uGrocery Shrink Ray Strikes Aldi Bread, Gillette Anti-Perspirantr

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• The Grocery Shrink Ray quietly removes almost imperceptible bits of our packaged goods, gradually shrinking some products over time so manufacturers can avoid raising prices. Once you’re aware of it, you begin to notice it every time you buy a slightly smaller replacement for a product that you use regularly. Two readers who bought bread and deodorant noticed exactly that.

  Eric bought a new loaf of sourdough bread at discount grocer Aldi, and noticed that the new loaf was a tiny bit smaller than the previous one. 3/10 of an ounce doesn’t seem like a lot, but it would make a loaf of bread smaller. Even a less-fluffy bread like sourdough.

  

  

  The interesting thing is that Aldi, based in Germany, apparently doesn’t think that Americans are too swift with our metric conversions: both versions of the loaf give the weight as 690 grams, while neither is true. 24 ounces is 680 grams.

  Jason, meanwhile, may find himself a little sweatier in the future.

  

  The deodorant on the right is a nice, even 4 ounces, while the item on the left has been shrunk to 3.8. The packages look to be the same size, so this is likely an example of nonfunctional slack fill: there’s just more empty space in the package.

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uRegulators Accuse Fiat Chrysler Of “Widely Under-Reported” Deaths Related To Vehicle Accidentsr

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  After being fined $105 million by federal regulators for their leisurely pace in fixing more than 11 million vehicles connected to 23 safety recalls, Fiat Chrysler’s recall woes haven’t magically disappeared. Instead, it appears they may be intensifying, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today accused the carmaker of widely under-reporting the number of deaths in accidents involving its vehicles.

  USA Today reports that regulators first discovered what they called a “significant” discrepancy back in July.

  Mark Rosekind, NHTSA chief, said that preliminary information suggests that this “under-reporting is the result of a number of problems with FCA’s systems for gathering and reporting data.”

  In a statement, the agency said it notified Fiat Chrysler of the issue and the carmaker reportedly investigated, discovering “significant under-reported notices and claims of death, injuries and other information” that is legally required to be reported.

  The manufacturer said in a statement to USA Today that it pledged “complete remediation” of the issue, noting that the company “takes this issue extremely seriously and will continue to cooperate with NHTSA to resolve this matter and ensure these issues do not re-occur.”

  While it’s unclear if the under-reported deaths are related to the 23 recalls that resulted in the record $105 million fine in July, the agency previously said it would punish the carmaker if it discovered other problems in its recall processes.

  Rosekind said the agency would take “appropriate action after gathering additional information and causes of this failure.”

  NHTSA: Fiat Chrysler under-reported number of deaths [USA Today]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uChromecast Audio Turns Any Speaker With An Audio Input Into WiFi Streamerr

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• If you’ve got a nice, wired home audio setup and have been reluctant to spend money on adding streaming solutions like a $349 Sonos Connect or the $499 Connect Amp, Google is hoping you’ll be more tempted to try its $35 Chromecast Audio.

  The new device appears to works pretty much the same as Chromecast does for TV. You plug it into the speaker or audio system, connect the Chromecast Audio wirelessly to your phone or tablet, then stream music.

  Chromecast Audio will connect to three different kinds of audio input — RCA (the red and white plugs), the 3.5mm audio jack (usually labeled “aux.”), and optical.

  The Audio supports the same music apps that currently work through Chromecast, including Spotify and Pandora. From inside those apps, users can just hit the “cast” button at the top of the screen to send their music to the connected speakers.

  Google has also updated the Chromecast with a new design — it’s available in three colors and is no longer a “stick” but a disk with a more flexible HDMI connection coming out of it. The company believes this will make it easier to plug into TVs with already crowded backsides.

  The new Chromecast, also $35, has three antennas inside and updated support for the latest WiFi standards. Google says this should cut down on playback disruptions.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uMcDonald’s Rebrands Fancy Burgers Created Via Kioskr

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  What does the name “TasteCrafted” sound like to you? If you said “a mass-produced product that calls itself ‘artisan,'” you’d be close: that was one of the names tested for pricier, higher-quality, customized burgers at McDonald’s. The new name is “Chef Crafted,” since there’s nothing that the public associates more with McDonald’s than a trained chef carefully assembling burgers in the kitchen.

  Maybe that’s not fair, though: McDonald’s does employ chefs to create new recipes and products in its test kitchen, and they created the original burgers. The kiosks are also being tested under the name Create Your Taste, and that test continues in thousands of restaurants.

  Customers weren’t really into the original name, a McDonald’s spokesperson told Bloomberg Businessweek, and the new name at least implies that there are humans involved in the process somewhere. “We decided to celebrate our chefs who have created these recipes,” she explained, “and highlight the culinary expertise of our in-house and supplier chefs.”

  The public is showing off its own culinary expertise, too: the unpopular chef-created burger flavors of “hot jalapeño” and “deluxe” will go off the menu, and both new items replacing them will include bacon.

  McDonald’s Revamps Build-Your-Own Burger Program to Draw Diners [Bloomberg]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uReport: Twitter Considering Allowing Tweets Longer Than 140 Charactersr

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  Since it launched in 2006, Twitter has been known for allowing users to express their every desire and thought using just 140 characters. That’s could be about to change, as the social media company is reportedly working on a new product that exceeds the current word limit.

  Re/Code, citing sources familiar with the matter, reports that the company is building a product that would allow users to Tweet long-form content on the site.

  According to the sources, the idea of expanding the character limit for Tweets was recently revisited under interim CEO Jack Dorsey as a way to increase the number of users on the service.

  While Re/Code points out that third-party services already allow users to exceed the character limit, those products don’t post as actual text but as images.

  The company is reportedly also looking at tweaking how Tweets are measured within the 140-character limit.

  Under the scenarios being discussed, Re/Code reports that links and user handles may not be included in the character count.

  The company previously deviated from its long-held message limits in July, when it began allowing users to send private messages in excess of the 140-character limit.

  At the time, the company said the change would have no impact on the public side of Twitter, but it looks like that might not be the case.

  A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment on the product.

  Twitter Plans to Go Beyond Its 140-Character Limit [Re/Code]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uNeed A Hug? Lululemon Has A Clothing Line For Thatr

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  It isn’t the warm comfort of your best friend’s arms, or the soothing snuggle of a parent, but if you need to feel like someone is hugging you, Lululemon says it’s got the athleisure wear (a word that people use in real life) line for you: it’s called “Hugged Sensation” and according to the yoga pants peddlers, the clothing is engineered “to feel like a comfortable embrace from a close friend.”

  Pants and leotards that will hug you are part of the activewear company’s Sensation Innovation collection, which includes other kinds of sensations aimed at how customers like their clothing to fit — there’s Tight, Held-In, Relaxed and Naked as well, which, The Cut points out, shouldn’t be confused with pants that become sheer when you bend over.

  A company spokesperson told The Cut that the new design and “pant wall experience” are the result of sports psychology and science, in an effort to give women options on a range of sensations, “so that she can choose the right pants for her particular workout, grounded in how she wants to feel.”

  What kind of pants are there for people who want to feel like their clothing is someone who will actually listen to them for once or hey, take the garbage out once in a while? Or maybe a leotard that makes you feel like you’re eating pizza when really you’re trying not to fall over in front of an entire class of perfectly-balanced yoganistas? Free ideas, Lululemon. Free ideas.

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAwesome Or Annoying?: IT Help Desk Human Answering The Phone Like A Robotr

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  It can be hard work manning a help desk and fielding questions from people all day, so we can’t really blame a New York City Health Department employee who’s taken to answering the phone in a robot voice for trying to jazz up his day a little bit. Unfortunately for Mr. Roboto, a judge has suggested he be suspended from work — for the second time — for his monotonous style.

  A city administrative judge ruled this month that a worker who’d been disciplined in the past for answering the IT help-desk phone in a robot voice should be suspended again for 30 days, after he disregarded his supervisors’ orders to greet callers like a normal human, reports DNAInfo (h/t Jezebel).

  To be fair, he only does the android impression in the beginning of the call, before transitioning to a normal human speaking voice for the remainder of the call.

  The Health Department still has to approve the disciplinary recommendation from Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Judge Ingrid Addison.

  But we want to know — is this just one man’s way of dealing with the daily rigors of life answering help desk phone calls, and therefore somewhat awesome? Or is it just really annoying? Vote in our poll below.

  City Worker Fined for Talking in Robot Voice Does it Again [DNAInfo]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist