Thursday, September 23, 2010

Free beer?!

Free beer. That grabs people's attention. And Anheuser-Busch hopes that free beer — plus a massive advertising push — will grab some new drinkers for its sagging flagship brand Budweiser.

The brewer announced Wednesday plans for a "national happy hour" on Sept. 29 to distribute free samples of Budweiser at bars and restaurants. Details of the availability of the free beer — 6 to 12 ounce samples, depending on local and state rules — were still being hammered out.

A-B also will launch a new Budweiser ad campaign with the slogan, "Grab some Buds." Beginning Saturday and continuing through Oct. 3, 90 percent of A-B's advertising will focus on Budweiser, more than doubling the brand's typical exposure and making Budweiser hard to miss.

The goal is to revive a brand that saw its U.S. market share peak in 1988, at 26 percent. By last year, it had declined to 9.3 percent.

Click HERE for the story

Google can make an entire city disappear!

It's home to 90,000 people, one of the nation's biggest malls, a National Hockey League team and, the city's mayor boasts, the first IKEA store in the state.

But, for at least a month this summer, Google's computers "lost" Sunrise, Florida.

People who searched Google Maps for the city were directed instead to Sarasota, Florida -- a place that, while an alphabetical cousin of Sunrise, is actually 200 miles away. No Sunrise business or addresses or phone numbers showed up. Even city hall and other public entities were strangely absent, according to reports on news sites, blogs and Google help forums.

Google says it has since fixed the "technical error," and if you searched Google Maps for Sunrise on Wednesday, you would find a healthy grid of streets, malls and parks on the far outskirts of Fort Lauderdale, where it's supposed to be.

But this week's fix didn't come until after public outcry.

Click HERE for the story

Happy 61st to the Boss!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

This is WAY more fun than dealing with the DMV

It's in black and white on many DMV manuals in circulation.

But when you dial the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles number, it's immediately clear you've called a sex hotline.

News 12 in Long Island reported the problem last month, and DMV said the toll-free number used to be legit but was eliminated 18 months ago.

DMV spokesperson Ken Brown tells CBS 6 reporter Steve Flamisch the agency decided to save money by cancelling the 800-number services. For the ensuing year, callers to the number heard a referral message.

But at the end of that one-year-period, the phone carrier "reassigned the number to these individuals" -- the phone sex company.

Click HERE for the story

The world's angriest animal rights activist!

The man charged in the Sheepskin Factory arson in Glendale now faces similar charges in Utah.

Walter Bond has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City in connection with two arson cases there. One was at a Tandy Leather Factory store and the other at a restaurant that served goose liver.

Bond has agreed to plead guilty to the fire that destroyed the Sheepskin Factory earlier this year.

Investigators believe all three fires were tied to the animal rights movement.

Click HERE for the story

Here's a lawyer that gets it

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Watch out for the caffeine crazies!

Could consuming too much caffeine make someone crazy enough to commit murder?

Lawyers for Woody Will Smith, whose murder trial in Newport, Ky., starts today, plan to argue that the 33-year-old defendant had ingested excessive caffeine before he allegedly strangled his wife and so was temporarily insane, according to The Associated Press.

Shannon Sexton, the defense attorney, plans to state that Smith was not even able to form the intent of committing a murder, although prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass will say that Smith tested negative for substances containing amphetamines after the killing.

Smith is charged with killing his wife, 28-year-old Amanda Hornsby-Smith, in May 2009, by strangling her with an extension cord.

Click HERE for the story

Mascots are serious business

Even Superman gets lost sometimes