Here’s a cool recipe for making your own Pop Tarts at home from SmittenKitchen. Sturdy crust, not soggy filling – the secret is a lil’ thickener – and, according to the author, “the buttery, flaky, no-toaster-required-to-soften-it transcendence the grocery store aisle version can only dream about.” It’s fun, it’s tasty, it’s HFCS-free.
homemade pop tarts [smitten kitchen]
RELATED: Make Your Own Snickers Bars!
If you’ve been waiting for the Nexus One to hit Verizon, you can stop waiting. The HTC Droid will take the place of the Nexus One on the Verizon network, Google announced via a blog post Monday. It’s supposed to support better multi-touch sensors, so, win? Perhaps given the customer service issues that arose after the initial Nexus One launch – they didn’t even offer any phone support at first – Google decided it would be better to get out of the retail business. [Google via PhoneScoop]
Safes are handy for safekeeping stuff you don’t want other people to get, like money. The only problem is most look so “safey.” Given enough time, any of them can be broken open. The best solution is if the robbers can never find it in the first place. No, that fake-bottomed can of Campbell’s Soup in your closet isn’t going to fool anyone. To this end, Budgets Are $exy has rounded up “The 10 Awesomest Safes I’ve Ever Seen.” They have a surge protector safe, bread safe, and dirty underwear safe, but my favorite is the iceberg lettuce safe.
The 10 Awesomest Safes I’ve Ever Seen [Budgets Are $exy]
Gorilla Coffee, closed for 16 days after its entire staff quit simultaneously, has reopened, to decidedly decaf customer response.
There were just three patrons when I visited this morning at 8:35, a time when it wouldn’t be uncommon for the line to be out the door. An all-new staff worked behind the counter. I don’t know if I was just looking for faults but my large coffee, which normally makes me feel like I could rip apart the fabric of reality with my bare hands, only rated a “market perform.” We may never know what horrible injustices the old barristas suffered at the hands of their fascist bean barons, but maybe it takes a little mean to make a mean cup of coffee.
PREVIOUSLY: Entire Coffee Shop Staff Quits Simultaneously
RELATED: GORILLA RETURNS; PARK SLOPE GETS CAFFEINATED [The Brooklyn Ink]
Staying at the Hilton for his first-year wedding anniversary, Brian and his wife had to suffer through two different groups of fellow guests prank-calling his room, excessive noise, and a non-working air-conditioner. They did give him one free night for his troubles, but that didn’t make his experience any less unpleasant. Here’s the letter he just shot off to the CEO of Hilton Hotels and other top-ranking executives to express his dissatisfaction. It got him his entire stay refunded, a voucher for two-nights stay at any Hilton, and, holiest of holies, an apology from the manager.
Dear Mr. Nassetta,
I recently stayed at the Hilton for my first wedding anniversary. My wife and I travel as often as possible, and we usually enjoy staying in the Hilton family of hotels, including Doubletree, Hilton, and Hilton Garden Inn. We choose your hotels because we enjoy nice amenities and quality service.
During this particular stay (April 2010), we had a very unpleasant experience. A very large group of high school music students were checking in right behind us. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I sure did later that evening when they were wrestling in their rooms until about 2am, and running up and down the corridor. My wife travels with ear protection to help her sleep at night, so I figured that she may enjoy some rest. That notion went out the window as soon as the prank phone calls started. Evidently, some of the more clever high school students decided to call my room repeatedly, indicating that they were Hilton “room service” and that they were confirming my order of 15 pizzas. I know – why didn’t I think of such a clever ruse at the tender age of 15? Needless to say, the volume of the bedside phone is rivaled only by a select few jet engines and/or mythological banshees. My wife was not pleased.
On top of the tremendous noise being made by the students, the air conditioning unit in the room wasn’t functioning properly, blowing warm air instead of cold, which made resting very difficult.
That was just the first night of a three night stay.
I work in an industry in which I have customers, and not everything is within my control. So I do understand that the story above may leave you thinking “It’s not OUR fault that some rowdy high-school kids caused a commotion”. I would tend to agree with that sentiment. However, being the type of consumer that values my hard earned dollars, I called down to the front desk (or so I thought) to ask for some assistance with the air conditioning and the noise.
To my dismay, the call was sent to another “front desk” (the location of which I am still unsure) who asked me what the problem was. I explained, after which the attendant asked “You wanted the HILTON front desk, didn’t you?” My first question is, who in God’s name SHOULD I be calling when I press the Hilton front desk button on my insanely loud
in-room phone?I was apparently transferred from that point to the actual Hilton front desk, where I was again asked to tell my tale of unpleasantness. The front desk “manager” said that she would send someone up to “check” on the noise level. She also said that she would send up a maintenance technician to investigate the air conditioner. “No thank you!”, I said, realizing the pain I would suffer if I had to ask my wife to dress so we could exit the room for a few minutes while the technician determined the cause of the problem. “I would like to wait until morning for the maintenance crew to inspect the air conditioner, but I would be happy if the noise level could be reduced”.
That call was made at approximately 12am. The noise level had not subsided by 2am or so. I’m not really sure because I’m fairly certain I passed out from exhaustion.
The following morning my wife and I left our room rather early, hoping to get a jump on our day. We returned to our room around noon, and noticed that the air conditioner had not been fixed, and that housekeeping hadn’t been by. I called down to the front desk, and I spoke to the day manager, who was much more polite than the night manager. She said that she would have maintenance up to the room immediately and that housekeeping gets a late start due to an 11 am checkout time. Understandable I suppose. So I decided that it would be in my best interest to leave the room for awhile and return later. We returned about 2.5 hours later to find the exact same situation, only the room was now hotter.I called the front desk again and spoke the manager, who indicated that she would reduce my charge by one night’s stay (which after the whole ordeal, I am thankful for), and would get maintenance to check again. I asked if it would be possible to move to a similar room that may be available. The manager indicated that if the air conditioner couldn’t be fixed, then she would try to reserve another room for me.
The air conditioner was fixed that evening. I thought all was well and that we’d enjoy a peaceful night’s rest. Wrong.Another group of teens had checked into the hotel, and were just returning from Medieval Nights as my wife and I returned from dinner. The same situation as the night before ensued, only this time, the phone calls consisted mainly of heavy breathing.
Again, I called the front desk (wiser this time, asking to speak with the “Hilton” front desk). The night manager (who was entirely unpleasant and unhelpful) indicated to me that there was nothing she could do, and that I should just hang in there because this particular group would be checking out the next day.Mr. Nassetta, I would be a liar if I said that money was not important to me. However, when I plan a trip, even a short one such as this, I fully intend on spending money for the hotel that I book. In return for that money, I expect a certain level of service, which is why I chose the Hilton and not Motel 6.
I am incredibly disappointed with the level of service that the staff at the Myrtle Beach Hilton provided. I am appalled that I was not immediately moved to a different floor, or a room that was not adjacent to a group of high-schoolers. This hotel has 16 stories. I’m certain that they did not occupy every floor. I am flabbergasted that I was booked on the same floor as a very large group of teenagers, considering that the staff at the Hilton must have known that this group was going to be present.
The next time I book a hotel room, it will not be with any chain that falls under the Hilton family umbrella.
Sincerely,
Brian
And this is the second email we got from Brian, telling us his EECB worked:
I just received a phone call (post-EECB) from the hotel manager at the Hilton I stayed at. He is making sure that the charges for my stay are reversed, and he is sending me a voucher for a two night stay at any Hilton hotel.
All of that is fantastic, and I certainly won’t complain about it. What really sealed the deal for me is that the hotel manager apologized. I realize that the situations caused by other guests are not caused by the Hilton or it’s staff members, but I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle against a staff (particularly the late shift staff) who did not care about my situation. I am thankful for the apology and the reimbursement, but the apology over the phone means more than a cold, callous voucher alone ever would have. Kudos to Hilton for making this right.
Once again, the all-mighty power of the Executive Email Carpet Bomb reigns supreme. To learn how to make and send one, check out “How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb.”
At Walmart, no good deed goes unpunished. Lisa said she tried to buy up a bunch of health and beauty supplies at Walmart to donate to local homeless shelters, and instead got a lecture in economics from the shift supervisor.
Lisa writes,
At the beginning of the month I picked up some great deals at Wal-Mart using coupons for my own family. I decided to buy more for the area homeless shelters. Not wanting to “clear the shelf” and inconvenience other shoppers, I special ordered some Crest toothpaste with the manager of health and beauty. I picked it up and about a week later and special ordered some Reach Cinnamon floss,Tide detergent and more Crest. The associates in health and beauty were very friendly and helpful.
Saturday I was there and a man introduced himself as Paul the shift supervisor. He started going on how I should not be special ordering cost items and using coupons to turn over a profit. I was pretty confused about the profit, special ordering and coupons, as I am very careful to follow all of the coupon rules and had picked up my special orders. I had no idea what a “cost” item was. I asked him about making a profit and he thought I was reselling them. I told him I was not reselling them but donating them.
He started going on about how the manufacturer does not make a profit when people use coupons and how the store does not make a profit on cost items. I had no idea what a cost item was. He said they were items that were sold at cost and below cost so people will come into the store and to get what they need and then go on to buy other items that they make a profit on. I asked him what items were cost items? He said health and beauty and household good like paper products.
I am sickened by the greed!!!!
How absurd. Sounds like something worth reporting to Walmart corporate, and then take you buyin’-n-donating’ business elsewhere.
When hitting the shops overseas, many credit cards will charge you additional international transaction fees. The savvy traveler needs to equip themselves with a credit card that charges low or no fees at all. Here’s the current rates for the seven credit cards with the lowest international transaction fees:
Capital One 0%
PenFed 0%
Discover 2%
American Express 2.7%
Bank of America 3%
Chase 3%
Citi 3%
Is your state the gassiest? This graph over at Infrastructurist compares how much each gas each state uses per person. Green is low use, blue is moderate, and red is high. What’s interesting is when you look at each state’s fuel use per capita, “High-use states like New York actually have low per-capita usage, while states like Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and North Dakota — all states with smaller populations and large distances required for drivers — have higher than average consumption.”
How Much Gas Does Your State Use Per Person? [The Infrastructurist]
When shopping around for a new cellphone plan, or simply a cheaper one, consumers have more choices besides the standard 2-year contract wireless companies try to cram down your throat. But do you go prepaid or with a contract? Which company delivers the best value? It all depends on your usage and what you’re looking for. To help you decide, Lifehacker has put together a bangin’ guide on picking a new wireless plan. Check it.
How to Decide Between a Prepaid or Contract Wireless Plan [Lifehacker]
If you’ve ever played the lottery, here’s your chance to vicariously live through the moment of realizing you’re the winner. Store clerk Chris Shaw recently became a $258.5 million Powerball winner of the Missouri lottery, and here’s the footage of him arriving at the gas station where he bought it and learning he gets all the marbles. If anything he seems pretty aw shucks and humble about it.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
Pampers new brand of Dry Max diapers causes rashes, burns, sores, and boils on their babies, some parents are alleging in a growing online backlash. But is it really Dry Max, or just typical diaper rash that the parents are incorrectly correlating with the new diaper?
One parent posts, “We were using Pampers diapers with the dry max and at 2 weeks old she developed a diaper rash that turned into horrible open sores.”
Another, “my 2.5 year old experienced an inflamed reddness on his legs, bottom and genitals. I couldn’t explain where it came from. I doused him with desitin for two days and it bled instead of clearing up. It didn’t hit me til I read a post on facebook. Now I will switch him to another diaper.”
And another, “I was in the store the other day and didnt pay any attention and picked up a box of Pampers just thinking they changed the packaging. My youngest will be 2 next week and has NEVER had a diaper rash. Night before last he woke up with a leaking diaper (no surprise, we go thru it every night) and when I went to change him, his bottom was blistered and bleeding.”
To fix the rashes, parents say they have had success with using frequent rinsing, oatmeal baths, and Aveeno.
Reached for comment, P&G said:
At Pampers, nothing is more important to us than the health and well being of babies. That’s been our reason for being for over 40 years.
Whenever we make an improvement to our diaper – whether it was the introduction of adhesive tape followed by stretch many years ago up to the new Dry Max technology today – our overriding concern is that the product is safe. We have an entire division that is devoted to product safety, and we conducted extensive safety assessments including clinical tests before we introduced our new diaper.
Pampers with Dry Max is the most mom- and baby-tested diapers in our history. More than 20,000 babies from around the world involving more than 300,000 diaper changes were part of the development of Dry Max. This is one of Pampers’ most thoroughly researched and tested new products ever.
According to Dr. David Schonfeld, a member of the Pampers Parenting Network and Thelma and Jack Rubinstein Professor of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, “I’ve reviewed the consumer and clinical data and feel comfortable that Pampers with Dry Max underwent rigorous safety testing and is a safe product. As a pediatrician, this is exactly the kind of testing I would hope to see in a diaper. Diaper rashes are usually caused by irritation from feces and urine – it’s called a diaper rash because it appears in the area that diapers are worn. Although a good diaper helps to protect the baby’s sensitive skin, some diaper rashes are still going to occur no matter how good the diaper is. The testing that Pampers conducted before the diapers were sold and the monitoring of complaints since it has been on the market do not show any evidence that Dry Max causes more diaper rashes than the product it replaced.”
Diaper rash is one of the most common ailments affecting babies and toddlers with many causes and symptoms of varying severity. In general, a healthy baby is expected to get a diaper rash roughly 3-4 times a year with some percent deemed severe – meaning the rash is deep red, with possible blisters and/or breaks in the skin. Some of these rashes can have appearance characteristics typically associated with burns. When you consider that there are about 10,000,000 babies in diapers in the US alone combined with the frequency of the rash, it makes sense that as hundreds of thousands of parents switch to Dry Max diapers, some many have children that coincidentally develop diaper rashes at the same time.
As background, our Dry Max diaper uses the same type of ingredients as our other diaper and in fact, many other disposable diapers on the market. The improvement is in the design and manufacture of the diaper, which allowed us to create a diaper that is 20% thinner than before and is our driest diaper ever as it helps lock in wetness.
Moms are voting for Pampers with Dry Max in a big way with their purchases. Millions of bags of Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers have been purchased in the last several weeks alone. We’re also proud that Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max has received product awards from Parenting Magazine, iParenting Media, Mom’s Choice Awards and Parent Tested/Parent Approved.
And in a recent survey of parents requesting samples of Pampers with Dry Max, 70% preferred our new diaper over their usual brand – the highest score of this kind we’ve seen. This is consistent with the overall positive feedback we’re seeing from parents.
Still, we know that every product change can be a source of stress for some parents who have grown to love their current products and don’t always understand why we made a change. We are always concerned to hear from any parent who has a bad experience with our diapers and take reports of rash or skin health concerns seriously. Babies’ well-being has always been and continues to be our top priority.
Pampers also addresses the concerns in an FAQ on their website. They encourage anyone with questions or concerns to call1-800-PAMPERS. Commenters say that got refunds from the company after calling up and making complaints.
Pampers bring back the OLD CRUISERS/SWADDLERS [Facebook]
Pampers Swaddlers & Cruisers with Dry Max FAQs [Pampers]
Pampers Dry Max causing rashes and burns, parents allege [WalletPop] (Thanks to Sierra!)
Hey Amazon, et. al., I think we just figured out how you can solve your Stupid Shipping Gang problem: switch over to this kind of box that fits every item, no matter what size, perfectly. It’s called the “Universal Packaging System” and it’s amazing.
Designed by Patrick Sung, the “UPS” is a piece of corrugated cardboard pre-scored with a grid of triangles. The board is then wrapped around the object(s), conforming to its size. If you got some extra, you can just cut it off and use it on the next shipment. No more sending USB drives in cavernous boxes!
UPS, Fold It, Tape It, Ship It [Yanko Design]
KFC is urging customers to buy “pink buckets” to help fight breast cancer. However, you could buy a dozen KFC buckets and it wouldn’t put an extra dime towards breast cancer research, reports The Washington Post. The fine print on KFC’s “buckets for the cure” website speaks for itself:
“KFC restaurant operators have contributed 50 cents to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for each Komen branded bucket purchased by the operators from April 5, 2010-May 9, 2010….Customer purchases of KFC buckets during the promotion will not directly increase the total contribution.”
Basically, when the KFC franchises buy their official pink buckets from the KFC supplier, they have to pay $.50 extra per bucket and that goes towards Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. The only way to move the needle is if enough customers buy enough pink buckets so that the store has to order more.
Or, you could make a healthy meal at home and use the money you saved on eating out to make a direct donation to a cancer charity. Use a service like Charity Navigator to make sure you pick a good one.
Is that right? Buying KFC buckets fights breast cancer? [Washington Post]
UPDATE: Blippy is taking this seriously.
Social networking site Blippy.com is exposing reams 4 of its users’ credit card numbers to anyone who can use Google. Simply by typing a phrase into Google and specifying the results come from Blippy, page after page of results like DEBIT CARD PURCHASE AT DOMINO’S PIZZA #01, [redacted] MI ON 122109 FROM CARD#: 54243[redacted] appears.
For those of you unfamiliar with the service, Blippy lets users input their credit cards and share their purchases on the site and across other online social networks. Yeah, who would have ever thought that might go horribly wrong?
Blippy says they use “administrative, physical and electronic measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access.” Whatever they are, they don’t seem to be working.
If you’re a Blippy user, there’s little you can do except complain. The Google has your data now and it will take some doing on Blippy’s part to get it down from there.
We’ve reached out to Blippy for comment.
UPDATE #2: Company response, says it’s just four users. Via phone, Blippy co-founder Ashvin Kumar told Consumerist, “Even if it’s just four users, it’s four users too many.”
Blippy is working with Google to clear the cache and the results should be gone within an hour, says Ashvin. The results are from four users whose data was included in the HTML code of a test page several months ago.
The data was scrubbed but Google, which keeps a copy or “cache” of every website it indexes, still showed the info. Blippy itself doesn’t even accept credit information, just bank information. However, the raw data provided by banks sometimes includes credit card numbers along with the transaction data. Blippy started scrubbing out this information a few months ago, but not before it got captured by Google.
UPDATE #1: Blippy co-founder Philp Kaplan gave comment to the Times:
In a phone interview Friday morning, Blippy’s co-founder, Philip Kaplan, said the card numbers in question belonged to four Blippy users. He explained that when people link their credit cards to Blippy, merchants pass along their raw transaction data – including some credit card numbers – and the site scrubs that information to present just the merchant and the dollar amount spent. But several months ago, when Blippy was being publicly tested, that raw transaction data was present in the site’s HTML code, where it was retrieved by Google.
Mr. Kaplan said that early on, Blippy started disguising the raw transaction data behind the scenes, but it did not know about the breach until today. He added, “This still looks pretty bad.”
Blippy Users’ Credit Card Numbers Exposed in Google Search Results [Mashable] (Thanks to Brian!)
RELATED:
Upgrades: Blippy Lets You Screen Out Single Purchases
Shed What’s Left Of Your Financial Privacy On Blippy
NPR just wiped the floor with Vision Media, the company that demands big bucks from non-profits and startups to pay for what they say will be a retired and beloved anchorman Hugh Downs-hosted public TV show about them. Invariably, NPR found, the shows never broadcast and the limited few that do air as paid commercials. Once again, it just goes to show, never do business with anyone from Boca Raton.
Perhaps the All Things Considered piece encourage Vision Media to drop their frivolous lawsuit against a message board operator that had the temerity to allow anonymous users to post about their experiences with the company and link to Times articles about their dealings.
Sold Documentaries On Public TV, Firms Get Ads [NPR]
Vision Media’s Claims Panned by NPR; Will Hugh Downs Stand Up for His Principles? [Public Citizen Consumer Law & Policy Blog]
PREVIOUSLY:
Vision Media Tries To Squash Blogging Of Public Documents Re:Frivolous Lawsuit
Ripoff Video Maker “Vision Media Television” Renames As “Great America HD”
So-Called PBS “Production Company” Sues Blogger For $20 Million
A tweet. A seemingly innocuous 140-character piece of data shared over Twitter. That’s what you see as a user, but inside, there’s much more. Raffi Krikorian has cracked open a tweet to show you all the data that can be inside, like your geolocation, bio, name, etc. And last week, along with their advertising initiatives, Twitter announced that they’re adding “annotations,” which will allow developers to add just about any kind of data inside a tweet. This could spark a lot of fun innovations, but anytime you’re opening up more data, there’s always the potential for abuse. In any event, it’s cool to check out a tweet under the hood:
To help you remember the “Dirty Dozen” foods to always buy organic, Heidi Kenney has designed this fun free cheat sheet to keep in your moneypurse (organic farming doesn’t use synthetic pesticides). Flip it over and you’ve got the “Clean 15,” which had the lowest pesticide count.. One time I was eating lots of fruits and vegetables and I ate a not-organic pear and my lip swelled up like a monkey’s for a few days… maybe I should start using this list!
the dirty dozen cheat sheet [My Paper Crane]
Shopper’s Guide aTo Pesticides [FoodNews.org]
The person who sent in this escalated Sprint contact says, “If you enjoy Sprint’s excellent phones, wireless service, and call clarity you almost certainly have MAJOR headaches with your account/bill. So don’t wait in line with their f’d up offshore billing department. Go bug Celina the account manager.”
Celina the account manager!
254-295-8072
Don’t forget there’s always the special whiteglove customer service number Sprint set up just for Consumerist readers, 703-433-4401/
Me wanty this tea device, the Sharky tea infuser. You put your tea in the bottom compartment, attach the dorsal fin top, and set it afloat in your (preferably glass) cup. The effect of the tea infusing into the water from the shark appears both beautiful and exciting. In the words of the Argentinian designer Pablo Matteodo:
INFUSION means to extract certain properties from an soluble ingredient such as tea leaves , herbs or fruit by soaking in liquid (water) until it gets saturated. So we can say that a infuser is the in charged of make this happen. This is a ludic point of view about the color given off from the phenomenon, which makes more interesting the waiting of the whole process.
Making tea at home just got a little more dangerous. Duhn-duhn! We’re gonna need a bigger kettle.
Sharky Tea Infuser [Burstoid]
This guy has hacked his iPhone so it runs Android. In fact, he can choose to run either the iPhone OS or Android. It only works on the original 2G iPhone and it’s a little buggy, and not recommended that casual users try it, but the future could hold implementations on the 3G and 3Gs. Apple’s secret garden just got further pried open.
As commenter pecan 3.14159265 points out:
Well, now everyone who has a 2G and has to upgrade to a new iPhone to get firmware and hardware updates has a use for their old 2G!
Android running on iPhone! [Linux on the iPhone]