Consumer Reports

Picking the Brightest, Most Efficient Bulb

Katherine Boehret in The Digital Solution on January 17 at 3:41 pm PT

Katie offers a brief guide to the latest energy-efficient light bulbs.

Consumer Reports Survey Again Dings AT&T, Praises Verizon

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 6, 2011 at 10:10 am PT

However, several smaller carriers outscored all of the big name national providers in the magazine’s annual survey.

Consumer Reports January 2012 Cell Phone plans

Consumer Reports Says iPhone 4S Fixes Antenna Woes, Can Finally Recommend

Ina Fried in Mobile on November 8, 2011 at 5:40 am PT

The magazine says the new model solves the antenna-related issues that caused it to withhold its recommendation of the iPhone 4.

News Byte

The Nook Gets a Nudge From Consumer Reports

Peter Kafka in Media on June 17, 2011 at 12:19 pm PT

Barnes & Noble’s newest Nook has fewer features than its predecessor, as well as many other rivals. That’s great, says Consumer Reports, which has crowned the new $139 device its favorite e-book reader. It’s the first time the magazine has put an e-reader made by anyone other than Amazon at the top of its rankings.

MacBooks Sweep Consumer Reports Laptop Ratings

John Paczkowski in News on May 25, 2011 at 1:10 am PT

Consumer Reports may have twice declined to recommend Apple’s iPhone 4, but it has no such compunctions about endorsing its laptops. The product evaluation company recently added Apple’s newest MacBooks to its online database and they dominate the entire class, scoring top ranks in literally every size category.

News Byte

Minor Controversy: Zuckerberg Wants Young Kids on Facebook

Liz Gannes in Social on May 20, 2011 at 1:51 pm PT

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview this week he would like to create a safe and educational social networking environment for kids younger than 13. (According to Consumer Reports, 7.5 million such American kids already use Facebook by lying about their age.) “That will be a fight we take on at some point,” Zuckerberg reportedly said of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which mandates parental permission and other protections for young users. And here we thought China was Facebook’s next big controversy…

Bezos Says Stay Tuned for That Amazon Tablet We All Know Is Coming

Ina Fried in Mobile on May 12, 2011 at 4:10 pm PT

Amazon’s chief executive tells Consumer Reports that people should “stay tuned” for word on a tablet computer from the online retailer. It’s the latest–and most official–hint that such a product is not far off.

News Byte

Millions of Kids Are Sneaking on Facebook

Liz Gannes in Social on May 10, 2011 at 1:33 pm PT

While Facebook requires users to be at least 13, Consumer Reports projects that an estimated 7.5 million kids are lying about their age so they can use the service, and five million of those kids are age 10 and under. The magazine notes that children may be exposed to privacy and security risks, and tsk-tsks, “What’s even more troubling was the finding from our survey that indicated that a majority of parents of kids 10 and under seemed largely unconcerned by their children’s use of the site.” Facebook, for its part, spun the news by thanking such reports for bringing attention to the issue.

IPad Takes First and Second Place in Consumer Reports Tablet Ratings

John Paczkowski in News on April 5, 2011 at 8:17 am PT

The tablet wars rage on, but Consumer Reports has already declared a winner: Apple’s iPad 2, which outscored rival devices from Motorola, Dell, Samsung, ViewSonic and Archos. Judged against 17 criteria, including touch-screen responsiveness, versatility, portability, screen glare, and ease of use, the 32GB Wi-Fi+3G verison of the iPad 2 came out with a top rating of “Excellent” in nearly all of them. Its closest rivals were the Motorola Xoom and the first generation iPad, which tied for second place.

Consumer Reports Continues Its Love-to-Hate Relationship With the iPhone 4

Ina Fried in Mobile on February 25, 2011 at 11:50 am PT

The publication warned on Friday that the Verizon iPhone is also susceptible to the so-called “death grip,” in which signal strength drops when the device is held a certain way. As it did with the AT&T version, Consumer Reports is leaving the phone off its recommended list because of the antenna issue.