A magazine you can vote on.
Staff-written stories about scams, hidden fees, dark-pattern cancels, greenwash, junk hardware, and the press release that does not match the fine print.
PATTERN
Scams
Amazon called the cancel maze Iliad. The FTC called it a dark pattern.
A Prime checkbox is easy. Getting out took a flow named after a 24-book epic.
FEE
Scams
The Creative Cloud plan that charged you to leave.
Annual billed monthly sounded flexible. The early-termination fee did not.
FEES
Scams
$89 until it is $127: the ticket and the resort fee.
The number on the poster is not the number at the register. The FTC finally wrote a rule about that.
AS SHOWN
ScamsComposite
The listing was a kitchen set. The box was a ladle.
A composite of a pattern shops keep running: hero photo, fine-print contents, surprise on the porch.
5★
Scams
Five stars from the break room.
A skincare brand's staff, the FTC said, wrote the raves and hid who they were.
PASTE
Bogus ClaimsComposite
The 48-hour five-star burst.
A staff pattern piece on fake-review clusters, tied to the FTC's 2024 ban — not a named shop.
BIN?
Bogus Claims
Recyclable, except where you live.
The little pod said it could go in the blue bin. Canada's competition cop said that was true in two provinces.
TAG
Bogus Claims
The sustainability score on a $12 shirt.
Norway's consumer cop told H&M that Higg-index marketing toward shoppers would likely break the law.
?
Bogus Claims
Clinically shown, said the jellyfish protein.
A jury and a federal court told Prevagen's maker to stop the memory claims the ads leaned on.
GAME
Bogus Claims
Ten minutes a day will not treat Alzheimer's. The FTC said so.
Lumosity sold brain games as protection against dementia. The science was not there.
ONLY
Hypocrisy
Clean diesel, until the lab lights went off.
VW sold a conscience in a TDI badge. The software only cleaned up for the test.
FLOWER
Hypocrisy
Beyond Petroleum, still in the petroleum business.
BP spent a decade asking you to say the letters as a verb. The annual report still said oil.
ONLY
Hypocrisy
You bought the tractor. The software still belongs to the dealer.
A farmer-friendly brand signed a repair truce that also asked Farm Bureau to stop pushing repair laws.
HANDS
Bad Design
A $400 Wi-Fi press for a bag you could squeeze by hand.
Silicon Valley built a luxury vice. Bloomberg used its fingers.
ONLY
Bad Design
The printer that learned to reject the ink you already bought.
HP publishes the feature. A firmware update, then a cartridge that was fine yesterday is contraband.
AIR
Bad DesignComposite
A USB stick in a box built for a boot.
Composite packaging fail: the object is the air. No warehouse photo, no driver in the frame.
ICE
Crowdfunding Graves
The Coolest Cooler, and the $20 apology.
Kickstarter's party cooler raised $13 million. Thousands of backers never got the party.
NOT FLY
Crowdfunding Graves
Zano: a palm-sized drone and a 13,000-word autopsy.
Europe's biggest Kickstarter hardware hit shipped a handful of units. Kickstarter paid a reporter to find out why.
ORDER
Crowdfunding Graves
Lily took $34 million in pre-orders. The drone stayed on the table.
Not a Kickstarter page — a viral video and a checkout. Same cemetery.
PROTOTYPE
Crowdfunding Graves
The laser razor Kickstarter would not cash.
$4 million in pledges. No working prototype the platform would accept. Then Indiegogo.