Current Events in May 2012

If there was any remaining doubt that Apple and Google are now full-fledged competitors, it should be removed by the news that Apple is planning to dump Google Maps in its next operating system and on its iPhones, iPads and related gadgets.

Instead, Apple will be unveiling what insiders say is an "incredible" new in-house maps application that is said to be much cleaner, faster and more reliable than the current version.

AllThingsD, a Wall Street Journal publication, quotes an Apple insider as saying the new maps will “blow your head off.”

9to5Mac reported that the company has been combining services from subsidiary companies, Placebase, C3 Technologies, and Poly9 in order to develop its own maps service. The new version is expected to be launched when iOS 6 is announced, probably at an upcoming June conference.

Google Street View will also be replaced by an in-house version supplied by one of the many companies Apple has been acquiring lately.

There's also a 3D option built into the new maps app.  9to5Mac describes it as "beautiful, realistic graphics based on de-classified missile target algorithms."

Those little button batteries that power electronic devices are everywhere these days -- including children's ears and digestive tracts. In fact, a new study finds the number of battery-related emergency room visits by children has more than doubled over the 20-year period covered by the study.

Researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that the annual number of battery-related emergency department visits among children younger than 18 years of age jumped from 2,591 in 1990 to 5,525 in 2009. The number of button batteries swallowed by children also doubled during this period.

The study, appearing in the June 2012 print issue of Pediatrics, found that more than three-fourths of battery-related visits to emergency departments by children were among children 5 years old or younger, with one-year-olds having the greatest number of emergency department visits. Of the cases where the battery’s intended use was mentioned, only 29 percent involved batteries that were used for toys and games. The majority of cases involved batteries from products not intended for use by young children, such as watches (14 percent), calculators (12 percent), flashlights (9 percent) and remote controls (6 percent).

“We live in a world designed by adults for the convenience of adults, and the safety of children is often not considered,” said Gary Smith, MD, DrPH, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Products with easily-accessible battery compartments are everywhere in our homes today. By making a few simple design changes and strengthening product manufacturing standards, including products not intended for use by young children, we could prevent many of the serious and sometimes fatal injuries that occur when children are able to easily access button batteries in common household products.”

Among cases that described the type of battery, 84 percent involved button batteries. Researchers attribute this finding to the increasing number and variety of electronics powered by button batteries and the resulting increased availability of these products in the home. Recent reports suggest that the number of fatal and severe button battery ingestions is on the rise. This trend is associated with the increasing use of the three volt, 20 millimeter, lithium button batteries. 

“The increased prevalence of the higher voltage 20mm lithium batteries is concerning because it coincides with an alarming 113 percent increase in battery ingestions and insertions by young children,” said Dr. Smith, also a professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “When a button battery is swallowed and gets caught in a child’s esophagus, serious, even fatal injuries can occur in less than two hours.”

Recommendations to prevent these types of injuries include:

• Taping the battery compartments of all household devices shut
• Storing batteries and products with batteries out of the reach of young children 
• Being aware of this potential danger when your child is visiting other homes

Researchers also recommend that manufacturers ensure that packaging for batteries and products containing button batteries is child resistant and that they design all battery compartments to either require a screwdriver to be opened or that they be secured with a child-resistant locking mechanism, regardless of whether the product is intended for use by children or adults. Parents who think that their child may have swallowed a button battery should seek medical attention immediately so that an x-ray can be taken to be sure that the battery is not stuck in the esophagus. 

Data for this study were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which is operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The NEISS dataset provides information on consumer product-related and sports and recreation-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments across the country.

The Federal Trade Commission has halted an operation that allegedly lured consumers into spending thousands of dollars for Internet websites and advertising by misrepresenting that they could make lots of money by linking the sites to major retailers.

The court ordered a stop to the defendants' allegedly deceptive practices and froze their assets pending further litigation. 

According to the FTC's complaint against North America Marketing and Associates LLC, for fees ranging from $100 to $400, the defendants promised to build and host websites for consumers, who would earn commissions when Internet users clicked through the consumers' websites to make purchases from "Fortune 500" retailers such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Starbucks.

The defendants also claimed consumers would get free, full-time marketing expertise to help them make substantial profits.

Instead of the free marketing help they were promised, consumers got a follow-up sales pitch from the defendants, who tried to get them to pay even more money for an advertising package that typically cost from $5,000 to $20,000, the FTC alleged.

No significant sales

The defendants claimed the package would help generate sales of $3,000 to $20,000 per month, depending upon the size of the package consumers bought. However, according to the agency, the advertising packages did not generate any significant sales commissions, and some consumers who complained to the company were sold thousands of dollars in additional advertising services.

When consumer complaints mounted, the defendants shut down operations and renewed the deceptive business opportunity under new business names.

The corporate defendants are North America Marketing and Associates LLC, NAMAA LLC, TM Multimedia Marketing LLC (Nevada), TM Multimedia Marketing LLC (Arizona), National Opportunities LLC (Nevada), National Opportunities LLC (Arizona), World Wide Marketing and Associates LLC, Precious Metals Resource LLC, Guaranteed Communications LLC, Superior Multimedia Group LLC, and Wide World of Marketing LLC, also doing business as WWM LLC.

The individual defendants are Kimberly Joy Birdsong, Tracy Jerome Morris, Sarah Lynne Stapel, Alyisse Maloi Tramel, and Daniel Vigil, and Joseph Wayne Lowry, also known as Joey Lowry and Joey Lowe.

The defendants are charged with violating the FTC Act and the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) by misrepresenting that consumers who bought and used websites and advertising packages would earn substantial income, and that experts would help them operate their business. 

A wine seller who hawked "purportedly rare and expensive" vintages operated a counterfeit laboratory out of his California home for nearly a decade to swindle unsuspecting oenophiles, federal prosecutors claim.

Proecutors uncorked their charges against Rudy Kurniawan, also known as "Dr. Conti" and "Mr. 47," in a richly textured, 25-page indictment, alleging frauds in the worlds of wine, art and finance, Courthouse News Service reported.

"Kurniawan gained stature as a wine collector, and otherwise ingratiated himself with wealthy wine collectors by, among other ways, providing collectors with tastings of his purportedly rare and expensive wines, holding himself out as a knowledgeable wine taster and evaluator, and flaunting his alleged expertise at detecting counterfeit bottles of rare and expensive wines," the indictment charges

Turning his home into a "counterfeit wine laboratory," Kurniawan allegedly "blended lower-priced wines so that they would mimic the taste and character of rare and far more expensive wines; Kurniawan poured his creations into empty bottles of rare and expensive wines that he procured from, among other places, a wine seller in New York City; and Kurniawan created a finished product by sealing the bottles with corks and by outfitting the bottles with counterfeit wine labels, including labels he created or helped create using stencils and rubber stamps, among other things."

Kurniawan also allegedly ordered empty bottles that had once held rare wine from New York City restaurants and had them delivered by Federal Express, using them to fill with his counterfeit creations, prosecutors say.  He allegedly sold the phony brands alongside genuine bottles of rare and vintage wines, hoping to elude detection by passing off any complaints as "spoiled bottles or aberrations."

Though Kurniawan allegedly fooled several auction houses, misspellings and other packaging errors belied the products' authenticity. At an April 2008 auction, Kurniawan consigned "at least 97 bottles of wine purportedly from Domaine Ponsot, a highly acclaimed winery in Burgundy, France," but he got the dates wrong on several bottles, according to the government.

Remember when most minor surgeries resulted in a two- or three-day stay in the hospital? Today, with the cost of hospital beds, many of these operations are now done on an outpatient basis.

Those surgeries that do result in a hospital stay are usually short – shorter than they should be, according to a pair of logistical studies conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

The studies show a correlation between readmission rates and how full the hospital was at the time of discharge, suggesting that patients went home before they were healthy enough. They further suggest that revenue drives the decision about when a patient is discharged.

Better planning

The researchers recommend better planning and other logistical solutions to avoid these problems.

"Discharge decisions are made with bed-capacity constraints in mind," said University of Maryland Professor Bruce Golden, who conducted the research with Ph.D. student David Anderson and other colleagues. "Patient traffic jams present hospitals and medical teams with major, practical concerns, but they can find better answers than sending the patient home at the earliest possible moment."

In the studies, Golden and Anderson tracked patient movement at a large, academic medical center located in the United States. They found that patients discharged when the hospital was busiest were 50 percent more likely to return for treatment within three days.

This indicates recovery was incomplete when patients were first released, the researchers say. The study tracks occupancy rates, day of the week, staffing levels and surgical volume.

Incentive-driven

Golden says surgeons and hospitals are incentive-driven to perform as many surgical procedures as feasible. The more surgeries, the more revenue.

"The hospital has to maintain revenue levels to meet its financial obligations,” Golden said. “Surgeons are working to save lives and earn a livelihood. It's what they do, If the hospital says 'sorry there are no beds available,' there's a lot of tension and pressure from both sides to keep things moving."

Golden says big hospitals tend to have these problems more than smaller ones. Larger hospitals tend to provide more advanced, specialized surgeries not accessible at smaller, community institutions,the researchers say. Patients often have to travel a great distance for the procedures, so hospital delays become expensive for both them and the care providers.

Ask more questions

Part of the problem can be resolved with better planning, the researchers say.

They suggest that surgeons use checklists before discharging the patient, asking more question about the patient's readiness to go home.

Also, the studies suggest that hospitals increase the flexibility of where patients go post-surgery. Allowing them to be moved to units with empty beds, for example, could also lessen premature discharges.

Though this may increase costs in the short run, discharging patients who then quickly return to the hospital offers no long-term savings, and decreases the quality of care, Golden said.  

When you hear that something costs 99 cents, it sounds like a bargain. Sometimes it is, but often it isn't.

You might pay 99 cents to download a song from iTunes or Amazon. That can be a pretty good deal.

But when Terry, of Twin Falls, Id., spent 99 cents for a “free” trial of CleanWhites, it didn't turn out so well.

“After I received the order I found out that I needed to return the free trial in 14 days or be charged $79.95, I called CleanWhites to cancel the order and was told I would not be charged if I returned the free trial,” Terry wrote in a ConsumerAffairs post. “I mailed it back and assumed all was well until I received a charge of $79.95. I called the company and they claim they never received the free sample back."

Not really free

First, it wasn't really a free sample if it had to be returned. And second, to avoid having the company claim they didn't receive the shipment, Terry would have had to go to the extra expense of sending it registered mail.

David, of Marion, Ohio, says he paid 99 cents to do a reverse telephone lookup to track down a company.

“On May 3 I viewed my bank statement to not only discover the 99-cent charge but also two additional charges of $19.99 each for two other companies 1) US Search and 2) Indentity Protect,” David posted to ConsumerAffairs. “I called my bank and found out these were to be monthly recurring charges.”

The 99 cent purchase obviously signed David up for these services, but he insists he saw nothing to indicate that.

“I called the company and got nothing but arrogance until I indicated I would contact the Ohio Attorney General with an Internet fraud complaint,” David wrote.

Acai Berry Pure

David, of Ballston Spa, N.Y., says he thought he was getting a free sample of Acai Berry Pure and only had to pay 99 cents for shipping. Turns out it was more expensive than that. Learning that accepting the sample obligated him to a full order unless he cancelled within a window of time, David said he called the company and cancelled.

“An amount of $149.95 was taken out of our account,” David writes. “I called again only to be told to email the cancellation to customer service and to allow 7-10 days for the refund.”

But David said the refund never arrived.

All three consumers thought they were getting a very good deal, but ended up having to pay more than they expected, or fighting with the companies to get their money back. For them, 99 cents turned out not to be much of a bargain.

There's a simple way to avoid this aggravation. Never agree to pay a small shipping fee in order to receive a supposedly free sample or trial offer. A “free” product should not require you to supply a credit or debit card.

If you do, you can be billed for all sorts of products and have to argue with the company about whether you ordered it or not.

If you own a bank stock in your portfolio or retirement account, you're likely taking a beating in the stock market today. Bank stocks, led by JPMorgan Chase, are taking a dive after Chase disclosed a $2 billion loss in a credit swap bet.

As expected, the news has had a swift and visceral reaction in consumer -- and presumably investor -- perceptions. A ConsumerAffairs sentiment analysis of about 120,000 comments on Facebook, Twitter and other social media over the last year finds the bank's net sentiment taking a nose dive as news of the huge loss broke.

Chase took the position in the European credit market, essentially betting that the credit situation in Europe would worsen. At the time – the first quarter of this year – it looked like a safe bet.

But as any Vegas gambler will tell you, sometimes the odds fail you. In the case of Chase they did, as the credit outlook in Europe got better.

The immediate result was that Chase shares lost about eight percent of their value in early trading on Wall Street. Other bank shares tumbled in sympathy, as Chase was viewed as one of the strongest U.S. bank stocks.

The larger question, of course, is what this will mean for bank regulations. Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has led public efforts to push back against regulations, saying they are too costly and that the industry doesn't need them. In Washington, plenty of lawmakers beg to differ.

'Risky bets'

“The enormous loss JPMorgan announced is just the latest evidence that what banks call ‘hedges’ are often risky bets that so-called ‘too big to fail’ banks have no business making,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI).

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered a particularly blistering reaction.

“This regrettable news from JPMorgan Chase obviously goes counter to the bank’s narrative blaming excessive regulation for the woes of financial institutions,” Frank said in a statement. “Interestingly, in the Economist’s long attack on the financial reform bill, one of their leading examples of the harm the bill is doing was JPMorgan Chase’s assertion that complying with the new rules will cost $400 to $600 million at the outset. In other words, JP Morgan Chase, entirely without any help from the government, has lost in this one set of transactions, five times the amount they claim financial regulation is costing them.”

Federal financial regulators are currently drafting measures that would place limits on bank's “proprietary trading,” the type of which just resulted in the stunning Chase loss. Levin, who co-authored the so-called “Volcker Rule,” which called for these limits under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act, believes the Chase debacle just underscores the need for the reform.

The Volcker rule is designed to limit banks' ability to make risky hedge bets using the money of depositors, which is insured by FDIC.

With world crude oil prices getting hammered by waves of selling each day, the decline in the retail price of gasoline picked up speed this week, falling by nearly seven cents a gallon.

The national average price of self-serve regular today is $3.734 per gallon, down from $3.802 last Friday, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey. Fuel prices are now 18 cents a gallon lower than they were a month ago.

The average price of diesel fuel today is $4.054 per gallon, down from $4.094 a week ago.

Crude oil prices continued to lose ground this week as oil traders reacted to socialist election victories in France and Greece. The new government have vowed to reject austerity measures and could make the European debt crisis worse. So far this month, oil prices are down about seven percent.

The highest gasoline prices this week are clustered in the western states. While prices fell sharply in some states, they rose in the states that are already paying the highest prices in the nation.

In California, the average rose rose more than five cents a gallon in the last week. It's up six cents in Oregon and four cents in Washington state.

Meanwhile, the states with the cheapest gas all saw fuel get even cheaper during the week. The biggest drop came in South Carolina, where the average price tumbled by nearly a dime a gallon, giving it the distinction of having the cheapest gas in the nation.

The states with the most expensive gas this week are:

• Hawaii ($4.557)
• Alaska ($4.366)
• California ($4.253)
• Oregon ($4.073)
• Connecticut ($4.030)
• Washington State ($4.115)
• New York ($4.013)
• Washington, DC ($3.953)
• Illinois ($3.926)
• Nevada ($3.923)

The states with the least expensive gas this week are:

• South Carolina ($3.459)
• Missouri ($3.467)
• Oklahoma ($3.477)
• Kansas ($3.504)
• Arkansas ($3.506)
• Alabama ($3.526)
• Mississippi ($3.549)
• Iowa ($3.550)
• Georgia($3.554)
• Tennessee ($3.606)

Buying a used car is always a somewhat risky proposition, and a new study from Carfax helps to quantify that risk. The auto history company says it found more than 2.7 million used cars were offered for sale online last year with safety recalls that had never been attended to. 

Car rental companies are also often derelict in attending to safety recalls, and four of the biggest companies face a 30-day deadline to respond to a letter from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) asking them to commit to protecting consumers by promptly responding to recall notices.

"We're making a lot of progress, but there are still too many open recalls out there," said Larry Gamache, communications director at Carfax. "Many of these cars change hands without the buyer ever knowing a recall exists, increasing the safety risks both to passengers in the car and others on the road. We all need to do our part to make sure these cars are identified and fixed – buyers, sellers and owners alike. A simple online check for open recalls is all it takes to help make our roads safer."

Bob Knotts, a plumber from Delaware, tells his story in about the hazards of unknowingly buying a car with an open recall.

"My van caught fire from an electrical recall under the driver's seat that was never fixed," said Knotts. "Had it spread to the back where I keep a propane torch and highly-flammable glue, it would have been a total fireball."

California, Florida and Texas lead the nation with the most used cars for sale with open recalls, each having well over 100,000 last year. Recalls are vital to a car's safety, performance and resale value. Auto manufacturers are working with Carfax to further alert consumers about cars under recall. A free public service for consumers to check for open recalls using the vehicle identification number is available at recall.carfax.com. Open recall information reported to Carfax by auto manufacturers also is included on Carfax Vehicle History Reports.

Rental cars

Rental companies are also coming under pressure after revelations that many companies routinely ignore safety recalls. Perhaps surprisingly, there is no law that requires rental companies to bother with safety recalls but Sen. Boxer, along with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation that would prohibit rental companies from renting or selling cars that have unfixed recalls.

Boxer sent letters this week to Enterprise, Avis and Dollar/Thrifty asking them to commit to agreeing to make recall repairs promptly. Hertz has already agreed to do so and Boxer said she will announce after 30 days whether the other companies have agreed to do likewise.

The legislation was introduced after two sisters from Santa Cruz, Calif., ages 24 and 20, were killed when a recalled car they had rented from Enterprise caught fire and crashed into a truck. A jury awarded $15 million in the crash.

If you have hopes of becoming wealthy -- or at least better off than you are now -– you should be willing to move. That is, if you don't already live in either the Northeast or Middle-Atlantic states.

For the first time, the Pew Economic Mobility Project has identified where in the country Americans are more likely to move up or down the earnings ladder. Eight states, primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions, have higher upward and lower downward mobility than the nation as a whole, while states in the South have consistently lower upward and higher downward mobility.

The Project has set up an online interactive tool for the data. 

"When it comes to achieving the American Dream, it matters where you live," said Erin Currier, project manager of Pew's Economic Mobility Project. "Understanding that mobility rates differ by state is the first step towards helping policy makers pinpoint what enhances their residents' mobility."

It's also good information for consumers, especially those who are contemplating a move.

Economic Mobility of the States evaluates economic mobility in three ways, including absolute mobility – measuring residents' average earnings growth over time – as well as upward and downward relative mobility – measuring people's rank on the ladder relative to their peers. Those states that rank above the national average on at least two measures are considered "better" and those that are below on at least two are considered "worse."

States with the best upward mobility

Three states that have "better" mobility on all three measures are Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.

Five states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Utah – are “better” on two of the three measures.

States that have “worse” mobility tend to be clustered in the southeast. Louisiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina scored “worse” on all three measures. Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas were “worse” on two of the three measures.

Mobility itself also seem to have something to do with upward mobility. For example, two individuals may have been born in the same town and state. One left home while the other stayed. Who's better off?The survey shows those who moved out of their birth states had better mobility outcomes on average than those who did not.  

It's not exactly a consumer issue, except that consumers are citizens, voters and taxpayers who have a stake in the actions of their government.

So we thought it worthwhile to take a look at the reaction to President Obama's announcement this week that his thinking had evolved sufficiently to enable him to say that he now supports the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Cynics would say -- and already have, in fact -- that Obama and his advisors had been reading the tea leaves in the form of public opinion polls and had decided that public attitudes had shifted sufficiently to make Obama's move an election-year plus rather than a minus.

Whether or not the cynics are right about Obama's motivation, it does appear that public attitudes increasingly support the right of same-sex couples to marry, according to a ConsumerAffairs sentiment analysis of about 180,000 postings on Facebook, Twitter and other social media over the last year.

Whether Obama is leading the trend or following along behind may be one of those questions that can't be definitively answered. However, it's clear that positive sentiments increased sharply in the last month, going from 52% negative last month to 14% positive in May.

Religious freedom

While the issue of same-sex marriage is generally seen as an individual rights issue -- one that often pits individuals not only against secular laws but also against many churches' teachings -- some religious leaders pointed out that it is also a matter of religious freedom.

“I appreciate not only this support for gay and lesbian couples but also the support for our right as a religious community to perform marraiges for our members as our faith guides us,” said the Rev. Mary Katherine Morn of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, Va., (UUCF) in a Facebook posting.

“As a minister fully authorized by my state to perform weddings, I do not believe it is appropriate for the government to tell me what I should do as a religious leader. I know some ministerial colleagues who would not want the state telling them they must perform gay and lesbian weddings. I agree with that. Just as the state should not tell me I cannot,” she said.

UUCF was one of the congregations represented last February as gay marriage supporters rallied at the Fairfax County Courthouse, where a same-sex couple had been denied a marriage license.

Rev. Kären Rasmussen and Barb Brehm, longtime Fairfax residents who are both retired Navy veterans and have been domestic partners for 26 years, had entered the courthouse and requested a marriage license from the Clerk’s office. According to law, their request was denied.

“It’s very hard to be rejected. After 26 years together, you think they’d say, ‘What’s the question?’ “ Brehm said.

Obama has now provided his answer to Brehm's question: "I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama said in an interview with Robin Roberts of ABC’s Good Morning America.

In the interview, Obama said that he had discussed the issue around the dinner table with his wife and daughters. He said he’d heard from service members who, even after the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, felt constrained because they aren’t allowed to get married. And in the end, the President said, he believes it’s important to “treat others the way you would want to be treated.”

Here's a question for you: Does having a retailer know when you're coming to their store sound creepy or helpful? Or, are you willing to be a bit creeped out for a decent deal? 

In an effort to combat the recent surge of customers using their mobile devices to comparison shop, DDR Corp., which owns 500 shopping malls throughout the United States and Brazil, has employed a new technology called "geofencing," where retailers text customers digital coupons when they're in close range of the store.

Another goal of retailers in using geofencing is to capture customers before they use their devices to compare shop, and to send deals that are extremely specific, like texting a customer about a sale on dress socks when they're already in the shoe department. Or sending the customer a coupon for sunglasses as the they're entering the store parking lot on a crisp sunny day.

DDR is using this new technology for a six-month trial period for 27 of its shopping centers, to gauge how effective the method will be in boosting sales and keeping consumers from "showrooming".

As ConsumerAffairs reported earlier in the month, showrooming is a growing trend where customers use brick-and-mortar stores to simply view an item they will eventually purchase online. Often they purchase the item online while still standing in the retailer's store.

Clicks to bricks

"How do we compete with all the clicks that occur in the industry?" questioned John Kokinchak, chief administrative officer at DDR. "We wanted to bring those clicks to the bricks."

DDR primarily owns outdoor shopping centers or strip malls, compared to the glass-elevator-type indoor-malls, where customers tend to visit multiple stores. When a customer goes to an outside shopping center they're usually there for one particular store, so DDR wants to catch the customer when they're in close range to alert them to deals at other stores in the mall.

The international shopping center owners have partnered with Placecast, the company which invented the geofencing marketing tool.

Placecast signed agreements with various cell carriers to see if consumers are within certain store perimeters to receive specific deals and coupons, which makes total sense as customers are receiving digital coupons more than ever.

According to Juniper Research, over 3.4 billion mobile coupons were used in 2011 around the world, confirming the need for companies like DDR to capture customers while they're on the premises.

"The question beyond trying to get a defensive scheme against showrooming, is how can these retailers capitalize on that mobile activity?" said Josh Marti, chief executive of technology company Point Inside. "What you have to do is engage with those customers in the physical domain."

The unseasonably mild winter most of us enjoyed is revealing its downside in a number of ways. One is the early arrival this year – and in increased numbers – of insect pests.

In Pennsylvania this week, health officials announced the earliest detection of a West Nile virus-carrying mosquito since testing began in 2000. The infected mosquito was found in Exeter Township, Berks County.

"The unseasonably warm weather in March caused the virus cycle to begin early this year," Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Mike Krancer said. "Our staff will continue to monitor mosquito populations and conduct spraying to reduce the threat to public health.”

Here come the pests

Pennsylvania is not alone in dealing with the problem. All types of insect pests – particularly mosquitoes – are showing up early because of the early end to winter weather.

West Nile is one of the main disease threats from mosquitoes. Although most people do not become ill when infected with West Nile virus, all are at risk. Older adults and those with compromised immune systems have the highest risk of becoming ill and developing severe complications.

The best defense against West Nile virus is to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water around homes, weeds, tall grass, shrubbery and discarded tires.

Here are some ways to reduce the mosquito population:

• Dispose of cans, buckets, plastic containers, ceramic pots or similar containers that hold water on your property.
• Properly dispose of discarded tires that can collect water. Stagnant water is where most mosquitoes breed.
• Drill holes in the bottom of outdoor recycling containers.
• Have roof gutters cleaned regularly, particularly if the leaves from surrounding trees have a tendency to block drains.
• Turn over plastic wading pools when not in use.
• Turn over wheelbarrows and don't let water stagnate in birdbaths.
• Aerate ornamental pools or stock them with fish.
• Clean and chlorinate swimming pools not in use and remove any water that may collect on pool covers.

When you spend time outdoors, consider wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants and socks, particularly when mosquitoes are most active at dawn and dusk, or in areas known for having large numbers of mosquitoes.

Use insect repellants according to the manufacturer's instructions. An effective repellant will contain DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Consult with a pediatrician or family physician if you have questions about the use of repellant on children, as repellant is not recommended for children under the age of two months.

There are those who think Amazon is making literature more widely accessible than ever, and there are those who think the online giant is craftily building an invincible monopoly that will let it rule the world of reading with an iron fist.

Whatever your point of view, the latest chapter in the unfolding saga finds Amazon adding all seven volumes of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series to its lending library in the U.S. You can take your pick of English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. If this sounds like a small thing, keep in mind that the Hogwarts epic is the all-time bestselling book series in history.  

Potter fans who subscribe to the Amazon Prime service will be able to check out e-book editions of the Potter series free starting June 19, on the same terms as other titles in the library. Prime members can check out one book per month. But don't despair, fast readers. Amazon has has lots of really cheap e-books, many for as little as $1.99.  Some of these titles are not exactly Chaucer but if you read them quickly enough, they're not too bad.

It doesn't hurt to mention that, unlike a bricks-and-mortar library, Amazon's e-library has an unlimited number of copies.  You don't have to put your name on a waiting list and wait for your chosen title to become available. Slow readers take note: there's no limit on how long you can keep a copy, although you can't check out an additional title until you turn in whatever you're plodding through at the moment.

Amazon tells us there are about 145,000 titles in its lending library, which is pretty impressive, considering that the nation's six largest publishers have refused to let their titles be included. There's been a lot of litigation and general back-and-forth over this. Basically, the publishers think -- apparently -- that making it cheap and easy to buy books will somehow decrease the reading public's appetite. 

Amazon's licensing agreement with Rowling's Pottermore publishing house amounts to a stinging rebuke to the U.S. publishers who are trying to hold back the tide.

Of course, nothing's entirely free. To be a Prime member costs $79 a year but besides free books a subscription gets you free shipping on many Amazon items, access to an extensive library of 17,000 movies and TV shows available via streaming video.

Sometimes shopping for a Mother's Day gift can be quite the challenging effort. Especially for the mom that's already bought everything that she likes and regularly uses. And the last thing you want to do is buy yet another bouquet of flowers or go to that same brunch place you've taken her year after year.

There are a bevy of smaller independent retailers that are offering many fine bargains this Mother's Day, and some of these places provide creative gifts that are outside the usual gift box.

Rocky Mountain Homesteader, which caters to the gardening enthusiast has just released a $20 off with free shipping on certain solar panel generators, with the promotional code ECO1800. If mom is the indoor type instead of the outdoor-back-yard-type-of-person, Revolution Rugs offers a 10 percent sale on first rug orders by entering the promo code NC10OFFB.

For the artsy matriarch, online retailers Afrik-Boutik offer 25 percent off all its items like, African oil paintings, handmade jewelry, and exotic looking sculptures and masks. Use coupon code MOTHERS2 to take advantage of this particular discount.

For those mothers who tend to be on the spiritual side of things, New Age Miracle Shop has a 10 percent sale on all orders above $25, and also include free shipping for orders over $100. Customers can purchase oils, bath salts, spiritual books, and meditation CD's at a discounted price. Use coupon code 8AJ9KZ for this offer.

If you would like to revert to more traditional Mother's Day gifts, you can buy her some high-end Dutch chocolate from ILOVEStroopWafels. It's offering 10 percent off of the popular Heart-Shaped Stroopwafel by using code MOM2012.

The clock may have run out on many of these items but next year will be here before you know it, so if any of this sounds good to you, hang onto it til then.

To all companies: If you want to be more successful attach your brand to a social cause.

That's the advice the strategy and communications company Cone would give, as it just released a report that states 80 percent of Americans are likely to switch brands if the company supports a social cause. In fact, a majority of consumers consider social causes more important than product price or quality when it comes to selecting an item.

Many companies have already learned this lesson, and have increased efforts to have their societal contributions publicized, but consumers don't seem to mind, as 88 percent of American consumers say it's acceptable for companies to use an issue or cause in their marketing campaign, according to the report.

The report also finds that 85 percent of consumers have a more positive image of a brand or product when it supports a cause that's close to the heart of the consumer, and over 278 million people in the United States want to know what a company is doing to contribute to a social issue. Whether brands are "sincere" is really irrelevant, the report found, just as long as they do something worthwhile.

Brands like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are usually linked to cause-branding, but today's consumers expect all industries to join the cause, and their buying power will inevitably force companies to comply.

No one escapes

The report shows that 81 percent of consumers believe the automotive and transportation industry should contribute to a cause, 77 percent feel the household, goods and furniture industry should help with a social issue, and 78 percent of customers want footwear companies to get involved. Not the typical industries you associate with getting their hands dirty when it comes to social injustices.

But at the end of it all, it's all about the customer right? Companies must make them happy, and it goes far beyond simply providing good product. Also, the more successful and the bigger business presence a company has, the higher the expectation is for it to make some sort of positive social change.

The report also shows that 91 percent of consumers want companies to join a cause in the very communities where they do business. And 89 percent expect a company to choose an issue that can have the most social and environmental impact.

Socially conscious

One conclusion to draw from the report is how socially conscious today's consumer is, and how influential they are in forcing companies to be socially conscious. But it works both ways, as the report also shows that the company's involvement with a cause influences the consumer to give back even more. Advocacy, volunteerism and philanthropy involvement are at an all-time high, according to the report.

With the consumer influencing the company to get more involved, and the company influencing the consumer, maybe some of the global holes and societal cracks will actually get repaired one day.

In this time of high unemployment, corporate executives have complained that they can't find good help. It turns out they aren't the only ones with that complaint.

A poll by the Red Cross finds that in the past 24 months, 55 percent of parents surveyed decided to stay home because they couldn't find a babysitter.

What's behind the babysitter shortage? It isn't really a shortage, the Red Cross says. Its poll found that about 30 percent of parents said they have rejected potential babysitters because of safety concerns.

It's not that all the rejected babysitters are irresponsible, it's that today's parents are more demanding about skills and qualifications of the people taking care of their children.

Parents want to entrust their children to babysitters trained in first aid, CPR and childcare skills. If teenagers have these skills, more than 80 percent of parents say they are willing to pay them more.

Adult wanted

But if teens lack those skills, the survey shows parents seem to want an adult in charge. Eight in 10 parents have looked to adult relatives, while nearly half have relied on adult friends to watch their children.

"Parents want recommended sitters who have childcare training and CPR certification," said Tener Goodwin Veenema Ph.D., a member of the Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council. "As a mother of four, I know that there is more to choosing a babysitter than price or availability. The safety and welfare of our children is first and foremost."

About half of Americans rely on unpaid babysitters. When they do pay for a sitter, 24 percent of parents pay between $6 and $10 an hour for someone to watch their children. Ten percent pay between $11 and $15 an hour; while four percent pay between $16 and $20 an hour.

The Red Cross, of course, offers courses such as first aid, CPR and childcare, and obviously would like to enroll more teens in them. It even offers a babysitter certification program. Getting qualified, it says, just might make babysitting a potentially lucrative option for teens.

Are you sitting on a bunch of frequent flyer miles?  You're not alone.

InsideFlyer magazine reports there are 9.7 trillion unredeemed rewards miles given by airlines around the globe. Tom Gibson, CEO of AlphaFlightGuru.com, a company that helps travelers obtain flights by using their frequent flyer rewards points, said that people rarely cash in their points, although they're very knowledgeable on how to accumulate them.

"It's usually simple for people to accumulate rewards points through credit cards and airline loyalty programs. The real challenge comes in actually trying to redeem them," he said.

Consumers do love their frequent flyer programs, even if they don't cash in the rewards very often, according to a ConsumerAffairs sentiment analysis of about 44,000 comments posted on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

Our analysis found that positive sentiment peaked in the high travel months of December and April, perhaps reflecting the ebullience of travelers who actually managed to cash in some of their hard-won points.

According to the InsideFlyer report, eight percent of plane tickets that were issued by the most prominent U.S. airlines in 2011 came from credit card rewards points. After analyzing all of the airline's yearly filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, InsideFlyer revealed that Alaska Airlines had the highest amount of customers that purchased tickets with rewards points, at 8.9 percent.

American Airlines came in a close second at 8.8 percent, Southwest at 8.3 percent, rounded off by Delta and United, at 8.2 percent respectively.

On the lower side of the percentage scale was Hawaiian Airlines at 5.7 percent, US Airways at 4 percent and JetBlue at 2 percent.

Wonder why?

Gibson links the high amount of unredeemed points to the airlines' making it harder for customers to cash them in. He advises customers to be proactive when deciding to cash in their miles.

"If travel dates aren't firm, one of the best strategies for getting flights is to wait until three to seven days prior to departure. The airlines are usually able to figure out how many seats aren't going to be sold and will release them into the inventory for frequent flier travel, he said.

In a separate study conducted by Idea Works in 2011, it was learned that Southwest had the highest percentage (99.3 percent) when it came to its customers redeeming points. Delta's SkyMiles members only had a 27.1 percent chance of getting their desired flights, and 25.7 percent of US Airways Dividend Miles members had a chance of successfully redeeming their points.

Earlier this year ConsumerAffairs covered specific things that frequent flyer programs didn't want the consumer to know -- like raising the necessary mileage needed on your credit card to purchase another ticket, or by making an effort to keep the redemption amounts below a certain yearly percentage to turn more profit.

Gibson also stated that airline miles remain the top reward option for those with enough rewards points. American Airlines' AAdvantage program showed 167 billion rewards miles in 2011, and 65 percent of those miles came from credit card companies and other organizations, who buy miles in bulk to later dole them out to customers with sufficient points.

In addition, AAdvantage program members had 591 billion miles available for use. The questions remains though -- how many of those people will continue to get the short end of the rewards-point-stick? It certainly remains to be seen.

In the ongoing scuffle to be on top of the search engine hill, Microsoft's Bing is trying to compete with Google by making its site more interactive.

"Today we are taking a big step forward as we begin rolling out what is the most significant update to Bing since we launched three years ago," said the company in a prepared statement. "Over the coming weeks, we will be introducing a brand new way to search designed to help you take action and interact with friends and experts without compromising the core search experience.

If you can't beat them join them, right? Which appears to be Bing's mentality as it's borrowing Google's idea of paying attention to your connections and web browsing patters to further personalize your search.

The fact that both Facebook and Google have mastered the ability to allow users to experience things in real time "presents an unprecedented opportunity to rethink how search should work," stated the post. "Suddenly an index of documents that does not embrace these changes is insufficient."

Contrarian view

On the other hand, there are those who would prefer that their search engine give them "just the facts," without coloring the results based on previous searches, location, etc. Enter DuckDuckGo, which is becoming the Little Engine That Could in the search world.

DDG has gone from from about 200,000 searches a day last year at this time to nearly 1.6 million today, according to SearchEngineLand, at least partly because it does not track its users' preferences, habits and location. 

Of course, DDG is merely a speck on Google and Microsoft's radars, as they continue their quest to personalize the search experience and deliver more targeted results to their advertisers.

Big loser

Last year, Microsoft lost a total of $2.6 billion from its online services, further driving its desire to compete with Google for search engine dominance. As reported earlier by Consumer Affairs, Bing launched a Daily Deals section, with 200,000 offers in 14,00 different cities, which further shows the upward trajectory the search company sees itself on.

Here is one of the major changes Bing users will soon notice:

When a user does a search for, let's say, "best mattresses to buy," and they've accessed their Facebook page through Bing, all of their Facebook friends who conducted similar searchers, or had some past Facebook comment on the matteress will appear on the screen. Then, one could either read their friends' opinions on the mattress, or simply reach out to them for advice.

"This is a fundamentally different way to look at search," said Qi Lu, president of Microsoft's online services division, in a interview with the media.

In October of 2010, Microsoft applied for a patent to obtain access to social media sites like Gawker and TMZ, to further determine a user's up-to-date trending patterns based on their views and comments. And Bing has already partnered with Facebook, as the two powerhouses revealed they would be joining forces back in 2010, for what was named "Social Search."

It will be very interesting to see what else Google has in its bag of tricks. Stay tuned, because this feels like the beginning stages of some intense back and fourth.