You Can Soon Buy “.Sucks” URLs, But At Prices That .Suck

(Steven Depolo)

If you’ve ever dreamed of using the recently approved .sucks top-level domain suffix to make fun of companies that annoy you, your chance is coming up when registration opens later this month. However, a .sucks domain won’t exactly come cheap, so be prepared to be outbid by the company you’d love to skewer.

Last November, a company named Momentus won the ICANN auction for the right to operate the .sucks domain. The early registration period opens March 30 and goes wide to the general public on June 1.

But as MarketingLand notes, the yearly pricing to obtain a .sucks URL is higher than most people would want to pay for the novelty of operating one of these sites.

The cheapest level is the “Consumer Advocate Subsidized” level, which is only $11/year. That seems like a good deal, until you realize that these names won’t be available until September, meaning any big company name will be long gone. Furthermore, you’d be paying solely for the joy of owning the name, as the URL will redirect to a discussion forum on everything.sucks.

The cheapest level for anyone looking to actually run a website with a .suck URL is $249/year, but again this price isn’t available until after the initial “sunrise” period so the odds of getting a household name are incredibly slim.

And even if that company name is still around, it will likely fall under the “Premium” list, which starts at $299/year.

But if a name is registered with ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse database, that company will have to pay $2,499/year for the right to hold onto their .sucks URL.

Some critics contend that this price is extortionate, taking advantage of companies that are willing to pay top-dollar just to keep that embarrassing URL out of circulation.

It’s possible that big brands will refuse to pay up, figuring that not enough consumers would think to look at a .sucks URL. After all, there are no shortage of [companyname]sucks.com websites out there but the targeted companies still survive.

For example, no one would have heard of Walmart.horse if Walmart didn’t try to have it shut down.

The big question is what will happen if someone manages to put together enough money to purchase a .sucks attached to a big brand name. It seems inevitable that the company would try to sue, though it would be hard to argue that it’s not a valid form of criticism that falls under a valid “fair use” of the brand name.

[via Ars Technica]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

McDonald’s Workers Claim They Were Told To Treat Burns With Mayo, Mustard

(Mike Mozart)

From tubs of hot cooking oil to flaming grills and searing griddles, working in any kitchen presents a multitude of burn hazards, and sometimes accidents happen. But some McDonald’s workers say their restaurants are cooking too much food with too few people and that when employees get hurt, management has some odd ideas for how to respond.

Fight for 15, a union-supported group of fast food workers calling for higher wages, announced today that McDonald’s employees in 19 cities around the country have filed a total of 28 health and safety complaints with state, local, and federal authorities.

Not only do the workers say that they are being put in unsafe conditions — like being told to clean out the deep fryer while the oil is still hot — but that their restaurants lack first aid equipment.

One Chicago McD’s employee says he slipped on a wet floor while working and burned his arm.

“The managers told me to put mustard on it,” he claims in a statement, “but I ended up having to get rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.”

Another employee says that at her restaurant in Philadelphia they lack the proper equipment for disposing of fry oil and so they “just dump the hot grease into a plastic bag in a box of ice.”

“My co-worker got badly burned, and our manager told him ‘put mayonnaise on it, you’ll be good,” says the employee. “McDonald’s needs to be held accountable, and that’s why workers around the country are joining together.”

In a statement to the Chicago Tribune McDonald’s said the company “will review these allegations,” which McDonald’s maintains are “part of a larger strategy orchestrated by activists targeting our brand and designed to generate media coverage.”

Meanwhile, a rep for OSHA confirmed to the Trib that it is looking into complaints about McDonald’s that it investigates “all complaints and take every complaint seriously.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Virginia Limits Retention Of License Plate Capture Data To 7 Days

(frankieleon)

We’ve shared with you before the that both private companies and law enforcement are combining images of motorists’ license plates with geographic data about where those plates were spotted. Some states have passed laws limiting how long this data can stay in databases or banning its collection altogether, and Virginia has joined that list as of this month.

Private scanning systems are a particularly helpful tool for tow truck companies that repossess vehicles, since they can compare the vehicles right in front of them to a list of cars that have been reported delinquent or stolen. However, these scanners also collect plate and geographic data, uploading a record of which cars were in which location and when that can be stored indefinitely and accessed by private investigators, insurance companies, and law enforcement.

Interestingly, the bill that will go into effect in Virginia in July isn’t specifically about license plate scanners. It’s more broad, designed to prevent the retention of any kind of identifying data that could be picked up and stored. Scanners could also use facial recognition to keep track of when we walk down a street, or VINs. Chap Petersen, the Virginia state senator who wrote this bill, explained in an interview that he wanted to prevent tracking methods that we have haven’t even thought of yet. “[Law enforcement] shouldn’t just be able to use any tech that they want or to surveil people when they’re not subject to an investigation,” he told Ars Technica. “You can’t just do it because you feel like it, and that to me is very critical.”

Virginia passes shortest limit in US on keeping license plate reader data [Ars Technica]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

This Talking Barbie Doll Can Listen To You… And Share What You Say With Third Parties

Since some imaginative cave child made the first doll out of a dead marmot, kids have been talking to their make-believe pals. And for more than a century, some of these dolls have been talking back. But the newest generation of Mattel Barbie dolls may take things to the next level by not only listening to what you have to say, but by sharing your conversations with complete strangers.

This is according to the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, who point out that the privacy policy for ToyTalk, who provides the voice technology for Hello Barbie states that:

“We may use, store, process and transcribe Recordings in order to provide and maintain the Service, to perform, test or improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms, or for other research and development and data analysis purposes.”

Hello Barbie has not yet been released and it’s possible that the privacy policy could be updated before then.

ToyTalk says that using the doll will likely require parents to create an account and choose whether or not to share the data. The question remains: will parents have to actively opt in, or do they have to go through a process to opt out?

The CEO of ToyTalk is attempting to downplay concerns about the data collection, telling the Washington Post that, “The data is never used for anything to do with marketing or publicity or any of that stuff.”

For its part, Mattel is only saying the company is “committed to safety and security, and Hello Barbie conforms to applicable government standards.”

You can feel the passion for bringing kids’ dreams to life, can’t you?

[via The Verge]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

No, Qantas Isn’t Giving Away Free First Class Tickets For Liking A Post On Facebook

In spite of the fact that this post reeks of scamminess, more than 85,000 Facebook users passed it on, at least hoping that it was authentic.

It’s a Facebook post in which the company name is misspelled. It contends that an underwhelming number of passengers is reason to celebrate. It states that all you have to do to get free first class seats is to “Like” the post, and that “winner’s will be inbox’d on March 17.” Nothing about this seems legitimate, and yet more than 85,000 people thought it was worth a shot.

First off, there is no such thing as “Qantas Airline,” or “Qantas Australia.” There is Qantas Airways, the Australian airline.

Second, 3 million passengers since Jan. 1 2015 would not be reason to celebrate. That would actually be lower-than-usual traffic for the airline, which carries between 1.6-2 million passengers each month just on its domestic flights, and several hundred thousand more on international flights. That’s not to mention the 2 million or so passengers flying on its Jetstar subsidiary every month.

Third, no legitimate airline is simply going to give away free first class tickets for sharing a random post. There are all manner of restrictions on sweepstakes and no major airline is going to open itself up to legal issues by holding an unrestricted giveaway open to everyone in the world with a Facebook account.

“We’re aware of this fake Facebook account,” writes the real Qantas on its Facebook page. “It is a scam and has nothing to do with Qantas. Facebook has been advised and are currently investigating.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Tesla Says Software Update Will “End Range Anxiety” For Model S Cars

(fCatheroo)

The base version of the Tesla Model S already gets around 200 miles to a charge and the 85kwh version can reach more than 260 miles before needing to be plugged in; farther than any other electric vehicle currently in production. But company founder Elon Musk is promising that a new software update will “end range anxiety.”

Musk made this boast via Twitter on Sunday, saying that more details are to come in a press conference this Thursday at noon ET.

Tesla press conf at 9am on Thurs. About to end range anxiety … via OTA software update. Affects entire Model S fleet.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2015

Software in the Model S can be updated by the company wirelessly, meaning it can push out this tweak to customers over the air.

The big question is whether this update will actually alter how the Model S uses its electric resources to squeeze even more mileage out of a single charge. As the Wall Street Journal points out, it could be something as mundane as a system to alert drivers to the nearest charging station.

What we also don’t know is if Telsa’s Thursday announcement will address any impact this update might have on the upcoming Model 3. That lower-priced Tesla is supposed to provide 200 miles per charge when it launches. If the company could get more mileage out of the car, it would help Tesla to compete against the Chevy Bolt, which is slated to debut around the same time and for a reportedly lower price.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Comcast Continues To Screw Up Accounts, Even After Local News Involvement

(honeylamb)

We’ve done seemingly countless stories in which the only reason a company paid attention to a wronged consumer was the involvement of the media. And in most cases where this happens, the customer’s problem is finally resolved, never to crop up again. But that’s not always true.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff Gelles has not one, but two tales of Comcast customers who thought their problems were behind them only to have the issues come back from the dead.

The first horror story involved a man who, after 25 years as a loyal Comcast customer, moved and was unable to get anyone from Comcast to actually come out and install service at his new home. If that weren’t bad enough, Comcast billed him $215 for the non-existent service.

After the Inquirer got Comcast HQ on the phone, the customer was led to believe that his account had been squared and he could move on with his Comcast-free life.

But then he got a $292 debt collection notice from a Texas-based agency. Again, the Inquirer had to call up Comcast HQ where a rep now says the collection has been canceled and won’t affect his credit report.

“His collection was being processed simultaneously with the resolution,” a rep told Gelles about how the customer ended up in collections.

A second Comcast customer wrote Gelles in January saying she cancelled her Comcast service two months earlier and returned all her equipment, but was still being billed for more than $600.

Gelles forwarded her issue on to Comcast HQ, which initially seemed to resolve things. She says her $600 bill was changed to a $48 credit. But now she says Comcast is coming after her for $50.

And once again the Inquirer had to become involved, contacting Comcast to nudge the company to look into why no one could possibly do basic math.

At this point, it appeared as if Comcast is just wiping the slate clean on this account, saying the customer didn’t owe them anything and she wasn’t owed anything. It wasn’t what she wanted, but it was better than nothing.

But even after receiving multiple calls from Comcast reps confirming that her account had been zeroed out, the customer got a bill earlier this month for around $1.50.

Calls to Comcast resulted in no explanation and unfulfilled promises for calls back.

Finally, after a third intervention by Gelles, a Comcast rep swears that the account is now clear of any debt.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

IKEA Does Not Want You To Play Hide And Seek In Stores

(Steve

It’s all very well and good if you want to play a game of grown-up hide-and-seek. However, IKEA would rather you didn’t play it inside their stores. The global megastore chain stopped planned games in their stores in the Netherlands. More than 32,000 people had signed up on Facebook for the biggest game at the store in Eindhoven, and now the organizers are looking for a different spot to hold the game.

There were 19,000 people signed up to potentially take part in a game in Amsterdam, and 12,000 signed up for a game at the store in Utrecht. The stores canceled the fun event for safety reasons: even if only a few hundred people actually showed up, that would be some serious scampering around.

“We need to make sure people are safe in our stores,” an IKEA spokeswoman told Bloomberg News, “and that’s hard to do if we don’t even know where they are.” The game in Belgium that inspired this one included participants hiding under beds and in refrigerators.

“Ikea is like an extremely large living room,” said the organizer of the original event in Belgium that inspired the imitators in the Netherlands.

Ikea Stamps Out Hide-and-Seek Games in Dutch Furniture Stores [Bloomberg Business]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Facebook Clarifies: Bared Nipples, Hate Speech Not Allowed

Facebook, like a lot of online sharing platforms with a large user base, frequently takes a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to complaints about supposedly offensive posts. This has led to automated removal of rather innocent images — mothers breastfeeding, photos of nude paintings and sculptures — and other content that may offend some but was not intended to injure anyone. Today, Facebook tried to give users clearer guidelines about what sort of posts actually violate the site’s standards.

In a statement, Facebook says that its Community Standards have not been changed; they’re just being presented in a new way to clarify questions that users have had about certain types of borderline-questionable content.

Under the “Nudity” heading, Facebook says it restricts the use of nudity in posts “because some audiences within our global community may be sensitive to this type of content,” and acknowledges that its desire to respond quickly to complaints about exposed skin (which we all have, last time we checked) can sometimes result in a policy that is “more blunt than we would like” and which removes images that should not be taken down.

“We remove photographs of people displaying genitals or focusing in on fully exposed buttocks,” explains Facebook. “We also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple, but we always allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures.”

It doesn’t matter whether the offending content is a photograph or a “digitally created” manipulation. Both fall under the same guidelines, “unless the content is posted for educational, humorous, or satirical purposes.”

On the less controversial end of things, images of actual sexual intercourse — or vividly detailed descriptions thereof — are also not welcome on Facebook.

Sadly, none of this explains why Facebook removed this Consumerist story from Dec. 2014. Aside from an e-mail saying it violated the Community Standards, we’ve received no further response from the site about why this story (which was a trending topic on Facebook for several days) was in violation.

Moving on to Facebook’s guidelines for hate speech…

According to the site, directly attacking another user based on their —

•Race,

•Ethnicity,

•National origin,

•Religious affiliation,

•Sexual orientation,

•Sex, gender, or gender identity, or

•Serious disabilities or diseases

will get you flagged for violating Community Standards.

The site says it does not allow organizations “dedicated to promoting hatred against these protected groups” on Facebook.

What about users who include potentially offensive content in their posts to highlight things being said by hate groups or others?

“When this is the case, we expect people to clearly indicate their purpose,” explains Facebook, “which helps us better understand why they shared that content.”

Facebook says it allows for “humor, satire, or social commentary related to these topics.” That would seem to leave open the door to an alleged offender claiming they were only joking, or that the post in question was a valid piece of social commentary.

The site suggests that users counter hate speech with “accurate information and alternative viewpoints” in order to “create a safer and more respectful environment.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Guía para crear y optimizar imágenes e infografías

via Educación tecnológica http://ift.tt/1FpfmTy www.bscformacion.com