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  • Analysis
    3 years ago
    by jasont
    +4 +1

    The Secret, Absurd World of Coronavirus Mask Traders and Middlemen Trying To Get Rich Off Government Money

    It was 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, and I was watching footage of secret stockpiles of N95 masks, so-called proof-of-life videos sent to me by strangers, when Tim, the juicer salesman, called. “My name is Tim, and I heard you’re looking into VPL,” the man said in a squeaky, nervous timbre. “I distanced myself from the company because they weren’t delivering what they said.”

  • Current Event
    5 years ago
    by mariogi
    +6 +1

    New Bill Would Stop Internet Service Providers From Screwing You With Hidden Fees

    Like the airline and hotel industries, the cable TV and broadband sector has a masterful knack for obnoxious, hidden fees. From fees for simply trying to pay your bill to broadband surcharges based entirely on fluff and nonsense, the industry has spent years advertising one rate, only to hit you with a significantly higher price once your bill actually comes due.

  • Current Event
    5 years ago
    by canuck
    +18 +1

    Why New York Kicked the Country's Second-Biggest Cable Company Out of the State

    New York State voted to kick Charter Communications (which operates as Spectrum) out of the state for repeatedly failing to meet the modest conditions affixed to its merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Charter Communications has long been the poster child for broadband industry dysfunction, with some of the worst customer satisfaction ratings of any company in any industry in America.

  • Current Event
    6 years ago
    by canuck
    +13 +1

    Comcast Jacks up Price of Standalone Broadband to $75

    Wall Street analysts have been rather excited about the fact that a lack of competition in the market means Comcast should be able to significantly raise rates without much repurcussion, especially now that the Trump FCC has made its apathy to the broadband market's competition problem abundantly clear. And Comcast began following through this month, warning customers across numerous markets that they'll soon be seeing increases in broadband and TV prices, and paying Comcast significantly more money in random fees and hardware rental surcharges each month.

  • Analysis
    6 years ago
    by lostwonder
    +38 +1

    Comcast has a lot to lose if municipal broadband takes off

    Comcast revenue could take a big hit in two cities that might build networks.

  • Analysis
    6 years ago
    by Pfennig88
    +14 +1

    Shady Business Tactics Everyone Should Know About

    If you’re test-driving a car at a dealership pay attention to the check engine light when you turn the key: it should temporarily flicker then go away. If it doesn’t, the dash has been tampered with to mask a potential issue. Also, if a dealership car is parked over a puddle they do not want you looking underneath it.

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by weekendhobo
    +24 +1

    Burger King animal feed sourced from deforested lands in Brazil and Bolivia

    The hamburger chain Burger King has been buying animal feed produced in soy plantations carved out by the burning of tropical forests in Brazil and Bolivia, according to a new report. Jaguars, giant anteaters and sloths have all been affected by the disappearance of around 700,000 hectares (1,729,738 acres) of forest land between 2011 and 2015. The campaign group Mighty Earth says that evidence gathered from aerial drones, satellite imaging, supply-chain mapping and field research shows a systematic pattern of forest-burning.

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by rawlings
    +5 +1

    FCC: Comcast Routinely Charges Customers For Hardware, Services Never Ordered

    When you're among the worst ranked companies for customer service in America, you consistently need to find new ways to ramp up your game if you want to take malicious incompetence to the next level. Enter Comcast, which despite constant promises that it's getting better, routinely keeps finding itself in the headlines for immeasurably shady business practices. Earlier this year, for example, the company was sued by Washington's Attorney General for charging users a $5 per month "Service Protection Plan," then routinely and intentionally charging users for repairs that should have been covered under it.

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by darvinhg
    +26 +1

    Passengers in Uber's self-driving cars waived right to sue for injury or death

    Anyone requesting an Uber ride in a 12-sq mile area in the center of Pittsburgh might now be randomly allocated a self-driving Ford Fusion rather than a human-operated vehicle. But passengers riding in Uber’s computer-controlled cars today might be surprised at just how experimental the technology is. According to documents obtained by the Guardian under public records laws, until as recently as June anyone not employed by Uber riding in one of its autonomous vehicles (AVs) had to sign a legal document waiving the company of any liability for their injury or death.

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by TNY
    +21 +1

    Olympic executives cash in on a ‘Movement’ that keeps athletes poor

    Its members call it, with an almost religious conviction, “the Olympic Movement,” or “the Movement” for short, always capitalized. At the very top of “the Movement” sits the International Olympic Committee, a nonprofit run by a “volunteer” president who gets an annual “allowance” of $251,000 and lives rent-free in a five-star hotel and spa in Switzerland. At the very bottom of “the Movement” — beneath the IOC members who travel first-class and get paid thousands of dollars just to attend the Olympics, beneath the executives who make hundreds of thousands to organize the Games...

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by Chubros
    +34 +1

    Reviewers for 'Shadow of Mordor' Were Paid Off, Says the FTC

    Turns out there might not be ethics in gaming journalism, after all. A new order by the Federal Trade Commission might give GamerGate reason to pick up pitchforks again. Warner Bros. has just settled with the FTC over charges that it “deceived consumers” during the marketing campaign for 2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Per the FTC, Warner Bros. failed to disclose it paid online influencers, like YouTube phenom PewDiePie, to positively promote one of its games in content presented as “reviews.” As a result, the FTC has proposed Warner Bros. must be upfront about paid marketing in the future...

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by geoleo
    +31 +1

    Ashley Madison admits using fembots to lure men into spending money

    After nearly a year of radio silence, the infidelity hookup site Ashley Madison has finally released a statement about what's next for the company. Among other things, the company's new executive team admits that it used fembots to lure men into paying to join the site, which promised the men discreet affairs with willing women. In fall 2015, Ashley Madison made headlines when a hacker or hackers known as Impact Team released massive data dumps from the company's source code, member databases, and then-CEO Noel Biderman's e-mail. The member database contained the names of...

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by aj0690
    +18 +1

    Vancouver’s real estate is ‘fuelled by a money laundering bubble’: Market analyst

    There is no denying that the real estate market in Vancouver is red hot – prices have been rising with no end in sight. But one market analyst thinks we will see the bubble burst. Marc Cohodes used to run one of the largest hedge funds on Wall Street. Now, he’s eyeing the Canadian housing market.

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by bradd
    +2 +1

    Apple Is Fighting A Secret War To Keep You From Repairing Your Phone

    It's no secret that Apple makes a ton of money by charging 'astronomical' fee for replacing and fixing display and other components of iPhone and iPad (as well as Mac line). For instance, the company charges $599 for replacing the display on the iPad Pro tablet. Which sounds insane when you realize that you can almost certainly purchase a new iPad Pro under $700. And this is what most people do. A Huffington Post article notes that this behavior has contributed significantly in "generating heaps of e-waste."

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by geoleo
    +33 +1

    Microsoft Slammed for 'Sneaky' Windows 10 Updates

    Microsoft ‘Upgradegate’ irks Windows users. Microsoft has some explaining to do. It’s not “just” Chinese consumers who are up in arms about what some are calling forced updates to Windows 10, but a noisy group of U.S. users are also steamed about a change to the update process that they say tried to dupe them into upgrading their older version of Windows. The issue? Microsoft quietly changed how the upgrade process worked, according to reports on Reddit, PC World, software support forums, and elsewhere.

  • Current Event
    7 years ago
    by geoleo
    +16 +1

    Uber's CEO Is Being Sued For Price-Fixing

    Travis Kalanick, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Uber, really didn't want to deal with a lawsuit brought against him by one angry former customer: for the past three months, his lawyers have been trying to get the judge to drop the case, which claims that Uber's pricing algorithm violates antitrust laws. But yesterday, Manhattan judge Jed Rakoff ruled that he won't dismiss the suit, which is seeking class-action status on behalf...

  • Expression
    8 years ago
    by yuriburi
    +18 +1

    Uber 'surge' hangover: $500 for a 20-minute cab ride?

    Uber warned on its website that New Year’s Eve customers should not be surprised by “surge pricing” due to the high holiday demand. And, yet, many were. Actually, “surprised” is probably not the word. Maybe “shocked” is more like it, for customers who ended up paying nearly 10 times the normal rate for a ride. Uber defends surge pricing this year, just as it has in the past, noting that it’s the simple economics of supply and demand driving the rates.

  • Current Event
    8 years ago
    by larylin
    +24 +1

    Ashley Madison Code Shows More Women, and More Bots

    After searching through the Ashley Madison database and private email last week, I reported that there might be roughly 12,000 real women active on Ashley Madison. Now, after looking at the company’s source code, it’s clear that I arrived at that low number based in part on a misunderstanding of the evidence. Equally clear is new evidence that Ashley Madison created more than 70,000 female bots to send male users millions of...

  • Analysis
    8 years ago
    by socialiguana
    +9 +1

    Lenovo Installing Immortal Crapware

    Lenovo has again been caught playing fast and loose with customers’ privacy and security. First, it was Superfish. Now, it’s vulnerable crapware that won’t go away, even if you reformat or replace your hard drive. Read on for the full story…

  • Expression
    8 years ago
    by trails
    +2 +1

    How Uber Hides Behind Its Algorithm

    The disingenuous ways Uber hides behind its algorithm.