uE-Book Subscription Service Oyster Shutting Downr

4 4 4 9

• E-book subscription service Oyster (otherwise known as “the Netflix of books” because that’s how everyone describes things now) will be shutting down after two years.

  The Oyster team wrote in a blog post on Monday that they’d be taking steps to “sunset the existing Oyster service over the next several months.” Oyster readers will receive an email about their accounts in the next few weeks. Until then, accounts will operate normally.

  Though the company didn’t explain the exact reasons for the change, it seems the service will live on in some other, unspecified way: using language like “as we continue on, we couldn’t be more excited about the future of ebooks and mobile reading,” the Oyster team says that going forward, the best way to get people to read books on their phones is for the team to take on “new opportunities to fully realize our vision for ebooks.”

  To that end, Re/code confirmed a report that Google had hired some members of the Oyster team. A spokesman explained they’ll be working on the books section of the Google Play store, which doesn’t have a subscription service as yet, and only sells individual e-books. This could mean Google has a new subscription service for books in the works, though the spokesman declined to comment on that front to Re/code.

  Those team members have also already dipped their toes into e-book selling: as recently as April, Oyster was still trying to compete with the big e-book players, launching its own online e-book store, with deals at that time to sell work from five of the largest book publishers including Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uStarbucks Mobile Ordering App Is Now Available To All Coffee Loversr

4 4 4 9

• 

  Just weeks after Starbucks said it would roll out its mobile ordering feature to all U.S. stores by the end of the month, the coffee chain made good on its promise, extending the feature – on both iOS and Android devices – nationwide on Tuesday. The coffee chain had previously anticipated mobile ordering would be ready by the end of the year. Executives for the company said that the service was so popular – allowing coffee drinkers to skip long lines as they order and pay for their beverages with their mobile devices – that the company sped up implementation. [The Seattle Times]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uVW Announces 11M Cars Affected Worldwide By Software That Evades Emissions Standardsr

4 4 4 9

• While the Environmental Protection Agency ordered Volkswagen to recall nearly 500,000 sedans equipped with software that tricked emissions tests, the carmaker announced on Tuesday that more than 11 million vehicles actually include the so-called defeat device.

  The car manufacturer on Tuesday released its first statement since the EPA ordered it to recall 482,000 diesel 4-cylinder model year 2009 to 2015 Volkswagen and Audi vehicles, saying the company was working at “full speed” to clarify irregularities concerning software that evades emissions standards for certain pollutants with a range of serious health effects.

  VW says that while internal investigations have established that the relevant engine management software is also installed in other vehicles with diesel engines, the majority see no effect from the software.

  However, discrepancies related to the software are present in around 11 million vehicles worldwide.

  “A noticeable deviation between bench test results and actual road use was established solely for this type of engine,” the company says. “Volkswagen is working intensely to eliminate these deviations through technical measures.”

  According to the EPA’s recall order, the diesel cars were programmed to sense when emissions were being tested, and to turn on equipment that reduced emissions.

  However, the effectiveness of these vehicles’ pollution emissions control devices is greatly reduced during all normal driving situations, emitting as much as 40 times the allowed amounts of nitrogen oxide.

  VW said on Tuesday that it would set aside 6.5 billion euros – or $7.3 billion – to cover the cost of “necessary service measures and other efforts to win back the trust of our customers.”

  The EPA’s announcement of the ordered recall on Friday has set off a string of reactions from the car company and others.

  Shortly after the recall was announced, our colleagues at Consumer Reports decided to suspend the “Recommended” ratings it had previously given the Passat diesel and Jetta diesel.

  “These recommendations will be suspended until Consumer Reports can re-test these vehicles with a recall repair performed,” reads a statement from the publication. “Once the emissions systems are functioning properly, we will assess whether the repair has adversely affected performance or fuel economy.”

  On Sunday, the carmaker announced it would stop the sale of all affected vehicle models until the issue was fixed.

  And on Monday, it was rumored that the Department of Justice is considering bringing criminal charges against VW.

  According to the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division is conducting the probe, though there’s no word yet on exactly what the charges might be.

  In addition to any future criminal penalties, Volkswagen is facing the possibility of paying upwards of $18 billion in fines for using so-called “defeat device” software. These programs detect when an official emissions test is being performed and then turn on the car’s full emissions control system. Thus, the implication is that the cars are not living up to their “clean diesel” marketing when they are not being tested for emissions.

  Owners of recalled VWs who feel that they were tricked into buying their vehicles by the company’s “clean diesel” branding can file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov/complaint or by calling 1-877-382-4357), which handles investigations into false and deceptive marketing.

  [via The New York Times]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uStarbucks Introduces Pumpkin Spice Bottled Frappuccinos As Costco Exclusiver

4 4 4 9

• I live in a rather deprived part of the Northeast: I can only reach a Costco store by driving more than two hours in any direction. (Except north. That’s Canada.) Today, we learned about a Costco-exclusive product that leaves me wondering whether I’m extra-deprived or better off. Starbucks is selling bulk packs of its bottled Frappuccinos in pumpkin spice flavor, but they’ll only be available at Costco.

  This is the first year that Starbucks has bottled up and sold pumpkin spice mania in its packaged products, though you can buy the company’s pumpkin spice sauce online by the almost-half-gallon, which should last even the most pumpkin-crazed aficionado for the entire season and well into winter.

  

  We first saw this item on The Impulsive Buy, and checked in with Starbucks to find out whether this was something new. Starbucks confirmed that it’s new, but will only be available at Costco during the magical “limited time” that is pumpkin spice season.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uJustice Dept. Considering Criminal Charges Against Volkswagenr

4 4 4 9

• Many people who heard about last week’s recall of 500,000 Volkswagen diesel vehicles because the carmaker installed software that tricked emissions tests have asked, “Isn’t this a crime?” That’s a good question, and one the Dept. of Justice is reportedly looking into.

  Both Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that the DOJ is considering bringing criminal charges at VW.

  According to the Journal, the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division is conducting the probe, though there’s no word yet on exactly what the charges might be.

  The day before the VW recall announcement, the DOJ reached a $900 million deal to settle a criminal investigation into General Motors over a long-ignored ignition switch defect that killed more than 100 people and resulted in hundreds more serious injuries.

  And last year, the DOJ reached a $1.2 billion agreement with Toyota to defer prosecution over that car company’s sudden unintended acceleration issues.

  In addition to any future criminal penalties, Volkswagen is facing the possibility of paying upwards of $18 billion in fines for using so-called “defeat device” software. These programs detect when an official emissions test is being performed and then turn on the car’s full emissions control system. Thus, the implication is that the cars are not living up to their “clean diesel” marketing when they are not being tested for emissions.

  Owners of recalled VWs who feel that they were tricked into buying their vehicles by the company’s “clean diesel” branding can file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov/complaint or by calling 1-877-382-4357), which handles investigations into false and deceptive marketing.

  Even the White House has the VW recall on its radar.

  “It’s fair to say that we’re quite concerned by some of the reports that we’ve seen about the conduct of this particular company,” said White House rep Josh Earnest, according to Reuters, “but ultimately this is the responsibility of the EPA to take a look at it and that’s exactly what they’re doing.”

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uFormer Peanut Co. Exec Gets 28 Year Prison Sentence For Salmonella Outbreak Tied To 9 Deathsr

4 4 4 9

• 
  A year after being found guilty of knowingly shipping contaminated foods that sickened thousands and is tied to the deaths of at least nine people, Stewart Parnell, the former owner of Peanut Corporation of America, has been sentenced to 28 years behind bars, while two of his colleagues received lighter — but still substantial — sentences.

  In 2008 and 2009, PCA produced salmonella-tainted peanut butter that resulted in an outbreak of salmonellosis. While the official number of illnesses tied to PCA products is 714, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe that for every reported case of salmonellosis, there are 30 that go unreported. That would put the likely total for illnesses closer to 20,000.

  During the pre-sentencing process, federal prosecutors had recommended a sentence of such length that it would have amounted to a life sentence.

  Parnell’s lawyers said that his offense did not rise to that level and that the government had only produced sufficient evidence of 31 financial victims. A more brazen assertion from the defense was that the Justice Dept. had failed to establish that any individual sustained bodily injury as a result of his conduct.

  That’s when the DOJ pointed to the 714 known illnesses and nine deaths, which were not simply linked to the PCA outbreak by anecdote or coincidence, but by independent testing of biological samples.

  Parnell is 61 years old, so a 28 year sentence may indeed mean that he will never be a free man again.

  His 56-year-old brother Michael, who had been a food broker for PCA, received a sentence of 20 years, while former PCA quality control manager Mary Wilkerson, will spend five years in prison with another two years of probation.

  At the sentencing, Stewart Parnell issued a self-serving apology.

  “This has been a seven-year nightmare for me and my family,” he said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m truly, truly sorry for what’s happened.”

  David Plunkett of the Center for Science in the Public Interest applauded the sentences, but noted that the “will not bring back the nine Americans who died after eating contaminated peanut products that Parnell and his co-defendants knowingly marketed, nor will they retroactively undo the sicknesses and hospitalizations of those who survived. But they will send a very strong signal to food manufacturers that pursuing profits at the expense of food safety can bring the most severe of consequences.”

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uJudge: Uber Contract Forcing Drivers Into Arbitration Contradicts Itselfr

4 4 4 9

• 
  There are two legal cases against ride-hailing service Uber that are attracting attention nationwide. One is a class action that could include thousands of people, and the other is a labor dispute concerning only one person. Yet something interesting and potentially important happened in the latter case today: a San Francisco Superior Court Judge said that the part of Uber’s contract with drivers that forces them to arbitrate disputes individually with the company is unenforceable.

  There can be advantages to arbitration (see the most recent season of the HBO program Silicon Valley) but the process generally puts consumers and individuals who might be able to sue in a class action at a disadvantage, forcing them to enter arbitration individually instead of suing together in a class action. In the case of the one former driver who argued before the Department of Labor, Uber’s counter-argument is that she signed the company’s newer driver contract, which requires that all disputes be taken to an arbitrator to decide whether the case should be arbitrated. Or taken to a judge.

  That’s the problem that the city judge had, actually: the contract says both, contradicting itself. The judge ruled that the case doesn’t have to go to arbitration, and Uber has appealed that decision.

  Class actions are for people who have similar problems with the same entity: they may have all bought the same underweight canned fish, invested in the same company, visited the same museum, or somehow become convinced that choco-hazelnut-sugar spread is a health food. Uber’s argument in the potentially massive class action suit in California has been that their drivers go to work for the service for different reasons and are free to turn the app on and off whenever they like, and that means they don’t have enough in common to sue as a class. So far, the courts have disagreed.

  While it’s not directly related, local and state officials ruling that Uber drivers have the right to file lawsuits instead of arbitrating disputes is important, since it brings all drivers back into the potential class, not just those who signed contracts before the arbitration provision was added.

  Uber Loses Bid to Force Arbitration on California Driver [Bloomberg News]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist