By Reuters
Two security experts said on Friday they released a tool for attacking smartphones that use Google Inc’s Android operating system to persuade manufacturers to fix a bug that lets hackers read a victim’s email and text messages.
“It wasn’t difficult to build,” said Nicholas Percoco, head of Spider Labs, who along with a colleague, released the tool at the Defcon hacker’s conference in Las Vegas on Friday.
Percoco said it took about two weeks to build the malicious software that could allow criminals to steal precious information from Android smartphones. Get the full story »
By Reuters
Amazon.com launched a cheaper, wireless-only Kindle Wednesday, betting that the $139 price will turn its latest electronic reader into a mass-appeal device as Apple Inc’s iPad gains ground.
The world’s largest online retailer and leading e-reader seller also revealed its third generation Kindle, some 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous version, but still priced at $189.
Amazon does not give sales figures for the Kindle, but said last week that its growth rate tripled after it cut its price on the device from $259 and said e-books were outselling hardcover books. Apple has said it sold more than 3 million iPads, starting at $499, since the product was introduced in April. Get the full story »
Tuesday at 2:48 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Economy,
Foreclosures
From The New York Times | Bogus offers to help people save their homes from foreclosure were at the top of a survey of consumer complaints for 2009. According to the survey, consumer complaints in general are on the rise, and many of them, like the ones about bogus foreclosure offerings, were related to the economy.
Monday at 4:14 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Food
By Associated Press
Federal consumer safety officials are investigating a complaint that a 4-year-old Connecticut boy nearly strangled himself with a toy from a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Connecticut consumer protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. said Monday that the boy from the New London area put the “Last Airbender Katara” bracelet-like toy around his neck June 30 and began to lose consciousness. He says his mother removed it before any serious harm was done. Get the full story »
By Reuters
Customers will not be able to get their hands on Apple Inc.’s white iPhone 4 until later this year, the company said on Friday, conceding that making the model has proven surprisingly difficult.
Apple, in a brief statement, said that its black iPhone 4 had not been affected. As for the white iPhone, the company said it has “continued to be more challenging to manufacture that we originally expected.” Get the full story »
July 22 at 9:55 a.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
Airplanes,
Airports,
Consumer news
By Julie Johnsson
Controversial low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines is rolling the dice in Chicago, adding new daily flights from O’Hare to gambling havens Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J.
Spirit plans to begin flying to Las Vegas on Nov. 11, 2010, and Atlantic City on March 3, 2011.
The discounter is kicking off the service with a blue-light special: Introductory fares of $9 and $39, each way, for round-trip tickets purchased Thursday or Friday. Get the full story »
July 22 at 6:48 a.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Consumer electronics,
Consumer news
By CNN
General Motors will distribute OnStar smartphone applications later this year that will allow Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac owners to do things like lock their car doors or start the engine from miles away. Get the full story »
By Problem Solver
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit Wednesday against a Melrose Park bus company, saying it defrauded a group of hearing-impaired students and their families.
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, claims Sleepless in the City Bus Service Inc., took $1,750 from the Illinois Service Resource Center, then failed to provide transportation for 55 students and their families on April 27, 2009. Get the full story »
July 20 at 10:50 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Internet,
Technology
From The Wall Street Journal | The American Customer Satisfaction Index, developed by the University of Michigan’s Business School, reported that Facebook has one of the lowest scores in its regular survey of consumer satisfaction with companies. Facebook scored in the bottom 5 percent of all private sector companies, in the same range as the IRS tax e-filing system, airlines and cable companies. Among social websites, Wikipedia led the survey with a 77, followed by YouTube at 73.
July 19 at 7:28 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Media
Mitch Lowe, president of Red Box, in Oakbrook Terrace. (Chuck Berman/Chicago Tribune)
From Bloomberg News | Oak Brook-based Redbox Redbox, known for $1-a-day DVD rental vending machines, may launch a Web based service to offer more movies beyond the 200 stored in its dispensers, President Mitch Lowe said. Get the full story >>
July 16 at 6:34 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Consumer news
By McClatchy Tribune Newspapers
Bank of America is rolling out nationwide a bank account with no fees. Just don’t ask for a paper statement and stay out of the teller line. The nation’s largest retail bank said Thursday its new checking account, aimed at the iPhone set, is free of fees provided the customer requests electronic statements and prefers automated tellers. Get the full story »
By Reuters
Apple Inc. is likely to announce a fix for the iPhone 4’s reception problems, rather than a recall, at a surprise press conference on the device on Friday, analysts said.
Apple has declined to provide any details about the morning event, called late Wednesday, at its corporate headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. Get the full story »
By Reuters
Apple Inc has called a surprise press conference for Friday to talk about the iPhone 4, as the company continues to deal with fallout from reported reception problems on its popular smartphone.
Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to provide further details, or to say whether the event will address the signal-strength problems that some people have reported having with the iPhone 4 when the device is held in a certain way. Get the full story »
July 14 at 3:48 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Recalls
By Problem Solver
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled 82,000 Pottery barn cribs on the same day it has made strides to ban drop-side cribs.
July 13 at 2:08 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Internet,
Litigation
From CNN | Facebook is fending off a New York restraining order temporarily preventing it from transferring or selling any of its assets.
The order stems from a case filed in late June in New York’s Allegany County state court by Paul Ceglia, a local resident who claims that in 2003 he paid Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg $1,000 to build a Web site “designed to offer the students of Harvard university access to a wesite (sic) similar to a live functioning yearbook with the working title of ‘The Face Book.’ ” Get the full story »
