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Kohler Releases An Odor-Eating Toilet Seat To Make Going Number Two More Pleasant

Going to the bathroom is a natural part of life, but for some reason human waste has been in the news a little too much in the last week. First we learned that a company in England was is using human feces to power a bus, and now Kohler has released an odor-eating toilet seat aimed at ridding restrooms across the country of the smell produced when we go number two.

The Associated Press reports that the latest invention in toilet seats – the Purefresh – aims to eliminate the odors left behind in the bathroom to make the experience, you know, more pleasant. And maybe make cohabitation easier for everyone.

The seat, which went on sale earlier this month, contains a fan hidden in a battery-operated seat that sucks in air and pushes it through an odor-eating carbon filter and an optional scent pack.

Officials with Kohler tell the AP that the toilet works to attack smells “where the action is.”

To do so, the seat turns on automatically when a user sits down. The fan then emits a light hum as it filters odors.

The seat, which requires two D batteries to do its job, employs scent packs similar to what might be found in car air fresheners, the AP reports.

Just like the air fresheners used in cars and in homes, the ones used inside the toilet seat must be replaced periodically. The scents, Garden Waterfall, Soft and Fresh Laundry or Avocado Spa, provide about a month’s worth of fragrance.

In addition to wiping out bathroom odors, the Purefresh seat also includes two LED light settings to make sure consumers make their way to the restroom without incident in the middle of the night.

Kohler isn’t the only company to get on the odor-free bathroom bandwagon.

The AP reports that San Francisco-based Brondell introduced a similar seat in 2006, but pulled it from the markets because costs to produce the device were too high.

While we haven’t tried the seat for ourselves, we’re sure someone out there is rushing to put the device on their holiday shopping list, because, after all, who needs the hottest electronic for the holidays when you can get a odor-eating toilet seat?

Bothered by bathroom odors? Wisconsin-based Kohler introduces no-smell toilet seat [The Associated Press]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Budweiser To Waste Money Trying To Convince 20-Somethings To Drink Bud

(bluwmongoose)

By its own admission, nearly half of American beer-drinkers between the ages of 21 and 27 not only don’t drink Budweiser, but have never even tried the self-crowned King of Beers. That’s why we will all have to endure months of young and edgy ads attempting to target this demographic (before the company goes inevitably back to its default flags/horses/baseball marketing).

Between the mass-produced light beers (including Bud Light) that dominate the big beer market and the dizzying array of smaller and craft beers, Budweiser’s share of the worldwide suds market is a little more than half of what it was only a decade ago, and it’s only going to keep slipping with the youngest group of (legal) drinkers largely ignoring the brand.

Since there are only so many independent brewers that Budweiser parent company AB InBev NV DDS FYI PYT KITT can snap up, the multinational beer behemoth is going to try to win over the younger demographic through that tried-and-true method (for near-certain failure) — more youthful advertising.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

That means it will not trot out the traditional Budweiser Clydesdales for this year’s holiday advertising. It means February’s Super Bowl ads will feature something more current than last year’s Fleetwood Mac. It means less baseball and more raves with DJ group Cash Cash.

Additionally, Budweiser says it will start sponsoring more events that are targeted at this age group, like food festivals, along with adding parties in college towns — but of course it isn’t intending to market to underage drinkers. Cough cough.

The company has tried to reinvigorate its brand through marketing — like when it handed out 500,000 free samples at sporting events in 2010 — but its numbers keep slipping.

What Budweiser doesn’t seem to understand is that the era of being a “Bud guy” or a “Miller guy” is long gone, especially when it comes to drinking at bars or restaurants.

Many of today’s younger beer drinkers don’t have an undying loyalty to a brand. Instead, they like to try different brews, experiment, mix and match with their food and mood.

So even if AB InBev can convince some of the people born in 1994 (lord, that’s terrifying) that their first of-age beer should be a Bud, and possibly even get them to like the brand, it still faces the problem of choice. When that person sits down at the bar and sees dozens of different options, it can be awfully difficult to not try something other than Budweiser.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

City Is No Charlie Brown, Kicks Ugly Christmas Tree To The Curb

(WFMZ.com)

The opportunity to play the sad Christmas tree music from Charlie Brown in the context of an actual sad, ugly Christmas tree story doesn’t come around too often, but today is that day: The town of Reading, PA is ditching a tree deemed too pathetic and unseemly for the public eye in favor of a newer, more pleasing to the eye specimen.

The scrawny 50-foot spruce soured holiday feelings, reports WFMZ.com with residents complaining that the tree just looks pitiful.

“I know Reading is not doing too great,” one man who works near the tree told the news station. “But facing this tree up here is making it even worse.”

“If I were a squirrel looking for a home for the winter, I wouldn’t even go in that tree,” said another.

To revive the town’s holiday jollity, the city council president is leading a group to raise funds for a two new, prettier trees and the money to decorate them.

Apparently the current tree was a last-minute replacement from a city park — the city was supposed to get a tree from a farm but the owner wouldn’t workers drive on wet ground when it came time to fetch it.

The council president says the group has already raised $1,000 in donations for the new, un-sad trees, and he’ll go shopping for them this weekend.

“So hopefully we’ll be able to have a beautiful Penn Street appropriate tree here by Monday night,” he said.

It’s not all sad music for the ugly tree, however, as WFMZ said it received an email from a local auto dealership, expressing interested in adopting it, in true Charlie Brown fashion.

On that note, take it away, Charlie:

City’s “ugly” Christmas tree causes controversy [WFMZ.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Papa John’s Brings Back The Cheesesteak Pizza For Some Reason

If you were looking forward to trying the Fritos Pie Pizza at Papa John’s, and we’re not sure why you would have, bad news: the specialty pizza theoretically ended its promotional period yesterday. However, there’s a replacement exotic pizza on the menu: a Philly Cheesesteak pizza.

How do you turn that into a pizza? The recipe starts with a creamy garlic sauce, and of course there is shredded steak. The cheese on top is provolone, and then it features onions and green peppers as well.

They’re calling this product “new,” but it appears to be pretty much the same cheesesteak pizza that Papa John’s has taken on and off the menu for years now.

The other item in the press photo above is a holiday-season Red Kettle Cookie, which has red candies in it and serves as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army.

FAST FOOD NEWS: Papa John’s Philly Cheesesteak Pizza and Red Kettle Cookie [The Impulsive Buy]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

FCC Expects To Be Sued Over Net Neutrality No Matter What It Does

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler testifying before the House on May 20, 2014.

In 2010, the FCC enacted net neutrality rules aimed to prevent Internet service providers from blocking, slowing down, or speeding up access to websites based on how much they pay — and the agency was sued by Verizon for overstepping its authority. Now that the FCC is reconsidering those rules to either make them weaker or possibly reclassify ISPs so that the agency can enforce neutrality. But no matter how it moves forward, the agency expects to be sued.

“Let’s make sure that we understand what is going on here,” said FCC Chair Tom Wheeler on Friday [via DSL Reports]. “The big dogs are going to sue regardless of what comes out.”

Several large ISPs, led by Verizon, have already stated they will file lawsuits if the FCC attempts to reclassify broadband, which is currently designated as a lightly regulated information service, as telecommunications infrastructure.

“Any time the commission has been moved to do something” about neutrality, said Wheeler, “one of the big dogs have gone to sue, so I guess we should be informed by history.”

The Chair initially drew criticism from neutrality supporters for his industry-friendly proposal that included limited allowances for so-called “fast lanes,” which would allow ISPs to charge companies like Netflix and Google more money for better access to end-users.

So far, Wheeler has only left open the possibility of reclassification, but just the mere notion that the Commission might eventually go this route has led to legal threats.

The issue was shoved into the spotlight recently when President Obama publicly stated his support for reclassification, resulting in a campaign of misinformation from certain lobbying groups attempting to politicize the issue.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

United Airlines Expands In-Flight Entertainment To Android Devices

(Adam Fagen)

Travelers who use Android devices hoping to catch a movie on their next United Airlines flight finally have the same opportunity already afforded to their Apple counterparts.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the airline officially extended its onboard streaming service to include the devices nearly eight months after the program first began.

Initially, the airline’s free on-demand video entertainment service was only available to travelers using laptops and Apple devices.

Travelers must download the United app from the Google Play or Apple App store in order to watch United’s selection of free TV shows and movies while in flight.

Currently, United has almost 200 United mainline aircraft offering the personal device entertainment service.

Officials with United say they plan to extend the service to most United and United Express aircraft by late 2015.

“Travelers increasingly want to watch entertainment on their own devices, as shown by the measurable improvement in satisfaction among travelers who fly on aircraft with personal device programming,” Tom O’Toole, United’s senior vice president of marketing and loyalty and president of its frequent-flier program MileagePlus tells the Tribune.

United Airlines extends onboard streaming to Android devices [Chicago Tribune]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Redbox Hikes Prices For Movie And Video Game Rentals

(repenter116)

The cost of a night in with a rental DVD is about to get a little more expensive for those of us out there who still rent physical movies and video games: Redbox is increasing the price of DVD rentals by 25%, as its parent company Outerwall Inc. tries to boost its revenue stream.

Starting Dec. 2, DVD rentals will cost $1.50 per night, compared to the current $1.20, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Blu-ray discs will go for $2 per night, up from $1.50, which is a 33% increase. Videogame rentals will now cost $3 per night instead of $2 as well, beginning in January.

Redbox is also moving into Netflix territory with a new recommendation engine much like the one its competitor uses to guide customers to content they might like, as well as investing in mobile technology and a better way to stock its kooks.

“Creating a business plan that allows us to make these investments in the future is important,” said Redbox President Mark Horak.

While one might scoff at heading outside the home to pick up a movie for the night, what with the plethora of online streaming options, the appeal of Redbox is in its prices, which will still be around one-third the cost for a typical video-on-demand rental. Kiosks also stock newer releases than the content available on competitors like Netflix and Hulu.

Redbox Raising DVD Rental Price by 25% [Wall Street Journal]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Naked Man Falls Through Airport Bathroom’s Ceiling, Allegedly Attacks Elderly Man

(francosmucio)

Whenever someone is naked in public, there are so many questions: When did the clothes come off? Is there a stash nearby? And why would someone decide to crawl around in the ceiling of an airport bathroom in his birthday suit? State police in Boston have arrested a man who fell through the ceiling of a women’s bathroom at Logan Airport, and then allegedly assaulted an elderly man outside the restroom.

While one might think that being free to frolic unfettered by clothing would make a person all sweetness and light, police have charged a 26-year-old man with attempted murder, mayhem, assault and battery on a person over 60, assault and battery on a police officer, lewd and lascivious conduct and malicious destruction to property after a bizarre incident in the buff on Saturday, reports the Associated Press.

A woman using a restroom located before the security checkpoint reported that the sky was falling and with it, a naked guy who dropped from the ceiling into the stall area, a state police spokesman said. It seems he’d slipped into the bathroom, stripped down and hitched himself up into the crawl space of the bathroom, before it came crashing down.

He then ran from the restroom and allegedly assaulted an 84-year-old man he ran into, biting his ear and reportedly trying to choke him with the man’s own cane.

Troopers arrested him in a bit of a scuffle, leaving one of the officers with a hand injury. The elderly victim of the assault was taken to the hospital to have his ear treated.

Cops: Naked suspect assaults man, 84, at airport [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Ranchers Legacy Meat Co. Recalls 1,200 Pounds Of Ground Beef Over E.Coli Contamination

(me and the sysop)

Sure, it’s Thanksgiving week and we’re all preparing to devour our fair share of turkey. But some consumers prefer a main dish that’s a little more beefy. If you’re part of that camp, you might want to check the label after a Minnesota firm recalled ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Ranchers Legacy Meat Co. recalled 1,200 pounds of ground beef that may contain a particularly dangerous strain of E. coli O157:H7.

The recalled products, which were produced on November 19, were distributed to retailers nationwide in plastic packets and contain various weights of ground beef.

All of the packages have the use by date of December 10, 2014 and bear the establishment number “Est. 40264″ inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Individual products include:

• Ranchers Legacy Ground Beef Patties 77/23

• Ranchers Legacy Ground Chuck Patties 80/20

• Ranchers Legacy USDA Choice Ground Beef 80/20

• Ranchers Legacy USDA Choice WD Beef Patties 80/20

• Ranchers Legacy RD Beef Patties 80/20

• OTG Manufacturing Chuck/Brisket RD Patties

• Ranchers Legacy Chuck Blend Oval Beef Patties

• Ranchers Legacy WD Chuck Blend Patties

• Ranchers Legacy USDA Choice NAT Beef Patties 80/20

• Ranchers Legacy NAT Beef Patties 80/20

• Ranchers Legacy USDA Choice NAT Beef Patties 80/20

• Ranchers Legacy Ground Chuck Blend

• Ranchers Legacy Chuck Blend Bulk Pack NAT Patties

• Ranchers Legacy Chuck Blend NAT Beef Patties

The recall was initiated after a routine inspection by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service found traces of E. coli at the Minnesota plant.

FSIS and the company are concerned that some product may be frozen and in consumers’ freezers. FSIS and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.

According to the USDA, E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps 2–8 days (3–4 days, on average) after exposure the organism. While most people recover within a week, some develop a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This condition can occur among persons of any age but is most common in children under 5-years old and older adults. It is marked by easy bruising, pallor, and decreased urine output. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately.

Minnesota Firm Recalls Ground Beef Products Due To Possible E. Coli O157:H7 Contamination [USDA]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist