जनता का आदमी

(Atwater Village Newbie)

Baseball season is only days away, and the L.A. Dodgers are fresh off a 94-win division title season. Yet a large number of Dodgers fans can’t watch the games on TV because the cable sports channel owned by the team and Time Warner Cable has yet to reach deals that would let other pay-TV operators in the region carry the station. And TWC’s answer to these fans is mind-bogglingly idiotic.

Fierce Cable’s Daniel Frankel is the latest to try to get a real reading from TWC on the odds that SportsNet L.A. will be made available to anyone in the L.A. area other than TWC customers. He even indicts himself for picking up a recent news item that gave a glimmer of hope to many Dodgers fans that they might see a game on TV this spring.

Frankel notes that TWC is even telling its investors that they should expect the company to continue losing money on the SportsNet L.A. deal for the foreseeable future because the likelihood of reaching a carriage deal with other pay-TV providers is not so great.

But what really drives home TWC’s antipathy toward Dodgers fans is the statement the company provided to Frankel regarding the status of SportsNet L.A. [last sentence bolded for emphasis]:

“We want all Dodger fans to have access to SportsNet LA. Despite our repeated attempts, other providers are unwilling to engage in any discussions. If Dodger fans want to enjoy SportsNet LA this season, we encourage them to switch to a provider that carries the network.“

This sentiment — if you want to watch the Dodgers, get a pay-TV provider that carries them — only really applies to current DirecTV and Dish customers, as they may also live in an area serviced by TWC. But a look at the coverage maps for each of the major non-satellite providers in the region tells a very different story.

Here are the individual coverage maps for TWC, Cox, and Charter in the L.A. area:

Notice anything? There’s little to no overlap in coverage between these three sizable cable companies. Here’s what happens when you put the three together:

So all those people in red and blue areas, not to mention the areas not covered by any of these companies? TWC wants you to switch to a non-existent pay-TV provider who both operates in your neighborhood and offers SportsNet L.A.

It’s TWC’s choice if it wants to keep bleeding money on SportsNet L.A., but the company shouldn’t be blaming Dodgers fans who have no choice in who provides cable TV service in their area.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Amazon on YouTube)

Reaching for another roll of paper towels in the pantry only to find you’ve run out just when little Timmy has flung yet another bowl of pureed peas against the wall is annoying, as is realizing your roommate hasn’t bought toilet paper during your moment of need. In an attempt to solve that problem, Amazon announced a new line of branded buttons that reorder certain common household products with one push, using your home’s WiFi connection and a connected Prime account.

We first heard rumblings of Amazon testing out a one-button system for ordering things last fall, at which point it was still uncertain whether such a thing would make it market or not.

It seems that’s going to be a reality, as Amazon unveiled a line of free Dash buttons that can be stuck to say, the washing machine or the bathroom mirror, allowing Prime customers to simply push them when they need more Tide or Olay moisturizer.

From Amazon:

Dash Button comes with a reusable adhesive and a hook so you can hang, stick, or place it right where you need it. Keep Dash Button handy in the kitchen, bath, laundry, or anywhere you store your favorite products. When you’re running low, simply press Dash Button, and Amazon quickly delivers household favorites so you can skip the last-minute trip to the store.

Each brand included in the lineup — along with Tide and Olay there’s Clorox, Huggies, Bounty and more — has its own button. Once you’ve pushed it (or little Timmy has because you positioned it within his reach, sigh), an alert pops up on your smartphone so you can cancel the order if you need to.

Right now it’s only available by invitation for Prime customers, with Amazon’s site saying the Dash buttons will be available in a few weeks.

If you’re suspicious that this announcement is popping up pretty darn close to April Fool’s Day (the Consumerist team was), it does seem that the Dash button is for real. The Washington Post staffer who wrote about the product on the companys The Switch blog, Sarah Halzack, Tweeted that the button isn’t a joke — and she would very possibly know that, as Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post as well as Amazon:

BTW, Amazon Dash is not an April Fool's joke.

— Sarah Halzack (@sarahhalzack) March 31, 2015

Timing the release of such a product this close to April Fool’s Day is actually kind of a genius move, as it gets people to talk about whether it’s real or not, thus creating free publicity for Amazon and all the brands involved.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(kevindean)

Will calling emergency services repeatedly about a bar bill summon the cops? Sure, but they won’t be helping to sort out whether or not you were overcharged for a beer, they’ll be charging you with abusing the 9-1-1 system, an offense that can bring up to a year in jail and a fine that is the equivalent of many, many beers.

Police say an Idaho man dialed up 9-1-1 a dozen times early Monday morning with an urgent non-emergency, reports KXLY.com: He claimed that the bar he’d just been booted from had overcharged him for his beers.

“He was demanding that the place he got kicked out of didn’t over charge him for him being down there,” the town’s police captain said.

According to the police report, the man was kicked out of a bar around 1:13 a.m. and an officer gave him a courtesy ride home. Apparently he felt close to the police at that point, and decided to give’em a few more rings.

“He had been intoxicated, so we gave him a ride home and shortly after we started receiving 911 calls from him,” the police captain said, noting that he then called 12 times total.

First he called to say he wanted officers to come back to his house to talk about his bar tab. Then he called back seven minutes later to ask when an officer would be showing up. He called twice and hung up, then called three times and put his phone up to the radio. Telling a dispatcher that she’s “just like his ex-wife,” he then hung up, police say.

Such antics are a drain on police resources and could prevent them from helping others with real emergencies, the captain says. And besides, receipts from the bar show he was only charged $30 for the 10 beers he’d had, which is a lot smaller bill than the $1,000 he could now be facing as the result of a misdemeanor citation for misusing 911.

Man calls 911 to report he was overcharged on his bar tab [KXLY.com]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Pac-Man eats his way through the Gray’s Ferry section of Philadelphia.

Have you ever looked at a Google Map and thought to yourself, “It would be flippin’ awesome if I could play Pac-Man on this street grid”? Probably not, because that is not something that occurs to most people. But it did occur to some folks at Google who have incorporated, perhaps temporarily, a button that lets you Pac-Man-ize your Google Map.

It’s really simple, just go to maps.google.com, pick an area in which you would like to play Pac-Man, then click the button on the bottom-left of the screen (next to the one that switches between graphical maps and satellite maps).

Then you just play Pac-Man.

The functionality does limit the size of the street map maze. So if you’re zoomed out too far, or zoomed in too close, the screen will automatically adjust to a level that works with the game.

Two employee-friendly (but not employer-friendly) notes: It seems to default to muted sound, so you won’t have to worry about everyone in your office hearing you. And the game quickly aborts with a press of the Esc key, so you can get out quickly if needed.

[via The Independent]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

We’re sure you’ve had that feeling when you see a new invention trotted out by a big company, that moment of, “Hey, I totally had that idea first!” A Michigan entrepreneur took that feeling and turned it into a lawsuit against H.J. Heinz Co., saying the company ripped off his invention when creating its “Dip & Squeeze” ketchup packets.

The Michigan man claims he patented the”Little Dipper” condiment package back in 1997, reports the Associated Press, and that Heinz took his idea and turned it into the Dip & Squeeze packets, which debuted in February 2010.

The trial started yesterday in a federal court in Pittsburgh, and is expected to last through Thursday. If the jury decides Heinz used the man’s “concrete, new and novel” ideas when it developed the packets that can both be squeezed or used as a container to dip things into, there will be another trial in June to determine how much Heinz owes him.

The man’s attorney can’t say how much his client is seeking because the expert hired to calculate that amount hasn’t come up with a final number yet.

“Heinz says it didn’t use any of [the entrepreneur’s] ideas — they thought it up all on their own,” his attorney told the jury. “We’re here to tell you that’s not true.”

He isn’t claiming that Heinz copied his design exactly, but instead that the company didn’t have the idea for its own container until he pitched it to the folks there. Heinz’s attorney denies that claim.

The entrepreneur sent a letter in March 2008 to then-CEO William Johnson and met with Heinz officials a few months later, his attorney says.

Heinz isn’t denying that the meeting took place, but said the discussion had nothing to do with the Dip & Squeeze.

Mich. entrepreneur claims idea for Heinz Dip & Squeeze [Associated Press]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Colin)

The prospect of using our phones in place of wallets is exciting to absent-minded people everywhere, but how well is adoption of mobile payments going in the real world? A recent survey looking at adoption of Apple Pay a few months out from its introduction shows that consumers are enthused about it, but are having trouble finding retailers where they can use the service.

Near field communication chips and mobile payments are nothing new, but they were new to Apple’s lineup of smartphones. but making Apple Pay part of the iPhone 6 meant that the capability rolled out to millions of people all at once. According to a survey by Phoenix Marketing International, about two-thirds of people who own the new iPhones at least signed up for Apple Pay and added a credit card to their accounts, but the problem has been on retailers’ end.

88% of survey participants who set up Apple Pay went out into the world and tried to use it, Phoenix reports, but almost half of those users (47%) say that they tried to use the service in a store that advertised Apple Pay capability but didn’t actually have it. About two-thirds of people who tried to use Apple Pay out in the wild reported problems actually using it at checkout. The process was slow, the cashier didn’t know what they were doing, or they couldn’t resolve problems: they experienced a variety of issues with the service, but

Apple Pay Performance: The First Four Months [Phoenix Marketing International]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Not the Pizza Hut in question. SchuminWeb)

While the human mouth gets to have all the fun of tasting, chewing and eating delicious food in all its various incarnations, it can also be the portal to pain when something isn’t right. In the case of a man who said he broke a partial denture at Pizza Hut, the weapon of destruction came in the form of “excessively hard croutons.”

The Tennessee man was awarded a $2,400, interest and court costs in a judgment against Pizza Hut, reports Roane County News, after he sued the restaurant for his damaged denture.

His lawsuit claimed the restaurant caused personal injuries and damages to his specialized partial denture by “negligently serving at defendant’s restaurant excessively hard croutons.”

The customer’s attorney said they approached Pizza Hut to find a resolution before going ahead with the lawsuit, but nothing came of it.

“We tried to work it out with their insurance company, but they never wanted to talk,” his attorney said. “So we went ahead and filed.”

Dough for denture damage [Roane County News]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

The unlikely partnership between Starbucks and Dannon parent company Danone that Consumerist first reported on back in 2013 is finally coming to fruition with the launch of an exclusive line of yogurt-bases smoothies, parfaits and fruit cups at 4,300 of the company’s coffee shops.

Starbucks announced today that it will add a line of three Evolution Fresh Smoothies at select stores in Washington state, Oregon, Alaska, Northern California and Idaho.

The smoothies, which will come in flavors like Sweet Greens, Strawberry and Mango Carrot, were first piloted in select Starbucks stores last year.

The new menu offerings will consist of exclusive-to-Starbucks Dannon Greek yogurt and hand pressed juices from Starbucks-owned Evolution Fresh. Customers can customize the new drinks with add-ins like protein powder and kale.

Starbucks’ latest endeavor doesn’t end there, though. As it was suggested in 2013, the company plans to begin selling Evolution Fresh Greek yogurt parfaits in about half of its U.S. stores by early May.

Additionally, the company will start selling Greek yogurt cuts, complete with fruit on the bottom at actual grocery stores later this summer.

Cold Pressed HPP Juice and Traditional Greek Yogurt Smoothie Launches in 4,300 Starbucks Locations with Fresh Approach to $2.2 Billion Smoothie Market [Starbucks]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(honeylamb)

Last fall, we were the first to tell you about Conal O’Rourke, the Comcast customer in California who spent more than a year dealing with consistent over-billing — including $1,820 worth of equipment he’d never ordered nor needed — and horrendous customer service who was fired from his job at Comcast-consulting accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers after he took his complaint to the office of the Comcast controller. Shortly after publishing that story, Conal sued Comcast over the incident, and now he’s amended that lawsuit to allege invasion of privacy and to put a higher dollar amount on the damages being sought.

The amended complaint [PDF] adds a seventh cause of action — invasion of privacy — to the original complaint, claiming that Comcast’s public statements about Conal’s customer service calls involve a public disclosure of private facts.

After Conal filed suit, Comcast released a statement to Consumerist and others, explaining that, “As part of this investigation, we have listened to recorded calls between Mr. O’Rourke and our customer service representatives and his treatment of them and his language is totally unspeakable.”

This statement and description of the customer service calls goes to far, says Conal in the revised lawsuit.

“The recorded customer service telephone calls between Mr. O’Rourke and Comcast are private, and are not the subjects of legitimate public concern,” reads the amended complaint. “Comcast’s public disclosure of the existence and nature of Mr. O’Rourke’s private calls to Comcast customer service – which disclosure falsely portrays Mr. O’Rourke as an individual lacking in decency, ethics and integrity – is offensive and objectionable to a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities.”

The lawsuit claims that “Comcast’s conduct towards Mr. O’Rourke was wanton, willful and intentional, and committed with malicious intent.”

The amended complaint now ups the original damages estimate from more than $1 million to more than $5 million.

In a statement to Ars Technica, Conal’s lawyer Harmeet K. Dhillon says it could be years before this lawsuit is resolved.

“That’s how long hard-fought federal lawsuits are taking in this district these days, and Comcast will be opposing it hard,” she explained to Ars. “I can’t say on the record why it didn’t settle, but you can see from Comcast’s public statements that they want to be ‘vindicated.’”

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(JeepersMedia)

Kraft Singles won’t come with a stamp from the Academy of Nutrition and Diatetics reading “Kids Eat Right” anymore, after a group of dietitians signed a petition calling to put an end to the partnership. The petition claims that having such a logo makes it seem like the group is endorsing the cheese product.

The two sides say the deal is over due to “misperceptions” that are “overshadowing the campaign,” reports the Associated Press. The petition also seeks transparency about the terms of the deal that allowed Kraft to slap the logo on its products.

Kraft and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics said the effort was supposed to raise awareness about kids not getting enough calcium and Vitamin D, but Kraft didn’t reveal how much money it forked over for the right to use the logo.

It was supposed to be a three-year deal, and would’ve included a website and, among other things. A Kraft spokeswoman says they’re still figuring out how to end the effort.

“That collaboration is not going to be happening,” she said.

Though the Academy of Nutrition and Diatetics didn’t offer a statement, in a letter sent to its 75,000 members yesterday, the academy’s president said the group “deeply regrets the circumstances that have led to the pending termination of this initiative.”

“This pilot initiative was never intended to be an official Academy endorsement of a particular product, which is strictly prohibited by our policy and is expressly included in all contracts,” the letter said.

As it stands, the logo is already set to appear on products this week, and will be around eat least until July because the packaging has already been manufactured.

Kraft Singles to drop ‘Kids Eat Right’ logo after ‘misperceptions’ [Associated Press]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

It seems like just yesterday we were dreaming of a mega-luxury online retail platform where we could buy all the designer brands our wallets will never be able to afford. That’s probably because it was one day ago that reports began to swirl that online merchants Yoox and Net-A-Porter were thinking of merging to create one big high-end shopping destination on the interwebs.

Those talks appear to have escalated quickly, as Yoox confirmed this morning that it has clinched a deal with Net-A-Porter to create a “business combination.” The financial aspects of the deal were not made public.

The merger creates a new group to be known as Yoox Net-A-Porter Group with expected revenue of $1.4 billion. Under the deal, the new company is expected to attract nearly two million high-spending customers and over 24 million monthly visitors worldwide.

Both Yoox and Net-a-Porter – which is owned by Swiss company Richemont – launched in 2000 as a way to provide more upscale brands in one place.

However, the two companies took a decidedly different approach to doing so.

London-based Net-a-Porter showcases its products much like one might see while thumbing through a fashion magazine, while Yoox focuses on buying overstocked or unsold items from previous seasons from high-profile fashion designers and then selling those apparel products for a discounted price.

“This is a game-changing merger between two pioneering companies that have already radically transformed the marketplace since 2000 and will now shift the industry paradigm once again,” Federico Marchetti, founder of Italian-based Yoox Group and the new CEO of Yoox Net-a-Porter Group says in a statement. “Together, we plan to expand on our many combined successes and industry breadth to strengthen partnerships with the world’s leading luxury brands and harness a significant untapped growth potential.”

The quick turn around regarding Yoox and Net-a-Porter’s merger are a bit surprising, considering just last week it was reported that Amazon was in talks to purchase Net-a-Porter for a hefty $2 billion. However, officials with Richemont tell Fortune that those talks never occurred.

To Create a Leading Online Luxury Fashion Retailer Worldwide [Yoox]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

In cable, merger mania isn’t just for the biggest players. The next tier down wants to play, too. And so we have the announcement this morning that Charter is planning to buy regional operator Bright House Networks for a cool $10.4 billion.

Bright House is, according to Charter’s press release, the sixth largest cable operator in the U.S., serving about 2 million customers in Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, and California. And Florida really seems to be Charter’s main target here: the company has no presence in that state at this time, nor will the Comcast/TWC merger land them customers there.

Charter is, of course, intimately involved in the pending Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger. If that trio gets its way with regulators, Charter will directly trade roughly a million and a half customers to/from Comcast, as well as own a significant stake in the new spin-off organization, GreatLand.

Charter has also indicated that should the Comcast/TWC deal for whatever reason not come to fruition, they’re still perfectly ready to go buy TWC themselves.

The planned Charter/Bright House merger will have to follow the same approval steps at the FCC as its bigger siblings, but is likely to face significantly less opposition as the companies involved are much, much smaller.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Over the weekend, StubHub filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, alleging that the team and the ticket company are forcing Warriors season-ticket subscribers to use Ticketmaster if they want to resell their seats to anyone. Ticketmaster is now defending itself and says that it is the one that’s on the side of sports fans.

“We are disappointed that StubHub has filed a baseless lawsuit that asks the courts to help prop up its business against true fan-friendly competition,” reads the statement from Ticketmaster about the StubHub lawsuit. “NBA teams like the Golden State Warriors have implemented ticket exchanges powered by Ticketmaster because they want ticket resale to be a secure experience, not an opportunity for scalping and fraud. The exchanges are growing in popularity because Ticketmaster and its partners have worked hard to make ticket resale much safer and more transparent, uniquely serving true fans. Ticketmaster does not force any customer to resell tickets on any particular platform and will vigorously defend these specious charges.”

Pay attention to the wording of that last sentence. “Ticketmaster does not force…” You’ll note that it doesn’t say anything in defense of the Warriors, who have allegedly threatened to take away postseason ticket offers and cancel future season ticket plans for fans who use StubHub to resell their tickets. This doesn’t mean that the allegations against the Warriors are true, but it is curious that Ticketmaster omits the team from this portion of its declaration.

As for Ticketmaster’s supposedly “fan-friendly” image of its arrangement with the Warriors, the folks at Fan Freedom don’t exactly see it this way.

“The Golden State Warriors are coercing season ticket holders, with the threat of ticket cancellations, to resell tickets exclusively on Ticketmaster’s NBATickets.com,” says Executive Director Chris Grimm in a statement. “NBATickets.com charges ticket buyers a 33% higher service fee than competing platforms and allows teams to set a hidden price floor, artificially inflating ticket prices.”

In its complaint [PDF], StubHub said that, in spite of the fact that the Warriors have been consistently selling out home games, the site’s inventory of secondary-market Warriors tickets dropped 80% between 2013 and 2014.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Mike Mozart)

Imagine that you’re visiting a large restaurant at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. You take a seat and give your order to a roving server, who taps it into a tablet computer and takes payment. Then your food arrives, which is…Big Macs and fries? What is this? When did McDonald’s start offering table service?

It’s part of an experiment at the 500-seat McDonald’s at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, where the fast-foodery will try a bold new experiment in bringing food to people. They can either place their orders on a kiosk (like at their locations with fancy $8 burgers in Australia) and then sit and wait for their food to arrive. Easterbrook calls this set up the future of McDonald’s, which raises one inevitable question: would we be expected to tip here in the U.S.?

The job of new McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook is to figure out how to coax people all over the world back into the chain’s restaurants, away from quick-serve interlopers like Chipotle and Panera. Germany is one of the trouble spots, along with the United States.

McDonald’s starts table service in Germany [Reuters]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Cupertino has the Power… at a premium price.

Only weeks ago, AT&T announced gigabit fiber broadband service in Kansas City for $70/month. Granted, customers have to give up their right to privacy to get that rate, but at least it’s the same price being charged by Google Fiber, which also happens to operate in KC. But when it comes to AT&T’s impending gigabit offering in Cupertino — the land of Apple — that $70/month rate is nowhere to be found; probably because Google Fiber is not around.

Kansas City isn’t the only place where the presence of competition results in a lower price for AT&T’s gigabit service. Customers in Austin can also get service for $70, if they’re willing to opt into the usage monitoring. And guess who else operates in Austin? Google Fiber.

Over in Dallas, AT&T’s home turf, you’ll pay the $110/month rate for AT&T’s highest-speed offering. As you’ve probably guessed, there’s no Google Fiber there.

Okay, so AT&T U-Verse users in Cupertino and Dallas can’t get the $70/month rate, but at least they won’t have to compromise their privacy to save $40/month, right?

Nope, as Ars Technica points out, the $110/month rate in these markets doesn’t give you the option of avoiding the monitoring.

AT&T has not yet announced pricing for other planned markets like Atlanta, Chicago, Nashville, and Charlotte, but we have a hunch those rates will be based on whether or not Google Fiber has staked a claim on the area too, as there are a number of overlaps between the two lists.

Google has already confirmed plans to expand to Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina, Atlanta, and Nashville.

The folks in Cupertino may eventually see a price drop, as Google lists the San Jose market (which would presumably encompass Apple’s hometown) as a “Potential Fiber City.”

This all underscores how vital competition is for consumers. Without a competitor offering comparable high-speed fiber service, AT&T is free to charge $40/month more than it does as soon as a viable competitor enters the picture.

The pay-TV industry — which blossomed into the consumer broadband business just because these companies had lines that could carry the signals — has benefited for decades from near monopolies in most parts of the country, as local franchise agreements gave these businesses exclusive access to area homes and utility poles.

This lack of competition also allowed for a few giants like Comcast and Time Warner Cable to grow by simply gobbling up smaller companies without setting off regulatory alarm bells. Since, by design, Company A doesn’t directly compete with Company B, a merger of the two can’t result in less competition, but it does lead to the combined Company AB having greater control over the pipelines through which consumers get their information.

And even though AT&T’s Giga Power service is a newcomer that could disrupt the marketplace dominated by the cable TV titans, the company is choosing to put a premium price on its product, meaning it’s not much of an option to cash-strapped consumers. That is, unless Google Fiber is nearby.

This is not to say that Google Fiber is any sort of pro-consumer miracle cure-all, but it does exemplify how competition can keep prices down.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Great Beyond)

Texting while driving isn’t the only distracting activity drivers are partaking in behind the wheel while they should be paying attention to the road, according to a new survey. There are people primping, changing clothes, going to the bathroom, taking selfies and even strumming away on the guitar while driving, making the roads more dangerous for the rest of us.

In a survey conducted for Erie Insurance by Harris Poll of 2,019 adults to bring attention to National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April, participants admitted to doing a wide variety of things behind the wheel that aren’t actually driving, reports the Chicago Tribune.

“A distraction is anything that causes a driver to take their eyes off the road, their hands off the wheel, or their mind off the primary task of driving safely,” Doug Smith, Erie Insurance senior vice president of personal lines, said in a statement. “Our survey found drivers unfortunately are engaging in a wide range of distracting and potentially dangerous behaviors.”

Some of the most popular distractions: Romantic encounters (15%); Combing or styling hair (15%); Changing clothes (9%); Applying makeup (8%); Brushing or flossing teeth (4%); Changing drivers (3%) and going to the bathroom (3%).

That in addition to the 30% of drivers who admitted to texting while driving. Others said they put in contact lenses, curled their eyelashes, scratching off lottery cards and playing the guitar.

Those most likely to engage in texting live in the South, are men and are between 18 and 34, while those in the Northeast, women and people 65 and older were least likely to admit to such behavior.

But the most dangerous distraction according to Erie’s review of police data? Daydreaming.

Distracted drivers admit making out, fixing hair, relieving themselves [Chicago Tribune]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Jamie McCaffrey)

Future Shop is the best name ever given to an electronics retailer, and also a chain in Canada that for the last 14 years has been owned by Best Buy. Best Buy also operates stores in Canada, which means that Future Shop has really been competing with itself. Until now. All of Future Shop’s current stores closed abruptly this weekend, and half will soon re-open as Best Buy stores.

Future Shop had 131 stores, and plans to keep 65 of them as Best Buy locations. The rest of them will close entirely, putting 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time employees out of work.

It may have been a terrible idea all along for Best Buy to keep all of Future Shop’s stores open in competition with its own stores, especially when both stores are similar big-box electronics formats. Some of their stores are even neighbo(u)rs in the same shopping plazas, as you can see in the photo illustrating this post.

Instead of withdrawing from the country entirely, as Target is currently doing, Best Buy plans to invest about $200 million (Canadian dollars) in the reorganization to stay competitive in Canada, which will include adding large appliance sales to its stores and improving its e-commerce operations.

Future Shop shutters Canadian stores, will rebrand as Best Buy [Globe and Mail]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(David Goehring)

Late last year, Consumerist reported on a string of debt collectors paying to use prosecutors’ letterheads as a way to intimidate consumers into paying their debts. While the company facing the wrath of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today didn’t exactly pay to use the letterhead, they allegedly used the documents in a deceptive manner to get consumers to enroll in costly financial education programs.

According to the CFPB complaint [PDF], between 2009 and 2014 National Corrective Group masqueraded as prosecutors and used deceptive tactics to intimidate consumers into paying hundreds of dollars in fees to avoid supposed jail time.

The California-based operation, along with Victim Services Inc. and American Justice Solutions, Inc., make up the largest administrators of bad check diversion programs in the United States.

Check diversion programs are often offered by state and district attorneys’ office to consumers accused of writing bad checks as a way to avoid criminal prosecution.

National Corrective Group administered these programs on behalf of state and local prosecutors’ offices and collected check debt from consumers on behalf of retail merchants in Maryland, Colorado, California, Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Pennsylvania.

Under the law, a company operating a bad check diversion program cannot contact a consumer about the program until a prosecutor’s office has reviewed the case and determined the consumer is eligible.

But, according to the CFPB complaint, that’s not how National Corrective Group operated.

Instead the company allegedly deceived consumers by sending them notices on prosecutors’ letterhead – creating the false impression that consumers may be prosecuted for writing bounced checks – before their cases were ever reviewed by the proper authorities.

“The CFPB alleges that less than one percent of consumers who received final warning letters stating that their case was being forwarded for possible criminal prosecution were ever even referred to the prosecutor’s office for possible prosecution,” the Bureau says in a statement. “The Bureau alleges that the company also threatened possible criminal prosecution where the amount of the debt was so low that criminal action would rarely or never occur.”

Additionally, National Corrective Group told consumers that to qualify for the diversion program and avoid prosecution they must pay the bounced check debts as well as enroll in the company’s financial education class for an additional fee, which typically cost about $200.

Under the proposed order, National Corrective Group must end its deceptive communications to consumers, stop using threats of intimidation or imprisonment, stop using district attorneys’ letterhead and must pay a $50,000 civil fine to the Bureau.

CFPB Takes Action Against “Bad Check” Debt Collector [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

That Elon sure does know how to tease… (via Twitter)

Earlier today, Tesla founder and Twitter tease Elon Musk announced that his company would be unveiling a “Major new product line” on April 3, while cautioning immediately that it’s “not a car.” So what could it be?

The biggest bet is something related to Tesla’s batteries. Last month, Musk revealed that Tesla was working on lithium-ion battery packs for home and business use.

“We are going to unveil the Tesla home battery, the consumer battery that would be for use in people’s houses or businesses fairly soon,” he told investors at the time.

These batteries could possibly be used with things like solar panels to collect and distribute electricity as needed, especially in developing parts of the world or in areas where it’s impractical to run electrical wiring or operate a gas-powered generator.

“A lot of utilities are working in this space and we are talking to almost all of them,” JB Straubel, chief technology officer for Tesla said at the time. “This is a business that is gaining an increasing amount of our attention.”

So far, aside from the fact that this new product line is not a car, the company isn’t giving any additional hints about what will be revealed on April 30.

Musk: Tesla Will Unveil Major New Product on April 30 [Bloomberg]

Tesla Motors to Unveil New Product April 30 [WSJ]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Screengrab via 9to5Mac.com)

As predicted a few weeks ago, a new report says Apple is now going to accept smartphones and PCs from other manufacturers and give owners a discount on new iPhones.

Certain models of Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry smart phones will be eligible toward immediate purchases of a new iPhone 5c, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus, reports 9to5Mac.com, as well as some PCs.

The program’s expansion is rolling out in the U.S., France, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Italy as of today, with individual retail stores pages reflecting the change. Meanwhile, another version of the program that only allows for iPhone trade-ins is launching in China this week.

So which phones can you trade in? TechCrunch says eligibility covers most flagship Android manufacturers, citing Apple, including but not limited to: Sony, Samsung, Nokia, LG, HTC and BlackBerry devices specifically.

If your phone is in bad shape, however, don’t expect a trade-in credit, as it’s likely Apple will require the devices to have some value. Those that can’t be traded in due to age or condition can be recycled with Apple’s help, however.

Apple launches in-store Android trade-in program to boost iPhone sales [9to5Mac.com]
Apple’s Trade-In Program Now Includes Non-Apple Smartphones And PCs [TechCrunch]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(imgur)

TV production and distribution is a complicated entanglement of interests involving studios, distributors, networks, and pay-TV services, not to mention deals any of these people might have with other companies like home video or on-demand streaming sites. That’s been one of the huge impediments to getting live-streaming of all TV content — having to please all those parties who may not all agree. And that appears to be why Sling TV users are now finding that they can’t access every show on all of the networks.

Some Sling users have taken to this reddit thread to discuss why they unable to watch Criminal Minds reruns on A&E, or why certain movies are not available on Lifetime and other channels in the Sling lineup.

“Due to rights restrictions, this content cannot be streamed on Sling TV,” reads the message that users get when trying to watch these shows.

Even though Sling has only been widely available since early February, we’d heard no reports of rights restrictions until very recently, after A&E and its handful of channels joined the service.

This is most likely due to the fact that A&E and Lifetime allow Sling users to employ the service’s quasi-DVR function that lets you watch programming that has recently aired. Many of Sling’s biggest names, including ESPN, TNT, Disney, and TBS, only allow viewing of the live stream; no pausing or rewinding and no on-demand archive.

Some blame CBS and its history of antipathy toward Dish for keeping Criminal Minds off Sling, but the more likely reason is the show’s current deal with Netflix, which carries the first nine seasons of the show. It’s possible that allowing Sling users to rewind CI episodes might put them into a category that conflicts with the Netflix agreement.

Other shows that some users say are being blocked include some episodes of A&E’s Intervention and at least one Lifetime original movie. Again, Netflix currently airs a handful of Intervention episodes, and recently added a large number of Lifetime movies.

A rep for Sling confirmed the blackouts on A&E and Lifetime to TechHive, but said that “when possible, these channels will offer other programming in place of the restricted content.”

[via FierceCable]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(JeepersMedia)

We initially reported that people with RadioShack gift cards would have to use them up by March 5 or lose the entire balance. Great news if you happen to have found one buried in the far corner of your junk drawer: RadioShack has extended the period that they’re accepting gift cards to March 31.

The chain reportedly would like to wind things down tomorrow so they don’t have to pay April rent in their thousands of remaining stores, which is understandable. Whether they hand the keys over to designated auction winner Standard General or to a team of liquidators, another company will most likely be in charge as of April 1.

After that, we’re not even sure whether there will still be RadioShack brand stores around: one possible outcome of the bankruptcy auction is that the chain will be liquidated entirely, with only the remaining dealers and franchise stores maybe continuing to exist. Without a RadioShack supply chain, those stores could become something else.

People who dig up gift cards from defunct retailers can theoretically get something in exchange for the remaining value on the cards by filing as a creditor in the bankruptcy proceedings. After all, they do owe you money. However, you’d be very far down the list of creditors. In the case of RadioShack, even companies that lent the company millions of dollars to stay in business may not see much of the proceeds of this auction if Standard General wins, since most of the hedge fund’s bid for what’s left of the retailer is in the form of debt that RadioShack owes it.

RadioShack Customer FAQ [Radioshack]

Chapter 11 Gift Card Watchlist [Gift Card Girlfriend]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(pjseeger)

The owner of a steakhouse who added an extra-large genital enhancement to the bull on the restaurant’s sign says he’s removing the nether bits that caused a slew of complaints from residents, but he’s not doing it because of the controversy.

He says he woke up one day and realized that the bull would be just as effective on the sign if it didn’t have the long cone-shaped phallus it originally included, reports The Spectrum.

But it’s not because of all the naysayers out there he says, adding that he called up the city to explain himself first.

“I told them I am not removing the penis for you or because of your complaints. I don’t like you. I’m doing it for me,” he said. “I just decided it would look better without the weenie. And oh my God! It’s beautiful.”

City officials say that though a stream of complaints have come in from people about the restaurant since it opened in 2009, there’s no cause to revoke its business license.

The owner says he filed all the proper paperwork to get the sign approved, which the City Manager admits, but added that “the dimensions of certain parts of the animal don’t seem to be built the same way as in the plan that came to us.”

The bull’s bits caused a controversy recently when the animal showed up atop a stack of signs for the restaurant, but it’s not like the owner planned it that way, he claims.

“I didn’t put it up to piss them off; I put it up because it’s an amazing piece, and I bought it as-is, but I am having fun with all the attention, and it’s brought in more customers,” he said.

At the same time, he admits that the cone shape didn’t feel quite… right.

“But I don’t know what a weenie on a bull is supposed to look like,” he says.

Owner alters Barista’s infamous bull [The Spectrum]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist