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Sure, talking to a speaker definitely isn’t the same as talking to your friend, but if you have an Echo — or other device with Alexa integration — it may soon seem more like a human-to-human convo.  That’s because Amazon is providing the virtual assistant with a new set of speaking skills that allow her to have a more “natural” expression. According to Amazon, this means giving Alexa the ability to pause for emphasis, whisper, change pitch and volume, and bleep out expletives (which humans don’t do when they speak, but it is kind of funny). The new abilities were created through Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) that allows app developers to code Alexa reactions into applications. By adding the codes, Amazon says developers will be able to control how Alexa generates speech. For example, including the Amazon effect “whispered” will result in Alexa using a softer voice, while “expletive” will make the assistant bleep out a word that may cause offense. TechCrunch not...

Now that California has proposed rules intended to make it easier for tech companies to test self-driving vehicles on public streets, those companies are calling on the state to make additional changes that would further favor the industry. Tesla, Apple, Uber, and other companies delving into the self-driving vehicle market asked the California DMV to revise its proposals related to the type of vehicles allowed under the self-driving programs and reporting systems. The proposed rules require that autonomous vehicle testers include data on the times a car’s self-driving mechanisms are turned off, or disengaged, and put under the control of a human driver. The idea is that this will provide some transparency about the amount of time these cars spend actually driving themselves. However, in its letter [ PDF ] to the DMV, Apple argues that this requirement is too strict and that it doesn’t provide the public an accurate metric to consider. Apple, which is reportedly prepping to begin...

You might walk past a grave and see a beautiful bouquet of flowers and think “Those would look good in my living room,” but (we’re hoping) you don’t follow through on the impulse for free flora. However, one florist has been accused of repeatedly stealing plants and flowers from local grave sites. Police in Pequannock Township, NJ, say they received multiple reports of items being filched from graves at a church cemetery. Detectives went to work, replacing two of the missing plants in front of an ash columbarium and installing surveillance cameras in the area last week. Two days later, property managers reported that the plants were missing again. Surveillance footage showed a woman driving up in a minivan, getting out of the car, and taking the plants. Officers working with another local police department were able to identify the suspect from the video footage, as she’s a former police dispatcher and current flower shop owner in the neighboring town. The woman was arrested and ...

When AT&T resurrected unlimited data plans , it also introduced a feature it had shunned the first time around: letting subscribers use their phone as a mobile hotspot (AKA “tethering”), but only up to 10 GB per month. But there’s a flaw in AT&T’s execution that prevents users from knowing how much tethering data they’ve actually used. AT&T’s new “unlimited” plans have a total monthly threshold of 22 GB, but only 10 GB of that can be used for tethering. Problem is, the wireless giant doesn’t separate hotspot data from the rest, meaning there’s no way to tell when you’ll hit that 10 GB limit, after which AT&T can slow tethering data down to a crawl. Reader Michael uses one of these plans, and was annoyed to discover that he can’t keep track of how much of that data cap he’s used. He says he contacted various AT&T support departments, all of which confirmed his suspicion that while the carrier keeps track of his data use through his phone and when using the phone a...

Although music to shop by isn’t going to please everyone, shoppers at one New York mall would rather risk getting hit by bird droppings than listen to the sounds coming out of the complex’s speakers. Officials at the Rego Center mall in the NYC borough of Queens have installed a system that blasts noisy bird calls every 30 seconds or so, in an effort to deal with a recent infestation of pigeons that have been nesting and pooping in an atrium near one of the mall’s entrances, reports The New York Post . “That place had a serious bird problem,” one employee told dnainfo , with droppings crusting thickly on planters and benches in the area. It seems to be working so far, notes ABC-7 , noting that only a handful of pigeons landed in the area in a two-hour period. But the amplified recorded screeching of aggressive birds — macaws, reports CBS New York — is getting on some shoppers’ nerves. “Many people have been scratching their heads and other are feeling annoyed by the ‘influx of au...

Millions of Americans have canceled their cable TV subscriptions in the last decade, choosing instead to get their video entertainment over the internet. A growing number of services have popped up in recent years that offer cable-like live-TV streaming for this audience: Sling TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, with Hulu planning to launch a competitor soon, and Comcast reportedly looking to get into the fray. Yet, despite the multiple options and the large potential market of cord-cutters and cord-nevers, these platforms have yet to win over the masses. While most companies have been cagey about their subscriber numbers to these relatively new streaming platforms, analyst Dan Rayburn estimated this week that Sling TV — the oldest of the existing live-TV services — has around 1.3 million subscribers after more than two years of availability. In all, predicts Rayburn, this entire market will have a total of fewer than 3 million subscribers by year’s end. While that’s not ...

The $54 billion marriage between health insurance behemoths Anthem and Cigna is still off after a federal appeals court denied Anthem’s efforts to overturn a previous court order blocking the mega-merger. In a 2-1 ruling [ PDF ] the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a federal judge’s ruling from February that blocked the merger on grounds that the deal would not benefit consumers. Anthem and Cigna, who are now suing each other over the merger, appealed the February decision [ PDF ] claiming that the court improperly declined to consider the claimed billions of dollars in medical savings. According to Anthem, the merger’s efficiencies would benefit customers directly by reducing the costs of customer medical claims through lower provider rates, without harm to the providers. However, the court — along with the Department of Justice and several states that sued to prevent the merger — point out that medical cost savings claims were “not verified...

The U.S. Postal Service has made the process of changing your address when you move super easy and convenient, by just filling out a form online and paying $1. Maybe that’s not so good, though: The process is so easy that an identity thief can redirect your mall to their address by just filling out a form online and paying $1. A couple who were victims of this scheme contacted Kurtis Ming of CBS Sacramento to share their story . Yes, they received a letter at their home address that told them their mail was being redirected, but by the time that showed up, important mail like a Medicare card and a package containing prescription medication was redirected to the identity thief. The identity thief also opened a credit card in the husband’s name. As an experiment, reporter Ming tried the USPS change of address form and tried to have a co-worker’s mail re-directed to him. She didn’t have to give permission, and her mail began to appear in his mailbox just over a week later. The chief po...

For some, an outdoor music festival means portable toilets, camping, and braving the elements in the name of a good time with good tunes. But for music lovers who shelled out anywhere from $1,500 to $200,000 for a ticket to a “luxury” festival experience in the Bahamas that promised famous faces and fancy food, they were expecting a much more lavish experience than what reality provided. The Fyre Festival — organized by ‘90s rapper Ja Rule — was billed as “an immersive music festival” held over “two transformative weekends” on a “remote and private island” (that was once owned by Pablo Escobar, a fact no doubt relished by the hipster) in the Exumas district featuring “the best in food, art, music, and adventure.” On social media as well as in its own promotional video, the event — nay! Experience — appears to take place in a land where everyone looks good in a bikini and they can spend all day jumping off yachts and all night partying with their fellow beautiful people before sleepi...

Strapping on a baby carrier and toting around your child can make things a lot easier for a busy parent or caregiver. But before you hit the hiking trail, you might want to make sure your carrier isn’t one of the Osprey backpacks being recalled following reports of children falling out. Osprey Child Safety Products announced  Thursday the recall of 82,000 Poco child carriers after receiving reports that children have fallen from the seats. According to a notice posted with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a child in the carrier can slip though the leg openings. So far, Osprey says it is aware of four reports of children falling through the leg openings, including one that resulted in a skull fracture and one involving scratches to the head. Osprey advises consumers to immediately stop using the carriers and contact Osprey by calling 866- 951-5197 or emailing pocoseatpad@ospreypacks.com for a free seat pad insert. The carrier, which was sold in “Romper Red,” “Koala Gr...

Until now, deleting the Uber app from your phone did nothing to cancel your account with the ride-hailing platform. To do that, you had to contact customer service. It’s still not that easy to end your relationship with Uber, but at least now you can do it without assistance from the company. A new update to Uber allows users to initiate an account deletion from within the app itself, purging their information, including any stored payment card data. It might be satisfying to delete the app from your device, but that doesn’t do away with your account on the service, including your ride history and stored payment card information. Before the change, users who wanted to quit the service as well as delete the app had to contact customer service. Now they can initiate an account deletion request from within the app, and their information will be purged. New settings also let users control the app’s access to their location at any given time. You can even set the app to not draw location...

On the surface, Purdue University and Kaplan University don’t have a lot in common: One is a public university from Indiana and the other is a for-profit chain mostly offering online courses. But now they have one rather large thing in common: ownership. Purdue has purchased Kaplan — for a dollar. Purdue University announced Thursday that it would purchase Kaplan University — a for-profit chain currently owned by Graham Holdings — and take it nonprofit. The new school — referred to as New University in a Graham Holdings’ Securities and Exchange Commission filing  — will consist of Kaplan’s current campuses and learning centers, institutional operations and assets, 32,000 student, and 3,000 employees. The Deal Purdue isn’t actually purchasing Kaplan outright, instead it is entering into an agreement with Graham Instead of paying millions of dollars for the for-profit chain, Purdue will initially only pay Graham $1, reports the Washington Post (which was previously owned b...

Despite promises from United Airlines and Delta Air Lines to boost compensation for bumped passengers and Southwest Airline’s vow to do away with the practice altogether , you probably aren’t going to score $10,000 the next time you fly — and there’s still a chance your flight will be overbooked in the future. For all the apologies and vouchers handed out whenever a flight is overbooked, airlines are fully aware that they often have more people slated to sit on a plane than there are seats on that jet. That’s because they know that bad things happen that ruin or change travelers’ plans: Someone doesn’t set an alarm, traffic is bad on the way to the airport, or a traveler misses their connection. So to cover their butts, overbooking or overselling a flight to account for those inevitable no-shows makes sense for carriers, notes The Wall Street Journal . Many of the large carriers have taken the stance that if they don’t intentionally oversell a flight, they’d have to raise ticket p...

Here are six 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. 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. by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

We’re all well aware by this point that Wells Fargo employees opened up more than 2 million bogus accounts in customers’ names in order to game the bank’s sales incentive/quota system. Some former bank staffers revealed what they claim are some of the tricks used to create these fake accounts — including rounding up undocumented day laborers at convenience stores and construction sites to get them to sign up for accounts (only to then allegedly give them additional accounts they didn’t ask for). This is all according to a memorandum [ PDF ] filed this week in a shareholder lawsuits that accuses the Wells Fargo board of directors of being a “lap dog, rather than the watch dog” and repeatedly turning a “blind eye to obvious ‘red flag’ warnings of illegal conduct – warnings from every direction, including from employees, customers, regulators, and even third-party lawsuits.” “When foot traffic was slow, the branch manager on duty instructed Wells Fargo employees of Hispanic heritage to...

A Pennsylvania insurance agent could spend more than five years in prison after pleading guilty for his part in a scheme that swindled millions of dollars from customers. Federal prosecutors accused 77-year-old John Hogan of running a 14 year-long promissory note scheme that bilked more than $8.2 million from clients. According to an indictment [ PDF ] filed in the federal court of Western District of Pennsylvania, from 2002 to 2016, Hogan persuaded clients of his business— Hogan & Associates — to borrow against the cash value of their insurance policies so that he could provide loans to individuals in need of capital. Hogan, who claimed to be a financial advisor but was not licensed, told his clients that borrowing against or “cashing out” these insurance policies was a better investment than simply borrowing from a bank or investing their money. In order to persuade clients to lend the funds, Hogan claimed that these “client-investors” would receive at least a 10% re...

A South Dakota man claims he purchased — and drank from — a can of Coca-Cola that had a mouse sealed inside, making him ill and causing him to miss work. But the Coke folks say this just isn’t possible, since a mouse sealed in a soft drink can would have been more decomposed. The plaintiff bought bought the allegedly mousy beverage in June 2016, and claims that he drank most of the 16-ounce can before feeling something solid something solid inside shift and touch his lips. When he poured out the rest of the liquid, and cut the can open, he says he found the bonus rodent. He is suing Coca-Cola for a modest amount, having medical bills related to his illness that total around $1,000, and he missed 60 hours of work. He also says that he lost thirty pounds due to his illness. Coca-Cola, however, disputes that it’s possible to find such an intact mouse in one of its beverage cans. In the time that it would take for a mouse to be sealed inside a can at a bottling plant, then for the can...

United Airlines and Dr. David Dao — the paying passenger who was forcibly removed from his seat to make room for an airline employee — have reached a deal that preempts a potentially lengthy legal battle. Though what that settlement entails will likely remain a mystery. On the same day that United announced several “substantial” changes to the way it “flies, serves, and respects its customers,” the legal team for Dao says they’ve negotiated an “amicable” settlement for the injuries he received during the April 9 incident. We’ll likely never know how much Dao will receive, as the settlement includes a provision that the amount remain confidential, which he and his attorneys have agreed to. Attorney Thomas Demetrio praised United CEO Oscar Munoz for doing “the right thing.” “In addition, United has taken full responsibility for what happened on Flight 3411, without attempting to blame others, including the City of Chicago,” Demetrio said in a statement. “For this acceptance of corp...

Toyota is recalling 228,000 late model Toyota trucks over concerns that a leak may cause drivers to lose control of their vehicles. The recall affects model year 2016 and 2017 Toyota Tacoma trucks with rear differentials that may leak oil. According to the carmaker, if the vehicle is continuously operated with a leak, the rear differential could become damaged, which can result in noise and reduced propulsion. In some cases the rear differential could seize, resulting in a loss of control of the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash. Toyota says that it will notify owners of affected vehicles in mid-June, and dealers will check the vehicle’s rear differential for leaks. If no leak is found, the vehicle fasteners will be re-tightened. If a leak is found, the rear differential carrier gasket will be replaced with a new one, and new fasteners will be installed. In the case that there is damage to the rear differential, the entire assembly will be replaced. by Ashlee Kieler vi...

New FCC Chair Ajit Pai vowed to kill off net neutrality if he could before he ever got the job, and yesterday he made good on his word, introducing a plan to roll back the reclassification of broadband as a vital piece of infrastructure, and remove the FCC’s and remove the FCC’s authority to insist on an internet where companies like Comcast, Verizon, Charter, and AT&T don’t have any say in where you go or what you do online.. However, government regulations can’t be flipped on and off like a light switch. The FCC is a complicated bureaucracy with rules and procedures that have to be followed — and that Pai, a stickler for the rules, has often admonished the Commission for failing to adhere well enough to in his opinion. In short, net neutrality may ultimately die, but if so it’s probably going to be a slow, loud death. Getting to the Open Internet Order in the first place was a thirteen-month journey from losing the old rule in Jan. 2014 to approving the current one in Feb. ...

Last year, federal regulators released a report that found online payday lenders — despite their clean, professional websites — could be just as bad, if not worse , than their storefront counterparts. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau provided yet another example of how these companies can wreak havoc on consumers’ finances by skirting the law.  The CFPB announced today that it had filed a lawsuit [ PDF ] against four California-based online lenders accusing them of making deceptive demands and illegally taking money from consumers’ accounts for debts they didn’t actually owe. Unlike some lenders who have tried to collect debts from people when they belonged to someone else, the CFPB claims that Golden Valley Lending, Inc., Silver Cloud Financial, Inc., Mountain Summit Financial, Inc., and Majestic Lake Financial attempted to collect on payday loans that were invalid based on state laws. According to the CFPB complaint, since at least 2012, Golden Valley Lend...

It’s no Wonka Chocolate Factory, but if you’re into trying stunt food before anyone else, Taco Bell will be inviting a limited number of people behind the scenes for a free meal in its test kitchen. The fast food chain is partnering with OpenTable for a promotion that will let 32 customers make reservations at Taco Bell HQ in Irvine, CA, reports Nation’s Restaurant News . Company chefs will serve diners new products and food creations before they hit restaurants – if they ever make it that far at all. Taco Bell’s version of a golden ticket? It won’t reveal the OpenTable link for the May 19 meal until May 5, so you’ll have to be quick if you’re desperate to get in. “The chance to be the first to see our innovative food, where it’s created, from the chefs who make it happen, is a unique experience that’s never been available to the public until now,” said Liz Matthews, Taco Bell’s chief food officer. Dinner is free, but you have to be at least 21 to make a reservation. You’ll also h...

Reader Kelly found herself in a common consumer dilemma: She was confused about the marketing language on some detergent labels. Why did some bottles of Tide that were the exact same size as others on the shelf proclaim that they will wash “20% more loads”? When Kelly looked at the shelf to pick up a new bottle of Tide Sport, here’s what she saw. While a reasonable person could assume that the detergent is now more concentrated, there were a lot of numbers and a reference to a separate fragrance that just confused her. Here’s a close-up of what that cap says. The larger bottles had the same “more loads” labeling, too. The extra label on the cap is similar, but with the numbers adjusted for the larger bottle size. Kelly sent these pictures to Consumerist, describing the identical bottle sizes and the extra labels on the cap. “In very small print, the cap label explains what they mean, but, honestly, I can’t figure out what they’re talking about,” she writes. “What do various s...

Recently, Consumerist received an anonymous tip pointing to an internet address that hosted digital images of bathtubs, garage doors, kitchen countertops, contractors at work on various projects, and customers picking out and paying for products in a home-center store. The site also hosted 13 Excel spreadsheets of customer records, including the full names, phone numbers, mailing addresses and email addresses of approximately 8,000 people, as well as other information chronicling the apparent installation complaints of each customer. The internet address that hosted these spreadsheets — along with one random document containing a scanned printout of a customer’s name, address, and signature — was part of the HomeDepot.com domain; and all the files there were unencrypted, unprotected, discoverable by search engines (several of the email addresses listed, when typed into a Google search, surfaced the documents), and completely accessible to the open internet. This data leak was small ...