jikKiosk That Copies And Stores Keys Expands To Lowe’s Stores, Your Smartphonede

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(Atwater Village Newbie)

A few years ago, we shared the news that a company had placed do-it-yourself key duplication kiosks in some 7-Eleven stores in New York City. Since then, key kiosks (keyosks?) have expanded across the country, and the company that we wrote about back in 2013 has announced a deal with home-improvement megastore Lowe’s.

There are other key-duplication kiosks available, including MinuteKey, found in Walmart stores, and FastKey. They’re proliferating, and there’s probably one at a store near you. They can all duplicate a variety of keys, sometimes printed with decorative designs or cartoon characters. However, KeyMe is interesting because it has a feature that’s a boon for absent-minded people but a possible security nightmare: users can store keys either using their nearest kiosk, or by taking a picture of their key with the mobile app and ordering up a replacement through the mail. (This is less helpful when you’re locked out of your house, but still potentially useful.) Your ability to print saved keys from a store kiosk is locked down with your thumbprint.

This first batch of kiosks puts the machines in Lowe’s stores in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, and Ohio. There are also kiosks in 7-Eleven stores and some other locations in and near New York City.

KeyMe [Official Site]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

jikWhy Is LEGO Offering Beauty Tips To Little Girls?de

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Two years ago, a LEGO Friends salon playset took one of the top dishonors in the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s annual “worst products” list. The organization called the set “so jam-packed with condescending stereotypes it would even make Barbie blush.” That spirit lives on in a LEGO Friends magazine spread that made parents angry and–if we’re to believe company representatives–is making LEGO rethink their marketing of the Friends sets. Sort of.

While that specific playset is no longer sold, there’s a new salon playset that has a cream-colored floor instead of a pink one, but is still a hair salon for plastic figurines that have plastic molded hair that can’t be styled. That set is part of a storyline featured in a recent insert in LEGO Club magazine (not every club member receives that insert: more on this later) where a character offers advice to full-size human girls about the best hairstyles for their faces. Some parents were offended at the idea of beauty tips in magazines aimed at girls as young as 5.

“My little girl, the shape of her face, and whether her haircut is flattering are none of Lego’s concern,” Sharon Holbrook wrote in the New York Times’ parenting blog. “It wasn’t even her concern until a toy magazine told her to start worrying about it.” Here are the offending beauty tips:

Maybe this page wouldn’t bother anyone if the mere existence of the LEGO Friends hadn’t been so controversial among some parents and observers since it launched. Most people were under the impression that LEGO was for everyone, and the company also used to emphasize this in its marketing materials. Why do girls need pre-written storylines and figurines shaped more like dolls for them to be interested in building things out of plastic bricks?

LEGO plans to take customer complaints into consideration when putting together future Friends inserts. In a statement sent to Mashable, a company representative said:

We appreciate the reader comments on the latest LEGO Club Magazine. Our Club team is always striving for new ways to engage with LEGO fans based on insights we gather from our Club audience. One particular thing that readers asked us to include was an ‘Advice Column.’ In the most recent magazine, we attempted to deliver against this request by elaborating on a current LEGO Friends story line. We sincerely regret any disappointment it may have caused. We value this feedback and have already shared with the LEGO Club team in order to positively impact future stories.

Maybe they could try an advice column about building stuff with LEGO bricks.

The company’s marketing when it comes to Friends content has actually improved in recent years: they used to offer standard and “for girls” versions of the club magazine, which later changed to occasional inserts with LEGO Friends content based on whether the child was identified as a boy or girl when they subscribed. After one parent with a son who likes pink bricks complained, parents can now choose whether to receive the Friends inserts or not, instead of lying about their kid’s gender to receive the insert.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

jikPanera Bread Wants To Tape Its Employees While They Make Your Foodde

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(Mike Mozart)

Over the years video footage of fast food kitchens has surfaced showing employees doing some not-so-pleasant things. But Panera Bread is hoping its own foray into behind-the-scenes footage translates into more accurately prepared meals.

Business Insider reports that Panera will begin testing a pilot program that records employees as they fulfill orders.

The company says that managers and executives of the restaurants will review the surveillance to identify areas of improvement and then give direct feedback to employees.

The program, which is currently being tested in select markets, is part of a push by the company to improve order accuracy and customer service.

In another move to bolster accuracy and reduce the amount of time it takes for customers to get their food, the chain is also trying using ordering kiosks instead of cashiers. The former cashiers do get to keep their jobs — they’ll just be delivering food to customers’ tables.

Panera Bread is going to start recording video of workers [Business Insider]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

jikSears Promises Early Payment To Vendors, Ties Up Cash Flowde

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While Sears struggles to get customers into its stores and lost $1.7 billion last year, the retailer is also encountering problems in keeping its shelves stocked with merchandise. The company’s vendors are reportedly nervous to ship to the retailer given its poor financial results and touchy cash flow situation. Vendors are asking Sears to pay their bills sooner in exchange for a discount. This ties up tens of millions of extra dollars’ worth of capital up at a time.

This is an issue that came up before the holidays as well, when the companies that insure retail shipments limited how many shipments to Sears they would cover at any given time, due to worries about the company’s continuing existence.

One source familiar with Sears’ supplier agreements told the Wall Street Journal that the company is promising a quicker turnaround on its payments in exchange for small discounts of maybe 3-5%. That isn’t the kind of spectacular sale that pulls customers in for deep discounts on ladies’ casualwear, but it’s a nice deal in the wholesale biz.

The problem for Sears is that paying off those bills from suppliers sooner ties up more of their money. A credit analyst told the WSJ that Sears is paying vendors an average of 9 days earlier than at this time last year. For every day that the payment is moved up, it ties up an additional $48 million of Sears’ already limited funds.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, a Sears representative explained that Sears is not having any problems paying its bills or filling its shelves with merchandise. He pointed out that higher fees to insure shipments to Sears only reflect a perception in the industry that Sears is about to collapse, and don’t reflect reality. Sears is totally going to pay its suppliers and meet its obligations.

That’s good news, but unless they’re able to fix their core business soon, they may not be able to meet their obligations by borrowing money from the boss or forming a real estate investment trust with the stores that they own.

Sears Tries to Calm Supplier Jitters [Wall Street Journal]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

jikHow To Verify Your Identity In Case The IRS Suspects Suspicious Tax Return Activityde

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(afagen)

In the aftermath of revelations that fraudsters exploited TurboTax and had possibly filed bogus returns in many states, the Internal Revenue Service is contacting people linked to suspiciously filed returns, and asking them to verify their identity to find out if the return is real or not.

First of all — unless you get a letter from the IRS instructing you do so, there’s no need to verify your identity with the agency, the IRS says.

The IRS says taxpayers might receive a letter when the IRS prevents a suspicious tax return from going through that are flagged as possible identity theft, but do include a real person’s name and/or Social Security Number.

Should you receive a request in the form of Letter 5071C from the IRS, the agency says there are two ways, and two ways only, to verify your identity: You can either go to idverify.irs.gov and answer a series of questions, or call a toll-free number on the upper corner page of the letter.

The taxpayer should have their prior year tax return and current year tax return on hand, as well as supporting documents like Forms W-2 and 1099 and Schedules A and C. They’ll then confirm that they either did or did not file the return in question, and the IRS will proceed accordingly to assist them in the next steps against identity theft, or process their refund.

The IRS clarifies that it will not email or call taxpayers in this process, so beware if someone purporting to be from the agency does so.

Taxpayers Receiving Identity Verification Letter Should Use IDVerify.irs.gov [IRS.gov]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

jik6 Things To Think About Before Paying $50-$70/Month For PlayStation Vuede

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After months of limited testing without a price tag, Sony’s PlayStation Vue live TV streaming service launched today in only a few markets with packages ranging from $50/month to $70/month. Since I live in Philadelphia, one of the launch cities, I was able to get my hands on Vue to determine how it stacks up against basic cable and Dish’s recently debuted Sling TV service.

1. VALUE

Pro:

Even the lowest tier of service offers a wide variety of popular channels, including Animal Planet, Bravo, CartoonNetwork, CNBC, CNN, Comedy Central, Discovery, DIY, E!, Food Network, Fox Business, Fox News, FX, FXX, HGTV, HLN, Investigation Discovery, MSNBC, MTV, Nickelodeon, Syfy, TBS, TNT, TLC, Travel, USA, and VH1. In all, the least-expensive offering offers you more than 50 channels for $50/month. That’s effectively the same per-channel cost as Sling’s base package.

Con:

Upping to the middle $60/month tier of service only adds four channels in spite of the additional $10 monthly cost, meaning you get fewer channels per dollar. The most expensive tier tacks on more than 20 additional channels, giving you the best value of the three tiers, but at a cost that might be approaching the cable bill you hope to ditch.

2. NETWORK TV

Pro:

Unlike Sling, which does not include access to any over-the-air network feeds, PlayStation Vue currently includes local CBS, FOX, and NBC channels.

Con:

Right now, neither ABC nor CW are included, meaning you’d still need to use an antenna to get the full local network lineup. Additionally, it’s possible that Vue might not be able to include local network affiliate programming as it expands into new markets where the affiliates may not be owned and operated by the big networks.

3. PORTABILITY

Pro:

While Vue is currently restricted to streaming over the PlayStation Network, anyone who owns a PS4 need not clutter up their home with a cable box or even a dongle or stick. No need to run new wires or wait for an install tech.

Con:

Unlike Sling, which works on mobile devices as well as in your home (some pay-TV providers also allow for live-TV viewing on wireless devices), Vue will not travel with you. That will likely change as the service evolves, but for now you’re stuck watching the stream on whatever screen is attached to your PS4.

4. RECORDING & DVR FUNCTIONALITY

Pro:

Vue allows you to record shows and store them in the cloud for 28 days. This functionality is not available on Sling, which only allows for limited rewind and on-demand capabilities on a few channels. Also, when you store a show in the DVR, it looks like you will be able to watch the entire program, even if you started watching it late (we haven’t been able to confirm this works for every show, but haven’t come across a recording that didn’t let you rewind).

Con:

The DVR functionality is not intuitive. Rather than “record” a show, you press a button to add a show to “My Shows,” which not only begins storing the current show. And once you add a title to My Shows, Vue will record every episode of that show going forward for 28 days.

Also, while you can record shows and rewind/forward through them, skipping through commercials or jumping to a part you want to see is not good. Currently, forwarding through recorded video only jumps ahead 10 seconds — a process that takes about 7-8 seconds for each jump.

5. SPORTS PROGRAMMING

Pro:

The base “Access” package for Vue includes Fox Sports 1 and 2, along with NBC Sports. The $60/month “Core” tier adds the Big Ten Network, the Golf Channel, and (at least here in Philadelphia) the Comcast Sports Network. The “Elite” $70/month tier adds a trio of Fox College Sports channels to the mix.

Con:

No ESPN, which is included in the base package for Sling.

6. PREMIUM CHANNELS

Con:

There don’t appear to be any pros in this category. Vue currently has no premium networks included in any of its packages. Consumers will soon have access to HBO Now (with Showtime and others reportedly set to follow), though that service will not be available on PlayStation in the immediate future.

BOTTOM LINE

People who may want to consider PS Vue:

• Current basic cable TV customers looking to get a service that comes close to replicating the pay-TV experience but without having to deal with a cable company.

• People without cable who want access to live TV without contractual commitment.

People who may want to think twice before signing up for Vue:

• ESPN addicts, and anyone wanting access to all local networks without an antenna.

• Anyone looking to get live TV on a mobile device.

• Cable customers who have pay-TV subscriptions primarily for access to premium networks.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

jikMan Claims He Wasn’t Cooking Meth In Walmart Bathroom, He Just Had The Ingredientsde

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(JeepersMedia)

A man arrested in connection with a backpack containing what police called an active methamphetamine that was found in the bathroom of an Indiana Walmart apparently doesn’t want officials to get the wrong idea. He admits that yes, the bag was his and yes, there were ingredients in it to make meth. But he wasn’t trying to cook it in the bathroom, he claims.

The 25-year-old suspect arrested this week after a fight with police at a restaurant said he left the backpack in the store because a bottle of drain cleaner in it was leaking through the backpack and burning him, reports The Muncie Press.

But though he admitted to not only leaving the bag there but buying products at the store earlier to buy fuel and tubing to make meth, police say he maintains he wasn’t producing meth in the bathroom.

So far he’s been charged with aiding in the manufacture of meth, dumping controlled substance waste, battery on a police officer and resisting law enforcement, after police say he tried to flee when officers approached him in a Taco Bell restroom.

Meanwhile, the bathrooms at Walmart have remained closed since the incident, by order of the Delaware County Health Department. A Walmart rep said a professional crew had already come through to clean the restrooms, but they can’t reopen until a final round of tests is completed to make sure it’s safe.

Man says he wasn’t cooking meth inside Walmart [The Muncie Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist