Sony Unveils Pricing For PlayStation Vue Streaming Service, Confirming It’s Not Very Cheap

(Taro the Shiba Inu)

For months now Sony has left the pricing details of its PlayStation Vue streaming television service up to our wandering imaginations. Now the company has all but confirmed previous reports that the service would cost a pretty penny, while announcing its availability in certain areas of the country starting today.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony has made PS Vue available for consumers in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia – that is if they’re willing to shell out $49.99 to $69.99 for the service.

Although the price range for the live channel service comes in lower than the previously reported cost of $60 to $80, it might not be worth cutting the cord for just yet.

While choosing to go with Sony instead of traditional cable might relieve some of the headaches associated with service providers, PS Vue users will still require Internet access. And right now, the company is recommending 3-5 megabits per second for a single stream and 25 mbps for three or four streams, the WSJ reports.

That means PS Vue customers will likely have to pay an additional $30 to $70 for local cable or phone company Internet in order to actually stream TV.

As for the actual content provided by PS Vue, customers will receive a range of 50 to 85 channels, depending on the service tier they choose.

Vue’s cheapest tier of $49.99 offers 50 live broadcast and cable channels. The next tier, referred to as “core,” comes in at $59.99 and offers additional regional sports networks and the Big Ten Network. Finally, the “elite” $69.99 tier adds several smaller channels to the package. Each tier will also have access to Sony’s forthcoming original content programs.

Of course none of the PS Vue packages include Walt Disney Co. channels like ABC or ESPN, as well as premium channels like HBO and Showtime.

However, Sony previously inked deals to offer other highly watched programming from Discovery Communications (Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, the Oprah Winfrey Network, Discovery Family); Scripps (HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY Network and Cooking Channel); and Viacom (BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, VH1).

But for comparison’s sake, the WSJ reports that Time Warner Cable offers all of those channels – including Walt Disney Co. programs – in a 200-channel package at a promotional one-year rate of $49.99.

Executives for Sony say they are currently in talks with other programming companies and plan to offer additional channels in the future.

Despite the relatively hefty cost of PS Vue and a lack of some preferred channels, Sony says PS Vue has several other benefits for cord cutters.

First of all, the company says the service doesn’t include long-term contracts or pay penalties for canceling. It also won’t charge additional fees for up to three streaming outlets in the home, the WSJ reports.

As previously reported, the cloud-based DVR service has no storage limits and no restrictions on overlapping programs. Users can also tag “favorite” shows, giving them access to broadcasts for 28 days.

Additionally, PS Vue gives users access to the previous three days’ worth of “popular programming” so that users who forget to schedule a recording may not have to freak out or wait for a rerun.

Sony Unveils Pricing, Availability of Vue Online TV Service [The Wall Street Journal]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Accusing Herbalife Of Running A Pyramid Scheme

After two years of accusations calling Herbalife a pyramid scheme, the company has won the dismissal of a lawsuit against it alleging it was set up to only enrich those few at the top of its multi-level marketing business.

The lawsuit from shareholders led by two pension funds claimed that the company behind weight-loss and nutritional products fraudulently portrayed itself as a legitimate company that could make money for distributors at the bottom level of the operation, reports Reuters.

Instead, shareholders alleged in the suit, it is an illegal pyramid scheme that rewarded those at the top only. That alleged misrepresentation of its business modelresulted in a loss of shareholders’ money, the suit claimed.

Herbalife sells its products directly, by using a network of independent distributors. Those distributors then sell the products and make money with those sales, as well as getting commissions from other people they set up in the business.

But U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer in Los Angeles said this week that the shareholders failed to show that questions about its business raised by hedge fund manager William Ackman and various investigators showed that the company had fraudulently inflated its stock price.

The plaintiffs had claimed that news about an investigation from the Federal Trade Commission, concerns from Sen. Edward Markey and questions raised about the value of the stock by Ackman and his hedge fund were “corrective disclosures” that showed Herbalife’s alleged misrepresentations caused the stock’s price to decline. But Judge Fischer said that nothing that later proved to be true had been concealed on Herbalife’s part.

“Just as black swans may exist, there may theoretically be some form of opinion that is factual or revelatory in nature such that it qualifies as a corrective disclosure,” Fischer wrote in a footnote. “Such an opinion would need to reveal to the market something previously hidden or actively concealed. That is not this case.”

Ackman, of Pershing Square Capital Management, has been crusading against Herbalife since December 2012, though Herbalif has maintained the entire time that it’s not a pyramid scheme.

“Girl Scouts sell cookies on a direct-selling method, and nobody attacks them,” said CEO Michael O. Johnson in 2013.

Herbalife hadn’t commented yet on the lawsuit’s dismissal.

Herbalife wins dismissal of U.S. ‘pyramid scheme’ lawsuit [Reuters]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

HTC Will Replace Smashed Smartphones Within 12 Months

Clumsy smartphone lovers of America, rejoice! The HTC One M9, which will hit pockets here in the United States in April, will have an intriguing new form of warranty protection: users will be able to replace their phone with no deductible or replacement fee once if it is damaged.

There’s one reason for this new policy that you might not expect: an HTC executive explained to the Associated Press that what the company really wants is for customers with the new phone to show it off. Without a case. They just need to call up HTC to receive a replacement phone in the mail, then mail the old one back when the replacement arrives.

It must be frustrating for smartphone designers that they keep coming up with beautiful and ever-thinner phone designs, and we insist on coddling our phones in thick, shatter-proof cases to protect them from accidental damage. They push themselves to create beautiful and thin phones, but we don’t even look at them. Will offering one free accidental damage replacement to every customer encourage people to walk around with naked smartphones?

The program doesn’t cover loss or theft, so if that’s coverage that you want, you’ll need to buy additional insurance coverage in addition to HTC’s new program.

Smashed your HTC One? No problem, they’ll replace [Associated Press]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Verizon To Pay $3.4 Million For Not Notifying Officials Of Massive 911 Service Outage

(Mike Mozart)

In April 2014 nearly 11 million people in seven states lost access to emergency services when a software programming error resulted a six-hour long 911 outage. The Federal Communications Commission determined in October that the lengthy outage could have easily been prevented, and today the agency began placing the blame by fining Verizon $3.4 million for failing to alert authorities.

The FCC announced [PDF] today that Verizon agreed to the $3.4 million settlement to resolve an investigation into the company’s role in failing to meet its emergency call obligations in its affected service areas of California.

The Verizon portion of the outage affected nearly 750,000 California residents in nine counties who were unable to reach a live operator at 13 emergency call centers in the northern portion of the state. The FCC says that its investigation revealed that 62 wireless emergency calls failed in that area during the outage.

According to FCC regulations, service providers like Verizon are required to alert Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) – the centers that field 911 calls – when an outage occurred.

Verizon argued that it wasn’t notified by the contractor responsible for the area until after the outage was resolved.

Still, according to the FCC decree [PDF], the company “acknowledges that it is responsible for complying with applicable Commission rules regardless of any alleged failures by its subcontractors.”

As part of today’s settlement with the FCC, Verizon will adopt a robust compliance plan, developed in coordination with the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, that will include implementation of appropriate risk management processes in the rollout of Next Generation 911 services.

Additionally, Verizon will be required to provide improved oversight over its Next Generation 911 subcontractors in order to maintain up-to-date information for emergency call centers, and to coordinate with emergency call centers to periodically review the company’s outage notification procedures.

The massive 911 outage began in the late hours of April 9, 2014, when calls that couldn’t be routed through the PSAP in Colorado should’ve been rerouted to a PSAP in Miami. However, a coding error meant that the system in Colorado had no idea that there was a problem. So instead of going to Miami, thousands of call went nowhere.

In all, the FCC says 5,600 emergency calls in Washington state, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, California, Minnesota, and Florida went unanswered.

Verizon Agrees to $3.4 Million Settlement To Resolve 911 Outage Investigation [Federal Communications Commission]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Watch Texas Law Enforcement Blow Up 20,000 Pounds Of Illegal Fireworks

Though the people who bought a whole bunch of illegal fireworks never got to see it happen, their ill-gotten products have gone BOOM! in the end, anyway: Officials in Texas recently destroyed about 20,000 pounds worth of confiscated fireworks, bringing them to the end they were always destined to meet.

According to the Midland Texas Police Department’s post on Facebook, the department’s bomb squad assisted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in “the disposal” (translation: fiery destruction) of around 20,000 pounds of seized fireworks, over three days.

And yes, if you were wondering, officials only blew up the fireworks during the daytime, as “it was not meant to be a fireworks show.” The lesson being: If you buy illegal fireworks, you don’t deserve a show.

It wasn’t just about having fun watching stuff blow up, however — the MPD says the exercise was an informative one for its bomb techs.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Nevada Bill Would Make It Legal To Treat Sick Pets With Medical Marijuana

(.sanden.)

Soon it might not just be humans holding medical marijuana patient cards (or something like it): Legislators in Nevada have introduced a bill that would allow pet owners to treat their sick animals with medical pot.

Sen. Tick Segerblom is sponsoring a measure that would let owners get marijuana if a veterinarian signs off and says an animal could benefit from the drug, reports the Associated Press. Pot’s effectiveness as a painkiller hasn’t been proven yet, however.

Some owners have said that their pets’ pain was alleviated by cannabis, including an L.A. vet who told the AP that his Siberian husky’s pain was eased in her final weeks after she’d had surgery to remove tumors. She was able to put on weight and lived six weeks until she had to be put to sleep.

“I grew tired of euthanizing pets when I wasn’t doing everything I could to make their lives better,” he told the AP. “I felt like I was letting them down.”

There are already critics: Sen. Mark Manendo, an animal rights advocate, said he wasn’t familiar with the idea of giving pot to pets.

“That gives me pause,” he said. “Alcohol is bad, chocolate is bad for dogs.”

Segerblom acknowledged that there’s a potential for some animals to react badly to cannabis, but said, “you don’t know until you try.”

There are many things that would have to happen to make this bill become law, which might not be terribly easy. The cannabis for canines and cats measure is part of a larger bill that seeks to overhaul Nevada’s medical marijuana law.

Nevada bill would allow sick pets to use medical marijuana [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Kraft Recalls 242,000 Cases That May Contain Macaroni And Cheese And Metal Shards

(Mike Mozart)

Back in 2012, store-brand macaroni and cheese was recalled because it might have contained pieces of metal, leading us to call it “Mac ‘N’ Cheese ‘N’ Metal Shards.” Now a brand-name version of that product is available, since Kraft has recalled 242,000 cases of its signature boxed macaroni and cheese. It could possibly contain small pieces of metal, which is not an appropriate spice to add to macaroni and cheese.

All of the affected boxes are the standard 7.25-ounce size, but recalled items come in several configurations. The recall includes single boxes as well as 3-packs that are packaged in a single box, and shrink-wrapped 4- and 5-packs of boxes where they’re sold in bulk.

To identify recalled boxes, here’s what you need to know: recalled boxes have “best by” dates between September 18 and October 11, 2015, and the date is followed by “C2.”

If you have these in your pantry, you should take them back to the store where you purchased them for a refund. If you aren’t able to do that, or if you have any other questions about the recall, you can call Kraft at 1-800-816-9432.

While there were eight reports of metal pieces in boxes of macaroni and cheese, there were no reports of anyone eating them or injured by the metal pieces.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

When Is Taking A Yellow Cab Cheaper Than Using Uber?

(photographybynatalia)

Anyone who’s ever found themselves facing Uber’s surge rates has probably grumbled something along the lines of, “Well, at least cabs don’t charge more when it’s busy.” Which is true in most places with taxis licensed by the city where they operate. But what about other times when surge isn’t in effect — which service provides a cheaper ride?

Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom took on this question using data mined from New York City’s Yellow Taxi fares, which are set by the city, reports the MIT Technology Review. This, compared to Uber fares, which are determined by Uber depending on the service you’re using, the time the trip takes and sometimes by the distance traveled.

The question is, despite the ease and popularity of using Uber, is it cheaper than conventional cabs? To find out, researcher Cecilia Mascolo at the University of Cambridge and a few others compared Uber’s prices with Yellow Taxi fares in NYC [PDF].

Using data obtained through a freedom of information request associated with NYC Yellow Taxi trips in 2013 and compared that to what Uber said it would charge for the same journeys.

The cab data covers hundreds of millions of trips, and includes the location of every pickup and drop off and the fare paid for each journey. Uber then suggested a maximum and minimum fare for those same trips using its cheapest service, UberX, and researchers took an average to come up with a figure to compare with cab fares.

So which is cheaper — at least in NYC — a cab or an Uber? It depends on how far you’re going, researchers say.

“Uber appears more expensive for prices below 35 dollars and begins to become cheaper only after that threshold,” say Mascolo and her team.

This works out nicely for Uber, the researchers explain, because humans usually take a lot more short trips and relatively fewer long trips.

“This observation therefore suggests that Uber’s economical model exploits this trend of human mobility in order to maximize revenue,” the researchers say.

While the Yellow Taxi data comes from 2013 and the Uber data is from 2014, taxi prices are set by NYC and haven’t changed since 2012, so the comparison should be a fairly good one.

However, researchers didn’t take Uber’s surge pricing model into effect. They argue that it’s still a useful comparison, despite that.

“We argue that the process of comparing two different companies that provide the same service in the same geographic area is of value to commuters,” they say.

The team developed an app called OpenStreetCab that is designed to help users compare Uber prices with cab prices, a tool that only works in New York so far.

http://ift.tt/19sHU2X

Data Mining Reveals When a Yellow Taxi Is Cheaper Than Uber

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Facebook Launches Payments System For Messenger App Users

Facebook is dipping its toe into the pool of mobile payments, announcing this week that it’s launching a system that will allow users of its mobile Messenger app to send money to friends.

Joining the effort to turn our phones into wallets, Facebook says the new free payments feature will be rolling out in the coming months in the United Sates.

To send money to a friend, users start a conversation in Messenger, then tap a “$” icon to enter the amount they want to send. After tapping “Pay,” first-time users of the payments feature will be prompted to add a debit card for the initial payment, and will then have the option to assign a PIN for an extra layer of security.

Receiving money works much the same way — you’ll simply have to accept the payment after adding a debit card to accept funds from your friends.

Money is transferred right away, Facebook notes, but much like other payment systems, it could take a few days for the funds to appear in your account, depending on your bank.

For those worried about the myriad security dangers out there that come with using mobile payments, Facebook says in the announcement that as a payments processor for gamers and advertisers since 2007, it has processed more than one million transaction a day on the site, which is Facebook’s way of saying it knows what it’s doing, it seems.

“Incorporating security best practices into our payments business has always been a top priority,” Facebook says. “We use secure systems that encrypt the connection between you and Facebook as well as your card information when you ask us to store it for you.”

The company says it uses layers of software and hardware protection to keep payment systems in a secured environment, with an anti-fraud team monitoring the system for suspicious activity.

The optional PIN can be used as an extra layer of security, Facebook notes, as well as Touch ID on iOS devices and the option of two-factor authentication available to all Facebook users.

Send Money to Friends in Messenger [Facebook]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

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