Do you like ice cream? How about free ice cream? What about free pastries? If so, you’ll probably want to save a little extra room in your belly tomorrow, as both Ben & Jerry’s and Starbucks are offering up free grub to customers nationwide.
You can get your day started at Starbucks, where the purchase of any “handcrafted, brewed or iced beverage” scores you a free pastry. You’ll need the coupon at the bottom of this page (or by clicking here). Oh — the biggest catch: The offer ends at 10:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, over at Ben & Jerry’s it’s Free Cone Day. The annual tradition gives B&J fans a chance to get a free treat from any of the company’s flavors at any of their participating stores across the country. The fun begins at noon and ends at 8 p.m. Thanks J.P.!
A convicted bank robber had been hoping to get out of jail because the judge in his parole revocation hearing admitted to doing a Google search on a piece of evidence. Unfortunately for him — and fortunately for just about everyone else — an appeals court disagreed.
The man making the appeal had been released from prison in 2008 for a 1995 bank heist, but is now suspected in another bank robbery. During the hearing to revoke his parole, the judge mentioned in court that he had looked at Google to get an idea of how commonly available was a yellow rain hat found in the suspect’s garage.
After his client was sent back to prison for 36 months, the robber’s lawyer argued that the judge in the case had violated federal evidence rules by doing his online research.
However, an appeals court decided that the judge’s Google search was intended to confirm a common sense supposition, and therefore was not a violation.
In their decision, the appeals panel wrote:
Twenty years ago, to confirm an intuition about a variety of rain hats, a trial judge may have needed to travel to a local department store to survey the rain hats on offer… Today, a judge need only take a few moments to confirm his intuition by conducting a basic Internet search.
The appeals court also found that the other evidence presented at the revocation hearing — like an earwitness and the suspect’s car parked near the bank — was sufficient to send him back to jail.
If you’re wary of using your credit card to buy things online, especially “virtual goods” on social networking sites or web-based games, Verizon has announced a new service that allows their customers to have those charges go straight to their mobile phone bill.
Called BilltoMobile (because heaven forbid anyone separate words these days), the service will launch this spring and will give Verizon Wireless subscribers the option of having purchases or subscriptions to certain sites added to their monthly statement, rather than charged to a credit card.
How it will work: You’re online and you’re about to buy a bunch of Farm Cash on FarmVille (why? I have no idea) or some other participating game/site/virtual world. When presented with payment options, you’ll be able to choose BilltoMobile. You put in your phone number and zip code and then you get a text with a single-use passcode a few seconds later.
For now, they’ve capped monthly spending on BilltoMobile at $25/month.
While Verizon points out that the service has been wildly popular elsewhere — According to them, up to 60% of digital goods in Korea are purchased using bill-to-mobile services — it’s hard to see the actual benefit this provides to you.
At best, it might reduce the amount you charge directly to your credit card. But if you’re someone who’s already paying for your online purchases and phone bill with the same card, aren’t you still paying the same total amount at the end of the month?
Chrysler announced today that it plans on releasing an electric car for the U.S. market in 2012. The vehicle will be based on the Fiat 500EV, which Chrysler and its controlling owner, Italian car maker Fiat, showed off at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year.
“The Fiat 500 is a small, lightweight platform perfect for integrating electric-vehicle technology,” said Scott Kunselman, SVP of engineering for Chrysler.
According to Chrysler, all powertrain engineering and vehicle development will take place at Chrysler Group headquarters in Michigan. Today’s announcement did not, however, say where the actual cars will be manufactured/
They did not announce a price for the car, but they did say the MSRP “will be competitive with similar electric vehicles in the market.”
In a narrow vote, the US House of Representatives signed off on the Senate’s national health care plan. The bill will now move onto the White House to, presumably, be signed by President Obama.
The final vote on the plan was 219-212, with 34 Democrats joining all 178 Republican members of the House in opposing the bill.
At a projected cost of $940 billion over 10 years, the plan is intended to provide healthcare to over 30 million currently uninsured Americans.
Under the plan:
-Insurance for families of four making up to $88,000 (or 400% of the federal poverty level) will be subsidized.
-Medicaid is being expanded to cover those making up to 133% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that would be approx. $29,000.
-Families earning over $250,000 will see an increase in the amount of money the pay to Medicare from their paychecks.
-Insurance companies that provide high-end health plans (those valued at over $8,500 for an individual or $23,000 for families) will see a significant tax increase.
-You will be required to have health insurance or be fined either $750 or 2% of your income. A compromise package, passed at the same time as the Senate bill, would change those numbers to $695 or 2.5% of your income.
-Companies with more than 50 employees will be required to provide coverage or pay $750 per employee that relies on government subsidies for their insurance. The compromise package ups this to $2,000 per employee.
-Any woman wishing to use federally subsidized coverage for an abortion — except in the case of rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life — will have to pay out of pocket or seek private insurance.
-Parents will be permitted to keep their children on their health care plans until age 26.
We expect people on both sides will have much to say about this latest development in the comments. Meanwhile, here’s a poll:
A rep for the Chicago Dept. of Aviation said a “pressurization problem” was to blame for the American Airlines flight that made an emergency landing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday morning.
American Flight 2363 had left O’Hare a little before 10 a.m. on Sunday, en route to the Yampa Valley Airport near Steamboat Springs, CO. However, the plane landed back at O’Hare around 10:30 a.m. because of the pressurization issue. Officials say none of the 119 passengers were injured.
The flight did eventually make its way to Colorado, landing about two hours later than scheduled.
Mike, a father of two young children, had ordered some Lucky Matey bubble bath online from Asda. The order was fulfilled and delivered by a local store. Lucky for everyone involved, Mike noticed the error right away.
“I’ve no idea who could confuse sexual lubricant for children’s bubble bath,” he told reporters. “When they bring your order they give you a delivery list to check so that you can confirm the substitutes. When I saw what they’d done I was gobsmacked!”
Adds Mike, “I did have a laugh about it with the delivery guy who was quite young and seemed embarrassed about it.”
Rather than just “taking this seriously,” a rep for Asda was suprisingly candid: “We’ve messed up here. The substitution was clearly not appropriate and we apologise to the family for any upset caused. To avoid any further mix-ups we’ve changed the way both items are described on the booking form used by our store pickers.”
Asda also sent along some free bubble bath as a make-good to Mike and his family.
Consumerist reader Jake got a big scare a few weeks back when his father called to let him know he’d been contacted by Wachovia. The bank told Jake’s dad that not only was Jake’s law school loan in default, but that, as a co-signer, he was responsible for paying $11,750 immediately. Two problems with that: 1) The loan wasn’t in default. 2) Jacob’s dad wasn’t a co-signer.
The problems only got more mysterious when Jacob called Wachovia, who told him they had no idea what he was talking about.
After several fruitless attempts at trying to get someone to clarify what was going on, Jake contacted the Department of Education:
I thought maybe I wasn’t organized, maybe I let something slip. Oh no. The department of education says I’m not behind on anything and am in good standing. Ok, some relief, but no one from Wachovia will call me back. I finally reach out to Wells Fargo (since they now own them) and call around to various people. No one knows why I got the letter.
Without ever hearing anything back from Wachovia about their demand for instant payment, Jake’s dad finally got a letter apologizing and admitting that they had made a mistake.
Not surprisingly, Jake never received a letter or phone call to let him know that they never actually considered his loan to be in default.
While myopathy (muscle injury) is a known side effect for all cholesterol-lowering statin medications, the FDA has just issued a warning that, when prescribed and used at higher doses, Zocor (generic name: simvastatin) carries with it a greater risk of developing muscle injury, including the most serious form of myopathy, rhabdomyolysis, which can lead to kidney damage, kidney failure, and possibly death.
Specifically, the FDA warning is related to the 80mg dose, the highest available dose of the Merck drug. In clinical trials, the FDA found a greater risk of myopathy and rhabdomyolysis in patients taking this dosage when compared to those taking only 20mg.
In rhabdomyolysis, skeletal muscle begins to deteriorate rapidly, releasing myoglobin and other substances which are harmful to the kidneys. If untreated, it can lead to acute kidney failure.
“Review of simvastatin is part of an ongoing FDA effort to evaluate the risk of statin-associated muscle injury and to provide that information to the public as it becomes available,” said Eric Colman, M.D., Deputy Director of FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products (DMEP). “It’s important for patients and healthcare professionals to consider all the potential risks and known benefits of any drug before deciding on any one therapy or dose of therapy.”
In addition to the names Zocor and Simvastatin, the drug is also available (in combination with ezetimibe) as Vytorin, and in combination with niacin as Simcor.
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: When you’re trying to commit a burglary, do not take a few seconds to see what your MySpace pals are up to. Just ask the teen thief in Washington state whose cunning caper fell apart when he decided to surf the web.
According to police, the 17-year-old suspect broke into the office of a furniture store to heist some stuff, including an iPhone and a camera. He also used the office computer to check out porn sites and post updates to his MySpace page… for about five hours.
It didn’t take much for the police to track the suspect down and now he’s facing charges of first-degree burglary.
And iFans can breathe easy… they got the iPhone back when they arrested him.
There are currently 25 phones employees can use to make announcements to the entire store, some of which are available for public use and not all of which are visible from the store’s security cameras. Managers of the scandalized Walmart did not specify how many phones they’d be removing or blocking access to (though we have a hunch all the remaining ones will be within line of sight of a camera).
Meanwhile, Washington Township police say they are working “on a couple of leads” in the incident.
The proposed fines cover four separate instances where the FAA says American was negligent in either maintaining their aircraft or did not follow proper maintenance procedures.
The largest of the proposed fines, for $625,000, involves a computer on an MD-82 that was not replaced when it should have been. The FAA claims the plane with the faulty computer was flown 10 times before the computer was replaced.
In the second case, the FAA announced today that they’re also proposing a $300,000 civil penalty against American for not properly documenting a malfunctioning speed indicator on an MD-82, and for allowing the plane to be flown in conditions in which it should not have been operated.
The FAA says a heater meant to keep an externally mounted speed sensor from freezing over had broken, thus the the plane should only have been flown during daylight hours on clear days until the indicator was repaired. However, the pilots were never made aware of the problem and subsequently flew the jet at night and in poor weather conditions.
The third largest fine being proposed by the FAA is for allegedly not properly recording all the steps in a maintenance check on an MD-82. The $87,500 proposed penalty also claims that maintenance crews replaced a landing gear on the plane without making a note of it in the plane’s logbook.
At $75,000, the smallest of the proposed fines against American claims that the airline did not correctly follow an airworthiness directive regarding the inspection of rudder components on certain Boeing 757s and flew four 757s out of compliance in March 2008.
The airline is, of course, taking this all very seriously. They are reviewing all the fines and will be meeting with the FAA to chat about them.
“Safety is fundamental to the American Airlines culture and to our success,” an airline rep said in a statement. “American is the only U.S. airline that continues to handle the majority of its heavy maintenance with in-house, FAA-certificated mechanics that have met and passed all FAA experience requirements, written tests, and practical examinations.”
Earlier this week, we wrote about how taxi drivers in New York City had been caught overcharging passengers to the tune of $8.3 million over the last two years. To remedy the situation, the Taxi & Limousine Commission will be upgrading all cabs to alert passengers whenever their rate increases.
The problem, for those who missed it the first time around, is that many taxi drivers were charging, whether accidentally or on purpose, some passengers the “suburban rate,” which is meant for travel outside of the city’s five boroughs and is double the normal rate.
As of yesterday, the TLC had already programmed the metering systems in 5,000 cabs to alert passengers they may be paying too much. A text alert will be displayed in bright red letters on the TV screen in the back seat of the cab:
ALERT!
Meter has been accelerated to reflect and out-of-town rate. If you are within the 5 boroughs of New York City, please inform your driver that this is a violation of your passenger rights.
The TLC plans to have all taxis upgraded in the next few days. They are also working on an audio alert.
In a recent item on how you can save some cash by putting certain items in the freezer, The Daily Green’s Jeff Yeager says that his wife keeps the runs out of her pantyhose by keeping them in the icebox.
Writes Yeager:
She swears that if she keeps her pantyhose in the freezer, they’re less likely to run and they last longer. (I just can’t imagine how she gets up enough courage to slide into an icy pair every morning.)
Between my mother, sister, roommates and girlfriends, I’ve lived with my fair share of women, but I’ve never found a frosty pair of hose while hunting around for a pint of ice cream.
So I ask in all seriousness — has anyone else tried this, and does it really work? Are there any other articles of clothing that would be helped by a stint in the deep freeze?
It’s been fifteen years and three presidents since it was first proposed, but the FDA has now signed off on a new set of rules for tobacco companies that seek to limit the marketing of cigarettes and chewing tobacco to teens and children. These new rules cover both advertising and distribution and will essentially put an end to tobacco-branded clothing, tobacco-sponsored sporting and music events, and the use of music in tobacco ads on the radio.
Here are the highlights of the rules that are scheduled to go into effect on June 22:
– No more tobacco-branded apparel like hats, jackets and tee shirts.
– Can no longer use tobacco brand names in the sponsorship of any athletic, musical, or other social or cultural event, or any team or entry in those events.
– No more gifts or other non-tobacco items in exchange for buying cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products.
– Audio ads for tobacco products will not be able to use music or sound effects, only words.
– No vending machines for cigarettes, cigars or chewing tobacco, except in places where minors are not permitted at any time.
– No free samples of cigarettes. Samples of chewing tobacco can be handed out, but only in the above-mentioned adults-only locations, and only .53 ounces per person per day.
– You can no longer redeem coupons for tobacco products through the mail.
– All labeling and advertisements for cigarettes or smokeless tobacco may not use color, only black text on a white background. There is an exception to this rule for publications deemed “adult publications,” meaning that only 15% or less of the publication’s readers are under 18 and that the total approximate number of under-18 readers is below 2 million.
Do you think these rules will have any effect on curbing smoking in teens? Are there some rules you think go too far?
Looks like those who called “driver error” on the Prius that slammed into a stone wall in upstate New York a couple weeks back might have reason to boast. An e-mail from NHTSA seems to negate the driver’s claims that she attempted to brake during the incident.
Reads the NHTSA message:
Information retrieved from the vehicle’s onboard computer systems indicated there was no application of the brakes and the throttle was fully open.
You might also remember from this case that the local police chief publicly defended the driver and that he wasn’t prepared to release the car until after he’d closed his investigation.
Last week, Consumerist reader Aaron went to his local Acme supermarket outside of Philadelphia to pick up some yummy, delicious, Edy’s ice cream. Except what he brought home wasn’t neither yummy nor delicious because it was 8 months past its sell-by date.
Tell us what happened, Aaron:
They had my new favorite flavor that is kinda hard to find (Hot Cocoa, it’s like Rocky Road without the nuts.) And it was on sale, so I also bought some Cherry Chocolate Chip.
When I got home and helped myself to my treat, the ice-cream was bad and I dumped out the bowl.
The Cocoa flavor was just freezer burned. Not very tasty, but not evil. The Cherry on the other hand was downright FOUL.
I knew I wanted to either take them back to the store or write to Edy’s, so I kept the containers.
Edy’s feedback form asks for expiration date and UPC code, so I jotted it down. That’s when I noticed the Expiration Dates. The Cocoa wasn’t expired yet (4/25). But the Cherry had, last year — 7/22/09. Almost 8 months past due!!
It wasn’t just expired, it was beyond expiration to the point that it could have been dangerous to eat.
Aaron says he’s returning the expired treat to the store tonight and will let us know how things turn out.
Someone in the Southeast is trying to prey on unsavvy texters by pretending to be their bank and asking them to “verify their account info.”
According to this news report out of South Carolina, people have been receiving texts from something called “Homebank.us” telling them they “have received a new e-Banking voice message” and to call a phone number with an 828 area code.
We called the number ourselves to verify the report.
An automated system tells you, “Welcome to Online Security Center. You’ve received this secure alert due to repeated log in attempts from a foreign IP address located in India,” and then moves on to ask for a credit card number, expiration date, PIN, and security code.
We didn’t do it, but the TV report entered fake info into the system and was then told by the automated operator that their personal information will be verified and you’ll be contacted within 5 to 10 business days.
FYI, “Homebank.us” goes to your typical cyber squatter search results page. The scammers couldn’t even be bothered to make up a proper bogus web page.
Until now, if a Mac owner wanted to read a Kindle e-book on his computer, they were out of luck (or used something like Parallels and had the Kindle for PC app running on Windows). But that all ended today, with the release of Kindle for Mac.
Not shockingly this release comes with only a few weeks to go before the release of Apple’s iPad tablet thingy. Amazon reportedly views the iPad and Apple’s iTunes bookstore as a huge potential threat to its overwhelming market share in the e-book biz. According to the NY Times, Amazon is trying to leverage its large Kindle store and audience to get publishers locked into 3-year agreements stating they won’t offer e-books for a lower price than they are being sold for on Amazon.
The release of Kindle for Mac can be seen as an attempt by Amazon to snag Mac owners into becoming Kindle fans, or at least fans of the Kindle store. There is a Kindle app for iPhone, though it’s not yet known when/if there will be a Kindle app for the iPad.
Graco has announced a recall of approximately 1.2 million of their Graco Harmony High Chairs after finding that the screws holding the front legs of the chair can loosen and fall out. Also, the plastic bracket on the rear legs can crack, “causing the chair to become unstable and tip over unexpectedly.”
Graco says they have have received 464 reports of problems with either the loose screw or the cracked bracket. They also claim that they know of 24 injuries caused by the sudden tip-overs.
Owners of the Harmony high chairs are being advised that they should immediately stop using them and contact Graco to receive a free repair kit.
To order a free repair kit, contact Graco toll-free at (877) 842-3206 or visit the firm’s Web site at www.gracobaby.com. For additional information, contact Graco at (800) 345-4109 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.
The company has recalled all Harmony chairs. If you’re unsure of whether or not your Graco chair falls under the recall, below is a chart of recalled model numbers. You can find the model number on the label located on the underside of the foot rest. (see above picture).
The Harmony chairs were sold at retailers nationwide (including AAFES, Burlington Coat Factory, Babies “R” Us, Toys “R” Us, Sears, Target, Target.com, Walmart, WalMart.com, Shopko, USA Baby) starting in December 2003. They retailed for between $70 and $120.
Graco ceased production on the Harmony chairs in Dec. 2009.
