Business

What a Facebook 'Like' leaks about you and a toy that can catch fire: The Marketplace consumer cheat sheet

Miss something this week? Don't panic. Marketplace rounds up the consumer and health news you need.

Plus: What makes a better breakfast and what you need to know about your Air Miles

U of Miami researchers wanted to know if there's a connection between Facebook likes and gender, age, and education (Thomas Angermann/Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Miss something this week? Don't panic. CBC's Marketplace has rounded up the consumer and health news you need.

Want this in your inbox? Get the Marketplace newsletter every Friday.

Hoverboards get grounded

The hottest toy just got hotter. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)
When is a hot toy a little too hot?

When it can actually catch on fire, and sometimes explode.

So playtime might be over for half a million hoverboards that have been recalled.

If the recall is getting you down, maybe you still have one of these kicking around somewhere?

Illicit lemonade taken off the streets

Eliza and her five-year-old sister Adela Andrews set up a lemonade stand in July 2016, to raise money for summer camp.
It was a sour setback, but they'll be back with a special permit. (Idil Mussa/CBC)
Quick — call the authorities. Seven-year-old Eliza and five-year-old Adela were shut down by a federal agency for operating a business without a permit.

The internet cited the agency for failure to recognize when a lemonade stand is probably not a public menace.

(Are we the only ones with Beyoncé's Lemonade in our heads now?)

That feeling when your barista knows you too well

Coffee, tea or a disturbing amount of information about me? (Cifas)
I'll have a latte, no foam, with extra personal information. 

An anti-fraud group in the U.K. pranked people by serving up free coffee with all the info they could find out based on a Facebook Like.

So ... check your privacy settings, unless you "Like" identity theft.

C.diff: There's a pup for that

Good dog.
Going to the hospital shouldn't make you sicker. But hospital-acquired infections such as C. difficile can be nasty things to get. 

Now, a hospital in Vancouver has a puppy to catch the bug.

Of course, in our hidden camera investigation of dirty hospitals, we found soap and water go a long way, too.

Some Air Miles about to deflate

Some of your Air Miles may land pretty soon.
Collect Air Miles? They could be expiring soon, although the company isn't going out of its way to remind people.

Here's what you need to know.

If you want to get the most value, some deals are better than others. The good news: using them to get out of town will give you the most mileage — literal and figurative — for your miles. 

On TV: What are the best eggs to buy?

We unscrambled egg marketing. (Shutterstock)
Organic ... free range ... nest-laid ... what makes a better breakfast? We investigated the marketing on supermarket eggs and even went to visit some chickens to see what's really going on.

Want a cheat sheet on the labels? We've got you. Watch on TV this weekend or catch it online now.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Megan Griffith-Greene is the digital producer at CBC's weekly consumer news program Marketplace. Find out more at cbc.ca/marketplace.