chips

—>Yesterday we posted a photo a reader sent in of a toy aisle in his local Walmart that was packed with junk food. We all got commenty on what exactly Walmart was doing—was it a one-off paid promo by Pepsi? A marketing experiment? A power-mad store manager driven crazy by shelving issues? Nah, it's actually an intentional choice mandated by corporate.  More Â»

—>Do you lie awake at night, wondering where the potatoes in the bag of Lay's chips you downed while watching "Dancing With the Stars" were grown? No, neither do most sane people. However, our alert colleagues over at ShopSmart magazine have discovered the Lay's Chip Tracker, which can tell you the potato source based on the bag's production code. No, seriously.  More Â»

—>Geek Squad tried to repair a broken fan in Brian's Sony laptop, but somehow managed to instead break the laptop's motherboard, processor, and much of the internal cabling. Though Geek Squad replaced all the damaged parts, Brian soon realized that the laptop's new processor was slower and cheaper than the original model...   More Â»

—>Reversing an earlier decision, Britain's Lord Justice Robin Jacob has ruled that Pringles are, indeed, potato chips. The decision means Pringles parent Procter & Gamble will be stuck paying $160 million in back taxes. P&G had insisted that the chips lack enough "potatoness" to qualify as a potato-based product (and be taxed as such), but the Judge disagreed, leaving it to philosophers and nutritionists to determine what exactly qualifies as the "essence of potato." We kind of feel for P&G on this one. We love that crunch, and the way they stack so neatly in the can, but if we want real potatoes, a Pringle isn't likely to be our first choice.   More Â»

—>The Super Stack can of Pringles on the right looks super big and super packed full of chips. It only has 12% more snack inside, though, while it costs 25% more of your money. Luckily, if you're not handy with division or don't have a calculator or phone with you, just look at the price per pound on the tags below. And never trust packaging!  More Â»

—>A Nokia phone found its way into a bag of Clancy's Ripple Potato Chips, where it surprised Wisconsin nosher Emma Schweiger. The phone, which didn't work, was slathered with "greasy potato-chip film" and looked like it once lived on a belt clip. The chip's distributor, Aldi, pulled all other Clancy's chips with the same batch and expiration date and, by way of apology, offered Schweiger a free bag of chips. She isn't biting...  More Â»

—>A grocery growth ray is set to hit a popular condiment and several kinds of baked corn with names ending "tos." To push the brands as being good values, Heinz will be selling slightly larger ketchup bottles, and Frito-Lay is adding 20% to Tostitos, Fritos, Cheetos and Doritos - without raising the price. Unlike the grocery shrink ray, you can bet this change will be loudly trumpeted on the package.  More Â»

—>Everyone knows that bags of chips are sold by weight and they look big, but are only half full, yadda yadda — but these photos from reader Taylor made us laugh anyway. The bag of chips is only 1/4 full.  More Â»

—>This little email from an apoplectic-sounding Jimmy John's delivery guy just popped into our inbox and we felt the need to share it with you, our readers. The moral? Don't buy overpriced chips.  More Â»

—>Four major potato chip makers have agreed to use less of the carcinogen Acrylamide under a settlement with the California Attorney General's office. Frito-Lay, Heinz, Kettle Foods, and Lance Inc. also agreed to pay a $3 million fine for flouting state laws that require companies to place warning labels on products with carcinogens.  More Â»

Hey guys — Just wanted to let you know that with all of this grocery shrink ray action that is going on, it is nice to see some companies doing something to make their product last a little longer. The only question is...what kind of preservatives are in these Doritos so they will last until August 39th???  More Â»

—>Seeking to evade a 17.5% sales tax, lawyers for Procter & Gamble successfully argued that Pringles aren't actually potato chips. Even though all Pringles containers are clearly marked "Potato Crisps," Procter & Gamble's lawyers argued that "Pringles don't look like a chip, don't feel like a chip, and don't taste like a chip."  More Â»

The man who invented the Pringles canister died recently, and, as per his request, a portion of his ashes were interred in a container of Pringles. [AP]  More Â»

—> Ah, the game is afoot, China! See how the worm turns! Cliché #3 should go here! China has pulled some unofficially imported (from the U.S.) Pringles chips because they contain potassium bromate, a preservative that we Americans happily ingest in order to breed a race of lumpy super-capitalists—but that China, Hong Kong, and other countries have banned "because tests have found it to be carcinogenic."  More Â»

—>As energy costs skyrocket it's not just consumers who are hurting, manufacturers aren't pleased with the energy bills they're getting either.   More Â»

Jack Hines reacted with cat-like reflexes when he discovered a deep-fried mouse in his bag of Lays K.C. Masterpiece BBQ Flavored Potato Chips. From UPI:

"I just about put it in my mouth," said Hines. "I was sitting there watching TV in the dark and I grabbed for three fingers of potato chips and I grabbed a mouse. It shook me up a bit and I threw it over my head."