PR Piñata: A 411 911

This week's run-in with the PR Piñata--where would-be swag meets the healing magic of duct tape--is derailed almost immediately when Angela declares a 411 911: she wants information, and it's an emergency. Once and for all, she asks, what exactly do the so-called signal bars on her mobile phone really mean, since they don't seem to mean anything practical about the signal she's getting?

While Angela was complaining, apparently, Steve was out compiling data. He spoke with a refreshingly straightforward engineer at a recent industry trade show, and the rumors are true--other than perhaps some internal consistency among phones in the same line offered by the same manufacturer, the bars on your phone have nothing to do with much of anything. Certainly, your phone's signal claims have nothing to do with anyone else's.

Is there a solution? No. Does Angela get a Piñata prize? No, which is the first good news she's had during this segment. The entire exercise degenerates into a series of truly dreadful puns, which is the signal--and not a weak signal, either--for the show's producers to end the video clip.

And so they do.