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Consumers Union (Publishers of Consumer Reports) Consumes Consumerist

John Mahoney — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Our friends at Consumerist have a new owner, and it seems like a great match: they’ve become the first addition to a new non-profit division of the company that publishes Consumer Reports.

Consumerist will remain the same great source of no-bullshit survival tips for navigating our capitalist universe, and will remain totally independent from its older corporate sibling. Seems like a great move for Consumer Reports, who surely hopes that Consumerist’s well-earned cred will go a long way toward knocking off a few years from their geriatric reader base. As a non-profit, the new Consumerist will carry ads only for other Consumers Union related endeavours. Hopefully the deal also give them keys to CR’s bad arse testing facility in Yonkers, and all the toys therein.

More details can be found at Consumerist. Congrats guys. [Consumerist, NYT]

AT&T Giving Out Free Car Charger For the iPhone…Too Bad It Doesn’t Work

Sean Fallon — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0000

According to a tipster at Consumerist, somewhere AT&T has been giving away free car chargers with an iPhone 3G purchase. No big deal, but free is free right? Well, not so much.

The tipster claims that the cord is incompatible with the 3G, leading us to believe that AT&T was simply clearing out inventory from the original iPhone and packaging it as a deal. And, as you know, many of the accessories from the original iPhone don’t play nice with the new hardware. Needless to say, if your decision to buy an iPhone 3G hinges on a $US10 car charger deal, don’t be fooled. It could be a cleverly disguised trap. [Consumerist]

The Idiotic Shipping Hall of Shame and a Call to Online Retailers

Adam Frucci — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:32:49 +0000

Yesterday, I asked you guys to send in pictures of examples of wasteful shipping habits from online retailers that you’ve bought things from. You came through in spades. When you see just one example of Dell sending a flash drive in a box big enough for a laptop you think it’s an amusing fluke or a mistake; but when you see this many, you know it’s a pattern. Take a look at the Hall of Shame below, and then let’s figure out how to change this lousy practice.

WalMart.com and NewEgg Join Dell in the Irresponsible Shipping Hall of Shame

Adam Frucci — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Yesterday, I showed you how Dell irresponsibly ships tiny flash drives in gigantic boxes, giving the finger to the environment. Well, Dell isn’t the only offender when it comes to wasteful shipping habits. Above, reader Paul shows us how WalMart.com decided to ship a flash drive to him. And NewEgg? It’s even worse.

Reader Mick received five ink cartridges in five different packages, most of which were ludicrously large for the single tiny box within. This is such an idiotically easy problem to solve that would have a huge impact on the environment. Let’s start being responsible, online retailers. It’s in your hands.

Have you received an irresponsibly-packed item from an online retailer? Snap a picture and send it to me at adam@gizmodo.com and I’ll help you shame them publicly.

Are Monster Cable’s Markups Technically Worth It?

Brian Lam — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:10:54 +0000

Consumerist found this amazing list of retailer cost for Monster Cable, where many of the cables went for nearly double what they cost. Monster responded with an answer that was thoughtful from their point of view. Many times, in “jewellery, clothing, and furniture, the markup is even greater.” Fine, I don’t know anything about retail. But technically speaking and from a consumer’s point of view, here is what I think:

While Monster cables are of good quality and engineering, when it comes to digital signals, specifically HDMI cables, we know that its a better idea to buy a $5 dollar HDMI cable today, and then when bandwidth requirements go up in future specs of HDMI, just buy another $5 cable then. It’s a lot cheaper than $100 HDMI cables from Monster. The exceptions come when you are running long runs of cable through a wall, where swapping cables is annoying and the signal can degrade (yes, the digital signal can degrade, as proven here, here and here.)

When it comes to analog cables, like composite and speaker cables, I for one believe you can get a lot out of midrange (Monster is midrange compared to some cables I’ve seen and used) analog cabling that has a lot of shielding for interference. More than Radio Shack stock cable? I don’t know. But I’m sure cable outlets like Monoprice have lower costs for similar cabling. Did you know Monster Cable has a garage with Lamborghini showcars and throws a huge celebrity bash at CES every year? Not cheap.

Not that Monster is alone in this industry. All cable makers who sell through home theater stores are going to have a big mark up.