Blog dedicado a la formación en todos sus ámbitos: presencial, online, a distancia
Reader Richard spotted this bit of Walmart price wizardry and just had to send it along. Apparently, this $2 puzzle book was so amazing that they could charge $29 for it.
The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it will hear the lawsuit filed by the broadcast networks against streaming video startup Aereo. How the court rules will have an impact not just on consumers’ ability to stream live network feeds online, but on all cloud-based media storage.
The heart of the networks’ argument against Aereo — a streaming video service that takes freely available over-the-air broadcast signals and provides them to paying customers online — is that the company is illegally retransmitting these signals without requesting permission or paying a fee. Cable and satellite providers pay billions of dollars every year to the networks just to provide channels to the customers that can be obtained for free with a decent antenna.
And that is exactly what Aereo contends its service provides — a virtual antenna connection. The company uses arrays of tiny antennae, with each antenna dedicated to a single subscriber. Thus, claims Aereo, the service is no different than running a rooftop antenna to get better TV reception.
Broadcasters filed multiple federal suits against Aereo but has so far failed to win any injunctions barring the service from launching. Meanwhile, Aereo availability has reached 10 markets, with more than a dozen additional markets set to launch in the near future.
In an attempt to just save everyone a lot of time and get to the inevitable, the broadcasters petitioned the Supremes in October to hear the case. Then in December, Aereo said it would not challenge that petition.
Well it seems like both sides got what they wanted today, with SCOTUS putting American Broadcasting Companies, et al v. Aereo on its slate of cases to hear in April.
If Aereo is victorious, it could have lasting repercussions to the business models for broadcast networks and cable operators.
Some broadcast executives have already threatened to pull their networks off the airwaves and go cable-only if Aereo wins. Meanwhile, some cable operators have already begun working on integrating Aereo-like technology into their systems in the hopes of getting around paying billions of dollars in retrans fees.
A bigger concern for American consumers may be the implications of a broadcasters victory in the case.
In their petition to the Supreme Court, the broadcasters take a rather radical stance on copyright, claiming that a “public performance” occurs whenever a service provider enables a consumer to transmit the same prior performance of a work, even if the consumer is independently transmitting a separate performance from his own separately acquired recording available to him alone.
That would seem to undermine numerous cloud-based storage and streaming services, like Amazon’s Cloud Player or Google Play that give customers to streaming files they have purchased, or Cablevision’s cloud-based DVR. That device was the subject of a broadcaster-filed lawsuit that never made it to the Supreme Court, leaving in place the 2008 Second Circuit court ruling that the DVR does not violate broadcasters’ copyright.
“This case is critically important not only to Aereo, but to the entire cloud computing and cloud storage industry,” says Aereo CEO and founder Chet Kanojia. “The landmark Second Circuit decision in Cablevision provided much needed clarity for the cloud industry and as a result, helped foster massive investment, growth and innovation in the sector. The challenges outlined in the broadcasters’ filing make clear that they are using Aereo as a proxy to attack Cablevision itself and thus, undermine a critical foundation of the cloud computing and storage industry… If the broadcasters succeed, the consequences to consumers and the cloud industry are chilling.”
Fewer pilots and longer resting requirements could be trouble for regional airlines. The issues that grounded hundreds of JetBlue flights this week could be just the start after new FAA regulations on rest for pilots went into effect Saturday.
The new rule, which requires 10 additional hours of rest for pilots, means there could be fewer flight options available in the future, CNN Money reports.
While major airlines already have similar rest rules in place through union contracts, smaller, regional airlines do not. The new rule, coupled with a pilot shortage, means unless something changes some areas could lose service, experts say.
“Communities that rely on regional airlines are going to lose service — it’s just a question of where and how much,” Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, the industry trade group, told CNN. “There just aren’t enough pilots.”
And smaller carriers have a hard time hiring pilots because they pay less than larger carriers.
Even if more pilots are hired, the small airlines will need to reevaluate which cities remain profitable.
Regional airlines, which operate in about 70% of the U.S. and operate about half the nations flights, generally carry passengers from smaller airports to larger hubs.
Pilot safety rules could cut flights [CNN Money]
What we thought was getting worse just keeps getting worser: This morning we heard that the data breach at Target had hit 70 million customers, instead of the 40 million originally reported by the company. And now that number is not only possibly up to 110 million, but it could include people who didn’t even shop during the holidays, which is when Target said the leak happened.
In the early days Target confirmed last month that “unauthorized access to Target payment card data” at its retail locations lasted from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15 and hit around 40 million shoppers.
But now the New York Times is reporting that the company’s investigation is showing that there was another store of data that was collected over time on 70 million people. That has apparently been hacked as well.
There could be some overlap between those customers and the ones who were hit during the holiday season. It’s worth pointing out though that if you’ve shopped at Target outside that holiday period, you could also be at risk.
“I know that it is frustrating for our guests to learn that this information was taken, and we are truly sorry they are having to endure this,” Gregg Steinhafel, the Target chief executive, said in a statement.
And this might not be the worst yet, either. A Target spokeswoman says that the number of exposed customers could still grow.
Another reminder: Be extra wary of any emails purporting to be from Target asking for information like your Social Security number. That’s an easy way for your identity to get stolen, when combined with the other information potentially involved in the data breach.
Target Breach Affected Up to 110 Million Customers [New York Times]
Wired.com points out that while $126,000 doesn’t sound like much, it’s an important step for the currency as it tries to bridge the gap between something people squirrel away as an investment, and an everyday currency used to buy actual stuff.
In the first 22 hours, Overstock.com says it accepted about 800 orders in bitcoin, with $5,000 worth of those orders happening in the first 30 minutes alone.
So what were people buying? One guy who’s been using bitcoin since March of last year says he just wanted to see if the new system worked and signed on to buy a new case for his smartphone. He adds that he wants to support bitcoin so that it actually thrives in the real market.
“It’s a concept that could take off, and should take off, for a lot of reasons,” he says. “I want wider adoption. I want more businesses to use it.”
With Overstock.com’s announcement it’s likely that other retailers might start thinking about following suit. After all, if there are shoppers out there with money to burn, no matter what form it takes, retailers will want a piece of that action.
“So far I have not regularly bought stuff with bitcoin, although I am beginning to change that behavior,” another shopper said of his Overstock.com experience. “The increasing price of bitcoin is definitely an obstacle to purchasing bitcoin, but a temporary one.”
Hear that sound? It’s the perking of ears as online retailers hear “I want to spend my money and just need somewhere to spend it.”
In First Day With Bitcoin, Overstock Does $126,000 in Sales [Wired.com]
There’s nothing factually inaccurate about this letter. It just omits important information. Anthem does sell policies that have these features, and they do accept people who have been sick before in their lives. The thing is, these great benefits are the bare minimum benefits that all insurance plans have to have under the Affordable Care Act.
It’s a bit like advertising a car by bragging that it has tires and a windshield. Yes, that’s true, and you could advertise a car by bragging that these are great features that your vehicle has, but everyone knows that cars, by definition, have to include those things. Not everyone knows what health insurance plans are supposed to include. “Blue Cross Blue Shield is taking advantage of Obamacare ignorance,” Kim wrote to Consumerist when she sent us a copy of the letter.
Here’s what she received:
There’s nothing incorrect about any of the things that this letter says. It’s just that there are a few things missing. First, that (except for access to the BlueCross BlueShield network) these are all things that health insurance plans are now legally required to have.
Second, it encourages Kim to apply directly to Anthem, not to go through her state’s health insurance portal or Healthcare.gov. She lives in Connecticut, for example, where residents can shop for insurance through Access Health CT. Applying through the marketplace is the only way to get subsidies to help pay for insurance if you’re eligible. The portal also has an important feature that going right to Anthem doesn’t: competitors. Anthem sells insurance through Connecticut’s exchange, but so do several other companies.
If you’re looking to learn more about the current health insurance landscape in general Affordable Care Act in particular, check out our sibling site, Consumer Reports’ Health Law Helper.
FURTHER READING:
What are my preventive care benefits? [Healthcare.gov]
Watch out for marketplace website lookalikes [Consumer Reports]
What insurers aren’t telling you about your canceled health plan [Consumer Reports]
Why should a childless man have to buy maternity coverage? [Consumer Reports]
This takes an apology tour to a whole new level. Okay, they might not be saying sorry, but tobacco companies will soon be owning up hiding the dangers of smoking from consumers with an advertising campaign of “corrective statements”.
Tobacco companies and the Department of Justice reached an agreement Friday about the advertising campaign, USA Today reports.
In 2006, a judge found tobacco companies guilty of violating civil racketeering laws and lying to the public about the dangers of smoking. The judgement resulted from a 1999 lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice charging tobacco companies under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Corrective statement will be issued regarding the five key “findings of fact” from the judgement.
The facts detail how tobacco makers defrauded the public by:
The campaign will include online and full-page print ads in the Sunday editions of the top 35 newspapers in the county and prime-time television ads on the three major networks for one year.
Additionally, the statements must be attached to packages of cigarettes.
Tobacco companies will say they lied, via advertising [USA Today]
It’s a tradition in the community of Tanana to shoot off guns at midnight in the village, right where two rivers come together. But it’s all about location, location, location, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner — this time, someone happened to point their gun straight at one of the main fiber-optic cable lines.
“You can’t fix stupid,” the owner of Yukon Telephone and Supervisions Cable TV said in summing up the incident. Tell us how you really feel?
He adds that it was likely a .410-gauge shotgun, as he picked up a bunch of empty shells for that type of gun near where the shooter or shooters were standing. Directly. Under. The cable line. It’s unclear whether or not someone was aiming for the box or just happened to hit it, however.
So far no one has fessed up and as such, the town has been without Internet this week while the company waits for parts to splice the line together. And that’ll take another two or three days to do once the parts arrive.
There’s no word on whether a city slicker doctor happened to be in the area and is now just waiting on those parts to restore Internet access and book a flight home, or if he’s going to fall in love with a local and take up ice-fishing. Because that’s what the movies tell me happens.
Internet, TV lost in Tanana as New Year’s revelers shoot out fiber optic cable [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]
There are often some great deals to be scored at your local thrift shop, but what if you didn’t possess the anatomy you need to open the door to go inside? There’s no reason to be frustrated, deer friends, just bust through the window like a buck did in Alabama this week. He needed that $0.25 soft, retro T-shirt soooo bad.
Shoppers at the thrift store were going about their usual business over the weekend, reports the Montgomery Advertiser, when suddenly the sounds of breaking glass rang out, along with a shout of “deer!” A buck had apparently gone through the glass window next to the entrance.
“We think he saw his reflection in the window and jumped at it,” said a manager on duty during the incident. “He jumped over two school desks sitting outside then came in, and started shopping with us.”
The deer made it all the way to the clothing section (told you he wanted a T-shirt) before employees managed to pin him down in the sporting goods section. Seems the poor guy wasn’t doing so well walking on the slippery floor.
“I was just sitting in the back enjoying my biscuits and coffee when I heard the shatter,” said the employee who caught the incident on tape. “I went to see what was happening, then ran back and got my camera.”
Employees managed to maneuver the deer safely out of the store, whereupon it ran into a Dumpster before getting its bearings and heading off on its way.
The store shut down temporarily to clean up the broken glass, but one customer who’d dashed for cover apparently didn’t get the all clear of deer signal.
“When we closed the store to clean up, we noticed one guy was still hiding inside,” laughed another manager.
Deer makes visit to Wetumpka thrift store [Montgomery Advertiser]
When you hear that any number is in the trillions, it’s like your brain just goes “Whoa, that is probably quite a big deal because a trillion is a super lot of things.” So when you hear that major food companies have trimmed out 6.4 trillion calories from packaged foods sold in 2012, it sounds like a big deal.
To be sure, cutting calories is something many consumers are into. But as NPR’s The Salt explains it, that only works out to about 78 fewer calories purchased per day for every American. Or about one apple or 3.5 Hershey’s Kisses. A half a kiss? Sounds like a peck, to me.
In any case, these figures come from a recent study that compares the calories sold in 2007 to 2012 in regards to 16 major food companies with products in the U.S.
Still, a calorie cut is a calorie cut, and those 78 calories could go toward battling the nation’s obesity problem.
“The range of calories that we need to stop obesity is about 130 to 170, approximately, per person per day,” Kathryn Thomas of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit that funded the study tells The Salt. “If these companies are helping to take out 78 calories per day, that’s an important contribution toward reaching the goal.”
Of course, that’s assuming that every one of us bought something packaged, whether a food or beverage. It doesn’t take into account actual calories consumed by Americans or the food we eat in restaurants. Another question is whether the food industry can take all the credit, or people who proactively change what they’re eating.
“There’s a little bit of a virtuous cycle going on here,” Thomas explains. “Demand for these healthier products is going up. And the industry probably wouldn’t have stepped forward to make this pledge if there wasn’t a market demand for this change.”
Food Firms Trim Trillions Of Calories From Packaged Treats [The Salt]
A new Gallup poll is making me very jealous, because I still have VHS tapes lying around that I can’t watch because my roommate made me throw out my old TV/VCR combo. Anyway! It turns out that 58% of Americans still have a VCR, which yes, is down from the 88% in 2005, but is still remarkable in this age of HD and digital whatnots. Anyone want to watch old taped episodes of My So-Called Life? I’ve got the VHS, if you’ve got the VCR. [Gallup]
The winter months can be a slow time, which is why Uber is lowering prices for the cheaper UberX service by 2% to 30% in certain areas of the country for a trial period, explains the Wall Street Journal.
The UberX service is different in that it uses amateur drivers in regular cars, while Uber involves a black car and professional driver.
In both cases, drivers are self-employed or work for independent limo services, and pay about 20% of the take to Uber for the fares they get from the app. There’s a base fee like a taxi, as well as varying rates based on time and mileage. It’s different in every city.
It’s important to note that these lower rates are likely not here to stay, so enjoy them while they last. THe company told San Francisco drivers, for example, that it expects to “raise the rates back after the promotion.” That, despite the fact that it told customers at the same time that the new price change will be in effect until further notice.
If you’re lucky, Uber’s chief executive Travis Kalanick said the lower fares might become permanent in some cities.
Those lower prices will be coming out of Uber’s pocket in some places, but in others it means the drivers won’t be paid as much.
In a few cities, the lower prices are coming out of Uber’s pocket. Elsewhere, they will mean lower pay for drivers.
“We get more trips per hour in all the cases we have [lowered fares] so far, and the increase in more trips per hour has turned into more income for the driver,” Kalanick says.
Here are the 16 ares where UberX will cost less:
Atlanta
Baltimore
Charlotte, N.C.
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Minneapolis-St. Paul
Nashville, Tenn.
Orange County, Calif.
Phoenix
Sacramento, Calif.
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson, Ariz.
Taxi App Uber Cuts Rates in Some Cities [Wall Street Journal]
Here are seven of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.
Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Want to see your pictures on our site? Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.
The classroom supply closet is nearly empty and so are your pockets. Well, if you’re a K-12 school teacher, don’t worry, your credit union has your back — in the shape of a personal loan.
That’s right, credit unions across the country are targeting teachers with classroom supply loans, Mother Jones reports.
In a time where school budgets are tight, more teachers are taking on the burden of paying for classroom supplies. Mother Jones estimates teachers already spend $1.6 billion out-of-pocket for school supplies.
In what supposedly lessens the burden, credit unions are now offering low-interest, short-term loans for teachers.
The loans start as low as 0.0% APR and go up from there. Most have limited the terms to 12 months and up to $1,000.
And the credit unions aren’t holding back any punches when it comes to appealing to teachers’ need to provide for students.
“We pick up where the school district leaves off,” The Gulf Coast Educators Federal Credit Union says on their website. “We offer a one-year loan up to $1,000 that we hope will help teachers afford the task of creating a teaching environment that meets their exceptional standards.”
They’re not the only ones touting these type of personal loans. Nerd Scholar published a list of credit unions and their loan terms.
There will always be a need for erasers, pencils and other school supplies, but is taking out a personal loan really necessary? We want to know what you think:
Credit Union Offers Teachers Personal Loans for Classroom Supplies [Mother Jones]
A Viriginia appeals court ruled that Yelp must identify seven of the anonymous reviewers who left anonymous reviews on the carpet cleaner’s page, reports Courthouse News, which is a win for the business and an apparent loss for reviewers in terms of First Amendment rights — if they are in fact, customers of the business.
See, the situation is a bit sticky — he couldn’t prove they weren’t customers because they’re anonymous, and Yelp can’t prove they are without revealing to him who they are. If they aren’t customers and are making false statements, that might be defamatory. But if they are customers, they should be protected by the First Amendment.
It’s hairy, to say the least, but a judge has broken that standstill.
“Generally, a Yelp review is entitled to First Amendment protection because it is a person’s opinion about a business that they patronized,” a judge for the majority wrote. “But this general protection relies upon an underlying assumption of fact: that the reviewer was a customer of the specific company and he posted his review based on his personal experience with the business. If this underlying assumption of fact proves false… the review is based on a false statement of fact – that the reviewer is writing his review based on personal experience. And ‘there is no constitutional value in false statements of fact.’ “
Anonymous Yelp Users Face Identity Disclosure [Courthouse News]
If you’re a Gmail user who likes to keep tight control of your inbox, with nary a missive gone unread, you probably noticed an announcement from Google last night waving the carrot of: “Contact more people you know.” Sounds great! But what it really means is that anyone on Google+ can email you, even if they don’t have your email address.
Yes, that Google+ user first has to move you into one of their Circles, which is a matter of a few clicks. And no, they will not be able to see your actual email address unless you actually respond or move them into one of your Circles.
But still — there’s a reason you didn’t give that friend of a friend’s cousin your email address. When you want someone to contact you, you give that person your information. And if you don’t know or are aren’t paying attention, you might think that a stranger who’s emailing you via Google+ somehow got your email address.
Before you panic, start wailing away at the injustice that is free email, there’s hope. You can opt-out, and it might be best to do it now, while it’s fresh in your mind, if this is the kind of thing that bothers you.
The email Google sent you has a hyperlink to a “new setting in Gmail” that you’ll want to click on. Alternately, you can click on the wheel in the upper righthand corner of your Gmail inbox, that should be right under your photo. Then click on Settings.
Once you’re in General settings, scroll down until you see “Email via Google+” and adjust the “who can contact me” dropdown to have those in your Circles be able to email you, Extended Circles or No One. Much easier than freaking out, eh?
We know, Google+. You want people to like you. We’re just not sure this is the way to go about it.
Right before Christmas, Target reluctantly announced that credit and debit card data for over 40 million customers had been stolen between Black Friday and December 15. After Christmas, it came to light that PIN information had also been targeted in that breach.
And yet somehow, it manages to keep getting worse. This morning, Target announced that the number of customers who have had their personal information stolen is not the 40 million previously announced, but instead turns out to be more like 70 million.
(Just for reference, the entire population of the United States is about 314 million–so that’s close to a quarter of the country now involved.)
The only thing even approaching a silver lining? Not all 70 million customers are necessarily looking at their credit card data being loosed into the wild. The data includes “names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses,” Target says.
For customers whose e-mail addresses the store has, they will be sending out informational messages to “affected guests.”
Target is also now offering one free year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection to customers. Folks who have shopped at Target have three months to enroll in the program; enrollment details are coming next week.
Target has also set up a web page specifically dealing with and linking to all of their news and information about the data breach disaster.
The weekend before Christmas, Target held a 10% storewide sale by way of apology to their 40 million customers. Double the breach, double the savings? Maybe this time their “our bad” sale will be 20%. In the meantime, as always, if you used a credit or debit card at the chain between Thanksgiving and December 15, make sure to keep a close eye on your statements for any unusual or fraudulent activity.
Target Provides Update on Data Breach and Financial Performance [Target press release]
