feds

The most efficient way to track packages on Android

Tracking packages, monitoring their every movement from the vendor to your front door, can feel a bit like an addiction at times. Once you have the tracking number, you're either refreshing the respective carrier's tracking page, or you're mercilessly opening and closing your favorite package-tracking app hoping you can will the item to inch closer to its final destination.

As someone who has used iOS as my primary device for the last three years, I have often relied on the Delivery Status app to do the dirty work for me. There's a free OS X widget … Read more

Receive alerts for incoming FedEx deliveries

One of the most nerve-wracking things about ordering a product from an online retailer is waiting for the tracking number to appear in your inbox. Sometimes the e-mail ends up in your spam folder or, even worse, it's never sent by the vendor.

Thanks to a free service from FedEx called FedEx Delivery Manager, you can keep track of incoming packages and get alerted the moment the shipping label is created. That's right, you no longer need to wait for a tracking number to be sent to you before you start monitoring it. Going even further, you can … Read more

UPS man charged with stealing iPad Mini FedEx

Might this have been a case of twisted competitive urges?

Or might the temptation of a box left on a doorstep -- a box containing an iPad Mini -- simply have been too much?

These are the questions rolling through the minds of Al and Sandra Alverson and, surely, 10,000 psychologists in their home town of Houston, Tx.

The Alversons, you see, were told in an e-mail by FedEx that their brand new iPad Mini had been delivered.

But, as KHOU 11 News reports, when they got home the doorstep was bare. Well, bare of the iPad Mini box.… Read more

Feds kick off Cyber Monday counterfeit crackdown

In honor of Cyber Monday, the feds cracked down on Web sites allegedly selling counterfeit goods. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it joined forces with international law enforcement authorities to nab 132 domain names that were supposedly hawking bogus sports jerseys, DVD sets, jewelry, and clothing.

"Our partnerships enable us to go after criminals who are duping unsuspecting shoppers all over the world," Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton said in a statement. "This is not an American problem, it is a global one and it is a … Read more

Chrome now prints to FedEx

Google's Cloud Print in Chrome might not be for everybody, but if you're on the go and must print something in a hurry -- and in the United States -- it could be exactly the service you want thanks to a new partnership with FedEx Office.

Cloud Print will now offer a "Print to FedEx Office" option so that you can print from Chrome directly to a FedEx Office location (formerly known as Kinko's). When you use it, Google says that you'll receive a retrieval code for use on any FedEx Print and Go … Read more

Now UPS fires courier for tossing Zappos delivery

'Tis the season to be a jolly courier and toss packages with gay abandon.

After the heightened enthusiasm that surrounded a FedEx courier who tossed a Samsung monitor over a rather fetching fence, I bring news of a UPS guy who not only tossed a Zappos package, but also really pulled his finger out: the middle one, which he offered to a security camera.

The footage was reportedly captured December 15 on Long Island. Unlike the FedEx case, where the company declared it would take its recalcitrant employee through a disciplinary process, UPS has been more forthright.

For, according to NBC New York, … Read more

FedEx apologizes for monitor-tossing courier

Have your online-shopped gifts already arrived? Or did you order at Best Buy, where they appear to have experienced a few problems?

I ask merely because I believe your local FedEx courier will be extra careful over the next 24 hours.

For the company has issued a video apology for the behavior of its most famous employee.

Should you have been buried beneath a pile of Christmas ornaments recently, you might not have heard that one particular FedEx courier tossed a Samsung monitor over a fence instead of, say, delivering to the recipient's front door.

FedEx's apology, entitled &… Read more

Computer monitor tossed over fence by FedEx man

I always wondered how Santa gets things down the chimney without them being covered in soot.

Which sometimes makes me wonder how, at Christmas time, those nice men from FedEx always ensure the package arrives absolutely, positively in one piece.

Then I saw this YouTube video, one that suggests that, perhaps, FedEx guys don't always try to ensure things arrive whole. In this case the package was a Samsung computer monitor.

It is unclear where this video was taken or who the poster is. Which will, of course, lead to some skepticism as to its real-lifeness.

However, the poster … Read more

How to track your packages with Android

Are you afraid to leave your home because you're expecting a package? With mobile package-tracking apps, you can track your packages right from your Android phone so you can relax and go get lunch, run an errand, or take your kids to the park. When your package is delivered, you'll know when to come home.

All the major shipping companies have mobile apps. UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS have basic tracking components in their apps (DHL's app tracks freight only). Most of them also allow you to find local shipping locations as well. However, the carrier apps … Read more

The 404 793: Where Wilson's back with a vengeance (podcast)

The Bubble Boy gets released from quarantine and joins us back on today's episode of The 404, where we're chatting about Dish Network grabbing Blockbuster for $228 million; a Canadian service that could mean the end of missed packages; a girl who can't close her mouth; and the end of one of our favorite TV shows: "30 Rock."

The 404 Digest for Episode 793

Dish Network wins bidding war for Blockbuster Video. The BufferBox may signal the end of missed packages. Just for fun, here's the delivery guy spoof scene from "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." Nurse uses Popsicle sticks to reset a jaw in mid-yawn. News anchor falls for Shock Top app prank. "30 Rock" will end next season, according to Alec Baldwin.

Episode 793 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more