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Business/Economy (General/Chat)

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  • US regulators warn customers about exploding Samsung washers

    09/28/2016 7:32:02 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 52 replies
    EndGadget ^ | September 28, 2016 | By Billy Steele
    Owners of the top-loading appliances say the machines exploded while they were doing laundry. REUTERS/Steve Marcus Just days after Samsung began replacing defective Galaxy Note 7s due to a risk of exploding batteries, the company faces another major product issue. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a warning today after multiple reports of top-loading washing machines exploding. Owners of Samsung appliances in Georgia, Indiana and Texas say that they were doing a load of laundry when they heard a loud boom. ABC News reports 21 people have submitted cases to the CPSC since early 2015 of washers exploding...
  • Income Was Too Good To Be True

    09/28/2016 6:45:46 PM PDT · by proxy_user · 7 replies
    Seeking Alpha ^ | September 28, 2016 | Rodney Johnson
    The Census Bureau reported that median income jumped 5.2% last year. As I pointed out last week, that's a solid increase, but still leaves us short of the record in 1999. Still, something about the gains struck me as wrong. Even with cities, states and some businesses bumping up their minimum wage, 5.2% seemed like a lot. So I went digging. And the more I dug, the more disappointed and frustrated I became. As usual, the source of my angst was the federal government. Long-time readers know my ongoing annoyance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) when it comes...
  • Just a Short Vanity: Jeep commercial (vanity)

    09/28/2016 5:57:11 PM PDT · by lafroste · 31 replies
    me ^ | 9/28/2016 | lafroste
    Just a short vanity: I just saw a very nice patriotic Jeep commercial. I was surprised enough to elicit this vanity. This is a hat tip to Jeep. Very nice commercial. Well done.
  • Cox: Apple and Tesla really need each other now

    09/28/2016 5:12:42 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 3 replies
    Reuters business ^ | September 20, 2016 | By Rob Cox
    The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. Great partnerships are often forged when each party enjoys a surplus of something the other needs and there’s little conflict in their ambitions. By that logic, two of Silicon Valley’s best known firms, Apple and Tesla Motors, really need each other right now. An investment in Tesla by Apple in return for some of the carmaker’s innovation dust might be just the ticket. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook is revamping the company’s approach to self-driving cars and the gadget maker’s broader role in the future of transportation....
  • Air traffic controllers and pilots are switching to text messages [tr]

    09/28/2016 1:18:57 PM PDT · by sparklite2 · 19 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 28 September 2016 | AP
    Air traffic controllers and pilots are switching to text messages for faster plane takeoffs, saving billions With the new system, called Data Comm, a controller can type a few instructions into a computer, tap a key and send the message directly to the flight management computers in each plane that needs the information. Pilots read the information on cockpit display screens and decide with the push of a button whether to accept it.
  • Should U.S. pay reparations for slavery? U.N.-appointed experts think so

    09/28/2016 12:13:08 PM PDT · by mikelets456 · 71 replies
    CBS ^ | 9/27/2016 | CBS
    A United Nations working group is getting into the fray on U.S. racial discrimination. After 14 years, and 20 days of speaking with U.S. officials, activists, and families of people killed by police in major American cities, it has issued its conclusions: the slave trade was a crime against humanity and the U.S. government should pay reparations. “Contemporary police killings and the trauma it creates are reminiscent of the racial terror lynching in the past,” a French member of the working group of U.N. experts, Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France, said after their meetings in the U.S. The U.N. experts traveled to major...
  • PANIC, ANXIETY SPARK RUSH TO BUILD LUXURY BUNKERS FOR L.A.'S SUPERRICH

    09/28/2016 8:31:41 AM PDT · by SES1066 · 44 replies
    The Hollywood Reporter Magazine ^ | 09/28/16 | Ingrid Schmidt
    Oscar winners, sports stars and Bill Gates are building lavish bunkers — with amenities ranging from a swimming pool to a bowling alley — as global anxiety fuels sales and owners "could be the next Adam and Eve."SNIP Adds Mike Peters, owner of Utah-based Ultimate Bunker, which builds high-end versions in California, Texas and Minnesota: "People are going for luxury [to] live underground because they see the future is going to be rough. Everyone I've talked to thinks we are doomed, no matter who is elected."
  • Aetna to Provide Apple Watch to 50,000 Employees, Subsidize Cost for Customers

    09/27/2016 9:37:24 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 51 replies
    MacRumors ^ | Tuesday September 27, 2016 11:02 am PDT | by Juli Clover
    Insurance company Aetna today announced a major health initiative centered on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, which will see Aetna subsidizing the cost of the Apple Watch for both large employers and individual customers. Starting this fall during open enrollment season, Aetna will subsidize "a signficant portion" of the Apple Watch cost and will offer monthly payroll deductions to cover the remaining cost. apple watch series 2 Aetna also plans to provide Apple Watches at no cost to all of its nearly 50,000 employees as part of a wellness reimbursement program to encourage them to live healthier lives. "We...
  • Official: Windows 10 has hit the 400 million device mark

    09/27/2016 7:46:44 PM PDT · by dayglored · 25 replies
    The Register ^ | Sep 27, 2016 | Dan Robinson
    Microsoft’s self-installing Windows 10 operating system has reached the 400 million mark, the firm announced at its Ignite conference in Atlanta this week, up from the previous high of 350 million in August. This adoption rate means the firm’s self-imposed target of a billion devices by mid-2018 looks increasingly unlikely, but the Redmond giant can take some consolation in the fact that business enthusiasm seems to be growing. The latest version of Windows hit its one-year anniversary on July 29, a date that also marked the ending of the free upgrade offer period for users of Windows 7 and Windows...
  • Did last night's US presidential debate Wi-Fi rip-off break the law? (Hofstra gouges reporters)

    09/27/2016 7:25:33 PM PDT · by dayglored · 26 replies
    The Register ^ | Sep 27, 2016 | Kieren McCarthy
    The host of the first presidential debate on Monday night, Hofstra University in New York, may have broken the law and could be in line for a huge fine. Reporters at the event were appalled to find that among the heavily marked-up items they were offered – $150 to rent a lamp, anyone? – was a $200 charge for a "secure wireless internet connection." Worse than the clear effort to price-gouge people trying to file stories, however, was the fact that the university decided that only its wireless access points were allowed to be used, and even sent someone around...
  • Apple Watch Series 2 review: It’s time to jump in

    09/27/2016 2:59:44 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 25 replies
    Computerworld ^ | Sep 27, 2016 9:04 AM PT | By Jonny Evans
    Faster, brighter, water resistant and far more versatile I am not the world's best surfer, or passionate kayaker, but I quite enjoy a gentle swim from time to time. Credit: Apple I’ve been using my Apple Watch Series 2 for over a week. I thought I should share a few observations about my experience and try to explain why I think now is a good time for people who may have been curious about the product to take a look. A little history Introduced in a blaze of glory after years of speculation, Apple Watch quickly became King of the...
  • BeCensored (What's up with Candid?)(Video Only)

    09/27/2016 8:54:30 AM PDT · by servo1969
    YouTube ^ | 9-27-2016 | Harmful Opinions
    Get it? 'Cause their website is BeCandid. Ha.
  • New Mac Trojan uses the Russian space program as a front

    09/26/2016 11:48:39 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 5 replies
    MacWorld ^ | September 26, 2016 | By Michael Kan
    The Komplex Trojan can download, execute, and delete files from an infected Mac Security researchers have found a new Mac OS X malware that appears to be targeting the aerospace industry. The Trojan, called Komplex, can download, execute, and delete files from an infected Mac, according to security firm Palo Alto Networks. Interestingly, the Trojan will also save a PDF document to the infected system concerning the Russian space program. The PDF document details planned Russian space projects from 2016 to 2025, but it acts as a decoy, Palo Alto Networks said in Monday blog post. In reality, the Trojan...
  • How Rwo $1.69 Bottles of Orange Juice Cost Dollar General $277K

    09/26/2016 8:02:16 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 24 replies
    KFOR ^ | SEPTEMBER 26, 2016
    Two bottles of OJ that retailed for $1.69 at Dollar General will end up costing the chain more than a quarter of a million dollars. That after a diabetic former employee won a lawsuit connected to the juice. Linda Atkins was working at a Maryville, Tenn., location in the fall of 2011 when she felt a hypoglycemic attack coming on. The main cashier was on break, and so “to avoid leaving the cash register unattended, and for the security of the store,” Atkins grabbed a bottle of OJ from the cooler, drank it, and then paid for it once her...
  • Hillary Calls for Solyndra 2.0

    09/26/2016 7:57:06 PM PDT · by RC one · 3 replies
    lifesette ^ | 26 Sep 2016 at 10:30 PM | y Jim Stinson
    In first moments of debate, Clinton reboots subsidy push for well-connected green energy firmsne of the first dust-ups in the debate was about green energy.As expected, Democratic presidential Hillary Clinton pleaded for expanded green energy policies — or in other words — expanded green subsidies.Within the first 10 minutes, Clinton said she wanted the United States to be the world capital of clean, green energy.“Some country is going to be the clean energy super power of the 21st century,” said Clinton. “Donald thinks climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. I think it’s real.”Trump interrupted, protesting her claim....
  • iOS 10 backups are easier to crack, but Apple promises to fix security flaw

    09/26/2016 4:03:59 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 3 replies
    Computerworld ^ | September 26, 2016 | By Darlene Storm
    Forensic researcher claims iOS 10 local backups are easier to crack since the security protection is 2,500 times weaker than in iOS 9, but Apple promised to roll out a patch for the security flaw. After Apple’s battle over encryption with the FBI, you’d expect Apple’s newest iOS to continue the trend of providing even better privacy and security than the previous iOS version. Sadly, that’s currently not true as iOS 10 has a “major security flaw” which leaves the data locally backed up to iTunes much more vulnerable to password cracking. At least that is what Russian forensic software...
  • In this W.Va. coal town, there’s little debate over presidential race

    09/26/2016 3:35:07 PM PDT · by buckalfa · 22 replies
    WV Metro News ^ | September 26, 2016 | Brad McElhinny
    WHARTON, W.Va. — In the coal community of Clinton Camp, not many are in Clinton’s camp. “Nobody likes Hillary around here,” said 77-year-old retired coal miner Darrell Bower, who was watering his lawn last week. “Everybody in my family and everyone I know is going to vote for Trump.” Millions of Americans are expected to tune in tonight to the first presidential debate between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump, the least-liked presidential candidates ever. In Clinton Camp, an unincorporated area of Wharton where the homes were constructed as a coal camp in the late 1940s, not...
  • Exclusive: Google is planning a 'Pixel 3' laptop running the 'Andromeda' OS for release in Q3 2017

    09/26/2016 3:16:50 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 5 replies
    AndroidPolice.com ^ | September 26, 2016 | By David Ruddock
    Two independent and reliable sources have confirmed to us that Google is planning a new Pixel laptop to be released in Q3 2017. The project, known internally as 'Bison' and by the informal nickname 'Pixel 3,' will likely be the first brand-new device to showcase Google's combined Android / Chrome OS 'Andromeda' operating system in a laptop form factor. Bison, then, would be the culmination of years of work by Google's Pixel team and Google's Android and Chrome OS teams.We are extremely confident Google plans for the device to run Andromeda. We are also confident that Andromeda is a...
  • Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7 has battery problems too

    09/26/2016 2:59:53 PM PDT · by Swordmaker · 21 replies
    BetaNews ^ | September 26, 2016 | By Mihăiță Bamburic
    Samsung can't seem to catch a break with the Galaxy Note7 recall. For a while it looked like the replacement devices would put the exploding battery concerns to bed, but now it appears that the saga may be far from over.The new batteries may no longer be a fire hazard, but follow-up reports from customers who have received replacement Galaxy Note7 units in South Korea reveal that they come with their own set of issues. The batteries that Samsung uses in the replacement Galaxy Note7 units are said to overheat and lose battery life quickly. The first issue has...
  • Airport Finds Body Parts in Woman’s Bag

    09/26/2016 12:15:54 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 43 replies
    www.thedailybeast.com ^ | 09-26-2016 | Staff
    Investigators at Austria’s Graz airport questioned a Moroccan woman who arrived with a bag containing her husband’s entrails. After carefully wrapping the intestines in two containers, she was transporting them in hopes of getting a toxicology test performed. The man died during an operation in Morocco, Austrian media reported. Officials said a proper investigation on the parts could not be performed without the whole body. The woman broke no laws by transporting the entrails, local media reported.