uApple Eliminates Its Online Store, Moves “Buy” Buttons To Product Pagesr

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  No more option for “Store,” but you can still buy online.

  Before you start to panic at the headline, no, you will not have to physically go to an Apple store to get whatever gadgets your heart desires. Although Apple did remove its online store directory from its previous home of “store.apple.com,” you can still purchase products from the company on the web. It just looks a bit different now.

  The way things used to work, Apple had a separate Store tab at the top of its homepage, next to sections for its products like Mac, iPad, Watch etc. Each of those pages contained information and specs on products, but when it came time to buy them, you’d be sent to the Store.

  

  The old way.

  But as you can see in the photo at the top of this post, there’s (gasp!) no more Store, and store.apple.com just redirects to Apple.com. Though that might at first be confusing, the new way of organizing the site is actually a bit more intuitive: Now when you want to buy an iPhone, say, you click on the iPad section and get not only specs and information about the device, but also a “buy” button that takes you to a page to check out plans, different phones, FAQ and, Apple hopes, actually buy it.

  If you should decide you want to buy an iPad while you’re in the iPhone section, you navigate over to that product’s page, instead of remaining within an online store, while a shopping bag icon in the top right corner keeps track of what you’ve got in there.

  In essence, the whole site is Apple’s online store.

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAspartame-Free Diet Pepsi Hitting Stores Next Weekr

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  (bluwmongoose)

  Nearly four months after Pepsi announced that it was switching the sweetener in Diet Pepsi from aspartame to sucralose, the revised beverage is on its way to supermarket shelves.

  This is according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports that the sucralose-sweetened Diet Pepsi will be clearly marked on packaging as “Now Aspartame Free,” both to differentiate it from what the company has been selling for decades and as part of a marketing push that will include in-store signage and free samples.

  While most of the talk on declining soda sales has focused on fewer people buying sugary-sweet drinks, diet drink consumption has also been on the decline. Last year, sales of diet soda dropped 5.9%, with Diet Pepsi taking a 6.6% plunge in sales.

  PepsiCo could be taking a huge risk by going all-in with sucralose for Diet Pepsi. It’s possible the switch away from aspartame could win over consumers who were wary of the old sweetener, but there’s the chance that the change could drive away loyal customers.

  The company is confident, at least publicly, about its new formula.

  “It took us a lot of time but we’ve nailed it,” a PepsiCo exec claims to the Journal.

  Last month, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said the company isn’t going to completely abandon the aspartame superfans, explaining that “we’ll figure out how to make [aspartame-sweetened Diet Pepsi] available online.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uRaiders Of The Lost Walmart Discover That PS2 Memory Cards Are Finally On Clearancer

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• Back in 2012, one of the brave explorers for the Raiders of the Lost Walmart discovered a rack of memory cards for the PlayStation 2, still on the shelf and still priced at $20-$30. That was three years ago, though: Sony is up to the PS4 now. Surely Walmart has noticed that PS2 accessories aren’t really flying off their shelves. Well, one Raider’s local Walmart has moved them to the clearance aisle… still marked at $30.

  

  Raider Sam wrote in his field notebook that he was just on a regular shopping trip to Walmart when he noticed these retail antiquities, which are evidently not very rare.

  

  “A peek into the clearance aisle revealed 15-year-old game console memory cards for a system two generations back!” he wrote, clearly thrilled at the discovery. “And a 13-year-old peripheral! At ‘clearance’ prices comparable to what they might have cost in the early ’00s.”

  Here’s that peripheral, an EyeToy camera.

  

  That makes the clearance price technically higher than the regular price that we saw three years ago, which was $29. Sam checked prices for these items on eBay, and found that they cost about one-fifth of Walmart’s current price there.

  Walmart: always low prices. Except for the 500% markup on obsolete electronics.

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uConsumerist Friday Flickr Findsr

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• Here are nine of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

  

  (Joachim Rayos)

  

  (Bjarne Winkler)

  

  (Freaktography)

  

  (Chris WIlson)

  

  (pjpink)

  

  (Ann Fisher)

  

  (Karen Chappell)

  

  (Jenny Reiswig)

  

  (Brian Rome)

  Want to see your pictures on our site? Our Flickr pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uWalmart, Target, And CVS Do Not Want Your Credit Card Number To Ship You Free Stuffr

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• There’s a new but not all that innovative scam hitting mailboxes in this country and in the United Kingdom. Experienced scam-spotters will see the problem right away, but not everyone is an experienced scam-spotter. Here’s how it works: a postcard arrives in the mail that says there’s a package waiting for you form a popular chain retailer. You just need to call in with your credit card number to claim it.

  The contents of the package, you see, are worth $50, but you only need to pay $12 with your credit card to claim the prize. The man who contacted CBS Dallas-Fort Worth about the scheme received a postcard that says that his reward is a necklace. He assumed that something was up here, and contacted the TV station.

  The postcard itself imitates postal forms, and looks sort of official. However, what about that claim, that Walmart, Target, or CVS have teamed up to give rewards to their loyal customers? The retailers don’t know anything about it.

  The operation has a call center where representatives are happy to take your credit card number. However, the supposed company doesn’t give out a valid e-mail address, and all three retailers claim that they have no relationship to the company.

  Be wary of prizes that come in the mail, especially if they’re unsolicited and you have to pay to enter.

  I-Team Has Walmart, CVS And Target Looking For Answers [CBS DFW]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uS’more Candy Corn And Pumpkin Spice Peeps Are Now Things In Real Lifer

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• Happy fall! Well, okay, it’s not fall outside, but fall has certainly arrived in the seasonal aisles of stores all over the country. August is when restaurants and food companies introduce their new products. While we are always interested in new seasonal candies and anything pumpkin spice, even we weren’t expecting these new products: S’mores candy corn and Pumpkin Spice Peeps.

  Actually, the candy corn may be running a little late. Aren’t s’mores more of a summer thing, consumed around campfires? I’m probably over-thinking flavored candy corn. Reader Dee sent along this picture of what is obviously out-of-date candy.

  

  Meanwhile, yes, Peeps. The marshmallow chicks, which normally come in the shape of ghosts and pumpkins for Halloween. The seasonal flavored versions are chick-shaped for some reason that hasn’t been sufficiently explained, and are marshmallows with the relevant flavor coating, dipped in fudge. While pumpkin spice is scary enough, there are also caramel apple flavor and candy corn flavor versions.

  They’ll be a Target exclusive item, but you can also order them directly online if that’s a thing that you want to do for some reason.

  While they look tasty, why don’t companies bring this all full circle? How about Peeps-flavored candy corn? How about candy corn flavored to taste like caramel apple Peeps? There are so many possibilities.

  PUMPKIN SPICE PEEPS, THE MOST BASIC PEEPS EVER, ARE HERE [Thrillist]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uScammer Accused Of Swindling Investors Out Of $24K For Fake Clint Eastwood Cowboy Documentaryr

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  (Great Beyond)

  When you think of Clint Eastwood, he of the flinty-eyed gaze and chiseled jawline, you probably think about the Wild West, the wide open prairie and the cowboys who range there. Which is exactly what one scammer was counting on when he allegedly swindled $24,000 out of investors in Montana for a cowboy flick that he said would be narrated by Eastwood himself.

  Montana officials have filed fraud and theft charges against the man, accusing him of taking people’s money to produce a cowboy documentary that was never real, reports the Associated Press. Eastwood was never contacted, prosecutors say.

  Other bogus claims he made in getting money included that PBS would air the movie, a prominent historian would be involved and royalties would go to breast cancer research. All false, according to charging papers filed in Wednesday.

  Seventy individual investors paid him “advertising fees” and nine businesses forked over “sponsorship fees,” in return for a portion of the royalties and their names in the film’s credits.

  Officials say he used almost all of the $24,232 he received to pay for living expenses, eating out at restaurants and buying personal items, like a cowboy hat.

  “So he spent $575 on a hat?” the judge asked during a court hearing Thursday on whether a ban on his fundraising efforts should be kept in place.

  “Yes, and he wore it at the last hearing,” Deputy Securities Commissioner Lynne Egan replied.

  He’s also facing charges of failure to register as a salesperson and failure to register a security.

  Charges filed against producer of fake Clint Eastwood film [Associated Press]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist