mystery

It may not be April Fools', but don't tell that to The Onion. On Monday, the satire magazine posted news of its fake sale to a fictional Chinese company called Yu Wan Mei that specializes in "amalgamated salvage fisheries and polymer injection."

Along with changes to all of The Onion's front page content, the site's online store underwent a revamp with some humorous entries. The best? A $4,250.99 mystery device with no purpose or explanation besides three glowing LEDs and what looks like a cell phone antenna. Its description simply reads "the … Read more

To celebrate its 50th birthday, MINI revisited its younger years and created a Beatles' inspired MINI that will be donated to charity later.

This one-off 2009 MINI Cooper S is based on the 1966 model given to Beatles' guitarist George Harrison, who customized his car with yantras and Sanskrit mantras. The psychedelic car was later featured in The Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour.

The reinterpreted MINI Cooper S was designed according to the wishes of Olivia Harrison, and she will accept the donation on behalf of Material World Charitable Foundation at MINI … Read more

If you're under 40, you might think TVs always had remotes. The early ones were called "clickers," "channel changers," or "selectors."

Sure, there were TV remotes as early as 1956, notably the Zenith Space Command, but remote-controlled TVs didn't really enter the mainstream until the 1970s.

It's true that there weren't many channels from which to choose at that time, but changing channels or volume without a remote was a matter of getting up from the sofa, walking over to the set, and turning big, clunky knobs on the TV.… Read more

On today's show: The honorable Clayton Morris joins us for a hilarious high energy show. We recap our Fox News appearance that never came to be, answer the questions you're too afraid to ask your Doctor, relive this decade's greatest meeting of the minds, and quiver in fear over Boeing's newest air-to-ground laser turret.

Clayton Morris, ladies and gentlemen! That's right, The 404's all-time favorite guest steps into the studio this morning and helps us out of our Olympic rut. That's right, you'll be happy to hear that there's absolutely no … Read more

The European Union's consumer chief is taking action against dodgy Web sites selling mobile phone ringtones and wallpapers with unscrupulous practices, according to a story by Reuters.

On Thursday, EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva launched an investigation into 500 Web sites that sell ringtones, wallpapers, news feeds and video games to consumers. Kuneva believes these Web sites are misleading consumers, notably teenagers, and getting people to spend hundreds of millions of euros on services.

"Far too many people are falling victim to costly surprises from mysterious charges, fees and ringtone subscriptions they learn about for the first time … Read more

AT&T wireless subscribers who were hoodwinked into signing up for recurring charges for ringtones and other content will receive refunds as part of a class action settlement.

Customers will get refunds for charges that appeared on their bills between January 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008, the Associated Press reported Monday.

This is the first nationwide settlement that refunds customers' money from charges for third-party content, the news service reported. Jay Edelson, who filed the claim on behalf of the plaintiffs, has filed similar lawsuits against Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA.

This latest decision could boost … Read more

If Sony wants to be effective in this mystery marketing game, it's going to have to be more patient. Unlike B&O's "Serenata" campaign, which made us wait weeks before letting the secret out, Sony's latest product went live only days after its teaser site began to circulate in earnest.

But no matter. It turns out that the box under wraps was what it called the world's first OLED TV, referring to its ultra-thin and flexible screen technology that uses organic light-emitting diodes. The energy-efficient TV is just 3 millimeters thick and will … Read more

Of all the companies that have caught the mystery marketing bug, Sony is quickly becoming the most prolific perpetrator. In fact, the campaign tactics may be too secretive for their own good. The Sony "Rolly," for example, still has people guessing what it's all about even after the product was officially unveiled.

Its latest entry is equally baffling. A teaser page on Sony's Japanese Web site offers virtually nothing other than an obscured photo and the obligatory "Coming soon" tag line. (We're thankful that they at least spared us the cliched countdown clock.) … Read more

It never fails. Everytime we vow not to get sucked into another mystery marketing campaign, we end up giving in. We're not sure if it's sheer nosiness or plain stupidity--probably both.

Just as we were drawn against our will to Lenovo's secretive "Reserve Edition" ThinkPad site and B&O's "Serenata" countdown page, we're now hooked on an ultra-exclusive watch appropriately called the "Incognito 2008." Still only a concept that won't be delivered until next year, the watch nevertheless appeared at an auction in Monaco where the bidding … Read more