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Of course, Canon does have a vested interest in making sure that customers buy genuine Canon-brand accessories and not knockoffs. It certainly hurts their sales, but there’s another problem: danger. For example, battery explosions. Apart from the effect on their sales, Canon is concerned for their customers’ safety and the reputation of products with the Canon name.
You can play the “spot the fake” game yourself if that kind of thing sounds fun to you.
The differences are easy to spot when you have real and fake items side by side, and even easier when there’s a red light highlighting which ones are fake, as you can see in the photo at left.
“One of the biggest evils in this industry is the family plan…a family plan is nothing more than a contract on super-steroids,” explained T-Mobile’s magenta-clad, party-crashing CEO John Legere. Instead of one line, a family plan is really multiple lines with different contract end dates, “a contract into perpetuity.”
What the company wants to do, according to Legere, is “eliminate pain points.” Like what? The biggest pain point for Early Termination Fees. ETFs are really part of what he calls the “industry scam” of keeping customers locked in to plans. “Customers should be able to pick up and leave,” he told the crowd.
That’s why, as we heard earlier today, T-Mobile is paying the ETF for postpaid customers of other carriers who port their numbers. They’ll pay out for five lines on the same account, then offer up to $350 to trade in your phone.
Oh, and what are the other pain points in the mobile phone industry? It’s not as painful as being smacked with a high ETF, but many people want to escape their current carriers in order to avoid slow data or bad networks in their region. T-Mobile showed off real data from Speedtest.net tests performed yesterday by their customers that indicates that T-Mobile’s LTE speeds are the fastest and most consistent compared to other carriers, which will probably improve once Big Magenta starts using that new spectrum that it recently purchased from Verizon.
Break Up With Your Carrier [T-Mobile]
A Target employee in California is really taking her loss prevention specialist title seriously: Police say she helped crack a recent kidnapping case wide open when she noticed a customer acting a bit off in her store. The worker took down the man’s license plate number and ultimately, helped return a little girl to her family.
According to the Contra Costa Times, the worker noticed a man in her store last Friday morning because he was wearing a backpack. So she trailed him for a bit before setting up to watch him in the surveillance room.
He went back out to the parking lot and stayed there for hours, smoking cigarettes, walking around his car, changing his clothes and generally being strange, the worker explained. He was also parked next to her car, which made her pay even closer attention.
“He was being a weirdo outside, and I just got a weird feeling,” she said. “At one point, he sat in his car and grabbed the steering wheel and started shaking it violently,”she added. “It was kind of scary.”
So she took down his license plate number in a notebook she always has on her, for just such occasions. He was gone when she got back from lunch and forgot about him for a bit. When she got home after her shift, her girlfriend happened to comment on something she saw on Facebook about an Amber Alert that had just been issued, and read aloud the description of the car and suspect.
“I was like, ‘Hold on …’ This was the guy in the store. He looked like that, and that matched the car description,” she recalled.
At first she hesitated to call the cops, until her girlfriend asked, “What if that little girl was one of your sisters?”
So she called cops and told them the information she had on the man. From there, police were able to identify the suspect and learn his usual hangouts. Officers found him at one such spot with the girl, just four hours after she’d been abducted.
“What she did was what truly broke the case,” said a police lieutenant, adding that detectives went to the Target worker’s house to tell her the good news.
“That’s when my heart started jumping, and I was feeling great that I helped bring the little girl home,” she said.
Detectives arrested the man on suspicion of kidnapping, saying he had apparently followed the girl and her mother home from Walmart on Friday and pulled the daughter into his car.
Antioch kidnapping: Pittsburg Target store employee cracks case, police say [Contra Costa Times]
Convenience in controversy shopping.
When it comes to convenience, whoever works at this Walmart is doing a great job grouping items if the category is “Controversial Celebrity Endorsed Things.” Consumerist reader Fernando snapped this pic showing a display stocked with Duck Dynasty- and Paula Deen-branded merchandise. Because see, hot topics in the media and all that.
For those not in the loop, the A&E series about a family of duckhunters has been in the crosshairs lately, after a cast member made some remarks during an interview that many are calling homophobic and racist.
And if you’ll cast your mind back to the Deengate Saga Of Fall 2013, you’ll remember that Paula Deen also found herself in hot water with advertisers and retailers carrying her products when she admitted to using racially-charged language.
So here you have it all, in one convenient place. Your one-stop destination for products endorsed by reality TV stars and cooking celebs who’ve become infamous somewhat recently.
It’s not quite as fresh and exciting as the French fry vending machine in Belgium that fries up your frites to order. There’s burrito-wrapping robot in there making fresh custom meals for you. Instead, there are frozen burritos (including Evol brand) made with hormone-free meat and cheese and cage-free eggs. The machine heats the burrito up for you in 60 seconds, keeping your attention span from wandering by playing a song or an advertisement on its touchscreen.
Want to try it? The one and only BurritoBox now operating is in Los Angeles. A second one will open in LA next week, which is unhelpful for Burrito lovers in other cities. We just like to keep you posted on advances in vending machine technology.
Burrito Box [Official Site] (via Foodbeast)
Sharp showed off glasses-free 3D on a massive 85″ 8K TV prototype, but the effect left much to be desired.
We looked at two glasses-free prototypes at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show — one from Samsung and one from Sharp.
SHARP:
The first prototype glasses free 3D unit we tried was Sharp’s massive 85″ 8K TV — yes, that is right, 8K; double the resolution of the Ultra HD sets that are beginning to hit the market. Sharp debuted 8K at last year’s CES but chose to add glasses-free 3D to the set for this year’s show.
Our thoughts:
With Sharp’s prototype, the viewer is required to align themselves to the TV so that two small white dots are lined up at the bottom of the screen. When this is achieved, the viewer is able to see the optimal 3D effect.
Aside from the fact that it’s completely magical in a profound “Holy Crap, I am living in the future, maybe I am a replicant” way, the effect didn’t seem as dramatic as what you get from a good 3D TV that requires glasses. The footage we were shown didn’t seem to take full advantage of the 8K resolution of the screen, and was visibly grainy.
The real problem was that we had to contort ourselves into yoga poses to line up the dots, which, on the crowded show floor, took us uncomfortably close to a random dude who was also trying to do the same thing.
As we invaded each other’s personal space in the name of science and progress, it was hard to imagine the chaos and couch cushion warfare that might occur if two kids wanted the “good” spot on the couch.
When the dots lined up, the 3D effect clicked, though we found it more disorienting than fun. Of course, one’s appreciation of the effect may vary greatly depending on what you expect to see.
When the dots didn’t line up, the effect wasn’t terribly dissimilar from the auras migraine sufferers see at the onset of a nasty headache. The image on the screen was shimmery and hyper-real, without being coherent.
Every mammalian eye has a scotoma, blind spots that occur because there are no photoreceptor cells on the optic disc. The brain helpfully fills in these spots for you, so you don’t normally notice them. (If you want to force yourself to become aware of yours, you there’s a test on this Wikipedia page you can try.)
While viewing the glasses-free 3D from an angle (like the one we’d probably be pushed to when our families take over our homes during the holidays), we became weirdly aware of those scotomas as our brains tried and failed to process the 3D effect. This was unpleasant and disorienting, almost more so than just viewing traditional 3D without glasses.
SAMSUNG:
Samsung’s glasses-free prototype was a 55” 4k LCD TV. The footage being shown was a loop of river rafting, underwater footage of shipwrecks and a food fight, clearly optimized to take full advantage of the 3D effect.
Our thoughts:
With this display, even from odd angles, our brains had no trouble processing the information. The Samsung rep explained that this particular prototype has 35 viewing angles, up from seven on the glasses-free demo they showed in 2013.
Like the Sharp prototype, there was a noticeable graininess to the image quality of the Samsung set, and it certainly paled in comparison to the other 4K Samsung sets on display.
The rep explained that this set was actually showing 720p footage, thus the lower image quality, and that this was actually by design.
The grainy-quality of 720p on a super-high-res display like a 4k actually helps create the 3D effect in your brain as the “pixels” overlap and interact, explained the rep.
The rep said they think consumers want 3D, but are annoyed by having to wear glasses or view special content, and that they hoped to solve that with this technology.
When viewing the (admittedly much smaller and less overwhelmingly epic) Samsung prototype, we did not experience any unpleasantness or disorientation.
While the Samsung prototype gives us hope that glasses-free 3D may someday become a reality that would not require viewers to sit in prescribed spots to appreciate the effect, we don’t know if too many consumers will be willing to accept the degraded image quality after more than a decade of sharper and higher-resolution TV images.
This is what the end of the racket looks like.
Meg “I’m The Boss” Marco is strolling the floor at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas this week and stopped by to check out this bit of electronic sportiness. She had a few burning question to start things off — Why tennis? Why not golf?
“Tennis is for everybody,” the Sony booth rep told her. And “golf is expensive,” and mostly for older, high-income people.
Here’s how it works: The racket is equipped with sensors that monitor things like shot count, impact position, swing type, swing speed, ball speed and spin rate, and then sends that information to your connected iOS or Android app via Bluetooth radio.
That way you can take a look at your game and pinpoint possible problem areas, something that could come in handy in other swinging sports as well. And we mean swinging a baseball bat or something, not the other thing where people switch spouses.
When we asked if this technology could be applied to other sports, the rep said that is a thought in the right direction. Okay so, baseball, specifically?
“Definitely possible,” the rep replied. It might not make you the next Babe Ruth or anything — because that’s the best slugger I could come up with right off the bat — but athletes trying to perfect their form could find it useful.
The curved sets in the LG booth at CES.
We looked at sets — ranging in size from 55″ to 105″ — on display from LG, Samsung and prototype TVs from Panasonic.
And in all cases, the TVs on the smaller end of that range (which is still pretty substantial) did little to improve the viewing experience. The only way to get the immersive experience with a 55″ set was to get very up close and personal with it.
At some point around the 75″ mark, the curve does seem to slightly enhance the TV-watching experience (though it’s a little difficult to say for sure when you’re looking these TVs in a crowd of 100,000-some folks).
The biggest problem with curved TVs appears to be that the curve may not be friendly for watching by multiple people spread around a room. Trying to watch some of these TVs from an angle really made the curve obvious without providing any improvement in the viewing experience.
So for now the ideal market for this kind of TV is someone with a ridiculous amount of disposable income, who watches TV by herself in a room large enough to fit a mammoth screen. Not exactly mass appeal.
One of Samsung’s curved displays.
It surfaced on Twitter: a “romantic Valentine’s display” at a CVS store somewhere in southern New Jersey with a very pragmatic take on what customers might need for a special evening. On the shelf: cupcake-shaped bath bombs, roses, picture frames, condoms, a variety of personal lubricants, a dose of Plan B, some “male enhancement” supplements, and toy handcuffs. Hmm, some of those things don’t seem appropriate.
Indeed, the official CVS Twitter account weighed in to say that this was not a racy new company-wide Valentine’s Day promotion. The company was looking for the “inappropriate display” in order to take it down.
@miketoole Hi there, we are looking into this immediately in order to have this inappropriate display removed.—
CVS/pharmacy (@CVS_Extra) January 07, 2014
The whole thing could have been the work of a passing prankster, not store employees. The display offers too much one-stop shopping for most customers’ tastes.
The ever-helpful commenters over at our estranged ex-sister site Jezebel also point out that metal handcuffs are not appropriate for recreational use. So keep that in mind the next time you’re planning a night of light bondage armed only with supplies from the corner pharmacy.
CVS Selling Handcuffs With Plan B So You Can ‘Keep It Sweet’ [Jezebel]
It’s bad enough when you’ve got friends in common with an ex, thus making it that much more difficult to fully sever the connection when the relationship is over. But one guy says Google+ is even worse and is the reason he found himself in jail for violating a restraining order his ex-girlfriend had against him.
If you use Gmail, odds are you’re also a Google+ user, whether you want to be or not. For some that just means getting a red alert symbol popping up from time to time in the upper righthand corner of your Gmail screen.
Don’t really use it? You’re not alone: As Fast Company points out, Google+ is often viewed as a ghost town, with “users” sometimes shuffling friends from Circle to Circle and notifications that one of your contacts is now on Google+.
That’s where one man says Google+ mucked his situation up. See, after his former girlfriend got an invitation on his behalf to join one of his Google+ Circles, she marched a printed out copy of that invite straight to the police, who arrested the man for violating the restraining order barring contact with her.
The man’s attorney now claims that his client isn’t to blame — he didn’t send the request, he argues. In fact, he “has no idea how the woman … got such an invitation” and suggest it might have been automatically sent or something.
It’s not entirely impossible. Maybe he was putzing around in his Circles and moved her from say, the “Love of my life” Circle to the “Do not contact unless you want to go to jail” Circle. Or perhaps she received the invite simply because they’d emailed on Gmail in the past.
It’s a tricky issue, and one that will have to be left to the court in this case to decide. The man’s case is set to start next month, and it sounds like it could be a bit of a headache for all involved.
“[He] suggested that unlike Facebook, which requires users to select potential friends, he believes Google+ generates invitations for ‘anyone you’ve ever contacted,’” The Salem News reported last month. “A Salem District Court judge admitted he wasn’t sure exactly how such invitations work on Google’s social media site.”
But it could also prove to be a bit of a privacy snafu for Google if automated invites can be triggered simply by the fact that you at one time were on the same email chain as someone or exchanged a few messages here and there, points out Fast Company.
If you’re worried about such a thing happening, it’s best to either ditch Google+ entirely or update your settings so that Google won’t send new users that invite suggesting you add the person to your Circles to “stay connected.”
*Thanks for the link, Roy!
GOOGLE+ INVITE LANDS MAN IN JAIL [Fast Company]
Boss Meg witnessed the onesie in the wilds of CES.
While some of our Consumerist colleagues are out in the Wild West tackling the Consumer Electronics Show, we here at HQ are getting some exciting dispatches about and photos of what’s going on. No flying cars or maids named Rosie to speak of (yet) but it sounds like everyone is into baby stuff this year. Specifically, a smart onesie.
Now even though it would be super useful to have an article of clothing that acts kind of like one of those automatic litter boxes — you know, it could use its special computerness to sense when a diaper needs changing and then do the dirty work for you — it seems the onesie from Intel is a bit simpler.
As our pals at Engadget explain, the Internet-connected onesie made by Rest Devices and Intel doesn’t set up your child’s first Facebook account or fill Amazon orders when you’re low on wipes, but instead acts mostly like a baby monitor would.
The two green stripes you can see on the photo of the toy baby above are respiratory sensors. That green knob thing? It’s a removable sensor that monitors a baby’s body position, activity level and skin temperature.
It all connects to an app on parents’ phones where you can keep an eye on what you’re baby is doing. So, like a baby monitor. But it’s a onesie and uses the Internet! Fascinating. Now get to work on my automatic diaper changing idea, electronics people.
Previously in onesies: “Onesie” Is A Trademarked Term, Even Though No One Cares
The internet of toddlers: Intel shows off a smart baby onesie [Engadget]
Spotted by the site Droid Life, the banner ad leads to an auspicious-looking URL that isn’t yet live:
http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/switch-carriers-no-early-termination-fee.html
If this program sounds familiar, that’s because AT&T recently announced a similar one specifically targeted at current T-Mobile customers. Kind of. T-Mo customers can trade in their old phones for “up to” $250, and get a $200 credit to their AT&T bill meant to offset any early termination fees they might have to pay at T-Mobile.
T-Mobile Ads Confirm UnCarrier 4 Plans: Pay ETFs for Families Who Transfer [Droid Life] (via Gizmodo)
Consumers these days want to know how their food will benefit their health. What the company wants is “to take advantage of the space between food and pharmaceuticals,” the head of Nestle’s research arm explained to the Wall Street Journal. Imagine Boost nutritional drinks fortified with nutrients that the company’s research shows are beneficial to neurons, for example. There’s a lot of money in food that companies can at least claim has medical benefits, and a growing global population of elderly people who might be interested.
The current market for “health and wellness” food and drink products is an estimated $772 billion, and that’s expected to grow in the future.
Where do those cells come from, though? They’re not harvested directly from dead people: the company makes cells from healthy human tissue that can become different types of cells, something like stem cells.
Nestle Finds a Reliable Supply of Brain Cells [Wall Street Journal]
Nestlé in Biotech Deal to Test Foods on Human Cells [WSJ] (subscription required)
If you’ve been jonesing for a McDonald’s burger made from sustainable beef, we’ve got some good news and some bad news. First, the good news is that I finally finished my crossword puzzle. Oh and also that Mickey D’s is telling customers it will, in fact, serve sustainable beef. But the sort of bad news if you want that meat right now is that the Golden Arches won’t have that until 2016.
In a blog post on the company site yesterday, McDonald’s acknowledged that while there’s a bunch to choose from on its menu, the burger remains a go-to for many people.
“That’s just one reason we want to do our part to improve environmental practices in the way beef is produced, support positive workplaces in the beef industry, and drive continuous improvement in animal health and welfare,” the company writes. “Plus, we envision doing all of this while providing affordability and quality, along with economic viability for those who raise cattle and produce beef.”
But the company says it’s not like it can just drop its current suppliers and start writing checks, which is why the goal is 2016 for McDonald’s to start purchasing sustainable beef.
“This sounds simple, but it’s actually a big challenge because there hasn’t been a universal definition of sustainable beef,” explains McDonald’s of its aim for using “verified” sustainable beef.
Once the clock strikes midnight on January 1, 2016, all burgers won’t magically turn into sustainable beef burgers, either. It’s going to take some time, and a spokeswoman tells CNBC there’s no exact number on how much beef it’ll be buying.
“We will focus on increasing the annual amount each year, but it is too early to predict the quantity that will be purchased in 2016,” she explains.
So there’s your good news — sustainable beef of some sort, in some amount, in two years. Better than nothing, perhaps.
Our Journey to Verified Sustainable Beef [McDonald's Blog]
