Man Who Torched Car To Save Home Ends Up In Court

Man Who Torched Car To Save Home Ends Up In Court: "

A Utah man had a bold plan, which we told you about last year. His house was going into foreclosure unless he could come up with $21,638.02 to pay HSBC. So he announced to the world that he would burn his car and post the video online in exchange for donations. He raised about $15,000 and even sold $1,200 worth of advertising on the side of the car. He tried to work with local fire departments to get them to let him burn the car, to no avail. So he did it on public land and now he's in court and getting fined, reports KSL.

On his blog shortly after the incineration he wrote:

EASIER TO GET FORGIVENESS THAN PERMISSION. The above statement has been said to me and by me more times in the last two weeks than I can count. I always thought that this just meant that by asking forgiveness you got to do what you wanted which was worth the punishment.

What I have learned the past few days is that asking permission and getting told 'no' and then doing it anyway, brings a far more severe punishment from the powers that be than just doing it without asking.Indeed. And if you blog about your plans to flout the law including the address, don't be surprised when 'the powers that be' show up at your weenie roast.

The $3,413.75 in fines are for 'misdemeanor counts of creating a hazard and a nuisance and causing a fire other than a campfire.' He is also paying back everyone who donated to him. Which I guess also means he'll be losing his house. So now he's homeless, car-less, convicted of a crime, broke and his reputation ruined -- give this man a reality show!

Man fined for burning car on BLM land [KSL] (Thanks to Lyn!)

PREVIOUSLY

Man Offers To Set Car On Fire To Save Home From HSBC Foreclosure

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Starbucks CEO Laughs At The Notion That His Coffee Costs $5

Starbucks CEO Laughs At The Notion That His Coffee Costs $5: "

Katie Couric recently interviewed Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on CBS Sunday Morning and asked him if he thought the company had a 'tin ear' to what people were going through with the recession. Perhaps, she suggested, they couldn't afford to pay '$5 on their coffee every day.' Schultz's response was to laugh. You see, Starbucks coffee only costs $1.50.

Couric: 'Do you think that the company, and you, had a tin ear about what people were experiencing during the height of the recession?'

Schultz: 'No.'

Couric: 'You know, that maybe they couldn't spend $5 on their coffee every day?'

Schultz (interrupting, laughing): 'Katie! It's not five bucks! It's not five bucks, let's get that right! It's $1.50!'

Couric: 'No, for these fancy coffee drinks, that people are addicted to! It's a lot more than $1.50, Howard.'

Schultz (laughing in disbelief): 'Ok, Ok. We did not have a tin ear.'

Couric: 'Little bit?'

We're out of touch with Starbucks prices, so we'll just leave this one up to you, the consumer. Which millionaire is right?

Who is right?online surveys

Starbucks CEO Laughs Off Katie Couric's $5 Coffee Question [Eater]

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Drug Companies Pushing Up Prices In Patent-Ending Panic

Drug Companies Pushing Up Prices In Patent-Ending Panic: "

Get it while you can, big drug companies! Pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca and Bristol Meyers Squibb are feeling a little panicky as the deadlines loom on patents for some of their best-selling drugs, so what do they do? Up the prices now, before those pesky generic versions arrive to drive consumer costs down.

Reuters reports that prices in the U.S. for certain brand-name drugs like Lipitor, Plavix, Singulair and 12 other of the biggest sellers rose by much higher rants in 2010 than they had in the previous five years. Their figures are based on data from Thomson Reuters MarketScan, which looked at the average cost of a daily dose as indicated in medical claims data.

As the numbers show that two thirds of those popular designer drugs went up by double digits, analysts point to a pretty obvious reason for the inflation: drug makers want to wring out every last penny they can while the getting is good: IMS health estimates that $24.5 billion in U.S. drug sales are at risk for competition from generic brands this year, while another $26.1 billion in sales will lose patent protection in 2012.

And it's not even the drugs that are close to losing their patents -- Everett Neville, vice president of pharma strategy at Express Scripts Inc, tells Reuters: 'what we have seen over the last few years are bigger increases for products that are early or mid-way in their patent cycle.'

Bad news for drug companies seems like good news for consumers, no?

Branded drug prices soar as generic pressure rises [Reuters]

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Pizza Hut Put Kibosh On The Amazing Salad Towers Of China

Pizza Hut Put Kibosh On The Amazing Salad Towers Of China: "

Our post last week about 'How To Game The Salad Bar' reminded commenter power lurker of the Chinese way of playing the game at Pizza Hut. See, in America when you tell people their salad bar is limited to one plate, they shrug because no American eats salad. But in China in the mid to late 2000's, they turned into a competition to see who can create the tallest and most elaborate salad tower.

Apparently what happened was that in Pizza Hut in China had a deal on its salad bar where you could get one plate for 28 renminbi. That's actually not that cheap for most Chinese, but they swiftly realized the deal's fatal flaw. Yes, the horizontal space was limited, but not the vertical. Thus, the salad towers were born.

You arrange some hard fruits, apply a thick mortar of dressing, create a base platform out of a ring of carrots, and get stacking. Concentric rings of interlocking cucumber slices were a popular exterior motif. Also popular was to top it off with an attractive arrangement of orange and tomato slices. Some of them reached nearly a foot in height.

Sadly Pizza Hut got rid of all the salad bars in its Pizza Huts in China in 2009. Though that was a couple of years ago, there's lessons in this story that are relevant today.

The company's response was that salad bars were being removed as part of an overall menu expansion but one Pizza Hut official told a Beijing paper that it was because of the losses incurred by the 'salad towers.' Which is too bad, because really what they should have done is capitalized on this naturally occurring fad, reimbursed the local franchises for their salad bar, and turned it into an official game. Why not host some Pizza Hut salad bar stacking competitions? It would have been a great branding opportunity. Do you know how much money and time companies spend trying to artificially manufacture customer interest and engagement like that? And then just charge by weight.

Here's a video showing how you start building a salad tower:

The Amazing Salad Towers at Pizza Hut China [My Shanghai That's Shanghai] (Thanks to power lurker!)

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Samsung Investigates Report Of Keyloggers On Its Laptops

Samsung Investigates Report Of Keyloggers On Its Laptops: "

Samsung is investigating after an IT consultant reported in Network World that he had found installed in two different brand new Samsung R series laptops he bought a keylogging program that could be used by someone remotely to capture his every keystroke. In response, a Samsung spokesman said, 'We take these claims very, very seriously.'

UPDATE:
>Threatpost reports that Samsung says there's no keylogger, the results were a false positive when an antivirus program mistakenly identified Microsoft's Live Application multi-language support folder, 'SL' folder, as StarLogger.

It's very curious as to how the software got onto two different brand new laptops. That would indicate that an entity with access to the laptop at some point in the supply chain had put it there before it reached the store.

If your computer has been compromised by a keylogger, everything from your online banking info to your social to your ineffective StarCraft II build orders could be at risk.

On the company website, the software maker says, 'Do you want to know what your buddy, colleague or employee is typing? What are they doing on the computer? StarLogger records every keystroke made on your computer on every window, even on password protected boxes. This key logger is completely undetectable and starts up whenever your computer starts up. See everything being typed: emails, messages, documents, web pages, usernames, passwords, and more.'

The spokesman told Network World that this was the first that they had heard of the company, de Willebois Consulting, which made the 'StarLogger' software. 'We have no understanding of a relationship with this company and we have no prior knowledge of this software being on our laptops.'

Who put this particular keylogger software on the two laptops, and why, and whether more laptops have been affected, remains to be seen.

Samsung investigating report of keylogger on its laptops [Network World]

Samsung installs keylogger on its laptop computers [Network World] (Thanks to Chris!)

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Parents Want To Push Kid With Peanut Allergy Out Of School

Parents Want To Push Kid With Peanut Allergy Out Of School: "

Objecting to what they deem to be cumbersome accommodations for a student with a severe peanut allergy, parents at a Florida public school are urging administrators to remove the girl from the classroom and have her home-schooled.

Reuters reports the district denied the request because federal law requires the school to provide the accommodations, which include requiring kids to wash their hands before school and after lunch and rinse their mouths. The school also brought in a peanut-sniffing dog to sniff out the school during spring break.

Said a dad whose wife has protested the accommodations: 'If I had a daughter who had a problem, I would not ask everyone else to change their lives to fit my life.'

Reuters was unable to reach the girl's parents.

If you had a child at the school, how would you react? What if your child was the one stricken with the allergy?

Peanut allergy stirs controversy at Florida school [Reuters]

(Thanks, George!)

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Time Warner Charges Guy $16.4 Million For Cable

Time Warner Charges Guy $16.4 Million For Cable: "

If you thought your cable bill was outrageous, get a load of the $16.4 million Time Warner Cable charged an Ohio engineer. Unsurprisingly, his presumably automatic credit card payment for the bill was rejected due to insufficient funds.

The Dayton Daily News reports the man was in a joking mood about the insane overbilling. He said:

'Had I known this I would have bought Showtime. Five bucks more for Showtime is a bit much, but heck -- $16,409,112. Who cares?'

A TWC rep said the man did not receive a bill for the amount, and his credit card wasn't charged $16.4 million either. Said the rep:

'We apologize for the inconvenience that it caused.We are going to work with the customer to get this resolved.'

Time Warner charges Wright-Patt engineer $16.4 million for cable [Dayton Daily News]

(Thanks, K!)

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Study: Sex, Exercise Can Triple Your Risk Of Heart Attack

Study: Sex, Exercise Can Triple Your Risk Of Heart Attack: "

If you ever find yourself sitting bored and alone on a weekend and feel guilty that you're not out trying to find romance or at least getting a workout in, take comfort in the knowledge that at least you're keeping your heart safe.

Sky News Online reports a study led by a Tufts University professor found that subjects who were exercising were 3.5 times more likely to suffer heart attacks or sudden cardiac death than those who were not. Sex was less risky, making subjects 2.7 times more likely to suffer literal heartbreak. The researchers found the results by looking at 14 other studies that examined the links between sex, exercise and cardiac problems.

A Tufts researcher said the relative risk of fatal heart problems after exercise or sex is small:

'If you take 1,000 people, each individual session of physical or sexual activity per week can be associated with an increase of 1 to 2 cases of heart attack or sudden cardiac death per year.'

Sex Can Kill You, According To US Study [Sky News Online]

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Theater Owners Don't Want You To Know A Large Popcorn Is Like Eating 3 Big Macs

Theater Owners Don't Want You To Know A Large Popcorn Is Like Eating 3 Big Macs: "

The FDA is reportedly set to announce a decision that would force movie theater operators to post calorie counts next to their items in the same way that restaurant chains must. Not surprisingly, the theater owners are popping mad about this possibility.

According to a piece in today's L.A. Times, the National Association of Theatre Owners has been lobbying the FDA and congressional staff members to exempt movie theaters from the nutritional labeling requirement.

'We're not restaurants where people go to eat and satisfy themselves,' the group's general counsel told the paper. 'It's dinner and a movie, not dinner at a movie.'

Of course, movie theater food is often more expensive than dinner... and profitable for the theater chains.

The Times quotes the CFO of Regal Entertainment Group as saying, 'We sell a bucket of popcorn for about $6. Our cost in that $6 bucket of popcorn is about 15 cents or 20 cents. So if that cost doubles, it doesn't really hurt me that much.'

But it might be hurting the people that eat the popcorn. A 2009 study by the spoilsports at the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that a large popcorn serving contained upward of 1,460 calories, almost as much as downing three Big Macs (approx. 1,600 calories).

Should theaters have to post calorie counts just like everyone else, or is movie theater food somehow different than restaurant food?

What's in the popcorn? Cinemas would rather not have to say [L.A. Times]

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Comcast Begs Employees To Vote For Charter In Worst Company In America Poll

Comcast Begs Employees To Vote For Charter In Worst Company In America Poll: "

We know that none of the companies in this year's Worst Company In America tournament want to be on the list. But reigning Golden Poo holder Comcast has decided that, rather than actually do anything about the problems that make it a perennial favorite, it will just beg its employees to vote -- multiple times -- for the other guy.

We received a copy of this message from Comcast HQ posted to its employee network (and yes, the above artwork is an actual screengrab from TeamComcast.com):

Comcasters,

We need your help to show that Comcast is a great company.

The Consumerist website is currently hosting its poll of the 'Worst Companies in America.' Comcast is part of the first round of this poll, which started today and ends at 9 a.m. (ET) this Friday. Unfortunately, this same poll named us as their worst last year. If you feel that Comcast does not deserve this label, we hope that you will participate and vote for the company that is paired against Comcast.

To vote, just click on the following link and place your vote: http://consumerist.com/2011/03/worst-company-in-america-round-one-comcast-vs-charter.html.

Of course, your participation is voluntary. Naturally, we don't want to vote for any company to receive this label; unfortunately that is how the Consumerist poll is structured.

You can only vote one time from a single IP address, so we hope that you will consider voting today/tonight and at home from your cell phone, iPad, personal computer or other web-enabled devices with a unique IP address. You can use company devices as well as your personal devices. (If you are having trouble voting, please send an email to us here and someone will contact you to assist you.)

We have all worked very hard to make Comcast the terrific company that it is today and to create a customer experience that we are all proud of. We hope you will consider defending our company name by participating in this poll. Thanks in advance for your assistance and for the great work you do every day.

Another tipster sent us a second version of the letter:

Comcasters,

Our great company has been nominated by The Consumerist as one of the 'Worst Companies in America in 2011' in their annual survey. We have all been working very hard to create a customer experience that we are proud of and need to come together to send a strong message that we simply don't deserve this title.

We encourage you to participate in this poll and to vote with your heart to tell America that we are proud of our company. Participation is purely voluntary, and in the event you choose to vote, here's what you need to know:

* DO NOT vote for Comcast. When you cast your ballot, vote for the other company. Remember, you're voting for the 'Worst Company in America.'

* Click on the following link and vote: http://consumerist.com/2011/03/worst-company-in-america-round-one-comcast-vs-charter.html

* Feel free to vote from the office and at home on your personal computers and laptops. You can also vote via the web browser on your cell phones, iPads, tablets and other web-enabled wireless devices.

When you cast your ballot, vote for the other company. Remember, you're voting for the 'Worst Company in America.'

Together, we are making a difference for our customers. Let's stand up for ourselves and vote for what we know is right. In fact, the Consumerist sent us a letting encouraging us to 'rally your troops.'

That last line about 'rally your troops' was in reference to the sarcastic letter [PDF] we sent to all nominees. And even if we had intended for the companies to 'rally their troops,' we would have hoped that meant encouraging your customer base to vote, not bullying your employees into voting multiple times. We believe that encouraging multiple voting on multiple devices is tantamount to cheating.

Note to companies in the WCIA bracket, if you want to notify your employees and have them vote for the other guy, don't do it via a company-wide e-mail because the odds are pretty likely that it will end up in our hands.

We first got wind that something was up when we noticed an influx of traffic from TeamComcast.com. And after we taunted them on Twitter for trying to game the system, that's when the tips began to pour in.

For your enjoyment, we've re-embedded the poll below. If you're already voted, thanks! And if you haven't, here's your chance.

Which Company Is Worse?online survey

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Insurers Dodge Payouts By Claiming Accidental Deaths As Suicides

Insurers Dodge Payouts By Claiming Accidental Deaths As Suicides: "

Thanks to loopholes, some insurers are erroneously denying insurance claims for accidental deaths by claiming they're suicides, reports Bloomberg Markets Magazine in a new in-depth investigation.

The insurance companies persist in denying the claims even when faced with autopsy reports, medical records and letters from the medical examiner. In takes the survivor suing the insurance company to get the payout they deserve. In most cases, the survivors don't sue.

And for those that do sue and win, the insurance company isn't forced to pay interest or penalty on the payout which they've been allowed to invest the whole time.

Accidental Death Becomes Suicide When Insurers Dodge Payouts [Bloomberg Markets Magazine]

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Is Charging $17 For A Pint Of Ice Cream Ever Justified?

Is Charging $17 For A Pint Of Ice Cream Ever Justified?: "

If you're a one-woman ice cream company (chef, delivery gal, publicist, and more), there's nothing stopping you from charging whatever you want for your product. And if there's a 1,500-person waiting list of customers, you can probably get them for a lot of money.

Such is the case with owner/founder/creator of Milkmade Ice Cream, Diana Hardeman, who charges nearly $17 a pint for her product.

In a video profile on CNNMoney, Hardeman shares how the taste of store-bought ice cream just wasn't doing it for her anymore. So (cue Consumerist meme) she decided to just make her own at home, using local, fresh ingredients to create flavors like 'sugar on snow' (maple ice cream layered with butternut ice cream) or the St. Patrick's Day themed 'Irish car bomb' (Guiness-based ice cream with a Bailey's caramel).

Once she decided to start offering her tasty treats to others and received a bit of press coverage, she says she got 700 emails within one week. Now there are 1,500 hungry people waiting to get a membership to her service.

For $50, members get one of two flavor-of-the-month options delivered to their door by Hardeman herself during the first week of every month, for three months. There's a two-pint option for $90. Right now she's only delivering by bike in Manhattan, but hopes to expand to Brooklyn soon.

Catch the video below and see if you don't get a bit of a hankering for some corn ice cream. But would you ever pay $17 for a pint of ice cream?

The $17 ice cream pint [CNNMoney]

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Penny Auctions: Different Flavors Of Retail Crack

Penny Auctions: Different Flavors Of Retail Crack: "

We often receive e-mails from readers wondering whether this or that penny auction site is an awesome way to kill time and get cheap iPads, or a scam. Back in 2009, we looked at Swoopo, and penny auction sites have proliferated since then. The sites differ somewhat, but the business model is always the same, with users placing prepaid bids, and the auction site collecting far more from all of the bids than the retail value of the item. It's like a very lucrative, for-profit raffle.

Let's look at readers' experiences with one of the more popular penny auction sites, QuiBids. Commercials for them are beginning to pop up on TV (I saw one during 'The Daily Show' last week) and people are curious.

Charles wrote about his experience with the site's consumer-unfriendly math:

An example from today I witnessed (for a $1680 Canon EOS 7D Digital Camera):
I mean, come on ... 1¢ bids on this item, lasting 10+ hours, with bids 'artificially' hitting almost $99.00? Seemingly a great deal and opportunity for consumers, most people don't think about the fact that they made $0.59 per bid (taking out their incremental 1¢ bids from the $0.60 consumers pay, per bid), multiplied by almost 9,900 bids equals an amazing $5841.00 in revenue, on a $1680.00 retail item, which actually costs them approx. $1200.00.

Felipe gave it a try, and noticed that live auctions work differently than the ones you see before signing up for the site:

I signed up and bought the beginner pack of 100 bids for $60.00. I won a beginner auction as it was basically rigged to let me win and that is fine because they're just trying to teach you the process. I won two other auctions easily but then after that it got practically impossible. No more auctions were being shown with 'no bids' all of a sudden in the search results. I observed the site for a while and realized all the sales now were closing for relatively high prices in terms of number of bids.

Curious, I opened another browser that was not logged in to my account and did not have any of their cookies installed yet, and saw a different search result page from the one I had when I was logged in. In it, they listed several items that had no bids and expired without a winner. I tried copying those links over to the browser that was logged in and was automatically redirected to the scam home page. I tried logging in from the other browser to bid on those items but they conveniently expired with a single bidder right after I logged in.

Apart from issues with their business model, one blogger even complained that the computer he 'won' wasn't the one he received, and QuiBids was dragging their feet in sending it back.

Should you use penny auction sites? We don't recommend it, and really don't recommend it if you have a gambling problem. We can't vouch for their reviews, but the site Penny Auction Watch watches over the industry and tries to sort out the scams from the harmless fun.

PREVIOUSLY:

Want To Experience Retail Crack? Try Swoopo

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AT&T Will Cap Internet Use, Charge Overage Fees Starting In May

AT&T Will Cap Internet Use, Charge Overage Fees Starting In May: "

Heavy AT&T internet users will have to keep an eye on the amount of data they've downloaded, because come May they'll be subject to overages after a preset amount of gigabytes gobbled.

DSL Reports overage charges will run $10 per 50 GB over the limit. The caps will be 150 GB for landline DSL users and 250 GB for U-Verse customers. Before users get stung with overage fees, they'll get two cap-exceeding months without having to pay.

AT&T, which will send out notices to customers of the changes starting March 18, tells Engadget:

We are committed to providing a great experience for all of our Internet customers. Less than 2 percent of our Internet customers could be impacted by this approach - those who are using a disproportionate amount of bandwidth. We will communicate early and often with these customers so they are well aware of their options before they incur any additional usage charges.

The top 2 percent of residential subscribers uses about 20 percent of the bandwidth on our network. Just one of these high-traffic users can utilize the same amount of data capacity as 19 typical households. Lopsided usage patterns can cause congestion at certain points in the network, which can slow Internet speeds and interfere with other customers' access to and use of the network. Our new plan addresses another concern: customers strongly believe that only those who use the most bandwidth should pay more than those who don't use as much. That's exactly what this does - and again, 98% of our customers will not be impacted by this.

If you use AT&T for your internet needs, will this change your relationship with the company?

AT&T To Impose Caps, Overages

Notices To Go Out This Week, Capping Begins May 2 [DSL Reports via Engadget]

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Home Depot Rips Off Staples Easy Button

Home Depot Rips Off Staples Easy Button: "

At least one Home Depot has been so inspired by Staples 'Easy Button' that they came up with their own knockoff. Reader Ed sent in this photo of one of these buttons he spotted in his local Home Depot on the desk in the flooring department. When I first saw the picture, I thought that when you pushed it a giant mechanical hand would grab one of the experienced retired contractors who Home Depot fired and replaced with cheaper labor and drop him in front of you. Sadly, the reality is, as usual, much more mundane than my fevered imaginings.

Ed says that nearby there was some sign about pushing it if you don't see anyone around to ask for help. 'Of course I pressed it, who wouldn't? ...But the flooring lady was right there. I made a joke about Staples and she just nodded and said they have to have them.'

Ed says he showed it to a cousin of his who used to work at Staples and she 'found it extremely entertaining.' I wonder if Staples corporate shares in the mirth.

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Norway Is Totally Jealous Of Our Relatively Low Gas Prices

Norway Is Totally Jealous Of Our Relatively Low Gas Prices: "

The next time you're staring in disbelief and a recently jacked up gas price at the pump, this thought might console you a little bit -- they've got it much worse in Norway!

CNNMoney says the Europeans should be jealous of us, not just because we are the coolest and funniest, but a lot of them pay double what we do for gas. Heck, the Greeks and Scandinavians pay even more than that.

In the good ol U.S. of A, the national average for a gallon of gas was $3.53 on Thuesday, syays the AAA, after rising for 16 straight days for a 34-cent jump. Head over to Oslo to fill up, however, and you'd be paying $9.28 per gallon. Ouch!

It's not quite so bad everywhere in Europe, as the British, Irish, Germans, Italians and French all pay around $7.50 to $8 per gallon, according to the International Energy Administration. In Denmark prices are around $8.20 and in Greece, $8.45

One might think these prices are because those countries don't have access to their own fossile fuels. But they do! Norway has quite the oil industry going in the North Atlantic, as does the U.K. So what gives?

'The difference between countries comes down to taxes and subsidies,' said Tom Kloza, the chief oil analyst for Oil Price Information Service. 'Prices are incredibly high in Europe because of the stiff taxes that EU countries put on fuel. The same holds true for many other countries.'

Knowing others have it worse than you still won't bring the gas prices down, but come on, it feels kinda good, right?

Gas prices worldwide: Norwegian gas is double U.S. price [CNNMoney]

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159,000 Air Pump Bottle Openers Sold On QVC Recalled For Breaking Bottles

159,000 Air Pump Bottle Openers Sold On QVC Recalled For Breaking Bottles: "

Getting the cork out of a wine bottle can often be a risky proposition, especially if you're wearing white. But for some owners of the skybar Air Pump Wine Opener, it could be a downright bloody disaster.

The opener's distributor, Sunbeam Products, and retailer, QVC, have issued a recall for 159,000 of these bottle openers after receiving dozens of reports of bottles shattering.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 'The wine bottles can break when opened with the recalled opener, posing a laceration hazard to consumers.'

Sunbeam knows of 52 incidents of shattered bottles, including 22 reports of injuries resulting from said shattering.

The specific model number involved in the recall is NBSKWA2600. It was sold as a four piece set in the following colors: gray, blue, red or silver and black-colored with a black storage box. The model number is printed on the bottom of the wine bottle opener.

If you've got one, CPSC says to stop using the opener immediately. If you bought it through QVC.com or through QVC on TV, the company has mailed out return instructions to you. If you don't receive this info soon, contact the company at (800) 367-9444 between 7 a.m. and 1 a.m. ET daily.

If you purchased it at a QVC store, you can return it to the store for a full refund. If the wine openers were not purchased through QVC, contact Sunbeam (Sunbeam toll-free at (888) 759-2279 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday) for instructions to obtain a full refund.

Sunbeam Products Recalls Wine Openers Due to Laceration Hazard; Sold by QVC [CPSC]

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Wireless Industry Group Says All Those Overages Are Actually Saving Us Money

Wireless Industry Group Says All Those Overages Are Actually Saving Us Money: "

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about cellphone bill shock and overages and what can be done to stop it. Now comes a new study by a wireless industry trade group that claims consumers are actually saving money because of all these overage.

'Most consumers who exceed their current cellphone plan limits are better off financially if they pay extra charges occasionally rather than change to a more expensive plan to eliminate overages,' reads a statement from the Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI, not to be confused with our WCIA), a group that represents various elements of the mobile phone world.

The organization says that 'one-size fits all' legislation for cell phone bills would 'likely have the unintended consequence of reducing choice, flexibility, and consumer savings.'

The study says that just 13.5% of all cell phone users are hit by overage fees, and that those this only happens one or two months out of the year. According to their calculations, 'consumers save between $882 million and $2.4 billion per year by effectively creating personalized price plans that combine set monthly fees with the occasional overage.'

Okay... the only problem with this line of argument is that the main plan being considered by the FCC -- much like the anti-bill shock legislation introduced by New Mexico Senator Tom Udall -- wouldn't create a one-size fits all system. Rather, it would require wireless providers to notify customers by text or e-mail when they are about to cross over into overage territory.

The study's author has an answer for that too: 'Their behavior suggests it is unlikely that usage notifications or usage controls would change their behavior because they are either indifferent to the overage charges or have determined that the occasional overage charge is more economical for them than choosing a more expensive plan.'

Or maybe because they don't know they're going over and then don't feel like arguing with their wireless providers afterward?

A congressional source close to the bill shock issue calls shenanigans on this study. 'The reason these guys put this together is to give some ammo to their supporters on the Hill,' explains the insider. 'Specifically the House, who could in theory zero out any appropriation funds that would be needed to implement the regulation.'

Here's a link to a PDF of the WCAI white paper.

"

Just What Does Your State Do Best?

Guess which state has the most gangs per capita?: "

via the Daily Infographic

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HarperCollins Sets Checkout Limit On eBooks At Libraries

HarperCollins Sets Checkout Limit On eBooks At Libraries: "

HarperCollins doesn't want those eBooks of theirs to get torn up, so it makes perfect sense that they've set a limit of 26 checkouts for the eBooks titles it has licensed to libraries. Wait, eBooks can't get damaged, so, what's the big idea?

The publishing company has just recently instituted this new policy of the 26-loan limit, which means after that amount of checkouts is reached, the library must pay for a new license if they want to continue lending the book electronically.

According to the Libary Journal libraries were informed in a note from OverDrive, the company that distributes the digital books.

Libraries are none too happy with this decision, as evidenced by Pioneer Library System'sopen letter to HarperCollins, which reads in part:

The rationale offered by the publisher is since paper books wear out and need to be replaced if they are to remain in a library's collection, the same should be true of their electronic formats. The publisher argues that it should not be denied revenues that come from reselling replacement books and resources. Because the publisher assumes digital resources never deteriorate, they have set an arbitrary limit to the number of times an electronic resource can be accessed. Not planned obsolescence. Forced obsolescence.

What do you think? Should there be a cap on digital checkouts? If so, is 26 a reasonable amount?

You can also check out a video made by librarians showing what the equivalent 26 (or in some cases, more) physical checkouts would to do a book.

HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Circulations [Library Journal]

Open Letter to HarperCollins & Readers of eBooks [Pioneer Library System]

Thanks to Consumerist reader April S. for the tip!

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Amazon Sued Over Alleged Privacy Policy Violations

Amazon Sued Over Alleged Privacy Policy Violations: "

Online shopping giant Amazon.com is the subject of a new class-action lawsuit alleging that the e-tailer uses an Internet Explorer work-around to trick the browser into thinking the site is 'more privacy-protective than it actually is' and then collecting users' personal info without permission.

'For years, Amazon has been taking visitors' personal information that it was not entitled to take,' the lawsuit states. 'It does so by misusing privacy-protection software on users' own computers, bending the software to Amazon's purpose of collecting more personal information than it had a right to collect or that users have given it consent to collect.'

From SeattlePI.com:

Since the release of Internet Explorer 6 in 2001, most websites have been using machine-readable codes that tell a browser their privacy policies -- such as whether a website sends cookies and with whom the website shares personal information gained from those cookies. Most websites use several standard 'compact policy' codes such as 'NID' (no identified user information collected), but Amazon uses the code 'AMZN' -- which the lawsuit says is 'gibberish.'

That code tricks IE into thinking Amazon's privacy policy falls in line with a user's settings, even if they are set to the strictest level, the lawsuit alleges. Even if IE blocks Amazon from sending and accessing cookies, as a work-around Amazon also uses what are informally known as 'Flash cookies' -- files that transmit data via Adobe Flash Player, which is on most people's computers, instead of Internet Explorer.

One plaintiff says she began ordering pet-care items through Amazon in 2008 and subsequently began receiving ads in the mail from companies with which she'd never done business. The lawsuit alleges that Amazon collected and shared her personal information with other companies.

The other plaintiff claims she found Flash cookies on her computer that Amazon had used to circumvent her strict IE privacy settings. The browser had previously prevented Amazon from placing cookies on her computer, but the lawsuit alleges that Amazon got around it by using Flash cookies.

Suit: Amazon fraudulently collects, shares users' personal info [SeattlePI.com]

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TSA Wants To Increase Airport Fees Because You're Not Checking Your Bags

TSA Wants To Increase Airport Fees Because You're Not Checking Your Bags: "

To avoid bag check fees, travelers are routinely opting to carry on their bags, but the TSA says that the cost is just getting shifted to tax payers, to the tune of $260 million a year. That's because the more bags that don't get checked, the more bags the TSA has to inspect by hand at security checkpoints. Now the TSA is looking to get a cut of some of the checked baggage fees the airlines collect.

'My question is, do the taxpayers have to pick up this fee?' said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano during testimony in Senate Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security. 'Or should we be looking at the airlines for some of the profits that they make from these fees to offset the cost the taxpayer?'

The TSA has also been pushing for an increase in the airport security fee travelers currently pay. Currently passengers pay up to a $5 fee each for a one-way ticket

And you know, if they get a piece of the bag check fees, the airlines will just push the cost to travelers in the form of higher fares. The solution is clear: fly naked and bring nothing except for your patriotism.

More Carry-On Luggage Costing Taxpayers, TSA Millions a Year [AP] (Thanks to George!)

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USPS: We'll Be Out Of Money By October

USPS: We'll Be Out Of Money By October: "

USPS is in crisis mode, stuck in an unsustainable business model that threatens to run the service into the ground by the end of the fiscal year in October.



The AP reports the Postmaster General broke the news to the House Oversight subcommittee on the postal service.

Although there's no danger of postal workers going unpaid or mail going undelivered, USPS is in danger of stiffing the federal government on a payment of $5.5 billion, due Sept. 30, for advance funding of medical costs for future retirees, and it won't be able to make a $1.3 billion worker's comp payment due in November either. The Postmaster General is pushing for a change in the law that eases the payment requirements.

USPS isn't funded by the federal government and any reduction of the payments would increase the budget deficit.

Postal Service on path to be broke by October [AP via MSNBC]

Previously: USPS Shutting Down 2,000 Locations

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Passenger Goes Through JFK Security With 3 Boxcutters In His Bag

Passenger Goes Through JFK Security With 3 Boxcutters In His Bag: "

A JetBlue flight from JFK Airport to the Dominican Republic was grounded for three hours over the weekend after a flight attendant discovered three boxcutters in the carry-on bag of a passenger -- three boxcutters that no one at the security checkpoint seemed to notice.

The passenger, who uses the boxcutters at his job and claims to have forgotten they were in his bag, had gone through the TSA checkpoint, where three separate TSA screeners had a chance to spot them on the X-ray scanner.

But it wasn't until a flight attendant asked the passenger to put his bag in the overhead bin and the boxcutters slipped out that the forbidden blades were spotted.

From the NY Post:

They called JetBlue security, which raised the alarm to PAPD Emergency Service Units, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI, sparking an evacuation of the plane's 136 passengers and five crew members.

The PAPD's Canine Unit swept the plane for bombs and all of the passengers had to be rescreened.

A rep for the TSA says the two agents and the supervisor who should have caught the boxcutters at the checkpoint 'will all be disciplined and undergo remedial training.'

The passenger was not charged with any crime.

The TSA rep says it's not such a big deal because 'There have been a number of additional security layers that have been implemented on aircraft that would prevent someone from causing harm with boxcutters.'

Among those additional layers are 'flight crews trained in self-defense and a more vigilant traveling public who have demonstrated a willingness to intervene.'

So there you have it -- The TSA can do a crappy job because we're all a little more willing to wrestle with a terrorist.

TSA staff jet blew it [NY Post]

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