Apple Now Selling Unlocked iPhones Without SIM Cards

I can’t see a lock from here, so it must be true.

Maybe you’re always traveling to Siberia, Madagascar, Belize and back again. Or perhaps you just hate being tied down with a carrier contract. Apple has either been reading your mind or just decided it’s a worthwhile business move to offer customers unlocked iPhone 5s phones that are SIM card free.

But for those not used to the prices that come with no-contract phones, the sticker shock might prove a bit daunting: The Apple store now lists 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions of the unlocked phones for $649, $749 and $849, respectively.

The phones work on any GSM Network, so if you’re abroad you can probably find a carrier to hitch your phone to while you’re there on your own compatible SIM card, then simply ditch it when you leave.

Of course, if you’re here in the U.S. you’ll still need to sign up with either AT&T or T-Mobile to use these, as they’re the only two carriers on GSM networks. Sprint, Verizon Wireless and US Cellular are all CDMA carriers.

The phones also come in any of the finishes available for other 5s phones — gold, black and silver — and will ship in one to two weeks.

H/T: Unlocked and SIM-free iPhone 5s now available on Apple’s site [Engadget]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

If A Stranger Asks For Your Debit Card And PIN Over Instagram, Don’t Mail It To Them

(Earth2Kim)

Most of our readers are probably savvy enough to know this, but we were all young and innocent once. Like many classic scams, the “crackin’ cards” fraud depends on the victim’s own greed. The pitch? They’ll deposit a check in your account, make a withdrawal, and leave some of the proceeds behind for you.

If you know anything about the law, banks, or money, the flaws in this plan are obvious. Most Americans aren’t as financially savvy as you, though, and the scammers have found plenty of willing victims over social media. No, we’re not joking.

“[The scammer said that he] would put $4,500 into my account through the ATM. He wanted $2,000 out of the deal,” one victim explained to CBS Chicago. The victim sent along her ATM card and personal identification number, allowing the scammer full access to her accounts.

Instead, the man deposited a fake check for $2,800 and withdrew the full amount. Now the victim is responsible for the full amount and can’t get another bank account.

Let us reiterate the obvious: if someone offers you gobs of money for the privilege of using your bank account, say “no” and contact law enforcement. Even (especially) if they contact you over Instagram.

2 Investigators: Debit-Card Holders Duped Into Giving Out PIN Numbers [CBS Chicago]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

4 Reasons Why Today Should Have Been Black Friday (And Why That Could Have Saved Thanksgiving)

(The Joy of the Mundane)

There is a lot of talk these days about the growing number stores opening on Thanksgiving day this year, effectively turning Black Friday into Black Thursday. There are employees threatening strikes and people starting petitions while stores are opening as early as 6 a.m. on the morning of Turkey Day. But maybe it all could have been avoided if they had just moved the big shopping day up a week.

Yes, I made a very similar argument a year ago (not that it was going to change anyone’s mind), and I’ll probably restate some of the same points this year (again knowing what little impact it will have) because I do think it’s something worth starting a public discussion about.

With many of the largest retailers opening during or shortly after dinnertime this Thanksgiving, here are the reasons I think detaching “Black Friday” from its historical “Day After Thanksgiving” slot on the calendar is to everyone’s benefit.

1. STORES GET THE EXTENDED HOLIDAY SHOPPING SEASON

Some have argued that this year’s let’s-open-on-Thanksgiving boom is a reaction to the fact that the late Thanksgiving date (11/28) this year takes away precious shopping days from retailers during the holiday season. I personally don’t believe that, especially since a number of retailers crossed that midnight threshold last year, when Thanksgiving was almost a week earlier in the calendar.

But assume for a moment that this is a motivating factor in the on-Thanksgiving openings. I say, why not declare that Black Friday is the Friday before Thanksgiving? It’s not like it’s a date established in any religious or legal texts. It’s just a day on a calendar that lots of people have off from work.

Since most people don’t have off today but do have off this weekend, retailers could have started Black Friday sales after regular closing hours tonight with the same doorbuster deals they will be offering next Friday.

Additionally, gives the retailers that entire weekend plus all the days before Thanksgiving and then the three days after the holiday to continue having sales.

So even on the years when Thanksgiving is at its earliest, retailers would still have an additional week of holiday shopping.

2. SHOPPERS WILL SHOW UP

If you discount it, they will come.

People love deals and coupons and limited-time offers. This is not a secret. People also tend to show up for hyped-up events. Stores created Black Friday so there is absolutely no reason they couldn’t devote that same level of publicity toward relocating the shopping event by a few days. It’s not like they would be asking people to buy Christmas gifts in May (though someday they surely will). If some major retailer had decided to go all-out and have some huge special sale event at midnight, there would be people lined up right now.

3. EMPLOYEES WILL WORK

Moving Black Friday to this weekend also helps employees at these stores. This year, a number of workers at many large retailers have to decide between getting the extra pay for working on Thanksgiving or spending time with loved ones on the holiday.

By making Black Friday a special event that does not in any way overlap Thanksgiving, stores would be allowing employees to enjoy the holiday without having to say no to their employers or to the additional income. Happier employees are often better employees. In a retail world that is trying to stress the in-person experience over the cold impersonal world of online shopping, it really helps to have workers who don’t openly hate their employers.

4. IT DOESN’T MEAN AN END TO TRADITIONAL BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING

A number of people over the years have expressed to me and to Consumerist that these on-Thanksgiving openings don’t dampen their holiday because they have traditionally gone shopping with their loved ones on Black Friday.

Moving the huge, mega-doorbuster, get ‘em while we got ‘em deals up a week doesn’t stop stores from opening early on the morning after Thanksgiving, or even in the middle of the night.

Retailers could still hold out some big deals to entice shoppers in the doors post-Turkey Day, and these consumers would still get to enjoy strolling through the aisles with their friends and families.

All that moving the start of this doorbuster season up a week does is allow Thanksgiving to go back to being Thanksgiving, rather than a quick lunch before you go get in line for a TV that isn’t worth the $80 they’re charging, or put on your uniform and get ready to go to work.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Blathering Vaguely About “Compensation” Will Get You Nowhere With Customer Service

(Yo Spiff)

Eric was incredibly frustrated with his mobile provider, Virgin. His service was spotty, and his smartphone overheated to the point that he became nervous and turned it off. He sought help from the Virgin Mobile Angels, because that’s what angels do. Isn’t it?

Neither his phone nor the local towers were working all that well, so he wanted replacements of both to make up for the months of frustration. “[O]ut of the 11 months this year I have had 7 months of mediocre Sprint coverage,” he wrote to the social media angels. “Service is not as good as it used to be as it has gone from decent to mediocre for this year.”

Eventually, Virgin had an answer for him. “After reviewing the address provided, I was able to locate 5 Network Vision upgrades currenlty [sic] taking place in your area. The completition [sic] dates have yet to be provided,” one Angel wrote back. Well, that was helpful.

The problem we noticed was that in his very long correspondence with Virgin, he complained about his phone and about the service, but left it open-ended. He didn’t explain what he wanted Virgin to do about the situation, only vaguely hinting at “compensation” for his trouble.

This is a bad idea in both consumer interactions and in interpersonal relationships, though the latter is fodder for a whole other blog entirely. From our point of view, Eric was complaining about the towers under upgrade in his area, his toasty phone, and how terrible his service was. Okay. But what did he want that was directly under the social media customer service reps’ control? They can’t crack whips and make the towers upgrade faster.

We asked Eric what he wanted, and told him to spell it out for the Virgin Mobile reps. That’s the key part: don’t wait for the company to make an offer. In some cases, blathering on about unspecified “compensation” makes it sound like you’re going to sue.

Eric wanted six months of service credits to make up for the inconvenience, to continue his $40/month grandfathered plan, and also a Samsung Galaxy III. He assumed that his phone was overheating because of the terrible reception, and made him overlook technical problem with his handset while it was still in warranty.

Eric and Virgin are still hashing this out, but this is still an important lesson. If you want something, start somewhere. The worst thing a company can do is offer you less. The last we heard, Virgin’s offer was replacement of his current model phone and that six months’ service that he asked for.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Just Try Not To Cringe At The Anti-Google Merchandise In Microsoft’s Online Store

At least the models look happy?

On the one hand, these “Scroogled” items up for sale on Microsoft’s official online store provoke a response of ugh, groan. On the other hand, it’s all, cringe, no, awkward. Either way you go, Microsoft’s attempt to poke fun at its competitor just comes off as a little bit… sad.

It’s a real online store and a real line of shirts, hats and even a mug with phrases like a Chrome logo in a trench coat, “Keep Calm While We Still Your Data,” “We’re Watching You” and Microsoft’s favorite dig, the Scroogled logo. Because of course, this is the Scroogled section of the store, points out Wired.com in its shared disbelief.

While we can’t imagine anyone willingly donning a T-shirt with Chrome as a scary spider, apparently the mug is sold out.

And as for Google watching people, yes, its all-seeing eye does mine the treasure trove of your Internet searches to market products. But Microsoft’s Kinect feature of the XBox One also watches people — a little too closely for some, points out FastCoDesign. It watches you right in the junk.

Please, Microsoft. Give up on making “Scroogled” a thing. Or at least refrain from trying to sell merchandise with that on it and work on developing your own brand personality. Slinging insults via cringeworthy T-shirts isn’t going to get you too far in the image battle.

Know what will? Devoting your resources to developing great products consumers will benefit from. Just a thought.

These Anti-Google T-Shirts Just Make Microsoft Look Pathetic [Wired.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

18 Financial Tasks You Can Accomplish In 5 Minutes (Each)

(Klaus M)

Sometimes we let important financial tasks pile up on our desks, or on our virtual desks, until they create a giant pile of crap that we don’t want to go through. Fight back: here’s a list of 18 tasks that you might have been putting off that you can perform in only a few minutes. [Money Crush] (via Rockstar Finance)

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Some Xbox One Owners Complain Of Monstrous Disc Noise

You just spent $500 (plus tax and shipping, if applicable) to get the brand new Xbox One gaming console on the day it launches. You unbox it, plug it all in, turn it on, put in a disc and WHAT THE $&##^%@ IS THAT SOUND?

That’s what a number of new Xbox One owners are asking after they put a disc into their new device only to have it sound like the disc is being devoured by dozens of tiny javelinas hidden inside the machine. Check out the YouTube clip above (some unsurprising NSFW language and obligatory use of Clint Mansell’s “Lux Aeterna” as background music) compiling a number of angry and befuddled Xbox users whose devices are making the crunching, gnarling, rattling sound that sounds like you placed your vibrating cellphone on a flimsy wooden folding table.

We’re assuming this was not part of the Day One promotion from Microsoft.

Polygon points to numerous other complaints online about the disc noise and the device’s inability to play inserted discs, like this Amazon review, and this Amazon review, and this forum thread on the Xbox site where many people are complaining about the problem.

No idea yet how widespread this problem is, but we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Samsung Owes Apple Another $290M In Damages — For A Total Of About $930M

(A photo Geek)

Whoever is on penny-counting duty at Samsung is probably shaking his or head quite thoroughly at the job ahead. A jury ruled yesterday that Samsung has to pay Apple $290,456,793 in additional damages for patent infringement, which is quite a pretty penny. And that’s still less than the $380 million Apple had asked for.

That might seem like a drop in the already overflowing bucket, as the total Samsung owes Apple in this ongoing U.S. patent fight is about oh, $930 million. Yes, dollars — not hugs!

“For Apple, this case has always been about more than patents and money,” Apple said in a statement, via CNET. “It has been about innovation and the hard work that goes into inventing products that people love. While it’s impossible to put a price tag on those values, we are grateful to the jury for showing Samsung that copying has a cost.”

Samsung was only expecting about another $52 million in damages so it’s no surprise that the company is “disappointed” with the decision, “which is based in large part on a patent that the US Patent and Trademark Office has recently deemed invalid.”

“While we move forward with our post-trial motions and appeals, we will continue to innovate with groundbreaking technologies and great products that are loved by our many customers all around the world,” the Korean company added in its statement.

The jury announced the decision yesterday after deliberating since Tuesday, after asking for calculators, highlighters and lunch on Wednesday. All the tools one needs to land a multimillion dollar decision on a global company.

Last year another jury said that Samsung had infringed on five Apple patents related to the design of the iPhone and its functionality. But another judge later tossed that $400 million award and asked a new jury to recalculate the damages. Add in this new decision and the $600 million Samsung owes for the first trial and yeah, that penny counter will be super busy.

Samsung owes Apple $290M more in damages, jury says [CNET.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

If You Prefer To Slather Bacon Under Your Arms Instead Of It Eating It, This Product Is For You

I just… I can’t.

It is a jungle out there on the dating scene, am I right, single ladies and men? But you’ll have the advantage on the meat market with this little baby — bacon deodorant, complete with “Meaty Fresh” scent. Okay, I give up. The world is too weird to understand. [via FoodBeast]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Comcast And Charter Consider Buying Time Warner Cable. No, Really

(kenfagerdotcom)

There are many changes that could improve cable television and broadband internet service in the United States, but “more mergers” certainly isn’t one of them. That’s why we started screaming hysterically in the Consumerist offices today when we learned that Charter and Comcast are both weighing their options and thinking about acquiring Time Warner Cable.

Charter is further along in its preparations, talking to banks about financing for the deal. Sources say that TWC has made it known it would prefer to get hitched to Comcast. Experts agree that Kabletown would be the better match, for reasons that include the word “synergies” and give us hives.

If Charter acquired Time Warner, that would create the country’s second-largest cable company.

Comcast seeks advice on possible Time Warner Cable bid: Sources [CNBC] (Warning: auto-play video)

Charter nears funding for Time Warner Cable bid: WSJ [Reuters]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist