Target Promises To Stop Sorting Kids’ Merchandise By Gender

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(Ben Schumin)

While every kid has preferences, there’s no reason why little boys can’t play with dollhouses or why little girls can’t play with plastic dinosaurs. Some parents, kids, and other activists have started to ask retailers why store sections for anything marketed to kids is always separated into strict “girls” and “boys” sections with signage to match. One retailer announced today that they’ll be changing that.

Target will phase out their red-and-blue and pink-and-purple sections in the coming months, instead sorting items by what they are. For example, all cartoon character bedding sets or animated movies would be shelved together instead of separated by shelf for boys and for girls. Toys will be arranged the same way, with Target promising to even get rid of subtle cues about who toys are for, like “pink, blue, yellow or green paper” behind the actual shelves.

Right now, our teams are working across the store to identify areas where we can phase out gender-based signage to help strike a better balance. For example, in the kids’ Bedding area, signs will no longer feature suggestions for boys or girls, just kids. In the Toys aisles, we’ll also remove reference to gender, including the use of pink, blue, yellow or green paper on the back walls of our shelves. You’ll see these changes start to happen over the next few months.

UK-based Let Toys be Toys has done great work in pointing out examples of this from all over the world, and they also explain very clearly why gendered toys are such a bad idea. They explain why kids should be allowed to choose what they want to play with, rather than having retailers reinforce who each toy is for:

Toys focused on action, construction and technology hone spatial skills, foster problem solving and encourage children to be active. Toys focused on role play and small-scale theatre allow them to practise social skills. Arts & crafts are good for fine motor skills and perseverance.For example, here are some gendered science sets:

McDonald’s is a notable example of this, too: when there are two different sets of toys available, customers used to be asked whether they wanted the girl toy or the boy toy. While the chain has been trying to phase this out here in the U.S., apparently it’s still common in Canada.

What’s in Store: Moving Away from Gender-based Signs [Target] (via Bloomberg)

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Butter Can Be Bad For Your Health, Concludes Study Paid For By Dairy Industry. Wait, What?

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When an industry funds a scientific study of what they do or produce, you can roll your eyes and safely

(Robert S. Donovan)

assume that the data will show that the phenomenon being studied is healthy or at least not actively harmful. Right? No, not necessarily. A study evaluating the health effects of eating butter regularly surprised cynics by showing that the substance raised study participants’ cholesterol.

No study is perfect, but this one at least tried to put either butter or olive oil, randomly selected, in what was otherwise participants’ normal diets for two five-week periods. The study was even double-blinded, meaning that the participants and evaluators didn’t know who was consuming butter and who was consuming olive oil. (The researchers provided participants with rolls that already had either butter or olive oil baked in.)

The results showed that eating butter increased the total cholesterol level, including LDL cholesterol, the type that builds up in arteries and causes blockages, and the study showed higher levels on Team Butter than on Team Olive Oil, increasing their risk of cardiovascular disease.

This is all very interesting, but the problem is that the study was paid for by the Danish Dairy Research Foundation, which was presumably not looking for results that would point people toward eating less butter. The study doesn’t have much to say about whether eating butter is healthy in the long term, but shows that it does raise cholesterol levels.

“[H]ypercholesterolemic people should keep their consumption of butter to a minimum, whereas moderate butter intake may be considered part of the diet in the normocholesterolemic population,” concludes in the article’s abstract, which means “limit butter if you know that you have high cholesterol, and otherwise don’t worry about it.”

This study has made the news precisely because it’s an industry-funded study showing that some people should stay away from the food being studied, and that’s unusual. Just ask Marion Nestle, who regularly writes about “industry-funded studies with predictable results.”

Always look at studies telling you what to eat or what not to eat with a skeptical eye. Someone is paying for that study about orange juice or butter or coffee or frozen pizza, and they sometimes don’t have objective science as their goal.

A study about butter, funded by the butter industry, found that butter is bad for you [Washington Post]
Butter increased total and LDL cholesterol compared with olive oil however resulted in higher HDL cholesterol than habitual diet [American Journal of Clinical Nutrition]

RELATED:
From The Cranberry Institute To Pickle Packers International: A Guide To Food Industry Trade Groups
Diet Sodas Better For Weight Loss Than Water, Concludes Study Paid For By Soda Industry

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Verizon Gets Rid Of Contracts, Cheap Phones (For New Customers Only, Of Course)

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(Mike Mozart)

T-Mobile may have a fraction of the customer base of industry-leader Verizon Wireless, but the little magenta company’s decision to do away with contracts continues to influence its bigger competition. Today, Verizon announced that new customers will no longer have to sign up for contracts, which also means they will have to start paying full price for their phones.

Starting Aug. 13, Verizon is simplifying its wireless data plans for new customers. The company is now just charging for the size of the data plan, plus a monthly fee per device ($20/phone; $10/tablet or Jetpack hotspot), plus whatever your monthly payment is on your phone.

VZW is also giving each plan a descriptive name according to its size:

“Small:” $30/month for 1GB of shareable data

“Medium:” $45/month for 3GB of shareable data

“Large:” $60/month for 6GB of shareable data

“X-Large:” $80/month for 12GB of shareable data

So one person using a smartphone on the Medium plan would pay $65/month.

Verizon has long been more expensive than the rest of the competition. As recently as January, the company’s CFO bragged that Verizon was a “leader, not a follower” and that it wouldn’t wage a price war even at the cost of a few customers.

But today’s announcement puts VZW close to T-Mobile’s pricing, which charges $60/month for 3GB. Sprint also charges $60/month for “unlimited” service, while AT&T’s 3GB/month is the same as Verizon’s new price.

All of these rates assume that you either pay full price for your phone in advance or get it through your wireless provider’s installment plan, which means you still pay full price but over the course of months or years.

This is the latest move away from longterm contracts and the phone subsidies that come with them, and T-Mobile CEO John Legere didn’t waste time poking fun at the competition:

Our mission with #uncarrier is to change to the whole wireless industry! When @VerizonWireless and @sprint copy our moves, consumers win!

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) August 7, 2015

Now that Sprint and Verizon have followed T-Mobile down the no-contract path, it leaves only AT&T among the four major carriers to still offer phone contracts.

However, AT&T has made it increasingly more difficult to get a contract. Earlier this summer, it stopped allowing its retail partners like Walmart and Best Buy sell longterm contracts, meaning the only way AT&T customers could continue to get cheaper, subsidized phones was through AT&T-owned stores or through the company’s website.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Parents: Remember To Check Your Kids’ Carry-On Bags Because Hatchets, Grenades Aren’t Allowed On Planes

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(TSA)

Parents, we are not here to tell you how to be a parent. But might we suggest you oversee your child’s packing efforts before you head to the airport? You know, just in case said kid decides to include a dangerous weapon in their carry-on bag.

It’s been a doozy of a week, and we can only imagine that a few kids were grounded by their folks: the Transportation Security Administration says agents found a few things in young passengers’ carry-on bags, including a small hatchet and a grenade (non-working, still a bad idea).

A TSA spokeswoman told My News 13 in Florida that the hatchet was found in a 16-year-old passenger’s bag at Orlando International Airport on Wednesday. Unclear if the kid was perhaps reading that classic tale of survival in the wilderness, Hatchet, but still, not okay.

Earlier this week, TSA workers happened upon a grenade in 12-year-old’s carry-on at Jacksonville International Airport. It was later determined to be inert and therefore, not dangerous.

Parents should always supervise their children’s packing, the TSA is reminding folks.

“Hatchets, knives, grenades and guns are not permitted in your carry-on bags,” the spokeswoman reiterated.

When in doubt, you can enter your desired item into the TSA’s “Can I bring my… through the security checkpoint?” search tool/app, and receive an answer immediately.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

The FCC Wants To Know How Mobile Data, Broadband Caps, And High Prices Shape Broadband Access

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(Adam Fagen)

It’s the FCC’s job to determine if broadband internet service is reaching enough people, quickly enough and competitively enough. To make that determination, every year they issue a report looking at the current state of broadband and how it’s changed. But broadband isn’t about wires anymore; it’s about wireless data and how quickly that moves (or doesn’t), too. And so the commission is considering a big change to their standards for the next go-around — one that would take a hard look at your cell service, too.

Here’s a bit of background on why one government report — basically the least sexy pair of words ever invented — is such a big deal.

In 1996, Congress rewrote the Telecommunications Act to include a huge number of 20th century (and theoretically 21st-century-ready) updates. Among the directives in the 1996 Telecom Act was a mandate that the FCC not only promote competition and broadband adoption, but also provide regular reports on the state of “current availability of advanced telecommunications capability” in America. The 2016 report will be the 9th annual report.

The thing is, in the two decades since 1996, there has been an extraordinary amount of change in the tech and telecom space. The first web gave way to Web 2.0 and now, depending who you ask, to web 3.0 or a post-web era entirely. Broadband access that in the late 1990s meant “a modem that can do 33.6K or better and maybe AOL and EarthLink numbers to dial in town” is now something else altogether.

A big part of the FCC’s job is to figure out what, exactly, that something else is. As the standards consumers expect (and need!) change, so too do the regulatory definitions need to keep up with the times. Every so often, then, the broadband report takes in some new data or some new tech, and ends up saying, “hey, actually, this is what people need.”

So for example, that’s how the most recent report, which the commission voted on back in January, wound up shifting the baseline speed of broadband to 25 Mbps from 4 Mbps. And this week, the FCC decided to ask a few key questions to see if the next report should go even further.

Formally speaking, the FCC voted to consider a Notice of Inquiry (NOI). That’s what it sounds like: a notice that the commission is going to inquire into something. The main points in the NOI are:

• Should the report count mobile broadband as well as terrestrial (wired) broadband?
• If yes, what speed threshold is the baseline for mobile broadband to qualify?
• Should the report count fixed satellite broadband?
• Should the report include network latency, connection consistency, pricing structures, privacy issues, or bandwidth caps as factors?

The question about mobile connectivity is not whether consumers should have access to mobile or wired broadband. Instead, the FCC wants to know if their report should look at the both/and issue. The question, specifically, is: Can broadband be considered fully-deployed in a given area if consumers there do not have access to both kinds?

In other words: today, if there is a cable that can get 50 Mbps internet service to your house, the FCC considers you to have broadband access. But if there’s no cell service available near your house, can you still be said to have sufficient, fully-deployed access to broadband?

That’s what the FCC has to determine over the next six months.

Although no determination has yet been made — the commission only voted to start thinking about the questions — opinions on the five-member panel are already badly split. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn expressed general positive feelings about the FCC’s inquiries. Commissioner Ajit Pai, on the other hand, called the process “kabuki theater.” And commissioner Michael O’Rielly said he was “disturbed by the notion” that the FCC might think wired and wireless broadband are actually two different things.

As of right now, it’s all just talk. The commission has only just created the docket (15-191) and will accept public comment on the matter during an as-yet-unannounced window this fall.

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Sephora Launching A Beauty Sample Subscription Box Service

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(epicharmus)

If you’re a makeup fan whose favorite part of ordering online from Sephora is the product samples, here’s some good news: the retailer is finally joining the beauty subscription box trend popularized by Birchbox and followed by many other companies. The cosmetics-loving public’s thirst for sample boxes is apparently unquenchable.

This is sort of a reversal of Birchbox, which started as a subscription box and is slowly expanding into retail locations out in the real world. Yet it’s a smart move by Sephora, since research shows that customers who subscribe to Birchbox (and presumably people who subscribe to other beauty boxes as well) buy more makeup and beauty products overall than people who don’t.

Even though the boxes are, you know, mailed to people, Sephora is rolling the concept out by city. The first customers who get to try out the service will be in Boston, Columbus, and Cincinnati next month. Next year, it will expand to other cities. The reason for the regional limits may be because Sephora plans in-person, in-store events for subscribers.

The September box’s contents have already been announced: it will include products from Sephora Collection (their house brand), Marc Jacobs, Ole Henrikson, Bumble and bumble, Glamglow, and assorted perfumes.

Sephora Subscription Boxes Are Coming Soon [Racked]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Google Maps For iOS Adds Night Mode To Make It Easier To Navigate After Dark

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(jayRaz)

There’s nothing quite like the white glare of your phone’s map app to annoy a driver at nighttime. Which is why Google Maps for iOS will now include a “night mode” with a darker background, making it easier for drivers to navigate in the dark.

Android users may have already experienced Night Mode in the past few years, TechCrunch notes, but this is a first for iOS users.

It could be a welcome relief to tired eyes: the idea of a darker display is that it could help improve your driving experience as your eyes won’t have to adjust between a bright, white map and the darker road ahead.

Night Mode is fully automatic, which means you won’t have to turn anything on when evening falls, and won’t see the darker display during the day. It’s only available in the turn-by-turn navigation mode, however, so don’t expect to see it in the default maps display.

This doesn’t come as a huge surprise — Google owns Waze, which is super popular among iOS users, and has night mode. And again, Android users are probably pfffting this news right about now. But for you iOS users, welcome to the light. Err, the dark.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Patent Would Have Airlines Sort Passengers By Height, Then Adjust Rows To Save Their Knees

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“Dangit… my knees are killing me but that kid behind me has all the legroom in the world. Unfair, I tell ya. Unfair.”

Have you ever been squeezed into an airplane seat and then looked behind you to see you’re in front of a small child who has plenty of legroom? In a car, you’d be able to slide your seat back a few inches to give you some extra space, but without cramping the kid behind you. A new patent aims to put that same idea into practice on commercial aircraft.

Of course, it’s not as simple as just having seats that can slide back and forth. Otherwise, we’d all just be slamming our seats all the way back in a futile, greedy attempt to maximize legroom.

And if the seats in any given row were no longer aligned, that would be a safety concern, as it could make it more difficult for middle- and window-seat passengers to exit into the aisle.

That’s why this patent from Florida-based B/E Aerospace doesn’t just imagine a system for adjustable seats, but discusses the need for a sensible way of managing the seating arrangements.

One point of the invention is “to provide a method of seating passengers according to height, and then adjusting the spacing of the seat to accommodate the height of the passenger in each seat.”

According tot he patent, passengers’ respective heights are measured at check-in.

“Once most passengers are checked-in, the seating on the aircraft may be adjusted to better accommodate tall and short passengers,” explain the inventors, who give the example of putting those who fit into the top 5% of height for the average male get seated behind a row of people who are, at most, only 30% that of the average adult female. The seats for the small, presumably child, passengers would be moved up to accommodate the legroom for the taller travelers behind them.

“Even a relatively small incremental increase in seat spacing for the tall passengers can provide additional comfort with no loss of comfort to the much smaller passengers seated in front of the tall passengers,” reads the patent.

While the adult looks pleased as punch, can someone get that kid a lollipop? He looks miserable, even though his legroom is still ample.

And rather than a labor-intensive system of manually operated anchors and latches, B/E Aerospace proposes a system that could be operated via a tablet (or similar device) by the cabin crew.

“An attendant walking through the aircraft with the tablet can initiate the adjustment as well as verify or make corrections to the adjustments,” the company explains.

While this concept allows carriers to keep the same number of seats in their cabins, we’re having a hard time imagining the tech being used for more than a few rows. In the above example, it presumes not only that there are enough small children on a plane to fill rows of their own, but also that these kids’ parents would be okay with being seated separately from them because of their height.

A more likely use for this sort of system would be for an airline that sells premium seating and wants to be able to adjust the number of extra-legroom seats it has available. For example, a plane going from NYC to L.A. would probably have plenty of passengers willing to pay extra to spare their knees during a 6-hour flight, but when that plane leaves L.A. and makes the shorter trip to Las Vegas, it might have trouble selling all those premium seats.

It’s certainly an interesting idea and one that will probably show up in some form in the years to come.

[via Skift.com]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Mozilla: Firefox Bug Could Secretly Search, Upload Your Files

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(angela n.)

If you use Firefox on a PC, you should make sure you update your browser right now: Mozilla says Firefox user notified the company after spotting a bug that has the potential to search and download local files.

In a blog post yesterday, Mozilla said it released a security patch to fix the vulnerability, and is urging Firefox users on computers running Windows and Linux to update to Firefox 39.0.3 (you can do that by clicking here).

The company says a Firefox user found an ad on a general news site in Russia that was serving the bug up, which would then search for sensitive files and upload them to a server that appears to be in Ukraine.

“The files it was looking for were surprisingly developer focused for an exploit launched on a general audience news site, though of course we don’t know where else the malicious ad might have been deployed,” Mozilla notes.

At this point, Mozilla products that don’t contain its PDF viewer, like Firefox for Android, aren’t vulnerable. Mac users aren’t affected either, though they “would not be immune should someone create a different payload,” Mozilla adds. You also may be safe if you use ad-blocking software.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

12 States Holding Sales Tax Holidays This Weekend

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(Hannah <3)

Were you thinking about doing some shopping this weekend, for back-to-school season or just in general? Find out whether your state is holding a tax holiday, where state sales taxes are waived on certain categories of items: usually clothes, but sometimes also personal electronics, appliances, and hunting supplies, including firearms. Tax holidays and their limits vary regionally and your county or municipality may not be participating; check the rules before you shop. However, make sure that you don’t confuse it for a shopping spree. [Consumer Reports]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

United Airlines Flight Turns Around After Sparks Spotted Coming From Seats In First Class

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(Adam Fagen)

Sparks were flying on another United Airlines flight this week, though this time it wasn’t due to a fight on a flight: passengers reported seeing sparks coming from some first class seats on a plane headed to Los Angeles from London, prompting the pilot to turn the plane around after two hours in the air.

The United Airlines flight made a U-turn over Scotland early on Friday morning and headed back to Heathrow Airport, reports NBC News, with the airline citing a mechanical issue.

“I understand there may have been a possible electrical issue with a seat onboard,” a United spokeswoman Jennifer Dohm. “The flight landed safely and our maintenance team is reviewing now … We will work to get our customers to Los Angeles as quickly as possible.”

One passenger onboard Tweeted through the experience, saying he hadn’t seen the sparks himself, but passengers were talking amongst themselves:

Sparks coming from inside our transatlantic @united UA935. Returning to LHR after 2 hrs in air. At least the wine cart made it to us in time

— Ralph B. McLaughlin (@housingnomix) August 7, 2015

He also told NBC News that once the plane was on the ground, he could smell electrical smoke. All’s well that ends well, however, as the plane was evacuated and there were no injuries reported. Emergency personnel even took the time to pose for photos as passengers deplaned:

Firefighters assuring us everything is OK despite sparks and smoke on @united 935. @United crew handled very calmly http://pic.twitter.com/9YWiNAKk6Z

— Ralph B. McLaughlin (@housingnomix) August 7, 2015

Passengers are now waiting at Heathrow Airport for other flights, United said. “We are making arrangements for our customers to complete their journeys. We regret any inconvenience experienced by our customers.”

United Airlines Jet Makes Emergency Landing After ‘Sparks’ Spotted in Cabin [NBC News]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Don’t Fall For The Mail-Order Puppy Scam

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This is the message sent by the scammer trying to explain why the dog had not been delivered, even though $490 had been sent.

Getting a dog from a breeder can run you thousands of dollars, so it might be tempting when someone offers to sell you a baby puppy for a fraction of that. But if that seller is just some random person who demands that you wire them a cash payment, you’re probably getting rooked.

A woman in Indiana found this out the hard way, reports WCPO-TV (NOTE: auto-play video at link).

She was trying to find a puppy pal for her pug, but couldn’t afford to spend upwards of $5,000 at a breeder.

That’s when she discovered someone claiming to be from Missouri who was selling a newborn pug online for much less — $370 for the puppy plus $120 for the flight to Indiana.

She sent the seller a MoneyGram for the costs; with fees for the service, it totaled $511. She was supposed to get the dog the next day, but nope.

When the dog didn’t arrive, the seller claimed that he was “at the agency now, trying to make the finalization,” whatever that means. He urged patience, but pushed his luck by then demanding another $500 for insurance.

That’s when the buyer realized she’d been fleeced.

“I was spitting nails,” she says about her reaction to being scammed.

The woman filed a police report, but — and this will probably not surprise regular readers — the scammer was not Missouri-based, but located in a foreign country and having a good time with the hundreds of dollars she’ll never get back.

This just serves as a reminder to never send cash in advance of a purchase to someone you don’t know. We don’t really recommend buying anything from a stranger online, but at least with credit and debit cards there are protections against fraudulent transactions and defective merchandise.

And if you want a puppy, there are plenty of shelters and rescues out there chock-full of perfectly fine pooches in need of a good home. Sure, they may not have papers showing they are direct descendants of 1922 Westminster best-in-show winner Ch Boxwood Barkentine, but they’ll still play fetch and drool lovingly on your carpet.

[via Credit.com]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Abercrombie & Fitch Agrees To End On-Call Scheduling

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(Prayitno)

Following in the footsteps of fellow retailer Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch announced that it will no longer use the on-call method of scheduling, which required workers to be available for a shift at a moment’s notice. Or, on the other hand, find out they’d be staying home for an upcoming shift, not getting paid.

In April, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman warned 13 major retail companies, including Abercrombie, Target, Sears and Gap, that some stores may be violating state law by using on-call scheduling systems.

It seems Abercrombie was listening, as the company says it’s working on phasing out on-call work schedules, where employees may only have a few hours notice before they’re expected to be at work — or to find out whether they’ll be at home, not getting paid.

“Over time we will discontinue the use of call-in shifts throughout the United States, and will begin that process in New York this September,” a spokesperson for Abercrombie told CBS MoneyWatch. “We believe that this change is beneficial to our store associates, and reflects our commitment to creating a positive work environment.”

The retailer’s hourly and shift workers won’t have to keep a spot open in their schedules for shifts they might not end up working, and will receive a list of their scheduled shifts a week in advance, the company said in a letter to Schneiderman’s office.

Because there are some people who might appreciate a last-minute shift, Abercrombie says it will ask workers if they’d like to get email alerts notifying them when a shift pops up unexpectedly. Even if staffers choose to get those alerts, they won’t be obliged to work those suddenly available shifts.

Abercrombie & Fitch to end on-call work schedules [CBS MoneyWatch]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Google, Samsung, And LG To Start Pushing Monthly Security Patches That You Still Won’t Get

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(Karlis Dambrans)

There have been a number of very high-profile security flaws in Android phones this summer. The good news is, the makers of the hardware and software are now pledging to roll out updates to everyone more often. The bad news? “Everyone” doesn’t actually mean “everyone.”

Reuters reports that Google, maker of the Android operating system, as well as Samsung and LG, makers of many of the most popular phone and tablet lines, will begin pushing regular, monthly security updates to owners of their devices.

That news comes on the heel of a vulnerability in Samsung Galaxy phones that left an estimated 600 million users vulnerable to hack attack, as well as another flaw endemic to all Android phones that affected the better part of a billion users.

Samsung and Google have both been responsive to learning of their security flaws; Samsung had an update ready for their Galaxy phones two days after the exploit became widely known, and Google had already identified and patched their Stagefright vulnerabilities by the time stories about it hit the media.

However, both companies, along with LG, are now trying to be more proactive and less reactive in the wake of the high-profile exploits. Instead of throwing patches out after everyone has said, “holy crap, a billion phones?!,” they will now be deploying monthly security updates to all users.

But here’s the catch: if you bought your phone from a wireless company, as so many millions of us do, you’re not the “user” who gets the update. Your carrier is. And it’s anyone’s guess how long AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon will sit around waiting before pushing updates over the air to their subscribers.

A Samsung executive confirmed to Reuters that his company had no way of forcing the carriers that buy devices in bulk actually to install the fixes, and said that some companies might only do it for high-end users. “If it’s your business customers, you’ll push it,” he told Reuters.

The hundreds of millions of us who are not large corporations, on the other hand, will have to continue to wait our turn.

Google, Samsung to issue monthly Android security fixes [Reuters]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Small Business Owners Say DirecTV Installation Errors Result In Collections Lawsuits

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(Ángel Raúl Ravelo Rodríguez)

If a small business, like a bar or restaurant, lies to a cable company and orders residential service instead of the more costly commercial offerings, it would make sense that the pay-TV provider might sue to collect the money it should have received. But what if the reason for the gaffe wasn’t intentional deception but a mistake by an installer?

That’s the question that a number of commercial DirecTV customers are asking after being sued by a law firm representing the satellite giant (which is coming under the ownership of AT&T). They claim this is just a money grab and that they never meant to deceive anyone.

The Dallas Morning News’s Dave Lieber has spoken to some business owners and reviewed others’ claims of being on the end of DirecTV collections complaints.

A lawyer representing several of these businesses alleges that a New York-based law firm that collects on DirecTV’s behalf trained the satellite company’s auditors to seek out small, often rural business owners who may be using residential accounts.

Even after DirecTV said it would stop paying the auditors to do this sort of search, the law firm went out of pocket and paid for the audits because each collection action could result in substantial amounts of back subscription fees being paid by the defendant.

The lawyer also contends that this collection firm deliberately targeted businesses with minority owners under the assumption that they would be less likely to challenge the action in court.

Lieber learned of these disputes when covering the story of a Garland, TX, restaurant that was facing a collections bill of $15,000 from DirecTV. Even after the third-party installer admitted that it had erred and that DirecTV should show some mercy on the restaurant owners, the company refused to relent.

The restaurant attempted to sue DirecTV over the dispute, and 18 other businesses attempted to combine their legal actions with this case, but because DirecTV’s agreement for commercial customers [PDF] has a clause that requires all disputes are resolved through binding arbitration, each business was ordered by the court to enter into the arbitration process individually in their respective home states.

For its part, DirecTV denies allegations that it’s deliberately targeting small businesses to make money off collections actions.

“The allegations are completely false,” a company rep tells the Morning News. “These business owners were violating federal law, our customer agreements and taking unfair advantage of neighborhood bars and restaurants who are paying legitimate commercial rates for programming. We are confident these baseless claims will ultimately be rejected.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Report: Hackers May Have Breached Sabre Reservations Systems, American Airlines

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(Pixteca | Len & Pix【ツ】)

Another day, another report that says hackers have been busy plundering major companies. Insiders say the same group of hackers believed to be behind security breaches at Anthem Inc. and the U.S. government’s personnel office have two more victims: Sabre Corp., which processes reservations for hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotels, and American Airlines.

The group of hackers believed to be connected to China is behind this latest spate of attacks, reports Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the investigations.

Both companies were hit during the wave of attacks that targeted Anthem (records of 78.8 million breached) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (21 million people affected), those insiders tell Bloomberg of the recent cybersecurity probes.

Sabre confirmed that its systems were breached recently, and American says it’s looking into whether or not its computers were accessed by the same hackers, who may have hopped over from Sabre. The two companies share some infrastructure, as Sabre used to be a subsidiary of American until it was spun off in 2000.

This is the same group that is also believed to have hacked United Airlines recently (warning: link has autoplay video), an attack that could’ve exploited passenger manifests and other airline records.

These latest hits haven’t previously been reported, but they could potentially mean trouble for many, many Americans: Sabre has records on more than a billion travelers per year across the globe, the company says, and American Airlines is the world’s largest carrier, meaning it’s got a treasure trove of information as well.

Both companies contacted security experts within the last month to investigate.

“Based on our deep and extensive investigations with the help of outside cybersecurity experts, American has found no evidence that our systems or network have experienced a breach like those at OPM or Anthem,” an American spokesman said, adding that the company is looking into whether or not hackers entered its systems, but that it hasn’t confirmed anything yet. “We are working closely with our partners to further investigate.”

Sabre says it “recently learned of a cybersecurity incident” and was investigating, but didn’t elaborate on what data could’ve been stolen.

“We are not aware that this incident has compromised sensitive protected information, such as credit card data or personally identifiable information, but our investigation is ongoing,” Sabre said in a statement.

Though sources are linking the hackers to China, a spokesman for that country’s embassy called any accusations that China was involved in the hacks “unfounded” and “counterproductive.”

“The Chinese government and the personnel in its institutions never engage in any form of cyberattack. We firmly oppose and combat all forms of cyberattacks,” he said.

American Airlines, Sabre Said to Be Hit in Hacks Backed by China [Bloomberg News]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Could Avian Flu Hurt McDonald’s All-Day Breakfast Plans?

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(Morton Fox)

McDonald’s has been testing an all-day breakfast menu in various pockets around the country, and it’s reportedly planning on going nationwide with the concept in the fall. But could the ongoing avian flu problem — and the high egg prices that have resulted from it — scuttle this long-awaited change?

McDonald’s isn’t saying, but some restaurant chains have already begun to scale back on egg use as prices remain high.

In June, Texas-based Whataburger trimmed its breakfast hours to cut down on the number of eggs it went through. Dunkin’ Donuts has already scrapped an eggy promotion it had on the calendar for later in the year.

Some supermarkets are saying the high retail prices for eggs (wholesale prices have more than doubled since the beginning of the year and are expected to keep going up) are keeping retail demand down, but if McDonald’s suddenly needs to significantly increase its egg-buying to make sure it can meet McMuffin demand, it could drive the price even higher.

The question is whether huge buyers like McDonald’s are feeling the same price-tag pain that egg-loving consumers are.

CNBC notes that a company likes McDonald’s most likely has contractually locked in its price for eggs for the near future, but these agreements are not for the long term.

“Most are only going to contract three to six months because it’s a volatile commodity, and you never want to get yourself locked into all of it,” one analyst explains to CNBC.

Another analyst says some chains haven’t seen any change yet to their egg-buying ability, while others are paying more, and yet another group is “completely exposed to the open market… struggling to source full need.”

Ultimately it will come down to whether McDonald’s egg suppliers’ birds are impacted by the flu, which may spread during the upcoming migratory season.

As sales at McDonald’s have continued to sink, the hype about all-day breakfast has been the one potential bright spot for the company’s future. So it might be the case that McDonald’s will have to suck up any higher egg costs now to make all-day breakfast a reality that could help the company later.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Someone Transfers $917 To Man’s Bank Account, No One Will Tell Him Where It Came From

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(Xavier J. Peg)

Here’s a change of pace: After seemingly countless stories of mysterious debits and charges on consumer’s accounts, here’s a story of a man who found that his checking account suddenly included $917 he knew didn’t belong to him.

“When looking at transactions online yesterday, we noticed there was a deposit of $917.11 from Capital One,” he explains to the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Teresa Dixon Murray.

Trying to do the right thing and get this money back to where it was supposed to go, the man called his bank, Fifth Third. A customer service rep told him they could see the deposit, but couldn’t tell him the source.

The bank rep suggested he call Capital One, but that was a dead-end too. No one at the company could help him because he didn’t have an account of any sort or any information other than what little was given in his online statement.

After the Plain Dealer got involved and escalated the issue at Fifth Third, the origin story of the $917 came out.

Turns out that the man’s sister-in-law had accidentally transferred it to his checking account from her Cap One account. She had previously transferred funds to this account and it was still stored as a transfer option. So instead of transferring funds from her Cap One account to another account that belonged to her, she inadvertently moved the money to her brother-in-law.

Why couldn’t anyone have told him this to begin with?

A regional president for Fifth Third tells the Plain Dealer that he should not have had to get the media involved, that the rep he spoke with should have been able to provide him more information.

He advised that any customers faced with a similar problem ask to be escalated to speak to a supervisor or a manager.

What you shouldn’t do is spend money that you know isn’t yours, just because someone goofed and hasn’t noticed it yet.

“If money shows up in your checking account and it’s not yours, you should find out where it came from,” says the Fifth Third exec.

Fifth Third Bank customer finds $917 mysteriously deposited in his checking account and no one will tell him why: Money Matters [Cleveland.com]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Apple Eliminates Its Online Store, Moves “Buy” Buttons To Product Pages

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No more option for “Store,” but you can still buy online.

Before you start to panic at the headline, no, you will not have to physically go to an Apple store to get whatever gadgets your heart desires. Although Apple did remove its online store directory from its previous home of “store.apple.com,” you can still purchase products from the company on the web. It just looks a bit different now.

The way things used to work, Apple had a separate Store tab at the top of its homepage, next to sections for its products like Mac, iPad, Watch etc. Each of those pages contained information and specs on products, but when it came time to buy them, you’d be sent to the Store.

The old way.

But as you can see in the photo at the top of this post, there’s (gasp!) no more Store, and store.apple.com just redirects to Apple.com. Though that might at first be confusing, the new way of organizing the site is actually a bit more intuitive: Now when you want to buy an iPhone, say, you click on the iPad section and get not only specs and information about the device, but also a “buy” button that takes you to a page to check out plans, different phones, FAQ and, Apple hopes, actually buy it.

If you should decide you want to buy an iPad while you’re in the iPhone section, you navigate over to that product’s page, instead of remaining within an online store, while a shopping bag icon in the top right corner keeps track of what you’ve got in there.

In essence, the whole site is Apple’s online store.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Aspartame-Free Diet Pepsi Hitting Stores Next Week

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(bluwmongoose)

Nearly four months after Pepsi announced that it was switching the sweetener in Diet Pepsi from aspartame to sucralose, the revised beverage is on its way to supermarket shelves.

This is according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports that the sucralose-sweetened Diet Pepsi will be clearly marked on packaging as “Now Aspartame Free,” both to differentiate it from what the company has been selling for decades and as part of a marketing push that will include in-store signage and free samples.

While most of the talk on declining soda sales has focused on fewer people buying sugary-sweet drinks, diet drink consumption has also been on the decline. Last year, sales of diet soda dropped 5.9%, with Diet Pepsi taking a 6.6% plunge in sales.

PepsiCo could be taking a huge risk by going all-in with sucralose for Diet Pepsi. It’s possible the switch away from aspartame could win over consumers who were wary of the old sweetener, but there’s the chance that the change could drive away loyal customers.

The company is confident, at least publicly, about its new formula.

“It took us a lot of time but we’ve nailed it,” a PepsiCo exec claims to the Journal.

Last month, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said the company isn’t going to completely abandon the aspartame superfans, explaining that “we’ll figure out how to make [aspartame-sweetened Diet Pepsi] available online.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Discover That PS2 Memory Cards Are Finally On Clearance

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Back in 2012, one of the brave explorers for the Raiders of the Lost Walmart discovered a rack of memory cards for the PlayStation 2, still on the shelf and still priced at $20-$30. That was three years ago, though: Sony is up to the PS4 now. Surely Walmart has noticed that PS2 accessories aren’t really flying off their shelves. Well, one Raider’s local Walmart has moved them to the clearance aisle… still marked at $30.

Raider Sam wrote in his field notebook that he was just on a regular shopping trip to Walmart when he noticed these retail antiquities, which are evidently not very rare.

“A peek into the clearance aisle revealed 15-year-old game console memory cards for a system two generations back!” he wrote, clearly thrilled at the discovery. “And a 13-year-old peripheral! At ‘clearance’ prices comparable to what they might have cost in the early ’00s.”

Here’s that peripheral, an EyeToy camera.

That makes the clearance price technically higher than the regular price that we saw three years ago, which was $29. Sam checked prices for these items on eBay, and found that they cost about one-fifth of Walmart’s current price there.

Walmart: always low prices. Except for the 500% markup on obsolete electronics.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds

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Here are nine of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

(Joachim Rayos)

(Bjarne Winkler)

(Freaktography)

(Chris WIlson)

(pjpink)

(Ann Fisher)

(Karen Chappell)

(Jenny Reiswig)

(Brian Rome)

Want to see your pictures on our site? Our Flickr pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist