whoops

FAA Missing Info On 119,000 Planes
By Meg Marco on December 10, 2010 11:30 AM  
The FAA says its records are in such disarray that its afraid that criminals could buy planes "without the government's knowledge" or use the registration numbers of other planes. The agency has ordered all aircraft owners to re-register. More »

CEO Says He Will "Make Digg As Good As It Used To Be"
By Meg Marco on October 12, 2010 4:15 PM  
Here's the latest dispatch from contrite-CEO-land. The social news site "Digg" has a new CEO and he started things off with an admission that the site isn't as good as it used to be, but promises that fixing things is his top priority. More »

Xbox 360 Glitch Gives Away Five Downloadable Games
By Phil Villarreal on August 12, 2010 9:45 AM  
In a bizarre fluke that sounds like an urban legend come true, five downloadable Xbox Live Arcade games are available for free for those willing to bend their ethics. More »

Best Buy Replaces Your TV, Forgets About It, Offers You Another
By Meg Marco on August 4, 2010 12:45 PM  
Reader Wayne is an honest person. His Best Buy Insignia TV died and so, of course, he brought it back to the store. They kept it for a little while, decided they couldn't fix it, and replaced it with a similar model. Then they forgot they did this. More »

Foursquare Was Leaking Your Data, Too Busy With Funding To Tell You
By Meg Marco on July 1, 2010 3:15 PM  
Wired says that a few days ago, a white hat hacker found a way to capture the location data of all of Foursquare (which we can only describe, for those who remain unaware of it, as a location-based, social media experiment in solipsism that distinguishes itself by offering Starbucks coupons) — even if users had opted-out through privacy settings. More »

Brake Fluid Leaks & Car Fires Prompt Recall Of 600,000 Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler Vehicles
By Meg Marco on June 7, 2010 12:00 PM  
Brake fluid leaks and wiring problems are responsible for the recall of almost 600,000 Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles NHTSA announced today. What's wrong? Your brakes could not work effectively or a fire could start inside the sliding doors of your mini-van. More »

Missing Some Mail From The Early '90s? There's A Shed That Might Interest You
By Meg Marco on May 25, 2010 11:21 AM  
The AP says that thousands of pieces of undelivered mail from the early '90s were recently found in a shed in Michigan, and a ex-mail carrier is now charged with stealing mail — the punishment for which is up to 5 years in prison. More »

(Naddsy)

United, Sick Of Breaking Guitars, Tries To Set Olsen Twin On Fire
By Meg Marco on May 17, 2010 5:59 PM  
An Olsen twin was flying from JFK to to Los Angeles when the United Airlines plane she was traveling in caught on fire and had to land in DC. More »

(US Air Force)

Sony's Removal Of Linux PS3 Option Screws Air Force
By Meg Marco on May 12, 2010 11:11 AM  
Apparently the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York took a look at available cheap computing power and decided that the PS3 with Linux was the way to go — until Sony removed the ability to install the OS with their latest firmware update. Now the Air Force is stuck with a lot of PS3s that can't be repaired if they break — because Sony will update the firmware to remove the option to install Linux. More »

Wall Street's Biggest Drop Ever Caused By Typo?
By Meg Marco on May 7, 2010 11:39 AM  
The AP says that a computerized selloff that may have been caused by a typo (the theory is that someone typed $16 billion when they meant $16 million) caused the biggest ever drop during a trading day. How could one typo result in such massive turmoil? The idea is that the erroneous trade triggered other computers to sell. More »

Toyota Knew About Sticking Pedals In Europe A Year Before U.S. Accidents
By Meg Marco on February 24, 2010 6:09 PM  
Today's Toyota hearings featured a lot of amusing defensive yelling by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and, of course, the long awaited testimony by Toyota President Akio Toyoda. In addition, Yoshimi Inaba, CEO of Toyota North America, revealed that the company knew of the sticking pedal issue in Europe a year before accidents in the US. More »

(Photo: Meg Marco)

Sears Retracts Range Sale Email
By Phil Villarreal on January 26, 2010 9:00 AM  
Back in November, Sears sent out an email that offered an amazing TV deal, which it recanted with a follow-up email that began with "WHOOPS!" More »

(Photo: MMoA)

"You Break It, You Bought It" Rule Does Not Apply To Museums
By Meg Marco on January 25, 2010 3:39 PM  
Good news for the clumsy, if you stagger into a rare Picasso painting and rip a 6" hole in it — you will not be charged for the painting. On Friday a woman fell into just such a painting while taking a class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. More »

(Photo:dandeluca)

Largest Ever Single Residential Property Deal Collapses Under Debt Mountain
By Meg Marco on January 25, 2010 12:19 PM  
The company that paid the most ever for a single residential property in the US is giving up and giving the development back to its lenders, says the WSJ. More »

(Photo:Todd Kravos)

AT&T Randomly Logs You Into Someone Else's Facebook Account
By Meg Marco on January 19, 2010 1:57 PM  
A glitch at AT&T is causing some mobile phone used to be randomly shuffled into other people's Facebook accounts. Apparently the carrier has confused which phones should be logged into which accounts. Whoops. More »

Tiger Woods' Off-Road Adventure Cost Shareholders $12B
By Meg Marco on December 30, 2009 10:37 AM  
A new study says that Tiger Woods spectacular fall from grace has cost shareholders of the firms that used him as a spokesperson to lose $12 billion in value. More »

Amazon Ruins Christmas Even When You Ask It Not To
By Meg Marco on December 14, 2009 11:39 AM  
Reader Shane has an Amazon Wish List that he tells people to look at because he's apparently impossible to shop for. Amazon lets you choose whether or not you'd like to be informed if something has been purchased from your list, then apparently tells you even if you asked it not to. More »

Charged With Felony After Taping 4 Minutes Of "New Moon"
By Meg Marco on December 3, 2009 1:05 PM  
The Sun-Times is reporting that a 22-year-old Chicago woman has been arrested and charged with a felony after taping 4 minutes of "New Moon" during her sister's surprise 29th birthday party. (Update: the charges have now been dropped.) More »

(Photo:Lagniappe)

Why A Live Twitter Feed On Your Billboard Might Not Work Out
By Meg Marco on December 1, 2009 2:35 PM  
According to Lagniappe, a local bi-weekly, the general manager and news director of the station have both been suspended over the incident. Harsh, man. Harsh. More »

(Photo:zonaphoto)

British Airways Won't Fly You To India For $40
By Phil Villarreal on December 1, 2009 9:50 AM  
If you happened to log onto British Airways' site Oct. 2, you could have bought a $40 flight to India. Well, you could have bought the flight, but wouldn't have been able to use the tickets because the airline said the offer was a mistake. More »

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