41493345
submission
alphatel writes:
Plan on buying Milton that Swingline Stapler he always wanted? Better be sure you're not right next to Initech's office where Staples.com will mark up your price 10% or higher over someone working at Initrode.
A Wall Street Journal investigation found that the Staples Inc. website displays different prices to people after estimating their locations. More than that, Staples appeared to consider the person's distance from a rival brick-and-mortar store, either OfficeMax or Office Depot. If rival stores were within 20 miles or so, Staples.com usually showed a discounted price.
The Journal identified several companies, including Staples, Discover, Rosetta Stone, and Home Depot that were consistently adjusting prices and displaying different product offers based on a range of characteristics that could be discovered about the user.
41281019
submission
alphatel writes:
Instagram said today that it has the perpetual right to sell users' photographs without payment or notification, a dramatic policy shift that quickly sparked a public outcry.
The new intellectual property policy, which takes effect on January 16, comes three months after Facebook completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing site. Unless Instagram users delete their accounts before the January deadline, they cannot opt out.
Perhaps most alarming? Underage users are not exempt.
Athough Instagram's terms of service state you must be at least 13 years old to sign up for the service, the new terms indicate that if a youth signs up, they are agreeing that a parent or guardian is aware that their image, username and photos can also be used in ads.
40398823
submission
alphatel writes:
In an odd PRWeb snafu, a press release was issued citing sources at Google as having acquired wireless carrier ICOA for $400 million. In full-out retraction, both companies denied the deal outright.
Is this a case of pre-release or simply false PR by a third party? Could such incidents be used for pump and dump schemes?
37743491
submission
alphatel writes:
Potentially adding fuel to an already incensed crowd, satirical French magazine Charlie Hedbo has published an article titled "Intouchables 2", depicting the Prophet Mohammed on several pages in the buff.
Attempts to read the paper have proven difficult as the site is either overloaded or has been brought down.
25912166
submission
alphatel writes:
In early October, new backup service Backify send out press releases announcing free 512GB accounts. A week later, the new accounts were told of an error and price increase for the service. Follow-up to a few days ago, Backify sent an email wanring customers their accounts would be terminated if no billing information was entered.
Flash forward to today and LiveDrive has been sending emails to Backify customers warning them to call their credit card companies and find a replacement backup provider immediately. Apparently backify used the reseller account status as a tool to commit fraud on thousands of customers.
22418336
submission
alphatel writes:
New York has now ranked as the 5th best-dressed city in the nation, behind rival Boston. GQ blames this all on men who "walk down the street in unison, should-to-shoulder, outfitted in tacky black 'Go Out' button-downs, embroidered denim, and product-inspired conflagrations on their head. These are the men that are sapping one of fashion's capitals, stride by douchey stride."
What was once a victory for geekdom, walking around in baseball caps and jeans, has catapulted the fashion capital of the world to looking more like a dress rehearsal for Animal House.
20029468
submission
alphatel writes:
Mister-Wong sent out an email today to a large number of users, claiming that it could "no longer support spam" on its bookmarking site and would "only be free of charge to private users with 'trusted' status". Attempting to sign in causes the new notice page to appears, with a link to the new pay to bookmark pricing page.
Is social bookmarking doomed to become a paid service for SEO, no different from spammy link directories?
19225800
submission
alphatel writes:
Hillary Clinton today called for all nations to embrace online freedom, stating that "There is no silver bullet in the struggle against Internet repression. There's no 'app' for that."
The Obama administration says it is ready to help dissidents evade internet restrictions to promote human rights and democracy in repressive states.
One wonders if the administration will help Americans gain internet access post kill-switch or takes issue with this as a typical example of it's right for thee but not for me.
18040968
submission
alphatel writes:
Apparently, on December 6th 2010, Google enacted a number of search improvements, such as being bad to customers, or expected changes to exact match domains. Which of these affected results for Wikipedia entries is unknown but several highly referenced pages have become eerily de-ranked by the new algorithms.
17842538
submission
alphatel writes:
From the Demonoid.com website:
We are in the process of migrating the site to our new address, Demonoid.ME
Please update your torrents to the new tracker address, inferno.demonoid.me
Additionally, you can re download them and get them with the new address automatically Also, don't forget to update your bookmarks and RSS feeds
17471444
submission
alphatel writes:
Those who ponder timeless brands such as Rustler, Victrola or Handi-Wrap might notice that many of these marks were never brought back into 2010 for a face-lift. A few names were acquired by investors, others held by bankruptcy receivers, and many were simply retained by the large firms that dismantled the original corporation. An auction in December seeks to unload many of these popular trademarks. You could be the Lucky-whip to pour yourself a Meister Brau, slip into some Discowear and start building the next Infoseek.
17222898
submission
alphatel writes:
Christopher R. Sutherland, 37, of High Falls Road Extension in Catskill was charged with second-degree criminal impersonation, a class A misdemeanor, after he allegedly sent an e-mail using the email alias "michael smith", the name of a Catskill town councilman. The criminal email, sent from Angryvotersign@Gmail.com on September 20th, quotes a town of Catskill law stating that political signs should not be placed more than 42 days prior to an election. Subpoenas issued to Google and Mid-Hudson Cable traced the message back to Sutherland, according to the district attorney's office.
Sutherland will be arraigned in Catskill Town Court Nov. 4 — two days after the general election.
16657216
submission
alphatel writes:
It's hardly surprising that apps on cell phones are grabbing customer data, but a recent study showed that unique identifiers of phones, such as IMEI and SIMM, are being sent along with GPS data. Co-authored by Penn State and Duke University the study tested a random batch of free Android apps, and determined that at least half had given away device-based data, including location.
Some applications only leaked this data when showing ads to users, others even when the application was closed. "In some cases, location information was being shared as frequently as every 30 seconds."
16019520
submission
alphatel writes:
With Google's new Instant, some results are bound to have higher ranking and preference than others. An unedited list of keystrokes and search results has already been published which includes some strange effects, such as Lebron James ranking first for "@" or a Wikipedia entry for emoticon appearing as a top result for "_", the oft neglected underscore.
