uGoogle Takes Self-Driving Prototypes To Texas For More Testingr

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  (Mariordo/Wikipedia)

  Google is taking its driverless car technology on the road: after unleashing a new generation self-driving prototypes on the streets near its California home recently, the company says there’s a new driverless vehicles that will be tooling around Austin, TX.

  Though it’s unclear exactly what routes the driverless car will be roaming, Google says the vehicle will operate a few square miles north and northeast of downtown Austin. A modified Lexus SUV has already been spotted on city roads, reports the Austin American-Statesman, with safety drivers on board.

  “We loved how much Austin embraces innovation,” Jennifer Haroon, head of business operations for Google’s self-driving unit, told the American-Statesman. “From technology to music to food. We feel like that matches the spirit of both Google and the self-driving car project.”

  The cars are all equipped with special software and sensors to detect objects as far away as 200 yards in all directions. Such technology comes in handy when the cars need to avoid potential collisions or move based on what traffic is doing around them.

  “It’s important for us to get experience testing our software in different driving environments, traffic patterns and road conditions — so we’re ready to take on Austin’s pedicabs, pickup trucks and everything in between,” Google said in a statement. “Keep it weird for us, Austin, and visit our website to let us know how we’re driving.”

  Google tests driverless cars in Austin… with safety drivers [Austin American-Statesman]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uCox Customers Convince Court To Remove Them From Piracy Lawsuitr

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  (Mike Mozart)

  We recently told you about a number of Cox broadband subscribers who were caught up in a piracy lawsuit filed against the cable company by music publishing giant BMG Rights Management. These customers said their personal information should not be involved in this legal dispute because they had nothing to do with the alleged content theft. Last week, the judge in the case sided with some Cox subscribers while saying that others hadn’t done enough to separate themselves from the dispute.

  In the lawsuit, BMG is accusing Cox of failing to live up to its obligations under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

  ISPs are supposed to do what they can to stop repeat copyright infringers from continuing to use their networks, but BMG said the cable company “has continued to permit its repeat infringer subscribers to use the Cox network to continue to infringe Plaintiffs’ copyrights without consequence.”

  To make its case, BMG identified 15,000 IP addresses of what it claimed were the most egregious offenders, and then received a court order granting access to information on the top 250 of those addresses.

  However, as we told you in June, several Cox customers objected to their inclusion in the lawsuit. Some said they should not be involved because they were not even Cox customers at the time of the alleged piracy, while others argued that they only used their Internet connections for things like e-mail and Facebook and wouldn’t even know how to pirate movies.

  In a July 1 order [PDF], the judge agreed to drop seven customers who were able to furnish proof that they were not Cox customers — or that the IP address in question hadn’t been tied to their account — during the time involved in the lawsuit.

  The news wasn’t as good for those Cox customers whose only argument was that they weren’t pirates and therefore shouldn’t be involved in the lawsuit.

  “The mere denial of any infringing activity is an insufficient reason to justify quashing the subpoena,” writes the judge, noting that any privacy concerns raised by the Cox customers are addressed by a protective order that limits who has access to the subpoenaed information.

  Even though the subscribers are not defendants in the lawsuit, some had raised concerns that the suit against Cox was intended to reveal the identities of alleged pirates so that BMG could then file complaints against them.

  In his order, the judge notes that the “subscriber information produced in this action is to be used solely for the purposes of litigating the claims… between BMG/Round Hill and Cox and will not be used… to solicit payments directly from Cox customers.”

  [via TorrentFreak.com]

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uShake Shack Debuts Limited Test Of Chicken Sandwich, As Predictedr

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• Shake Shack fans with a taste for chicken might want to visit New York soon: After earlier reports that the company was ready to make a move into chicken sandwiches, the burger chain says it’s debuted a ChickenShack sandwich at its three Brooklyn locations for a limited time. If successful, Shake Shack might expand the poultry option nationwide. [Shake Shack]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uOperators Of Massive Payday Loan Scheme Banned From Industryr

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  (frankieleon)

  The masterminds behind a massive payday loan scheme have agreed to be banned from the consumer lending industry to settle federal regulators’ charges they bilked millions of dollars from customers by trapping them into loans that were never authorized.

  The Federal Trade Commission announced today that Timothy A. Coppinger and Frampton T. Rowland III will be banned from future lending endeavors for their part in operating 19 different, but connected, companies that issued a total of $28 million in unauthorized payday loans during an 11-month period in 2012 and 2013.

  According to the FTC complaint [PDF] filed last year, the companies targeted online payday loan applicants and, using information from lead generators and data brokers, deposited money into those applicants’ bank accounts without their permission.

  The operators then withdrew recurring “finance” charges without using any of those funds to pay down the principal owed.

  Coppinger and Rowland, along with their employees, allegedly told consumers they had agreed to — and were obligated to pay for — the unauthorized loans.

  The companies supported these claims by providing fake loan applications or other loan documents purportedly showing that consumers had authorized the loans. If consumers closed their bank accounts to stop the unauthorized debits, the defendants often sold the loans to debt buyers who then harassed consumers for payment.

  In addition to issuing unauthorized loans and making consumers pay for the debt, the companies allegedly misrepresented the finance charge, annual percentage rate, payment schedule and total number of payments in documentation.

  Under the FTC’s settlement with Coppinger and Rowland, the operators are required to provide redress in the form of $32 million and $22 million, respectively. However, with the surrender of certain assets, the FTC says those judgements are suspended.

  The operators are banned from any aspect of the consumer lending business, including collecting payments, communicating about loans, and selling debt. The settlement also erases any debt the defendants are owed by victims of the scheme.

  FTC Action Stops Massive Payday Loan Fraud Scheme [Federal Trade Commission]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uNYC Apartment Owner Suing Co-Op Board After 16 Years Of Waiting To Move Inr

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  (Jeremy_Schultz)

  Anticipation can be a heady thing, a mix of optimism and suspense, with the knowledge that eventually, you’ll get what you’re after. But one New York City co-op owner is likely past the stage of simple expectation, after waiting 16 years to move into an apartment that cost him millions.

  Back in 1999, the man bought a street-level duplex in one of Manhattan’s most famously expensive buildings, paying about $2.23 million. He said in his lawsuit that at that time, he was given permission to renovate the bottom half of the unit into four bedrooms for his kids, and add air conditioning, reports Bloomberg News. And yet he’s never slept the night there, he says.

  According to his complaint, after the sale was complete, the board told him he’d have to pay $1.8 million more to buy additional shares in the condominium, significantly upping his monthly maintenance charges. In this case, co-op owners buy shares in the building’s corporation instead of receiving a deed. Depending on how many shares you own, residents then pay a maintenance fee that goes toward the entire building’s mortgage and upkeep costs.

  When he refused, he says the board then denied his renovation plans — nixing the air conditioning as well, which would make the lower level unlivable — and voted to reclassify part of the unit as uninhabitable storage space for the building.

  He’s seeking $55 million in damages in the lawsuit, as well as a court order allowing him to finally make the renovations.

  “These bad-faith acts foreclosed the possibility of [the apartment owner] constructing bedrooms there and thus ensured that the apartment could not be used by [the plaintiff] and his family,” according to the June 29 complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court.

  Apartments in the building listed for sale now average around $10.48 million.

  NYC Co-Op Owner Sues After Waiting 16 Years to Move In [Bloomberg News]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uWalmart Also Selling Mislabeled “Made In America” Products In Storesr

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• Last week, an advertising watchdog group called out Walmart’s website for selling more than 100 products labeled as “Made in the U.S.A.” even though they were manufactured in other countries. Now comes a local news report showing that the confusing problem isn’t relegated to Walmart.com.

  A viewer of ABC11 in Raleigh-Durham noticed that his local Walmart in Wilson, NC, had a “Made In America” display that contained products made elsewhere.

  The shopper says he was just trying to buy a fan and was willing to spend a couple more bucks for a domestically manufactured product. But the fans in the Made In America display did not live up to that label.

  “I turned the box over to look at the specs on it and says ‘Made in China’ on the bottom,” he tells ABC11.

  He says Walmart only sent him an automated response when he tried to bring this to the retailer’s attention, and when ABC11 went back to the store to investigate, it found the fans were still being sold under the Made In America banner alongside numerous other items — July 4th-themed cups, a chalk play set, a bubble machine — made in China.

  When reached for comment, Walmart explained that the Made In America signs had originally been posted to advertise the coolers and other products that were indeed U.S.A-made, but that “we didn’t do a very good job of taking the signs down as new products filled the shelves.”

  After being told about the mislabeled products, the Made In China products were removed from the display.

  It’s a violation of federal law to deliberately mislead consumers into believing that a product is made in America. While items advertised as Made In U.S.A. don’t have to go through any sort of vetting process to earn that label, the Federal Trade Commission has compliance standards that manufacturers and marketers must follow in order to make sure they aren’t being deceptive.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uCarnival Cruise Ship Sailing Toward Cuba Next Springr

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  (Adam Fagen)

  If visiting the Dominican Republic on Carnival’s latest Fathom cruise line for a few days of volunteer work didn’t seem like the right fit for you, there’s now another island option: Cuba.

  Carnival announced Tuesday that it was one of six passenger vessels to received a license from the Treasury Department back in May to ferry people back and forth between the U.S. and Cuba, The Associated Press reports.

  The world’s largest cruise company said that starting in May 2016 it will offer trips through its Fathom line from Miami to the island.

  Now that diplomatic ties with Cuba have been restored and the government has eased up on trade between the two countries, airlines and other travel companies like Airbnb have been working on providing services for travelers heading to Cuba.

  Carnival says it will be the first cruise line to offer trips to the Caribbean island since the 1960s.

  “This is an important first step for our company and the cruise industry,” CEO Arnold Donald said in a statement. “It begins our efforts to shape a long sustained industry experience in Cuba.”

  The new weeklong cruises will carry up to 710 passengers on the Andonia. The company, which expects high demand for the new route, says prices will start at $2,990 per person plus taxes and port fees.

  Because Cuba remains closed for general tourism by Americans — unless they travel to the country as part of a humanitarian trip or to visit family living on the island — Carnival’s trips will mostly focus on volunteerism in the country, much like its newly announced Dominican Republic Fathom trips.

  The AP reports that Carnival is still finalizing its itinerary while it waits for the official approval of the Cuban government. So far, the plan is for the ship to visit several ports. Passengers will sleep onboard the vessel each night.

  While the details of the Cuba trip are still being worked out, we can imagine it would be similar to the Dominican trips announced in June. At that time Carnival said the Fathom trips wouldn’t have the traditional casino or Broadway-style aspects that many mega-ships offer. Instead, passengers will be offered training and education in preparation for their volunteer work.

  Passengers would then spend about three days in the region helping to cultivate cacao plants and organic fertilizer at a woman’s cooperative, working with English-language learners or helping in the production of clay water filters.

  When the Treasury Department announced it had awarded several licenses for travel services between Florida and Cuba back in May it didn’t specify exactly which companies received the go-ahead for travel to the country, only that at least four were ferry companies, the AP reports.

  As part of those licenses, vessels are not allowed to stop in other countries, so it’s fairly safe to say that the Carnival cruises will be making a beeline for Cuba and then going directly back home again.

  Carnival Aims to Launch Miami to Cuba Cruises in May [The Associated Press]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist