Current Events in October 2012

Stefano Foods of Charlotte, NC, is recalling approximately 3,744 pounds of a chicken quesadilla product because of misbranding and an undeclared allergen. The product contains isolated soy protein, a known allergen, which is not declared on the label.

The following product is subject to recall:

• 18-lb. cases, each containing 12, "QUESADILLA CHICK INS 12/24OZ," with an identifying case code of "F2829" and use by date of "03/31/2013."

The product being recalled bears the establishment number "EST. P-19140" inside the USDA mark of inspection. It was produced on Aug. 3, 2012, and shipped to a distributor in Georgia for further sale at retail locations.

The problem was discovered by the company during a routine internal audit and may have occurred as a result of a change in the chicken and spice mix used in the product. There are no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about a reaction should contact a healthcare provider.

Consumers with questions about the recall should contact the company's vice president of food safety, Katie Hanigan, at (712) 263-7383.  

Gov. Jerry Brown has declared an emergency as California has regained its unenviable title as the home of the most expensive gas in the 48 contiguous state, with an average price that hit a record $4.655 a gallon today (Sunday) -- 22 percent above the national average of $3.814.

Brown directed the state's Air Resources Board to immediately allow the  sale of cheaper and more available winter-blend gasoline. That could cut prices by 15 to 25 cents. Winter blend is detrimental to air quality during warm weather but the sky-high gas prices and worsening supply call for immediate action, Brown said.

"Gas prices in California have risen to their highest levels ever, with unacceptable cost impacts on consumers and small businesses," Brown said in a statement. "I am directing the Air Resources Board to immediately take whatever steps are necessary to allow an early transition to winter-blend gasoline.

As this chart from AAA shows, average gas prices have been going down around the country while shooting skyward in California.

Why has a gallon of gas suddenly become so precious? For the obvious reason -- there's not enough of it.  Refinery cutbacks have cut into the supply so that the whole state is, in effect, running on empty.

California is susceptible to gas shortages because it is relatively isolated from the rest of the country and, in particular, from the pipelines that move oil and gas around. Also, its huge population and far-flung suburbs add up to create an insatiable demand that's hard to meet even under ideal conditions.

Some independent gas stations have been running out of gas, as big suppliers begin rationing sales. Both Exxon Mobil and Valero say they have instituted rationing and Valero has stopped spot sales, selling only to its regular outlets

FDA investigators found Salmonella bacteria in Nature’s Deli Chicken Jerky Dog Treats at Kasel Associated Industries of Denver during a routine sampling inspection, the agency said today.

Once notified of the results, the company recalled and ceased distribution of its product.

The product comes in a clear plastic bag with the Nature's Deli logo containing 2.5 lbs chicken jerky marked with UPC bar code 647263800208. Kasel Industries is recalling lot number BEST BY 091913 DEN because this lot code tested positive through analysis by the FDA.

The FDA said the incident is unrelated to jerky pet treats from China that are associated with reports of illness in dogs and cats. 

Since 2007, there have been increasing numbers of illnesses in pets associated with the consumption of jerky pet treats. The majority of complaints involve chicken jerky (treats, tenders, and strips), but others include duck, sweet potato, and treats where chicken or duck jerky is wrapped around dried fruits, sweet potatoes, or yams.

The FDA said it has received approximately 2,200 reports of pet illnesses which may be related to consumption of the jerky treats. The majority of the complaints involve dogs, but cats also have been affected.

Over the past 18 months the reports have contained information on 360 canine deaths and one feline death. There does not appear to be a geographic pattern to the case reports. Cases have been reported from all 50 states and 6 Canadian provinces in the past 18 months.

ConsumerAffairs has also received thousands of reports of pet illnesses attributed by owners to food and treats. In the vast majority of cases, no definitive diagnosis is made.

"It has only been a couple of days since I have purchased a new bag of Nutro senior dog food," Tiffany of Austin, TX, posted on ConsumerAffairs earier this week. "My dog has diarrhea and has vomited. I actually feel somewhat lucky that I came across this site. As of today, he is no longer eating Nutro brand foods."

Although the FDA said it has been actively investigating the reports of illnesses, no definitive cause has been determined.

"The ongoing global investigation is complex, multifaceted and includes a wide variety of experts at the FDA including toxicologists, epidemiologists, veterinary researchers, forensic chemists, microbiologists, field investigators and senior agency officials," the agency said in a statement. 

86 million pounds

In the past 10 years, there has been a dramatic increase in importation of pet food from China. Human consumption of poultry in China largely consists of dark meat, leaving a large amount of light meat poultry products available for export.

From 2003, when China first approached the USDA about poultry exports, to 2011, the volume of pet food exports (regulated by the FDA) to the United States from China has grown 85-fold.

It is estimated that nearly 86 million pounds of pet food came from China in 2011. Pet treats, including jerky pet treats are currently considered the fastest growing segment in the pet food market. 

FDA said it is "concerned about any food found to contain Salmonella and will post information for the public on any new bacterial outbreak that has the potential to sicken animals and humans who handle potentially contaminated products." The agency cautions consumers to thoroughly wash their hands after having contact with pet products or any surfaces exposed to these products.

Healthy people infected with Salmonella may have some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Consumers exhibiting these symptoms should contact their healthcare providers.

Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has any of these signs, please contact your veterinarian.

Read more about pets

Well, it’s been a little over 8-years since Facebook launched its ubiquitous website, and on his profile page founder Mark Zuckerberg reported the company now has 1 billion users.

Although the site's public image has taken a hit with the whole disappointing IPO thing, Facebook is still pretty much king of the digital hill when it comes to being totally ingrained into our culture and everyday lives.

And through all the award-winning movies, the good and bad press, and his notoriously reserved nature being made fun of, it’s hard to remember that Zuckerberg is still only 28 years old. 

To successfully wrap our heads around 1 billion users is somewhat of a challenge, but the number is only a small part of the company’s success.

Also, the fact that Facebook has been involved in some pretty important world occurences like the ousting of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak , and the reshaping of how we communicate, discover things and meet people, it really shows how much of a global juggernaut Facebook remains.

A little emotional

In his profile post, Zuckerberg’s words seemed to have a splash of emotion as he thanked followers, while also letting them know that Facebook reached a billion users.

“This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month,” he wrote. “If you’re reading this: Thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you. Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life. I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too.”

Zuckerberg also said the company’s billion user mark was actually reached last month, while specifying the count isn’t an actual tally, it’s really an estimation.

“Doing data analytics at this scale is a big challenge, and one of the things you have to do is sample,” he said in a published interview. “So it’s funny we were all sitting around watching us get to a billion users but it was actually just a sample of the users. It’s like you’re not going to try to pull a billion rows from a database, so you’ll pull a sample and project out,” explained Zuckerberg.

To celebrate the billion user milestone Facebook released its first ever commercial for its site, and to be honest it comes across a little strange.

Kind of odd

The video that’s posted on the site’s homepage starts with an image of a wooden chair that’s suspended in midair in the middle of a forest. Upon first glance it looks interesting, but it gets a little too weird from there.

Somehow the company links chairs to Facebook, or Facebook users to chairs, it’s hard to tell. The whole promo comes across as unnecessarily philosophical and confusing.

Then the person in the commercial spews out a bunch of unrelated words, like “doorbells, airplanes, bridges,” and clumsily explains how these things are also like Facebook because they bring people together… huh?

All and all, the message of the commercial is incoherent and a bit too deep in meaning to be appreciated, but it’s safe to assume the bad commercial won’t hurt the company at all.

According to the social network tracking company Socialbakers, Facebook is still growing at massive speeds in Asian territories like Indonesia, where there has been a 7.6 million user increase since last month, which equates to a growth of 19.4 percent. India has also seen a significant increase in Facebook followers with a 5.91 percent user growth since last month.

Trying to connect

In a televised interview, Zuckerberg says that regardless of some of the controversy and negative press Facebook has received, he and the company have tunnel vision when it comes to not deviating from its initial goal of trying to connect people.

“The world is changing so quickly now with mobile stuff and different platforms emerging, that I think it’s more likely that the biggest competitor for us is someone that we haven’t heard of,” he said.

“What that means for us is that we should just really stay focused on what we’re doing. We have a pretty ambitious goal for the world. What we think will make the Web better. What we think will make all these businesses that integrate with us run more effectively. I think if we stay focused on doing that, that’s really the main thing that we need to do,” said Zuckerberg.

It seems that even with a bad commercial, Facebook is probably here to stay, which most people haven’t yet determined if that’s a good or bad thing.

Gasoline prices continued to drift lower again this week, except in one place -- California, where motorists are being shocked by surging prices and shortages.

The average price in California went from $4.13 a gallon a week ago to 4.23 on Wednesday, jumping again to $4.31 Thursday, then another 17 cents to $4.48 today. The state is suffering from a shortage of fuel that has caused some California stations to close their pumps.

Meanwhile, the national average price of self-serve regular today is $3.789 per gallon, compared with $3.787 last Friday, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey. That's nearly three cents lower than a month ago but almost 40 cents higher than the price a year ago.

The average price of diesel fuel today is $4.083 per gallon, versus $4.086 a week ago.

Sudden spike

California's price spike erupted suddenly this week when analysts say recent refinery problems and pipeline outages suddenly manifested themselves. A major Chevron refinery in Richmond, CA, caught fire during the summer and curtailed operations for several weeks.

Motorists in the San Francisco Bay area are paying an average of $4.596 a gallon today. In the Long Beach – Los Angeles Metro the average is $4.539. The surge in price has made California the most expensive state for gasoline, displacing perennial number one Hawaii for the first time in years.

Meanwhile, motorists in Illinois saw a big drop in prices at the pump. The average price today is $3.888, down from $3.968 a week ago. Prices are down nearly eight cents a gallon in Missouri and four cents in Texas.

The states with the most expensive gas prices this week are:

• California ($4.486)
• Hawaii ($4.414)
• Alaska ($4.171)
• Connecticut ($4.131)
• New York ($4.130)
• Washington ($4.053)
• Oregon ($4.026)
• Rhode Island ($3.976)
• Maine ($3.963)
• Vermont ($3.946)

The states with the lowest gas prices this week are:

• South Carolina ($3.485)
• Mississippi ($3.524)
• Texas ($3.527)
• Tennessee ($3.528)
• Alabama ($3.529)
• Missouri ($3.555)
• Louisiana ($3.571)
• Arkansas ($3.578)
• Georgia ($3.585)
• Virginia ($3.603)

What's safe for babies? Not formaldehyde, which is known to cause cancer in humans. And yet, a new report alleges that formaldehyde is present in more than half of a line of cleaning products that's promoted as being safe for babies.

BabyGanics describes its products as “so safe that you can even drink them” and in a video posted online, a company spokesman drinks from a bottle of a BabyGanics cleaner.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) says the stunt is "a dramatic illustration of why it is essential that makers of cleaning products fully disclose their ingredients on product labels."

In its Guide to Healthy Cleaning, EWG gave an "F" grade to a number of BabyGanics products because of potentially hazardous ingredients and poor labeling 

The BabyGanics line is sold by national retailers such as Babies R Us and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

After the company contacted EWG and protested its grades, it agreed to post a full ingredient list on its website. This list, in turn, revealed that more than half of its products contain a preservative called HHT (Hexahydro-1,3,5-tris(2-hydroxyethyl)-s-triazine), which releases formaldehyde during product use. As a result, those products will continue to be graded “F” on the EWG guide until their formulations are changed.

BabyGanics took issue with EWG's findings. "Scientific evidence shows that HHT is perfectly safe as it was used in the 6 BabyGanics cleaning products: it does not release formaldehyde," the company said in a statement to ConsumerAffairs

"Further, no BabyGanics product manufactured today contains HHT, and HHT has never been used in any of the 30 plus BabyGanics personal care products," BabyGanics said.  

The company said that, although "scientific evidence shows the ingredient is perfectly safe as it was used, BabyGanics had already moved before EWG’s comments to replace the preservative containing HHT in our surface-cleaning products."

The company said it replaced it with "an equally efficacious and safe preservative that may be more attractive to consumers."

Parents beware

“Consumers should be wary of products that release formaldehyde because it is a carcinogen that experts believe is unsafe even in small amounts,” said Johanna Congleton, a senior scientist at EWG. “It would be hard to find anyone, especially parents, who believe it’s acceptable for products marketed as safe to use around babies to contain a substance known to release a known human carcinogen.”

The BabyGanics revelation is a dramatic reminder that consumers cannot take companies’ labeling and marketing claims at face value.

“As a mother of two young children, I am shocked that companies don’t have to tell consumers what’s in their cleaning products,” said Heather White, EWG’s chief of staff and general counsel. “So many families buy these products because they think they are safe, when in fact they contain chemicals that could pose serious dangers, including cancer.

"My advice to consumers is simple – don’t buy products labeled only with generic terms like ‘surfactants’ or ‘preservatives.’ Companies need to tell us exactly what’s in the products they’re selling. We have a right to know what chemicals we’re bringing into our homes in the products we buy. And EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning was created to help consumers exercise that right.”

EWG’s guide has highlighted how many cleaning products contain toxic chemicals and how difficult it is for even careful consumers to find out exactly what’s in them. Many companies use generic names like “surfactants” and “mineral salts” to describe some of their ingredients. Current federal law does not require disclosure of ingredients on the vast majority of cleaning products.

EWG’s rating system and the information provided by the guide is challenging other companies to reevaluate what they put in their products and to detail that information on their product labels and on their web sites.

So did you hear how Mitt Romney thrashed President Obama in the first debate? Everybody agreed it was a real knock-out -- or did they? At least one study finds a lack of unanimity on who did well in the debate.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism  found that social media came to a much different initial verdict about the first presidential debate than did the early polls and the conventional press.

On both Twitter and Facebook, the conversation was much more critical of Mitt Romney than it was of Barack Obama. And when the criticism of one candidate and praise of another are combined, the conversation on Twitter leaned Obama's way. On Facebook it was something of a draw.

Only in blogs, which tended to offer more of a summary of the event than a moment-to-moment reaction, did the sentiment resemble that of instant polls or press analysis, which have tended to see Romney as having the better of the debate.

For both candidates in social media, however, praise of their performance in general was hard to come by.

Twitter

On Twitter, an examination of 5.9 million opinions posted from the beginning of the debate through the next morning finds more of the conversation leaned Obama's way (35%) than Romney's (22%). But those who favored Obama tweeted not so much to praise him as to criticize his opponent.

Of the entire conversation, 9% praised the president and 26% was critical of Romney. Of those favoring Romney, 7% praised him and 15% criticized Obama.

Not every tweet about the debate was an evaluation of candidate performance. Another 17% of the conversation involved people offering jokes with no clear opinion about either contender. A smaller component of the conversation, 9%, involved people sharing information or news. And 16% of the conversation talked about other things, such as evaluating the moderator, Jim Lehrer, or people tweeting that they were watching the debate-or not watching.

If the conversation that did not evaluate the candidates is removed from the tally, the Twitter numbers would show 61% leaning Obama's way and 39%, Romney's.

Facebook

On Facebook, the results were more evenly split. An analysis of 262,008 assertions on public Facebook posts during the same period found that 40% of the discussion leaned toward Obama compared with 36% toward Romney. Joke-telling was marginal. Information-sharing made up 8% of the conversation, and 17% was not about the candidates.

Here, too, the conversation favoring Obama tilted more toward criticism of Romney (30%) rather than praise for Obama (10%). The conversation favoring Romney was more even, with 17% praising him vs. 19% criticizing Obama.

Blogs

The blogosphere was the one component of social media that more aligned with the sentiment found in instant polls and in press coverage.

An analysis of 6,313 assertions in a broad sample of public blogs favored Romney by roughly 4 to 1. Fully 45% of that sentiment leaned Romney's way and 12% toward Obama. Here, almost all of the conversation for Obama was criticizing Romney. Of the conversation going Romney's way, more of it actually praised his performance (26%) than criticized the president's (18%).

One difference in the blog conversation, the analysis found, is that much of it came toward the end of the debate or later, and tended to involve more of a summary evaluation of the whole event rather than a reaction to a single exchange or moment.

Except for blogs, these findings about social media offer a contrast to what people generally saw in the immediate aftermath of the debate in polls or in mainstream media coverage.

 A CNN poll of debate watchers taken immediately after the debate found that 67% of registered voters thought Romney won the debate vs. 25% for President Barack Obama. A CBS poll of undecided voters who watched found 46% for Romney and 22% for Obama.

A look at political analysis in mainstream media found something similar. "Romney takes fight to Obama," read the headline of the Washington Post lead story. The Denver Post was more direct: "Round 1: Romney."

There's been a big decline in the number of high-schoolers who drink and drive. But, a lot of them are still doing it, too

The percentage of teens in high school (aged 16 and older) who drove when they had been drinking alcohol decreased by 54 percent between 1991 and 2011, according to a Vital Signs study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nine out of 10 say they did not drink and drive during 2011.

“We are moving in the right direction. Rates of teen drinking and driving have been cut in half in 20 years,” said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “But we must keep up the momentum -- one in 10 high school teens, aged 16 and older, drinks and drives each month, endangering themselves and others.”

For the study, CDC analyzed data from the 1991-2011 national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS). These national surveys asked high school students if they had driven a vehicle when they had been drinking alcohol one or more times during the 30 days before the survey; CDC researchers focused their analysis on students aged 16 and older.

Study findings

The study also found that:

• Teens were responsible for approximately 2.4 million episodes of drinking and driving a month in 2011; some engaged in the dangerous behavior more than once a month.
• High school boys ages 18 and older were most likely to drink and drive (18 percent), while 16-year-old high school girls were least likely (6 percent).
• Eighty-five percent of teens in high school who reported drinking and driving in the past month also reported binge drinking. For YRBS, binge drinking means five or more drinks during a short period of time.

“Teens learn from adults,” said Pamela S. Hyde, the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “That is why it is critically important that parents, teachers, coaches and all caring adults in a young person’s life talk with them early and often about the dangers of underage alcohol use as well as drinking and driving.”

Numerous factors

Many efforts have helped reduce teen drinking and driving. Some of the proven, effective strategies include the laws in place in every state that make it illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under age 21 and for those under age 21 to drive after drinking any alcohol, plus the graduated driver licensing systems in every state that allow teens to gain privileges, such as driving at night or driving with passengers, over time.

Parents also have a crucial role to play in keeping their teens safe on the road. They can model safe driving behavior and can consider using tools like parent-teen driving agreements with their teens. Safe driving habits for teens include never drinking and driving, following state GDL laws, and wearing a seat belt on every trip.

We're all familiar with robocalls -- those annoying computerized phone calls that come during dinner from telemarketers hustling everything from a new roof for your house to the latest flavor of political candidate.

In an effort to deal with the problem, the Federal Trade Commission is holding a Robocall Summit in Washington, DC, on October 18. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz will provide opening remarks, and will be joined at the event by experts in the fields of law enforcement, telemarketing and telecommunications.

During the last two years the FTC has stopped companies responsible for billions of robocalls. But the number of robocall complaints continues to rise as new technologies enable telemarketers to autodial thousands of phone calls every minute that display false or misleading caller ID information for an incredibly low cost. All telemarketing robocalls have been illegal since September 1, 2009, unless the recipient has opted in writing to receive them.

The summit

The Robocall Summit will explore innovations designed to trace robocalls, prevent wrongdoers from faking caller ID data, and stop unwanted calls. It will include a report on the current state of robocall technology and the industry, along with a discussion of the laws surrounding the use of robocalls, including how they are enforced, enforcement limitations, and what this means for consumers. The afternoon sessions will focus on developing solutions to the problem of illegal robocalls, including panels on caller ID spoofing and call authentication, data mining and anomaly detection, and call-blocking.

The Summit, which will be Webcast, will close with a special announcement by Bureau of Consumer Protection Director David Vladeck.

You can attend

The workshop is free and open to the public. It will be held at the FTC’s satellite conference center at 601 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Pre-registration is encouraged because seating is limited. To pre-register, send an email containing your name and organization to robocall_summit@ftc.gov.

Day-of registration for the conference will begin at 8:15 am on the 18th. Attendees should arrive at the FTC 30 minutes before the event, and bring a valid government issued photo ID. Security processing will include a metal detector and X-ray screening of all hand carried items.

FTC staff will live-tweet the Robocall Summit. The agency’s Twitter handle is @FTC. If you watch the Webcast and want to submit questions to participants online, tweet questions with the hashtag #FTCrobo.

You may also submit questions via the FTC’s Facebook page.

Agenda

As policymakers continue to debate how best to bring more broadband service to unserved rural areas of America, satellite providers say they deserve another look.

ViaSat Communications' Exede Internet service, which took over satellite provider WildBlue, launched a new satellite in January. HughesNet, its competitor, followed suit last month. Both companies now offer a service they say is far superior to what was offered in the past.

Explosive growth

When WildBlue began marketing satellite Internet service in October 2004, the Internet was in an explosive period of growth, but no one knew how quickly that would play out.

“We started with the idea that we were going to provide the most blazing-fast 1.5mps service the world had ever seen,” said Lisa Scalpone, VP Marketing for ViaSat.”That was the state-of-the-art of DSL at the time we conceived of all of this.”

WildBlue and its competitor Directway, later acquired by Hughes, were designed for an Internet that was changing by the day.

“It was good at first but then the Internet passed us by,” Scalpone said. “The speeds of cable and DSL blew by us, and we did didn't predict what the year-over-year growth in Internet traffic would be.”

Video?

And the idea that consumers would soon be watching video online hadn't even entered the equation. So the systems faced a few problems. Subscribers used more and more bandwidth yet the capacity of the satellites remained fixed.

“The satellites didn't have the capacity to handle the explosion in Internet traffic,” she said. “The second thing was the ground systems were not optimized to handle the complexity of the Web pages.”

When a user of a satellite Internet system clicked on a page, objects on the page -- things like graphics and photos -- loaded one at a time.

“When we designed the ground system a Web page might have five objects. By a couple of years ago a page might have 60 objects,” Scalpone said.

Viasat steps in

So ViaSat, WildBlue's major supplier, acquired the service and went to work designing a new satellite system that would address these issues.

“They designed the world's largest telecommunications satellite,” Scalpone said. “They got that it was a bandwidth issue and a ground systems issue.”

ViaSat, which added Exede as an Internet provider, developed software that accelerates and optimizes the complexity of web pages and designed a much bigger, faster satellite. The bigger satellite addresses the congestion issue while the software makes highly complex Webpages load faster.

A revolution

“This is revolutionary, not evolutionary,” Scalpone said. “This is not just an incremental step”

But what about the issue of “latency,” the delay caused by the distance the Webpage has to travel from space? You might be able to write new software and build a bigger, faster satellite but you really can't do anything about the speed of light.

“On the WildBlue system it felt like it took 20 seconds to open a Webpage, Scalpone concedes. “But that wasn't really about latency, it was just congestion. Those satellites empty would have popped the pages just as well. But because it appeared as this grinding, serial downloading of objects, people associated that with latency.”

Half-second delay

The latency, or delay on the new system, she says, is a half-second. Scalpone says the service has the feel of a wired service and you don't notice the difference going from your office to your home. She says you don't notice it watching video and you can even use VoIP, something not practical with the old system.

Both Exede and Hughes offer packages starting at $50 a month for 12 mbs download and 3 mps upload. Plans are fixed -- just like cellphone data plans -- because satellite capacity is fixed. Exede has just increased its base data plan from 7.5 GB per month to 10 GB per month without increasing the price.

“We are not going to be the optimal service for the heaviest user, but for a user that is typical to slightly more, we want to target that group,” Scalpone said.

And while they certainly hope rural consumers give them another chance, Scalpone says the company is not limiting itself. With its speed and price, she thinks the company can be competitive in urban and suburban markets as well.

Your car makes many sounds, from the door chime to the rev of its engine. Over time the sounds tend to blend into the background, just part of the road noise.

But listen closely. Is your car trying to tell you something? It might.

"It's important for car owners to listen and act accordingly when their vehicle speaks up," said Rich White, executive director of the Car Care Council, a group representing the aftermarket auto parts industry. "By checking out what your vehicle is saying, you can take care of the problem now and avoid a breakdown or more costly repairs later."

Even if you know little or nothing about engines, any driver who gets behind the wheel on a regular basis quickly learns what sounds are normal. Any noise that is new, different or suspicious may indicate a problem.

Brake sounds

For example, a high-pitched squeal that stops when pressing on the brake pedal is a sign that a vehicle's brakes should be inspected. The same goes for grinding that could be the result of worn brake pads that should be replaced.

Thumping that increases and decreases with the speed of the vehicle is probably a sign of tire trouble. The diagnosis may be a bubble in the sidewall or torn rubber that could lead to a blowout. The sooner you have it checked out the better.

Sounds under the hood can also indicate that your vehicle is in need of attention. If you hear an unusual hissing sound, it may be caused by a disconnected or cracked vacuum hose. A squealing noise while revving the engine could be due to a slipping drive belt. Inspection and repair will allow your vehicle to operate more safely and efficiently.

"The number of sounds a vehicle may make are endless, so when your car is trying to tell you something, it's important to be alert, listen carefully and take action," said White.

When it comes to toys and gadgets, each new generation of kids seem to have it better than the previous generation.

My generation’s toy of the moment was Big Wheels. You remember Big Wheels, right? The low to the ground, plastic tricycles that came in cool colors, that allowed one to skid around their neighborhood until they were big enough to get on an actual bicycle.

It seemed like just when my friends and I were too old to ride big wheels and became uninterested in them, the smaller kids were riding around in little battery powered cars and motorbikes.  I mean, we had to peddle to get around, and the newer generation of kids only had to step on an accelerator to whip around the neighborhood. It just wasn't fair.

It’s the same thing with electronic gadgets. For example, one generation was blown away by being able to play Pac-Man on their television sets --instead of at the arcade -- and the following generation thinks being limited to the TV for game playing is nothing but pure insanity.

Tablets for kids

Well, today’s kids are definitely the best off when it comes to having access to some pretty cool toys, gizmos and forms of entertainment. For example, last month Toys “R” Us introduced the Tabeo, which is a tablet device pre-loaded with 50 apps that is supposed to both educate and entertain your child upon each use.

Priced at $149.99 the Tabeo comes with a built in parental control so kids are limited to what they're able to access on the Internet. However those controls can also be adjusted to suit older children who may be allowed to view other content.

The electronic device is supposed to serve as a child’s gateway into discovering the wonders of the Internet, while also being able to teach kids just how apps work. Designers at Toys “R” Us have also created the Tabeo App Store, which only has child-appropriate content so parents don’t have to sift through what’s suitable and what isn’t for their child.

“Over the past year, we’ve spent considerable time talking to parents and children to determine what features and functions they really want in a kids’ tablet, resulting in Tabeo, said Vice President and Divisional Merchandise Manager of Toys “R” Us Troy Peterson.

“We are proud that Tabeo offers robust and flexible parental control that can help protect children as they surf the Internet, and we are pleased to offer the Tabeo App Store, which features only kid-safe content carefully curated by the Toys “R” Us team,” he said in a statement.

Currently, the youth tablet is available for pre-order and will be in stores by October 21 and retailers expect it to be a big hit this Christmas shopping season. Upon purchase, the Tabeo is equipped with 20 games that are a combination of original titles and games that are already popular, like “Fruit Ninja, Tiki Golf, Angry Birds and other selections.

There are also apps that help your child with school subjects like math, science and English, as well as apps that can either start or nurture a new hobby like photography or cooking. The Tabeo can also be used like a Kindle, as kids can access a feature called iStorybooks that allows them to download a host of story books and other reading content.

And because designers know that kids may easily drop or mishandle the tablet, the Tabeo comes encased in a lime green rubber bumper, which is supposed to protect the device from breaks or cracks. The bumper also comes in other colors to choose from, and items like dock stations and extra cables are available for purchase.

Netflix for kids

But it doesn’t stop there when it comes to companies branching off to make adult-like products for children. The folks over at Netflix have just announced its new entertainment feature called “Just for Kids,” which allows children to navigate through rows and rows of kids TV shows and movies, based on their preferences.

So instead of videos being completely jumbled up with adult movies and shows, kids can roam freely in their own tailor-made section of the site.

By selecting the Just for Kids option in the top left hand corner of the Netflix app on iPads, parents and children can select from viewing categories such as superheroes, sing-alongs, and princesses, and options are organized in a very clear and bright manner so it’s extremely easy for kids to use. Netflix says the new feature will be ideal for those children ages-12 and under.

“We’re very excited to release the first mobile version of Netflix Just for Kids, said the Director of product innovation at Netflix, David Watson. “Kids love watching shows and movies on tablets and they intuitively know how to use Netflix Just for Kids on iPad.”

The Netflix feature can also be accessed on Macs, the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox, PlayStation 3, as well as Apple and Smart TVs and PCs.

Bankruptcy. Loose seats. Pilots who don't show up and who write up maintenance requests when they do. What else could go wrong? Well, you could lose a bid to keep your few remaining nonunionized employees from holding a representation election. 

That's what happened to American Airlines yesterday. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by a lower court judge who had halted a union election sought by about 10,000 nonunionized American employees.

The Communications Workers of America union had asked the National Mediation Board to investigate whether it could be certified to represent the airline's passenger-service employees, leading a federal agency to order a union representation election.

American then claimed that the Railway Labor Act bars the board from directing a union representation election unless the application is supported by at least 50 percent the employees and alleged that CWA's application to meet that standard.

The appeals court said the district court didn't have jurisdiction over the case.

CWA celebrates

CWA applauded the decision, noting that "those employees finally will have the opportunity to exercise their legal right to vote on union representation." Most of American's 65,000 employees are unionized.

"The same American Airlines executives who took the airline into bankruptcy with $4 billion in the bank, which now has grown to $ 8 billion, also spent millions trying to stop workers from exercising their democratic rights," the union said in a prepared statement.

“This was a big step towards being able to negotiate instead of having them dictate terms to us,” said Janet Elston, a veteran of 28 years as an American Airlines gate agent based at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in a statement on the CWA website. “It’s been grueling, it’s not easy, but it will be worth it once we have an election.”

Ted Tezino, who has worked for 11 years at American Airlines’ Southern Reservation Office, noted the bankruptcy has made their situation as employees clear;

“The company is not on our side, and it’s time to stand up for ourselves,” Tezino said.

The 10,000 passenger-service employees rejected union representation back in 1998 but things have changed since then. Buffeted by high fuel prices and intense competition from bulked-up Delta, United and US Airways, American is trying to emerge from bankruptcy while staving off a proposed merger with US Airways.

Delays, delays

The latest setback comes on the back of increasing flight delays and cancellations, the result of pilots filing an increasing number of maintenance issues. 

American's flight through the bankruptcy process has been bumpy, to say the least. Last month it sent out layoff warnings to more than 11,000 employees, who are being told only that they could lose their jobs -- not that they will. An American spokesman said actual layoffs will be less than half that number.

Last month members of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) at two American Airlines bargaining units voted to ratify new contract agreements which reduce the concessions demanded by AMR, the airline’s parent company, which has been in bankruptcy reorganization since November of 2011. One of the TWU units narrowly approved the package. The other accepted it by a 79 to 21 percent vote.

The Allied Pilots Association, meanwhile, has denied that it is engaging in any kind of job action when the number of last minute sick calls and maintenance reports sent American's flight schedule into a tailspin last month.

Lots of people think the world would be a better place if we all had to pay a few bucks before proclaiming our latest revelation, great idea or wry observation.

This is, of course, how life used to be. If you wanted to make a call, you put a quarter in the phone. If you wanted to write a letter to the editor, you had to put a stamp on an envelope and mail it. 

This is still the case for consumer brands. If they want to sell you a new car, tube of toothpaste or bucket of chicken, they need to buy advertising -- and lots of it -- to whet your appetite.

This all sounds pretty good to Facebook, where 900 million of us post our thoughts, such as they are, each day -- completely free of charge.

Facebook proudly proclaims that it is "free and always will be" but it has recently latched onto the latest concept-of-the-day -- "freemium" service. The general idea of "freemium" is an optional add-on to an otherwise free service. Like Pandora -- free with ads, freemium without ads.

In Facebook's case, it's thinking that folks with something to say -- something they really really want everyone to see -- maybe they'd like to pony up $7 or so to put their hot news flash at the top of everyone's "news feed," as Facebook calls its collection of musings and boastful posturing.

This is not quite a done deal. Facebook says it's just testing the idea under the name Promoted Post. It's not yet showing up everywhere and different price points are being tried, so you may not be able to start showering Facebook with money just yet.

Speaking as one who for decades has been a struggling publisher in one venue or another, this is a great idea. I would add only an algorithm that  automatically increases the charge for posters using certain words that indicate the writer is of the tin-foil hat persuasion or one who dozed peacefully during spelling class. Perhaps photos of kittens should also carry a premium -- ooops, sorry, freemium -- charge. 

And, of course, postings praising articles here woud be free 

The operator of fan websites for music stars Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it illegally collected personal information from children under 13 without their parents’ consent. That's a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged that the website operator, Artist Arena, a division of Warner Music Group, violated COPPA, which requires that website operators notify parents and obtain their consent before they collect, use or disclose personal information from children under 13.  Besides a $1 million penalty, the company will be required to delete all of the information collected in violation of COPPA.

“Marketers need to know that even a bad case of Bieber Fever doesn’t excuse their legal obligation to get parental consent before collecting personal information from children,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz.  “The FTC is in the process of updating the COPPA Rule to ensure that it continues to protect kids growing up in the digital age.”

According to the FTC, Artist Arena operated fan websites such as www.RihannaNow.com, www.DemiLovatoFanClub.net, www.BeiberFever.com, and www.SelenaGomez.com where children were able to register to join a fan club, create profiles and post on members’ walls. 

Children also provided personal information to subscribe to fan newsletters.  Artist Arena falsely claimed that it would not collect children’s personal information without prior parental consent and that it would not activate a child’s registration without parental consent, the FTC alleged.

According to the complaint, Artist Arena knowingly registered over 25,000 children under age 13 and collected and maintained personal information from almost 75,000 additional children who began, but did not complete the registration process. 

Chrysler is hoping the redesigned Dodge Dart -- considered by many to be an Alfa Romeo in disguise -- becomes a hot little ticket that peels out of showrooms as deftly as it zips around curves.

Giving the Dart a turbo boost is the news that it is among four new U.S. models to win the top crash rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an insurance industry group.

The Dart is the first model to dash into the U.S. market that's been jointly designed by Fiat and Chrysler. It is built on a platform shared with certain Alfa Romeo models and some auto enthusiasts are calling it the workingman's Alfa.

Other winners

Also winning the "Top Safety Pick" award this week were the Hyundai  crossover Santa Fe, the Lexus ES 350 midsize luxury sedan and the Subaru XV Crosstrek hatchback.

IIHS tested 180 vehices for the 2012 model year, awarding the Top Safety Pick designation to 132 of them. Normally, ratings of 2013 models would not be released until December but the manufacturers of these four models asked that they be reviewed early.

Apples have long been associated with good health. The old saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” came into being for a reason.

Now, a study funded in part by an apple industry group suggests the fruit can promote a particular kind of health – healthier arteries.

When people age they are at a higher risk of hardened arteries. The condition can be caused, in part, by a substance in the blood that interacts with LDL – the “bad” cholesterol – to harden the arteries.

In a study of healthy, middle-aged adults, consumption of just one apple a day for four weeks lowered levels of that substance by 40 percent. Taking capsules containing polyphenols, a type of antioxidant found in apples, had a similar, but not as large, effect.

Apples lowered cholesterol

The study found that apples lowered LDL levels. That's important because when LDL cholesterol interacts with free radicals to become oxidized, the cholesterol is more likely to promote inflammation and can cause tissue damage.

"When LDL becomes oxidized, it takes on a form that begins atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries," said lead researcher Robert DiSilvestro, professor of human nutrition at Ohio State University. "We got a tremendous effect against LDL being oxidized with just one apple a day for four weeks.”

The difference was similar to that found between people with normal coronary arteries versus those with coronary artery disease, he said.

There are other antioxidants that can help but DiSilvestro described daily apple consumption as significantly more effective at lowering oxidized LDL than other antioxidants he has studied, including the spice-based compound curcumin, green tea and tomato extract.

Not all antioxidants equal

“Not all antioxidants are created equal when it comes to this particular effect,” he said.

DiSilvestro said he stumbled across this finding while investigating another health food. A Turkish study led him to look at apple consumption as a way of increasing the amount of a specific antioxidant enzyme in the body. In the end, his team didn't find the same effect on the enzyme, but was surprised at the considerable influence the apples had on oxidized LDL.

For the study, half the group ate apples and the other half took a supplement containing polyphenols, a substance found in apples.

"We found the polyphenol extract did register a measurable effect, but not as strong as the straight apple,” DiSilvestro said. “That could either be because there are other things in the apple that could contribute to the effect, or, in some cases, these bioactive compounds seem to get absorbed better when they're consumed in foods."

Still, DiSilvestro said polyphenol extracts could be useful in some situations, "perhaps in higher doses than we used in the study, or for people who just never eat apples."

The study also found eating apples had some effects on antioxidants in saliva, which DiSilvestro says could have important implications for dental health.

The Federal Reserve's third round of Quantitative Easing (QE) appears to be having the desired effect on mortgage rates. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage (FRM), already at a record low, fell even further this week in two weekly surveys.

According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year FRM averaged 3.36 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending today. That's down from last week when it averaged 3.40 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.94 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 2.69 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.73 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.26 percent.

ARMs went up

But not all rates went down. The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage(ARM) averaged 2.72 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.71 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.96 percent.

"Fixed mortgage rates fell again this week to all-time record lows due to the mortgage securities purchases by the Federal Reserve and indicators of a weakening economy,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. “The final estimate of growth in Gross Domestic Product was revised down to 1.3 percent in the second quarter, representing the slowest growth in a year.”

The average rates tracked by Bankrate.com also reached record lows this week. The average 30-year FRM dipped to a record-low 3.52 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.44 discount and origination points.

The average 15-year FRM rate dropped to a record-low 2.84 percent while the jumbo 30-year fixed mortgage sank to another record of 4.16 percent. Adjustable mortgage rates fell to record lows, too, with the 5-year ARM slipping to 2.67 percent and the 7-year ARM to 2.82 percent on average.

Surge in refinancing

The historically low rates led to a surge in refinances last week. In some markets already strong mortgage activity got even stronger.

“I think the reduction in rates has definitely had a stimulative effect,” said Bruce Gordon, of Virginia Heritage Mortgage in Chantilly, VA, a Washington, DC, suburb. “Because of these lower rates people are refinancing and they’re buying homes.”

While Gordon has noticed an uptick in business since the Fed began its latest round of easing, he also notes that already low rates had increased the flow of customers.

“We had our best August ever and September was also very strong,” Gordon said.

The Federal Reserve plans to purchase $40 billion worth of mortgage bonds per month, so it is unlikely that mortgage rates will spike anytime soon. The last time mortgage rates were above 6 percent was Nov. 2008.