Month: August 2016

AT&T Gets Caught again – To pay $7.75 Million for Phone Bill Cramming

Dan Uff August 9, 2016 0

AT&TLogo The Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced AT&T will pay $7.75 million in fines and refunds for allowing scammers to operate a "cramming" scheme that saddled thousands of customers with charges for a fraudulent directory service.

According to a statement from the FCC's Enforcement Bureau (PDF link), the Drug Enforcement Agency uncovered the scam perpetrated by Cleveland area companies Discount Directory, Inc. (DDI) and Enhanced Telecommunications Services (ETS), both of which were each under investigation for drug crimes and money laundering.

DDI and ETS set up a cramming scheme that would bill thousands of AT&T customers, mostly small businesses, for a monthly directory assistance service that did not exist. AT&T profited on the sham setup by receiving a fee from DDI and ETS for each billing placed on a customer's bill. As with many cramming scams, customers did not sign up for DDI and ETS services, nor did they approve monthly billings from the sham entities.

In its settlement, AT&T will pay refunds expected to total $6.8 million, as well as a $950,000 fine to the U.S. Treasury. Further, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau has required AT&T cease billing for nearly all third-party products and services on wireline bills as the company adopts new safeguards against fraudulent third-party billings. Under the settlement terms, AT&T must obtain express informed consent from consumers before initiating third-party charges, revise its monthly bill to clearly identify said charges and offer a free service for customers to block unwanted third-party services.

Today's cramming settlement is AT&T's second, the first being a 2014 payout of $105 million in fines and refunds to wireless subscribers over unauthorized third-party subscriptions and premium text messaging services. AT&T is not the only provider accused of cramming, however.Last year, Sprint and Verizon paid out a combined $158 million to settle similar billing practices.

Via: AT&T

Stay up to date with the Olympics using Amazon Echo

Dan Uff August 9, 2016 0

AmazonEcho2 Unless you're living under a rock, you know that the Olympics are underway in Rio. While some of us want to watch the TV and Internet coverage 24/7, others cannot.

That's why the Amazon Echo can help you keep up to date with who's winning in the metal count.

Just ask:

"Alexa, who is leading the medal count?"
"Alexa, how many gold medals does the U.S.A. have?"
"Alexa, who won the men's hundred meters?"
"Alexa, when is the women's hundred meter backstroke?"

This feature is available from now until the Olympics are over.

Hulu Axing Free TV Episodes – Will go all subscription

Dan Uff August 8, 2016 0

After over 9 years of free services, Hulu has announced that it will no longer be offering such services effective immediately. However, the current subscription prices of $7.99 and $11.99 will remain the same.

Hulu senior VP and head of experience Ben Smith had the following to say regarding the elimination of the free service:

For the past couple years, we’ve been focused on building a subscription service that provides the deepest, most personalized content experience possible to our viewers. As we have continued to enhance that offering with new originals, exclusive acquisitions, and movies, the free service became very limited and no longer aligned with the Hulu experience or content strategy.

In another surprising move, Hulu has decided to team up with Yahoo! to show any free content it may have in its current video library. Hulu’s list of free content consists mainly of shows from ABC, NBC, and Fox along with miscellaneous clips and other series as well as some anime shows. Yahoo View will offer the 5 most recent episodes of these shows starting 8 days after they have aired on live TV.

Phil Lynch, Yahoo’s VP and head of media partnerships released the following statement in regard to Yahoo’s new partnership with Hulu.

Video is an important part of Yahoo’s strategy and we’re committed to delivering the best digital video content to our users. To date, we’ve streamed amazing experiences across sports, finance, and news. This partnership with Hulu is a natural extension of that strategy, bringing the best of TV and entertainment content to our lifestyle vertical.

Looking for a Ultimate Guide for Pokemon Go? Well, look no further

Dan Uff August 7, 2016 0

PokemonGoLogo Obsessed with Pokemon Go? Are you looking for ways to capture all of those characters? Well, have we got a Kindle book for you!

According to the information:

The Ultimate Guide to Learn Pokemon Go Fast (Pokemon Go secrets, user manual, hints, hacks, tips and tricks)

Pokémon GO is a geographical-based augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. Though the AR is what makes the game so much fun, this technology is far from new. The concept of having a view of the real-world where elements are layered (or augmented) with computer-generated images was introduced in 1990. Pokémon GO uses a combination of ordinary technologies built into smart phones, including GPS location tracking and cameras. This game has encouraged people to get out of the house and capture Pokémon (Pocket Monsters). In the process players get needed exercise and learn much more about their surroundings.
In the game’s first week of release it became the fastest game to top the App Store and Google Play. It became the most downloaded app from the App Store of all time. It has been referred to as a “social media phenomenon” and the surge in popularity has been referred to as “Pokémon GO Mania” or simply “Pokémania”.
The ultimate object of the game is to catch all 100+ types of Pokémon and, as a trainer, reach the highest level in the game. To reach that result you will need to understand each element of the game and how it works. In this book, we will introduce to you some tips and tricks to get you started quickly.