CAPTCHA interface that requires you type in an ad slogan instead of a nonsense word, reports AdAge. Advertisers are looking for message comprehension,” says the company’s owner, “And you know what they say, ‘If you write something down, you remember it.'” And if you force a customer to repeat your slogan during an unrelated transaction, does he resent you for it? [More]
Diesel Website Wants Color Scan Of Your Credit Card Via Email
By 9.21.10
I know credit card fraud is rampant, but I’m not sure sending full scans of your card through email is the proper way to fix things. [More]
You Can Get Any 42" Samsung Plasma TV From Target, As Long As It's Smashed
By 9.14.10
Steve’s TV buying experience with Target has not gone well. If he wants to try this a third time, the store is more than willing to let him, but they say he has to pay full price now and there’s still no guarantee a broken TV won’t show up on his doorstep. [More]
Google Settles Buzz Lawsuit For $8.5 Million; You Don't Get Any Of It
By 9.6.10
Hey, remember when Google signed everyone up for Buzz without asking and revealed their private contact lists? The company has now settled a class action lawsuit brought by seven Gmail users. The BBC says that 30% will go to the legal team, while each of those seven users will get $2,500. The rest will not be turned into Google stickers or free AdSense ads for you, but instead will be “shared among organisations that promote online privacy.” [More]
Consumer Group Launches Anti-Google Ad In Times Square, Keeps Google Analytics On Its Own Website
By 9.6.10
The group Consumer Watchdog is pushing hard for Congress to establish a “do not track” list for online consumers, which I’m all for. I’m not sure whether releasing a ridiculously unpleasant cartoon in Times Square is the right strategy, though–especially when you use the very service you’re warning people about. [More]
Yelp Reviewer Gives 1 Star For Restaurant That Hasn't Opened Yet
By 9.1.10
As with any community-sourced online content, Yelp’s reviews can vary widely in quality. Still, this may be one of the most ridiculously self-entitled and clueless reviews anyone has ever posted about a restaurant: [More]
Being Frugal Makes You More Appealing
By 8.23.10
According to a new ING Direct study, the word that most comes to mind when a hypothetical blind date partner is described as frugal is “smart.” Sadly, “sexy” only came to mind about 3.7% of the time, but at least you’ll have more chances: an eHarmony review commissioned by Ron Lieber at the New York Times “found that both men and women were 25 percent more likely to have a potential mate reach out to them if they identified themselves as a saver rather than a spender.” [More]
Mozy Wants To Explain Wireless Internets To You
By 8.16.10
You might think that a company like Mozy, which sells secure online backup services, would be able to troubleshoot common technical issues that are directly related to its business. After all, surely Heather isn’t the only customer to have problems with her initial backup hanging for several days in a row. But instead of offering useful assistance, Mozy’s tech support person told Heather that the problem was that “wireless internets don’t like lots of files flying through the air.” Wow, that must really cause problems with Mozy’s business model. [More]
Man Convinces JCPenney To Honor Online Price
By 8.16.10
Gerry and his wife tried to buy a pair of sneakers that the JCPenney website had listed on sale. While other products were marked “online only,” this particular pair of sneakers was marked “also in stores,” so the couple assumed that the price would be the same. Naturally, the store’s employees refused to see the logic of this argument. [More]
FTC Shuts Down Domain Name Scammers
By 8.10.10
The FTC says a Toronto-based company called Internet Listing Service scammed thousands of U.S. consumers and small businesses by mailing invoices to them demanding payment for unnecessary domain registration services. The company was given a suspended judgment of over $4 million, based on “the total amount of consumer injury” caused, but in reality the people behind the scam have been ordered to pay $10,000 because that’s all the money they have left. [More]
