Author: Meg Marco

Getting an iPad? Not sure why? Want to carry it in your pocket? Not sure why? Here is a vest for you.

Just remember, iPods don’t really stop bullets.

iPad Vest [Scottevest]

Good news for people who love watching TV on computers (me, admittedly), Hulu is profitable, and according to a NYT Interview with Jason Kilar, Hulu’s chief executive, revenue topped $100 million in 2009.

As far as subscription services, there is pressure from the content providers to start one. It all hinges on the iPad:

“Our mission is to help people discover the world’s premium content, and we believe that subscriptions can help to unlock some of that, including sports and movies and premium cable shows,” he said. “We’re certainly open to subscriptions as a complement to an ad-supported model.”

People briefed on Hulu’s plan believe it may test the subscription approach with its iPad app. They could not say when such an application might be available.

Mr. Kilar declined to talk about any future Hulu products, but he waxed enthusiastic about the coming wave of ultra-portable tablet computers like the iPad.

Would you ever pay for Hulu?

Successes (and Some Growing Pains) at Hulu [NYT]

The AP says that an Indiana man went on a bizarre rampage in a supermarket, pulling out a hunting knife and attacking packages of hamburger. He then threw dog food onto it.

The AP says he reportedly told employees he was “on a mission from god,” and that he was trying to save little girls from eating beef, which he blames for making them fat.

The local police chief told the AP, “He thought if he could save one chubby girl that he’s done his job.”

Workers tackled the man and held him until police arrived.

(Thanks, SteveDave!)

The Maryland AG’s office says that BJ’s Wholesale Club charged customers for items that were supposed to be free. Naughty!

The coupons in question were apparently “Buy One Get One,” but had fine print that limited the value of the coupons to an amount that was, in some instances, less than the cost of the item.

Customers who used these coupons were charged the difference between the limit and the price of the “free” item.

“Businesses in Maryland must abide by the law and when they advertise something for free, it is just that – free,” said Attorney General Gansler. “As a result of this agreement, BJ’s has agreed to stop these deceptive practices and reimburse customers in Maryland.”

BJ’s will pay a $40,000 penalty and agrees not to charge customers for “free” things in the future. It will return money that it charged Maryland consumers, so watch the mail if you used one of these and got charged.

Attorney General Gansler Settles with BJ’s Wholesale Club
Company Agrees to Stop Offering Deceptive Buy One Get One Free Coupons [Maryland AG]
BJ’s pays fine for coupon confusion [Baltimore Sun]

It’s been raining quite a bit on the east coast and especially, it seems, in Rhode Island, where the state’s second largest mall is under 2′ of water.

Elizabeth, in Warwick, R.I. says:

Huge blow to retail in already-depressed Rhode Island: The state’s 2nd largest mall, Warwick Mall, and many other retail places in the vicinity, are under 2 and more feet of water. Impossible to know when they can be cleaned up and reopened… weeks?

Also, due to closure of flooded interstate highway (Cranston and Warwick, RI), highway connectors, and main secondary roads (Rt. 117, Rt. 1, others), you can’t get anywhere anyway.

The main airport in Warwick is open, but it’s nigh-impossible to get there from anywhere due to detours, closings, and gridlock.

Ugh!

Hang in there!

Aerial photos: Interstate 95, Warwick Mall swamped [Providence Journal]

Don’t have high cholesterol? Think you don’t need Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering statin? You may be in for a rude awakening. Astra Zeneca, the maker of Crestor, has received approval to market the drug to healthy people as a preventative measure. And before you ask, yes Crestor does have side-effects.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the new criteria last month for Crestor, which is made by AstraZeneca and is the nation’s second best-selling statin, behind Lipitor by Pfizer. AstraZeneca plans soon to begin a new marketing and advertising campaign for Crestor, based on the new F.D.A.-approved criteria.

Under those criteria, an estimated 6.5 million people in this country who have no cholesterol problems and no sign of heart problems will be deemed candidates for statins. That is in addition to the 80 million who already meet the current cholesterol-based guidelines — about half of whom now take statins.

The new Crestor label says it may be prescribed for apparently healthy people if they are older — men 50 and over and women 60 and over — and have one risk factor like smoking or high blood pressure, in addition to elevated inflammation in the body.

So what’s the downside? There is apparently some evidence that statin use increases the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 9 percent.

And then, of course, are the inevitable commercials.

So, what do you think? Will you take Crestor as a preventative measure even if you don’t have high cholesterol, but have another risk factor?

Risks Seen in Cholesterol Drug Use in Healthy People [NYT]

Blockbuster has announced that they are in danger of being de-listed from the NYSE because they do not meet the minimum market capitalization requirements. Market capitalization is a measurement of the size of a business equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a public company. The NYSE requires businesses to have a market capitalization of at least $75 million over a 30-day trading period.

Blockbuster shares were once worth as much as $29 in 2002, but are now trading at around $0.25.

Things aren’t looking too good for Blockbuster.

Blockbuster Falls Below NYSE Listing Requirements [Blockbuster]

Delta merged with Northwest Airlines and has been having some trouble with little details like “landing in the state of Minnesota without missing it.” US Airways has a stinky plane that sends you to the hospital.

Which one puts your tray table in an upright and locked position… of fury?

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2010 series. The companies competing for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Print the bracket, here.

Two companies pitching a layer of protection: but only one can win. Will it be PayPal/eBay, with their, um, dispute resolution issues, or LifeLock with their FTC issues.

Which one makes you hide your wallet in fear?

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2010 series. The companies competing for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Print the bracket, here.

Here’s a question nobody knows the answer to: What’s going to happen when the (already extended) Homebuying Tax Credit expires April 30th?

The New York Times tells the tale of a family in Iowa that has been desperate to sell before the credit vanishes. If they hadn’t, they would have had to lower the price of their home — and have less to buy a new home, and so on and so on.

Buyers who want the tax credit must sign a deal by April 30 but would have until June 30 to close. Consequently, if sales volume is going to plunge after the credit expires, it will not show up until the numbers for July are reported. While Mr. Humphries says he does not expect sales that month to fall by December’s record rate, he predicts a long period of merely “dragging along the bottom,” with prices to match.

That was just what the Palestinis were worried about.

If they did not sell by April 30, they anticipated having to lower their price yet again, to compensate any buyer for the credit he would no longer get. It also meant they would not get a credit themselves on buying a new home in Philadelphia, pushing down what they could afford to pay.

Long story short– everyone is scared to end the credit — including people who think the credit was a bad idea.

Robert Shiller, a professor of economics at Yale and co-developer of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller housing price index, is an early advocate. He thinks the credit was a bad idea that nevertheless the market cannot do without.

“You don’t make drug addicts go cold turkey,” Mr. Shiller said. “The credit interferes with the market in an arbitrary way, but ending it now would be psychologically powerful. People will be in a bad mood about buying a house.” He advocates phasing it out gradually.

Spurt of Home Buying as End of Tax Credit Looms [NYT]

The FDA has declined to approve an application for use of an alertness drug, Nuvigil, to treat jet lag.

Nuvigil is a slightly longer-lasting form of the best-selling sleep apnea and narcolepsy drug, Provigil.

From the NYT:

Cephalon’s clinical trial involved 427 volunteers who were flown from the East Coast of the United States to France, then kept in a sleep lab for three days. As measured by electrodes placed on the scalp, those who took Nuvigil were less sleepy during the French daytime than those who were given a placebo.

In a more subjective test, in which participants were asked how sleepy they felt, the drug also did better than placebo, but not as convincingly.

The FDA does not comment on applications it does not approve. Would you take a drug like this for jet lag? It’s not supposed to sync your body clock or anything — it’s just supposed to keep you awake. Like coffee, with less peeing.

Regulators Reject a Drug Maker’s Plan to Use Its Alertness Pill to Overcome Jet Lag [NYT]

President Obama signed the last piece of the health care legislation today — but it wasn’t actually health care legislation — it was, instead, an overhaul of the federal student lending operation. All students getting federal student aid will now borrow directly from the federal government instead of sometimes having to go through a subsidized private lender.

“By cutting out the middleman, we’ll save the American taxpayers $68 billion in the coming years,” the president said. “That’s real money.”

Previously, the type of federal student loan you could get depended on your school. Some schools used the Direct Loan program, while others used the Federal Family Education Loan program, where students borrowed from a private lender that was getting a subsidy. All schools will now provide Direct Loans starting July 1.

The bill also expands the Pell Grant program which helps low-income students attend college.

What does the bill mean for students? Not as much as it will mean for banks, but the process should be less confusing and it will mean lower interest rates for some borrowers, mainly parents and graduate students.

If you’re a low-income graduate, there is some help coming for you in 2014. You’ll be able to apply to cap your payments at 10% of your discretionary income.

USAToday has a good breakdown of all of this, check it out.

For more information on these federal student aid programs, go to www.studentaid.ed.gov, or call 1-800-4FED-AID.

Obama Signs Student Loan Overhaul Legislation [ABC]
New rules streamline student loans, eliminate some pitfalls [USAToday]
Making Higher Education More Affordable [White House Blog]

Reader photoguy622 wants to let us know that our article helped him get some money from Apple for his broken hard drive. He’d fixed it himself, but Apple has a free repair program he didn’t know about.

photoguy622 says:

I just wanted to write and let you know that based on the story you had published about Apple replacing defective MacBook hard drives. I was able to get the money back I had personally spent on a replacement drive.

I pre-ordered my MacBook in the spring of 2006 and payed extra for an 80GB hard drive. About 2 years after I purchased it my hard drive broke. Instead of having it repaired through Apple, since it was out of warranty, I purchased a 250GB Western Digital replacement drive for $ 103 and did the work myself.

After seeing your story on the MacBook’s hard drives I called Apple and was told that there was nothing they could do for me over the phone and that I should go to a genius bar. The genius bar told me that since I did not have the work done through Apple, and I destroyed the old drive, there was nothing they could do for me either. At this point I decided my best option was to write Apple a letter about the problem and include a copy of the replacement hard drive’s receipt.

Two weeks after mailing the letter I received a call from Apple and they are sending me a check for replacement drive’s cost. Very nicely done Apple.

Woohoo!

We have seen some fast food fights in our day, but never before have we seen anything like “Cheeseburger Josh.”

The incident apparently takes place in a Whataburger. A patron in green shorts, (the Internet has named him “Cheeseburger Josh”), is upset about a cheeseburger. This escalates into a dispute with a beaded man who, despite the beard, apparently is better at wrestling than Cheeseburger Josh.

Worth noting is the fact that the restaurant is able to function perfectly well while the dispute resolves itself.

The moral here, we think, is never to underestimate the bearded.

(Warning: NSFW, bare ass, bad language)

[Via BuzzFeed, Eater]

Reader Chris sends in a link to a (backordered) bundle Best Buy is offering. It contains a 120 GB PS3, a wireless controller, and a “Rocketfish™ – 8′ HDMI Digital Audio/Video Cable for PlayStation 3”. For all of this, you pay only $394.97. Trouble is, the controller and PS3 usually go for $300. See update.

Chris says:

So far as I can tell– that’s an additional $94.97 for a “starter bundle” that includes a ps3 (valued at $299) and a hdmi cable…which I guess is valued at $95

This may be a mistake, but knowing best buy it isn’t. I’m sure geeksquad recommends it. This is a new low for best buy.

We defer to the Mass Effect 2 shopkeeper for advice on this one.

UPDATE: Commenters point out that the bundle comes with an extra controller, and the confusion is that there is only one pictured. The extra controller costs $54.99. This makes the HDMI cable $40ish. Worth it? This bundle is advertised as saving you $30.

In what may be the lamest reenactment of an Indiana Jones scene ever, a Long Island couple has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of petit larceny and tampering with a consumer product. Police say they are suspected of buying boxes of Jell-O pudding mix and replacing the mix with “aquarium sand” before returning the boxes.

From WABC:

Last week, detectives said someone was taking boxes of powdered Jell-O pudding mix and replacing the contents with what investigators say is aquarium sand.

They then returned the packages to get a refund.

The tampered boxes turned up in four stores in Suffolk and Nassau counties.

Investigators say surveillance video led them to the couple.

Police arrest couple in Jell-O tampering [WABC] (Thanks, madanthony!)

This one should interest all you gamers out there. Best Buy, Geek Squad and their annoying, stupid optimization service, VS GameStop and their… well, this… and this, and this, oh yeah, there’s this…

So we ask you: Which one makes you throw the controller through the TV?

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2010 series. The companies competing for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Print the bracket, here.

ABCNews took a look inside the mysterious world of Costco. Why does everyone love it so much? Turns out the secrets are simple: Small selection, good quality, low price.

From ABC:

“We keep our selection down so we can get the most out of it and offer the best value, the best price,” Long said.

The store only offers about 4,000 unique products for sale at any one time. Compare that to a typical supermarket, which carries about 40,000 products, or a Wal-Mart store with about 125,000 products.

Costco’s buyers hand-select each item, like the more than 200 varieties of wine sold at many Costco stores, making them the largest wine retailer in the world.

AIso, in addition to wine, Costco sells a lot of nuts. The only product it sells more of than cashews is toilet paper. Interesting stuff.

Do you shop at Costco? Is it worth the membership? Do you seriously buy toilet paper and cashews?

Inside Costco: Secrets of America’s Favorite Stores [ABC]

A Jerry Bruckheimer movie was accidentally activated Sunday when an allegedly drunk Carnival Cruise passenger started yelling bomb threats as the boat was approaching Port Canaveral, FL.

The Orlando Sentinel, citing the U.S. Coast Guard, said that passengers heard the man repeatedly stating, “a bomb was about to explode,” and “We are Jihad.”

Reuters quotes a Coast Guard Petty Officer as saying that the man said, “We are jihad. Come to the top deck and watch the bomb. The bomb is going to blow.” He also noted that the man appeared to be “highly intoxicated.”

This odd behavior lead to a 4 hour delay as authorities from Brevard County Florida, U.S. Coast Guard and FBI descended on the Carnival Sensation.

USAToday describes the accidental activation of the Bruckheimer movie:

The “threat” was first reported to ship personnel around 4 a.m., and an exhaustive search for a bomb was conducted by onboard security personnel, according to USCG spokesman Christopher Evanson, Petty Officer First Class.

The 87-foot coast guard cutter Shrike was called in to assist in bringing USCG, FBI and other law enforcement officials to the scene and in establishing a security zone around the vessel, which had 3,740 passengers and crew onboard.

They arrived around 9:30 a.m., and conducted an additional bomb search and also interviewed eyewitnesses and the suspect. The arrest was made.

Back in Port Canaveral, where the Sensation was headed on the last leg of a 3-day Bahamas cruise, dogs were brought in to search Terminal 5, and a Unified Command was established. Represented at the command post were the USCG, FBI, Transportation Safety Administration, Port Canaveral Police Department, Canaveral Fire and Rescue, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Federal Air Marshal’s Service, as well as Carnival Cruise Line.

After it was determined there was no credible bomb threat, the ship was allowed to return to port, arriving at about 10:45 a.m., some five hours later than scheduled. Some passengers had to rebook missed flights home.

Drunk Man Makes Bomb Threat Onboard Carnival Ship [WCBS]
Bomb threat on Carnival ship deemed false [USAToday]

Last year’s winner, AIG, takes on a small little company out of Florida. It’s David VS Goliath.

Or is it? Where will you aim your sling shot?

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2010 series. The companies competing for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Print the bracket, here.