Bills

The Last of Us‘ Bill Will Now Be Played by Nick Offerman

The originally cast Con O'Neill has left the HBO video game adaptation due to a scheduling conflict.

A Few Republicans Threaten to Derail a Giant Senate Energy Bill Over Air Conditioner Emissions

The first major Senate energy package in over a decade may not survive because a few Republicans are trying to block regulations on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a potent greenhouse gas that can be found in air conditioners or refrigerators. Senators Lisa Murkowski, an Alaskan Republican, and Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, introduced the American…

Watch a $50 bill get rubbed off to reveal a $10 bill

If all the numbers say it’s a 50 dollar bill and it feels like a 50 dollar bill… it still might not be a 50 dollar bill. This counterfeit $50 is actually hiding its true self: a 10 dollar bill. And it’s doing a good job too! Since it’s likely that most people’s over trusting…

Dear Valued Asshole: Do You Have a Cable Bill Insult Story?

Recently,we’ve been hearing about a slew of cable customers ending up with less than flattering names at the top of their cable bills. And since this is apparently something that happens quite a bit—we want more. If you’ve ever changed a customer’s name, or known someone who has changed a customer’s name, or if you’ve…

More Comcast Customers Report Name Changes to “Whore” and “Dummy” 

Remember a couple days ago, when the world learned Comcast had changed a customer’s name from “Ricardo Brown” to “Asshole Brown?” Looks like our Ricardo might not have been the only one. More Comcast customers have reported similar incidents to Elliott.org. The name changes range from “dummy” to “whore” to the slightly confusing “Fakoe Bez”…

Comcast Changed Customer’s Name to “Asshole Brown” But Is Totally Sorry

When Ricardo Brown from Spokane, Washington got his most recent bill from Comcast, he had an extra special reason to be dismayed. It wasn’t the pricey charges—we’re all used to that by now. No, it was that on this particular bill, Comcast appears to have misspelled his name. By replacing it entirely with the word…

Google has updated its search app—called, err, Google—for Android and iOS so that when you search for bills it will mine your email and show you what you owe. Clever.

I wish these were real dollar bills because they are brilliant

Artist James Charles redesigned the US money by adding contemporary pop-culture icons. In this series called American Iconomics the classic green bills are modified or changed completely with the faces of Yoda, Einstein, or Mr. T. I understand the historical reasons why old presidents are portrayed in the US bills. But the fact that George…

What gives paper money its actual value?

Money is just tinted paper printed with different numbers on it. So what gives the ol’ greenbacks its value? The bills used to be tied to the gold standard but now, it’s up to The Fed to control how many bills there are. So why can’t they just decide to print out ridiculous amounts of…

The Intricate Makeshift Money Germans Relied On Between World Wars

State-issued currency is the scaffolding upon which capitalism was built, but it’s always been prone to mayhem. For instance in 1920s Germany, extreme inflation forced German businesses to actually print millions of their own customized paper bills. Now largely forgotten, this notgeld, or “emergency money,” was once ubiquitous—amounting to an ornately-decorated I.O.U. in Weimar Germany.…

iPhone Owners Run Up the Biggest Bills

A new report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners reveals that iPhone owners run up the biggest cell phone bills—spending far more than other smartphone users. The report reveals that 60 percent of iPhone users—or at least, those who were polled—spend more than $100 per month on their plans. Above that, 10 percent spend $200 or…

This Perforated Bill Would Make It Super Easy To Literally Split the Check

You may be at a point in your life where splitting the bill comes off as tacky, but everybody’s been in that position where it’s totally necessary. For those times, like college, the Go Dutch Bill would come in super handy, if it actually existed. The Go Dutch Bill is a concept by Szu-Yu Liu,…

Your Carrier’s Going to Send You Alerts if You’re About to Go Over Your Data, Minutes, or Texts

You’re about to have one less excuse for ringing up a preposterous cell phone bill. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile have agreed to a voluntary industry standard to send alerts to customers who are about to go over their voice, text, or data plans, or who enter international roaming zones. http://gizmodo.com/5715034/att-mum-on-soldiers-16000-cell-phone-bill The “voluntary” in voluntary…

An Explanation of That Time Warner Cable Bill

The New Yorker has sunk its erudite claws into the mysteries of a Time Warner Cable bill. So just what are those line items you never bother looking at? $1.35 – Random charge that’s too small to waste your time contesting $7.25 – Remembrance Fee, for when you forgot your seventeen-digit Internet password and we…

AT&T Customers Can Call and Text Japan for Free

Anticipating that a lot of Americans will be trying to contact loves ones in Japan, AT&T has implemented free international calling and texting until March the 31st. UPDATE: Verizon too, until April 10th. [PRNewswire]

How To Talk Your Way Into a Cheaper Cable Bill

You’re spent, literally. Holiday shopping has thoroughly ravaged your wallet and soul. That means it’s time to rein in the discretionary expenses for the New Year. There’s no better place to start than that grotesque $180 cable bill. Getting Started Yes, you could simply give up on cable, cut the cord, or whatever the kids…

That iPhone Is Burning a Hole In Your Pocket

What can we make of this credit card spending by smartphone platform data from Pageonce? That iPhone owners spend like crazy, and WinMo holdouts are probably saving up for a new phone, for starters. https://gizmodo.com/iphone-apps-we-love-pageonce-is-our-cheap-personal-ass-5028422 The data was taken from a random sampling of 275,000 Pageonce users, and includes at least 5,000 users per platform.…

Sprint Boost Customers Will Be Rewarded Every Six Months With Cheaper Bills

Good news for Sprint Boost Mobile customers—every six months, the network will reduce the monthly price of the contract by $5. That means anyone on a $50 contract could end up paying just $35 a month after 18 months. [Bloomberg] UPDATE: Apologies, there are no contracts with Sprint Boost, just a rolling pre-paid service.

New Law Could Land Online Impersonators in a Lot of Trouble

Online impersonation can be devastating to the victim, even if they’re not doing anything too nefarious with with the stolen identity. Now, thieves could face serious charges, even jail time, under a new bill proposed in California. It’s been put to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the new bill landing such identity thieves with a $1,000…

New Power Cost Monitor Lets Anyone Use Microsoft Hohm

Microsoft Hohm, the energy usage-tracking web app, just got a whole lot easier to use. Microsoft and Blue Line Innovation have created a power meter reader so anyone can use Microsoft Hohm to see exactly how much money they’re wasting. https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-hohm-tracks-home-energy-usage-via-webapp-5302074 Previously in order get real-time home energy data on your Hohm profile, you had…