kwf, to random
@kwf@social.afront.org avatar

My partner just bought a new Volvo XC90, and even the digital owner's manual in the dash is out of date vs what the car actually displays, which is nice.

Maybe this whole "ship cars without the software being finished" thing was a load of crap the whole time

VE2UWY,
@VE2UWY@mastodon.radio avatar

@kwf

There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that tested a Tesla & rated the stopping distance as "not acceptable".

So Tesla allegedly fixed it by pushing out a FW update to all those cars.

… Changing the braking distance …

Needless to say, if true, it's Very Bad.

deewani, to random
@deewani@mastodon.social avatar

With a Contra Costa County Library card, I have access to Consumer Report’s monthly issues online for free. Wonder where I can read articles from their website (not in the magazine) for free…

itnewsbot, to ConsumerReports
@itnewsbot@schleuss.online avatar
clive, to random
@clive@saturation.social avatar

Fantastic -- if super-distressing -- article by Gisele Navarro about the horrible state of product reviews online

The tl;dr is that Google seems to overweight reviews from longstanding big journalism brands ...

... but many of those brands, like Popular Science, were long ago bought up by private equity or conglomerates, then hollowed out ...

... so they now produce crappy articles that are probably lying about their "test labs" to please Google

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

Read it! So good

CaseyL,
@CaseyL@mastodon.nz avatar

@clive

sill exists, y'all. It's still the gold standard of product review.

And for tech products beyond CR's ambit, I guess I'd use sites that have been around a while and have not (SFAIK) been hollowed out: , , etc.

https://www.consumerreports.org/

jantzen, to Facebook Norwegian
@jantzen@mas.to avatar

"Using a panel of 709 volunteers who shared archives of their Facebook data, Consumer Reports found that a total of 186,892 companies sent data about them to the social network. On average, each participant in the study had their data sent to Facebook by 2,230 companies."
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/each-facebook-user-is-monitored-by-thousands-of-companies-a5824207467/

pivic, to privacy
@pivic@kolektiva.social avatar

Study: Thousands of businesses just love handing over your info to Facebook https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/01/18/facebook_tracking_data/

'The startlingly extent to which websites and brokers hand over details of people's habits to Facebook was revealed Wednesday.

A study [PDF] by Consumer Reports and non-profit The Markup concluded that for the average lone Facebook user, 2,230 companies, and in some cases more than 7,000, will hand over that person's information to Facebook. We're told 709 volunteers took part in the study over three years, during which time 186,892 organizations passed data about them to the Meta-run empire.'

NeadReport, to ConsumerReports
@NeadReport@vivaldi.net avatar

Don't forget to check with your local library to see what internet subscription goodies they have available for library patrons.
Ours includes a digital access subscription to Consumer Reports.


ap236, to ConsumerReports
@ap236@mastodon.social avatar

On average, electric vehicles are less reliable than other cars and trucks, Consumer Reports finds | CBC News https://bit.ly/3Rmc1Ri #EVs #ConsumerReports #Reliability #cdnpoli @canadiangreens @cdnpoli

itnewsbot, to ConsumerReports
@itnewsbot@schleuss.online avatar

EVs have 79% more reliability problems than gas cars, says Consumer Reports - Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Widely accepted wisdom has it t... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1987118

b_cavello, to Virginia
@b_cavello@mastodon.publicinterest.town avatar
b_cavello,
@b_cavello@mastodon.publicinterest.town avatar

Speaking of opting out…
Check out this awesome new resource from to automate the process of submitting data deletion requests! is such a cool thing 💖
https://permissionslipcr.com/

dmarti, to ConsumerReports
@dmarti@federate.social avatar

"Permission Slip" mobile app for Authorized Agent opt outs launches today

(part of a privacy "complete breakfast" with , each one addresses different situations)

https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/take-control-of-online-data-with-apps-a5151057853/

cOborski, to climate
dmarti, to ConsumerReports
@dmarti@federate.social avatar

Good story on our ongoing research, in @themarkup

Only takes a few minutes to participate, and helps see surveillance practices that are hard to spot in other ways

https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2023/08/02/help-us-investigate-surveillance-marketing-using-facebook-data

itnewsbot, to ConsumerReports
@itnewsbot@schleuss.online avatar

Watch Out for ‘Junk’ Fees When Booking Travel Online - Hotels and airlines struggling to recoup their losses from the pandemic have been includi... - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/technology/personaltech/travel-booking-junk-fees.html (faresfeesandrates) :service

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