Dear Lifehacker,
I like to donate money to charities when I can, but it seems like this just opens the door for them to bombard me with junk mail and spam. Is there anything I can do to make donations but not be harassed by charities for the rest of my life?
Google Play Store errors can be frustrating, thanks to the cryptic error codes that provide no additional information. To help you resolve them, an XDA forum member put together a list of the most common error codes and their solutions.
Reader Karth is a Doctor Who fan, so he put together this Windows desktop to be part expression of his fandom and part set of tools to help him work. We can't really blame him. Here's how he set it all up.
Your tablet—whether it's an iPad, Android tablet, or a Microsoft Surface—is probably great on its own, but a few well-placed accessories can make it even better. There are a lot of useless ones out there, but let's make a list of the best ones that are actually useful at what they do.
If you're working with multiple languages in Chrome, it can be very helpful to have your spelling checked in those languages. Weblog Ghacks has a guide to installing other dictionarires.
Vegetables are not only good for you, but they're cheap too. Save money and increase your veggie intake by rethinking how much meat you eat next week.
Ever find yourself sitting on your couch, watching an episode of your current favorite TV show and see an outfit you must have? Web site Worn On TV keeps a catalog of what each character is wearing on a large amount of today's most popular TV shows.
If you're shopping for PC games, you have tons of stores to choose from. Last week we asked you for your favorites , then took a look at the five best resources for PC games based on your nominations. Now we're back to highlight the winner of our poll.
Firefox: With the latest update, Firefox brought a brand new, Chrome-ish design. It's pretty neat, but if you liked the old look, you can get it back with a single extension.
Android/iOS: Not to be outdone by Microsoft Office on the iPad , Google has announced new dedicated mobile apps for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. They work offline and get you to your files more quickly.
Many of us feel like we can't have homemade, fresh pasta at home without getting a machine that'll run the dough through and cut it nicely for us, but nothing is further from the truth. Making your own at home without tools is quite simple, and Cook's Country shows us how.
This left customers with no recourse and no receipt. “I felt like somebody was stealing my money and I didn’t know who it was,” he told KMOV. When a reporter visited the shop where these alleged misdeeds took place, the manager didn’t want to speak to him, which is no surprise.
After that story aired on Tuesday, a former employee of the same shop came forward, who the shop kept anonymous for obvious reasons. “We were out there doing transmission flushes or saying that we were,” the mechanic claims, “it actually wasn’t happening behind [closed] doors because customers [weren't] paying attention to the work getting done.” Well, no, if customers knew enough to do that, they would do their own transmission flushes at home.
“We take all allegations regarding technician performance at our Jiffy Lube franchise service centers seriously and are working with the local franchisee to conduct a thorough investigation,” Jiffy Lube said in a statement to the station. The franchisee also said that collecting cash for work never performed is against their policies, and promised to investigate and “take action.”
Of course, this is nothing unique to this franchisee: accusations of selling services and then not providing them to customers have followed the chain all over the country. Mechanics and managers pocketing the cash just make this scheme extra-special.
Former Jiffy Lube employee: Several local locations ripped off customers [KMOV]
Customers: Local Jiffy Lube location is defrauding customers [KMOV]
A new report [PDF] from the Center for Responsible Lending highlights how a lack of regulations over the debt buying and collection industries has become a billion dollar business while financially devastated consumers.
Nearly one in seven Americans are currently being pursued by a debt collector, but most of the debts being sought aren’t even owed. How can collectors be hounding consumer for debts that simply don’t exist anymore?
The situation occurs when a collector buys a debt from the original issuer, generally a bank, at rock-bottom prices. The purchaser then receives limited or inaccurate information about the consumer’s debt; often only a name, last known address and purported amount owed. In fact, in 2009 only 6% of debts purchased came with any documentation.
But a lack of information doesn’t stop collectors from making attempts to acquire payments from consumers. And that, according to consumer complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission, is when predatory and abusive practices begin. Complaints filed by consumers include the use of harassing phone calls, threats of arrest, obscene or abusive language, and unlawful threats to sue when attempts to collect are made.
When these, often illegal, tactics don’t work collectors more frequently turn to the justice system to sue consumers for their debts. Collectors then obtain default judgement in their favor when the consumer does not appear in court. CRL reports that consumers generally fail to show because they never received notice of the lawsuit, can’t afford legal representation, or simply don’t understand the need to appear.
Pursuing default judgements is becoming the norm for debt collectors. The report found that in 2011 nearly 80% of all default judgements in New York state were in debt-collection cases. In Minnesota, an estimated 2,400 default judgements were made per month in 2007. That same year, 60,699 cases out of 130,000 cases filed in Cook County, IL, were default judgements.
By receiving a default judgement, the collector can legally freeze a consumer’s bank account, garnish wages, report the judgement to a credit reporting agency, and pressure a consumer into a payment plan. In some states, collectors can even have a consumer arrested for lack of payment or seize personal property to satisfy the judgement.
Not surprisingly, the CRL report found that minorities, senior citizens and low- and middle-income communities experience a higher rate of debt buyer lawsuits and abuses.
Small-claims courts, that are often faced with hearing these cases, have been overwhelmed by the debt collection industry. Generally, these courts are not equipped to deal with the volume of cases and, as a result, are not run inefficiently. CRL found that cases aren’t given the attention they need, judges stubble to adequately handle all the cases and consumers are sometimes pressured into settlements.
CRL proposes that firmer oversight at both the federal and state level would ensure that debt collection happens fairly and responsibly. Recommendations include:
Tighter regulations could be forthcoming from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In January 2013 , the Bureau’s larger participant rule for debt collection went into effect. Under the rule, the Bureau has supervisory authority over any firm with more than $10 million in annual receipts from consumer debt collection.
In November, the CFPB created the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the first step toward considering consumer protection rules for the debt collection market.
While ANPR is an adequate start, consumer advocates say more can be done to ensure consumer protection.
Our colleagues at Consumers Union continue to urge the Bureau to write rules that achieve: sensible regulations that apply to all persons collecting debt and strong federal standards for information flow and verification procedures.
“The debt collection system has been long overdue for a comprehensive overhaul, to address current market realities and provide meaningful protections to consumers,” officials with Consumers Union posted on its DefendYourDollars blog last month. “By writing strong rules of the road at the federal level, the Bureau can help ensure that consumers across the country have basic important protections against improper collection practices.”
Debt Buyers Found to Routinely Scam Courts to Pursue Debts [Center for Responsible Lending]
( **Ms Judi**♥)
Because apparently may is National Pet Month, Amazon.com celebrated by releasing its list of the 20 most pampered pet cities in the United States. Keep in mind that Amazon is in the business of selling pet goods, so this list is far from the definitive word on spoiled pets.
The list is on 2013 sales of pet-related items — from Mr. Whiskers’ favorite toy to Rover’s beloved brush. Does your fish have a ginormous fish palace? That’s included too.
According to Amazon’s list, the most pampered cities for pets on a per capita basis, and in cities with more than 400,000 residents:
1. Miami
2. Seattle
3. Atlanta
4. San Francisco
5. Portland, Ore.
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Las Vegas
8. Austin, Texas
9. Tucson, Ariz.
10. San Diego
11. Sacramento, Calif.
12. Raleigh, N.C.
13. Dnever
14. Colorado Springs, Colo.
15. Baltimore
16. San Jose, Calif.
17. Albuquerque, N.M.
18. Chicago
10. Omaha, Neb.
20. Virginia Beach, Va.
The Energizer bunny will soon be part of a broken home. Okay, not really but the little guy’s parent company plans to split in two; separating the bunny from tampons, shaving gel and other personal products a bunny obviously has no need for.
Energizer Holdings announced plans to break its hefty product portfolio into two separate companies by the end of 2015. One company will continue to sell batteries, while the other will focus on personal care products.
Officials with the company say the split is the latest development in a plan to provide a clearer focus for the company in terms of competition and growth.
“Since becoming an independent company in 2000, Energizer has built two successful divisions and each is now well-suited to realize its full potential on a standalone basis,” Ward M. Klein, CEO of the company, says in a news release.
The new Personal Care company won’t be selling some new brand of household products, either.
In fact, the company behind the iconic bunny is the same company behind some of the most well-known personal care products on the market, such as Platex, Schick and Edge shaving gel, Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat sun care products and more.
The Household Products company will continue to sell batteries, portable lighting products from the Energizer and Eveready brands.
Before the company can officially split the plan must be approved by regulators.
Energizer Announces Intent To Separate Into Two Publicly Traded Companies [Energizer Holding Company]
Athletic clothing and shoes
If you’re in the market for new sneakers, this might be the month to buy them.
Camping and outdoor gear
This makes sense: in much of the country, the weather is finally tolerable to spend time outside, so companies are competing for our tent money.
Carpeting
…there must be a good reason for this price drop, but we’re not sure what it could be.
Cordless phones
If you’re switching to a cordless phone system for your landline, look for one that has a battery backup so the line remains usable when the power is out.
Lawn mowers and tractors
Your grass might be just waking up again, and it’s time to shop for a mower if you’re looking to buy a new one or replace the one you have. Deals abound, and remember that the best mowers aren’t always the ones with the highest list price.
Mattresses
Try mattresses out in person before buying, which means you have to go to a retail store. Keep in mind that the most expensive models are at the front, waiting to draw your attention.
Small electronics
Pocket-sized gadgets like MP3 players and devices that you plug into your TV will most likely be on sale during May.
7 products on deep discount in May [Consumer Reports]
Prince William County news in brief Washington Post United Way grants designated for 12 county groups. The United Way of the National Capital Area presented nearly $120,000 in Community Impact grants to Prince William County officials Monday for 12 county nonprofit organizations. Zoltan Veres of Hungary ... |
Fairfax County Animal Watch Washington Post FAIRFAX COUNTY. No incidents were reported by the Animal Control Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. TOPSHOTS Unknown ultra-nationalists activists march towards the Independence Square to ... and more » |
(YouTube)
You will notice, after you’re done exclaiming “SO CUTE!” while watching the video below, that the headline does not mention a tiny hamster eating a tiny burrito. Because anyone who knows hamsters* knows that the little guys pouch their grub first, and save it for a nice snack later.
In any case, the Internet is always going to give us what we want, even if we didn’t know we wanted it, and this case it is a man preparing a wee burrito for his furry friend to snack on.
This video comes with an “Episode 1″ tag as well as multiple hamsters, though there’s only one starring in this particular installment. So we can only hope that means more videos of more hamsters eating other tiny things, or perhaps another kind of burrito. We will wait, with breath that is bated.
*Our resident hamster expert is Laura Northrup. She has encountered pouching before and put it on film before it was cool to do so.
But don’t.
That being said, we are very pro-pops here at Consumerist, pro-parent, really, and would never want any dad to be harmed as a result of reading Hop On Pop.
Moving along — yes, this is a real(ish) issue, according to a document the library posted online with seven books that the library was asked to remove over the year (via UPI).
The complaint says the 1963 Seuss favorite “encourages children to use violence against their fathers,” according to the complaint.
Whoever wrote it asked that the library should apologize to Toronto fathers and pay for any damages resulting from the book.
That being said, the Materials Review Committee has made the decision to keep the book in the children’s collection, saying that it’s “humorous,” “well-loved” and that it has “appeared on many ‘Best of’ children’s book lists.”
And besides, anyone who’s actually read Hop On Pop instead of rushing to make a frivolous complaint and waste everyone’s time would know, at the end, the book tells kids not to actually jump on dad. A very important life lesson.
Toronto library asked to shelve Dr. Seuss’ ‘Hop on Pop’ because it promotes violence [UPI]
Apparently, we consumers can’t be trusted to remember where we parked. But have no fear, Google is here keep us from wandering around the mall parking lot aimlessly looking for our vehicles.
A new update to Google Now allows consumers to easily find their parked vehicles, Gizmodo reports.
The service uses a phone’s sensors to determine when you’ve exited a moving vehicle and remember that location.
Sure the program will give you extra information you might not want, like the parking locations when you get off public transpiration systems. But, consumers always have the option to turn off the service completely when not needed.
The Google Now update comes with a few other new features, such as the ability to give contacts nicknames, a new reminder interface, and the ability to use new setting by voice control.
Google Now Can Remember Where You Parked [Gizmodo]
You know Coinstar: they’re the company happy to take away strange metal money discs that you keep in a jar, taking a modest 10.9% fee, and exchanging them for cash. Sure, the fee is a little high, but their kiosks can be found in convenient locations, and you can avoid the fee by cashing in your coins for gift cards instead. Now Coinstar is bringing the operation full circle: they’re installing Coinstar Exchange kiosks nationwide. They don’t accept gift certificate codes from Coinstar machines, which would really be full circle, but do accept physical plastic gift cards from a number of big retailers.
The company’s cut? We’re not quite sure. The “offer” that customers get will probably depend on the gift card arbitrage markets that at that particular moment.
Coinstar’s parent company, Outerwall, also runs Redbox movie and game-rental kiosks and EcoATM phone trade-in kiosks. It’s that last business model that the gift card trade-in process resembles the most. In order to avoid becoming robotic fences for stolen mobile phones, the EcoATM has security procedures that remind us of Pennsylvania’s short-lived experiment with wine kiosks. A mysterious worker at a remote site checks users’ IDs against pictures that the kiosk takes of the person trying to sell a phone.
It sounds like Coinstar Exchange will use similar safeguards, which is either comforting or intrusive and creepy.
If this sort of thing appeals to you, and you don’t mind losing some of the face value of your gift cards, you can find Coinstar Exchange kiosks in more than 400 towns as of this writing.
(camknows)
A few years back when AT&T and T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom were making their case for the doomed merger, they argued that the only way for T-Mobile to survive was for it to be sold to a bigger company; that it couldn’t compete with companies that already had 2-3 times the subscriber base.
But in the wake of that merger’s failure — and with the help of the $6 billion in cash and wireless spectrum it received from AT&T because the deal fell through — T-Mobile has repositioned itself as a disruptive player within the industry. It ditched phone subsidies, meaning customers who own their devices pay less each month, and it recently began offering luring customers away from other providers by offering to pay early termination fees for subscribers who were still in-contract.
T-Mobile is still the fourth-largest wireless company in the U.S. (and still faces a possible takeover bid by Sprint), but it’s showing analysts that its “un-carrier” model can work and that it’s offering something that consumers want.
“T-Mobile’s current subscriber momentum is undeniable,” Craig Moffett, of research firm MoffettNathanson LLC, tells Bloomberg. “Competitively, the change is mind-boggling.”
On that whole Sprint merger front, Bloomberg also reports that Sprint’s owner — Japanese company SoftBank — is prepping to make a push to acquire its smaller, spunkier rival after meeting with banks to discuss how to finance the deal, and that it could make a formal offer as soon as this summer.
We still think that the FCC and Justice Dept. are unlikely to approve a merger of any of the remaining four national wireless carriers, especially in light of what T-Mobile has been able to do on its own in recent years.
As we mentioned earlier today regarding reports that AT&T is interested in buying DirecTV, regulators would probably have less of a problem approving a tie-up between two semi-related businesses (like a wireless company and a satellite operator) than they would with a merger that would result in less competition in an already consolidated industry.
