Good News: iTunes Isn’t Ditching Free Music After All

A few weeks ago, iTunes users in different countries noticed that the free downloadable single of the week, a staple in the iTunes music store since it began, was missing from the front page of the store. Where did it go? It turns out that while the free single feature is gone, Apple has made it easier to find a whole page of free downloads.

Apple didn’t answer comment requests from publications (including Consumerist) about the change, so users were left to speculate wildly about where the free stuff had gone. The best explanation was that the company was phasing out downloads of free items altogether in favor of letting users stream new tunes to try them out. This makes sense in the context of Apple’s acquisition of Beats, the headphone and streaming-audio company, but it isn’t the case just yet.

You can reach the free downloads page from this direct link if you’re using a device with iTunes installed on it, and the section is also easy to find from within iTunes. It’s in the same spot where the free single of the week used to be.

Some readers pointed out that the Google Play store also offers free downloads.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Deal With Hershey’s Puts An End To Import Of Cadbury Chocolates

(Alex Goodey)

It will soon be more difficult for consumers who prefer the taste of British-made chocolate to get their sweet-tooth fix. A new deal between Hershey’s and Let’s Buy British Imports essentially puts a stop to the import of many iconic British chocolate brands from overseas.

The New York Times reports the two parties agreed to stop the import of all British-produced Cadbury chocolate, as well as KitKat bars, Toffee Crisps and Yorkie chocolate bars after Hershey’s claimed the products infringed on its trademarks and trade dress licensing.

(Once again, don’t worry about not having a Cadbury Creme Egg this Easter. Hershey’s has a license agreement to manufacture Cadbury’s chocolate in the U.S., albeit with a different recipe.)

Officials with Hershey’s say that L.B.B. and other groups were importing the products that were never intended for sale in the United States.

The issue doesn’t come down to the chocolate itself, as chocolate made in Britain has a distinctly different recipe.

For example, the Times reports, British chocolate has a higher fat content; the first ingredient listed on a British Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (plain milk chocolate) is milk. In an American-made Cadbury’s bar, the first ingredient is sugar.

Instead the decision to stop importing the goods from overseas rests on the products’ packaging. Toffee Crisps comes in an orange packaging and yellow-lined brown script, which Hershey’s says too closely resembled that of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, while Yorkie bars could be considered an infringement on the York peppermint patty, the Times reports.

“It is important for Hershey to protect its trademark rights and to prevent consumers from being confused or misled when they see a product name or product package that is confusingly similar to a Hershey name or trade dress,” Jeff Beckman, a representative for Hershey’s tells the Times.

While you would often be hard-pressed to find a British-made chocolate bar in the aisle of your local supermarket, many small, independently owned speciality stores regularly stocked the items.

One British goods retailer tells the Times that the ban on importing the treats will likely put her out of business.

“Cadbury’s is about half of my business,” she says, “and more than that at Christmas. I don’t know how we’ll survive.”

After a Deal, British Chocolates Won’t Cross the Pond [The New York Times]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Burger King Customer Gets Bag Filled With $2,631 Instead Of Chicken Sandwich, Returns It

(JeepersMedia)

When you’re hungry for a chicken sandwich, you’re hungry for a chicken sandwich. But while most people might settle for taking a bag filled with a few thousand bucks in cash, one Burger King drive-thru customer was nice enough to return free money and just take the food instead.

A woman in Rochester, N.H. went through her local Burger King drive-thru and ordered a tea and junior spicy chicken sandwich, reports Foster’s Daily Democrat, and was on her way home when she realized she’d be hungry a little bit longer.

Opening the fast food bag revealed a stash of cash totaling $2,631, which she brought home to check out with her husband. Most of the cash was inside two bank deposit bags.

While the husband admitted, “We are not perfect human beings,” and said they’d considering keeping the surprise cash, they instead opted to return the moolah.

Burger King confirmed the incident but didn’t explain how the money ended up in a food bag instead of the bank. The couple said the workers were grateful to get the loot back.

“One person said ‘they were going to get fired’ so it felt good knowing we helped them keep their jobs,” the woman said, adding that she was offered five free meals in exchange for being so honest.

Couple returns Burger King’s $2,631 deposit [Foster’s Daily Democrat]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Cable Industry Asks FCC To Continue Using Outdated “Broadband” Definition

(Tim Knifton)

Currently, a 4Mbps broadband connection — barely enough to stream a single HD movie and insufficient for accessing higher-definition content or for homes with multiple simultaneous data-heavy uses — is considered “broadband” in the eyes of the Federal Communications Commission, though that should change with the FCC’s plan to redefine broadband as the significantly faster 25Mbps, which would acknowledge both the recent improvements in broadband delivery and consumers’ increased use of web-connected devices. And yet the cable industry is fighting to retain the already outdated 4Mbps standard for broadband.

In a letter letter [PDF] sent late last week to the FCC by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association — a trade group headed by former FCC Chairman Michael “Yes I’m Colin’s Son But That’s Not How I Got The Job” Powell — the cable industry argues that the Commission is going too far in trying to use the 25Mbps benchmark for broadband.

First, the NCTA warns the FCC that if it’s going to redefine broadband, that new standard should only apply to the Commission’s reports on broadband deployment; that it shouldn’t be used to determine providers’ support levels for the Connect America Fund. Doing so “would present inevitable tensions given the divergent legal standards and regulatory objectives at play,” argues NCTA.

Beyond that, the cable industry contends that the proposed 25Mbps standard is not legally tenable as it believes the law mandating periodic FCC reports on the deployment of “advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans” is intended to be a look at whether or not consumers have access to services that can support current, regular uses of broadband.

According to NCTA, the average consumer’s current broadband needs are “well below the 25 Mbps/3 Mbps threshold currently under consideration.”

The industry brushes off statements made by supporters of the redefinition, who claim that the faster speeds are needed to support delivery of 4K video content.

“[O]nly a tiny fraction of consumers use their broadband connections in this manner,” writes the NCTA, not acknowledging that many of its members were recently at CES 2015 talking up plans to bring 4K video to their customers in the coming, or that the entire television industry — from content to manufacturing — believes that 4K is an inevitability.

NCTA also claims that there is no evidence to support claims that many American households have multiple users streaming data-heavy content simultaneously — again in spite of the fact that many of its member cable providers advertise this ability to their broadband customers.

The letter points to a recent FCC report that not many people with the ability to choose a 25Mbps broadband package choose that tier of service, instead opting for less-expensive, slower packages.

“In light of these findings, the adoption of a 25 Mbps/3 Mbps benchmark would improperly substitute the speculative judgment of the Commission for the actual, demonstrated preferences of consumers in the marketplace,” writes NCTA, once more glossing over the part where some of its member companies charge prices for 25Mbps service that make it unaffordable to consumers; meaning it may not be so much a matter of people choosing slower speeds as it may be a case of consumers paying for what is in their budgets.

So why is NCTA putting up such a fuss? It’s the faint mirage of “competition” in the broadband market all but evaporates when you raise the standard for what constitutes broadband.

At the outdated 4Mbps standard, 86% of Americans have access to broadband, which would then include numerous DSL products available through landline phone providers. But when you crank up the broadband standard to 25Mbps, the number of us with the choice between multiple broadband providers drops all the way down to 37%.

With the nation’s two largest cable-TV providers trying to merge — while both claiming they don’t compete and that there is plenty of competition in the marketplace — the NCTA doesn’t want the FCC to put out a report showing how little competition there is among broadband providers providing speeds that will still be relevant in a couple of years.

[via National Journal]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Musk: Tesla May Eventually Use Car Dealers But Not Ones Who Have Been “Jerks”

(Auto Express)

Even though upscale electric vehicle maker Tesla currently only puts out around 35,000 cars a year, it’s already gotten under the skin of the auto sales business with its refusal to use the traditional franchised dealership model, leading some states to enact backward-looking laws blocking non-dealership sales of automobiles. But Tesla founder Elon Musk admitted yesterday that his company may eventually go the dealer route, but only with non-jerks.

During an interview at Tuesday’s Automotive News World Congress, Musk explained that his company is focused on two things: improving production and establishing its own stores around the country.

“Tesla’s been production-limited really since we came out with the Model S,” he said. “Most of our focus is actually on production growth as opposed to demand generation.”

He did note that Tesla was able to double its production in a single year, which he believes is an impressive feat for a product with such a complex supply chain.

But until Tesla has ramped up its production to feed potential franchised dealerships, its small but growing number of company-run storefronts is sufficient, said Musk.

“At some point we’d consider franchised dealers but we want to first establish a few stores of our own,” he explained, saying that Tesla is open to compromises like the one the company struck in New York, where it is limited to five stores before it has to use a franchised dealership.

“We’re okay with a compromise of that nature in other states,” said Musk, calling out Michigan, which recently clarified the state law to make it very clear that Tesla stores are currently not welcome.

Part of the need for the Tesla storefronts is consumer education, claimed Musk: “It is hard to sell electric cars; it’s a lot more effort to sell it than a gasoline car. There’s a lot more education needed.”

Without putting a timeline on when it would be open to the dealership model, Musk left the door open to the possibility.

“We can transition later, if we find the right partner. We would only do this if we were sure the customer would have a really good experience,” he explained, later cautioning, “If you’re a jerk to us, we’re not going to turn around and try to do a partnership later.”

If Tesla is going to grow as Musk predicts, dealerships seem like an inevitability. His company can currently handle direct sales of the relatively few vehicles they sell.

But he hopes to be in full mass production of the upcoming Model 3 — which should get upwards of 200 miles on a single charge and cost around $35,000 — within five years and expects to be selling millions of vehicles a decade from now.

Musk said that he doesn’t see the recently revealed Chevy Bolt as a threat to his Model 3, even though they are both touting the same mileage and price points, because eventually all cars will be electric vehicles.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

My New E-Book is Published in Amazon - The Enterprise Lean Business System!

My new book is available and I would appreciate any reviews!

Pre Determined Time Systems and Lean

Lean Manufacturing, Motion Economy and Pre-Determined Time Systems is now available in the Amazon Marketplace for electronic download. This report discusses how the analysis of motions developed 100 years ago for estimating job times can be used to find kaizen improvements. It's only $1.35 for now, because it's just published and I want to obtain some reviews from qualified Industrial Engineers and lean practitioners.


Please note...nothing in this book promotes getting away from the Gemba. On the contrary, it's just a method of better understanding current conditions through understanding principles of motion economy. It's also NOT about setting time standards. It's about using proven techniques for eliminating specific types of waste.