Current Events in September 2013

Labor Day marked the end of the summer driving season with the fourth highest Labor Day price on record, with a national average price for regular unleaded gasoline of $3.58 per gallon Friday, up a penny from a week ago, yet three cents less than a month ago and 30 cents less than a year ago.

However, the average price for motorists over the course of the summer ($3.58) was the third highest on record behind 2008 ($3.95) and 2011 ($3.65).

What happens next is the question now. While oil prices remain at lofty levels due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, retail gas prices have not moved markedly higher during this period.  

Upward pressure from higher oil prices has been largely offset by comfortable domestic gasoline supplies, demand that has lagged a year ago, and an Atlantic hurricane season that has, thus far, been very weak; for the first time in more than ten years there has been no Atlantic hurricane through the end of August and it is possible that this year may mark the latest date in the satellite era for a first hurricane to form.  

With this in mind, the potential remains for higher retail prices in the coming weeks and months should storms impact gasoline production and distribution.

“Gasoline prices usually drop with the end of the summer driving season, but it is impossible to say whether this will be a typical year given the potential risks facing the market,” said John B. Townsend, Manager of Public and Government Affairs AAA Mid-Atlantic.  “Escalating tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, possible U.S. action in Syria or a major hurricane could make it more expensive to buy gas, while a relatively calm month should send prices much lower. It is too soon to know how these factors might affect motorists in the coming weeks.”

If there is anyone who has not gotten into the streaming music business, it's hard to think who it is. Microsoft is the latest to take the plunge, announcing that its Xbox Music site today begins free streaming of its 30 million-song library.

Last October, Microsoft launched its Xbox Music service first on Windows 8 computers and tablets, then on the Xbox 360 and Windows phones.

But Microsoft has a long way to go if it wants to bump Spotify out of first place. It currently is thought to have fewer than 200,000 subscribers, compared to Spotify's more than 9 million.

The change announced today adds more devices to the Xbox universe, since the service will now be available on just about any kind of device that can connect to the Internet.

To hear it Microsoft tell it, it's the greatest thing since eifght-track tapes.

"Xbox Music combines the best of all music offerings with free streaming on the Web and on Windows 8 PCs and tablets, Internet radio, subscription (called Xbox Music Pass), and download-to-own options," Microsoft said in a press release. With today’s news, access to Xbox Music grows to include iOS and Android devices, as well as a free Web-based interface on computers. 

“Xbox Music now, more than ever, powers music experiences between Windows 8, Xbox, Windows Phone, and now iOS, Android and the Web,” said Jerry Johnson, general manager of Xbox Music. “We’re also excited to connect artists with their fans on the most anticipated consumer product of the year when Xbox One launches Nov. 22.”

Starting today, an Xbox Music Pass brings the catalog of music to iOS and Android devices. Consumers can get unlimited access to songs and artists with playback to their tablet, PC, phone and Xbox console for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.

KFC has had a long and profitable relationship with its bucket of fried chicken. And the McDonald's Happy Meal -- basically a burger in a box -- has been a big seller with kids. 

So why not a box of burgers -- a family-sized meal package?

McDonald's is testing the idea in Kansas City and calling it the Blitz Box. It contains two Quarter Pounders with cheese, two medium french fries, and 20 Chicken McNuggets, according to Burger Business.

All of this would set you back $14.99.

For now, McDonald's says there are no plans to expand beyond Kansas City, Mo., where the burger box is part of a promotion tied to the Kansas City Chiefs and the opening of the NFL season. It goes without saying, though, that if it's a blockbuster in KCMO, you can expect to see it elsewhere.

The box has been around in various guises since at least March 2010, when the "Dinner Box" was introduced in Australia. In 2011, the chain added a Mates Meal, which substituted chicken for burgers, Burger Business reported. In Malaysia, you can get a "Family Breakfast" and in the Czech Republic, it's a "McBox."

But Burger Business editor Scott Hume writes that while a box of chicken is a natural, it doesn't necessilary work that well for burgers. 

"Cold chicken is fine, but cold burgers are not," he writes. "But now the tight marketplace has convinced McDonald's to try it." 

McDonald's has had to cut back on its Dollar Menu as the price of beef has risen, he noted.

If there were things you could do to keep from dying of a stroke or heart attack, would you do them?

It's not a rhetorical question. Fortunately, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there are actions you can take.

A new CDC report says there were more than 200,000 preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke in the United States in 2010, with more than half the people dying under the age of 65.

The Vital Signs report looked at preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke defined as those that occurred in people under age 75 that could have been prevented by more effective public health measures, lifestyle changes or medical care.

Cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease and stroke, kill nearly 800,000 Americans each year; that's one in three deaths. However, the report notes that most cardiovascular disease can be managed or prevented in the first place by addressing risk factors.

Who is at risk?

While the number of preventable deaths has declined in people aged 65 to 74 years, it has remained unchanged in people under age 65. Men are more than twice as likely as women -- and blacks twice as likely as whites -- to die from preventable heart disease and stroke.

“Despite progress against heart disease and stroke, hundreds of thousands of Americans die each year from these preventable causes of death,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Many of the heart attacks and strokes that will kill people in the coming year could be prevented by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol and stopping smoking.”

The report pointed out these factors regarding about the risk of preventable death from heart disease and stroke:

• Age: Death rates in 2010 were highest among adults aged 65-74 years (401.5 per 100,000 population). But preventable deaths have declined faster in those aged 65–74 years compared with those under age 65.
• Race/ethnicity: Blacks are twice as likely -- and Hispanics are slightly less likely -- as whites to die from preventable heart disease and stroke.
• Sex: Avoidable deaths from heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure were higher among males (83.7 per 100,000) than females (39.6 per 100,000). Black men have the highest risk. Hispanic men are twice as likely as Hispanic women to die from preventable heart disease and stroke.
• Location: By state, avoidable deaths from cardiovascular disease ranged from a rate of 36.3 deaths per 100,000 population in Minnesota to 99.6 deaths per 100,000 in the District of Columbia. By county, the highest avoidable death rates in 2010 were concentrated primarily in the southern Appalachian region and much of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The lowest rates were in the West, Midwest, and Northeast regions.

Making progress

The overall rate of preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke went down nearly 30% between 2001 and 2010, with the declines varying by age. Lack of access to preventive screenings and early treatment for high blood pressure and high cholesterol could explain the differences among age groups.

CDC point out that through the Affordable Care Act, more people will have access to health coverage and preventive care, including young people and other medically underserved groups.

What to do

To save more lives from these preventable deaths, doctors, nurses, and other health care providers can encourage healthy habits at every patient visit, including not smoking, increasing physical activity, eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, and taking medicines as directed.

Providers should track patient progress on the ABCS of heart health -- aspirin when appropriate, blood pressure control, cholesterol management and smoking cessation.

Health care systems can adopt and use electronic health records to identify patients who smoke or who have high blood pressure or high cholesterol and help providers follow and support patient progress.

Communities and health departments can help by promoting healthier living spaces, including tobacco-free areas and safe walking areas. Local communities also can ensure access to healthy food options, including those with lower sodium.

If you are among the thousands who have recently quit smoking, you can thank Uncle Sam.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 1.6 million smokers attempted to quit because of the agency's “Tips From Former Smokers” national ad campaign. And, as a result of the 2012 campaign, CDC says more than 200,000 people actually kicked the habit.

And even better, the agency says researchers estimate more than 100,000 will likely quit smoking permanently. These results, CDC says,exceed the campaign’s original goals of 500,000 quit attempts and 50,000 successful quits.

“This is exciting news,” said said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Quitting can be hard and I congratulate and celebrate with former smokers -- this is the most important step you can take to a longer, healthier life.” Frieden says anyone who tried to quit should keep trying, adding, “it may take several attempts to succeed.’’

Smokers and nonsmokers surveyed

A study, published by the a medical journal, The Lancet, surveyed thousands of adult smokers and nonsmokers before and after the campaign. It found that millions of nonsmokers reported talking to friends and family about the dangers of smoking and referring smokers to quit services. Almost 80% of smokers and almost 75% of non-smokers recalled seeing at least one of the ads during the three-month campaign.

Calls to the quitline more than doubled during the campaign and visits to the website were more than five times higher than for the same 12-week period in 2011, according to a 2012 report.

“Hard-hitting campaigns like ‘Tips From Former Smokers’ are great investments in public health,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health, and lead author of the study. “This study shows that we save a year of life for less than $200. That makes it one of the most cost-effective prevention efforts.”

More to come

The Tips campaign, CDC contends, is an important counter to the more than $8 billion the tobacco industry spends annually to make cigarettes more attractive and more available. Spending on educational campaigns such as Tips, says the agency, can help to save more lives and reduce health care costs. The taxpayer-funded Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund paid for the $54 million Tips 2012 campaign. A second set of Tips ads aired earlier this year and plans are under way for a new set in 2014. CDC will release initial results of the 2013 ads later this year.

This coming January marks the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s Report on smoking and health, which concluded that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 1,200 people every day.  

Galant Food Company of San Leandro, Calif., is recalling approximately 1,650 pounds of fresh or frozen calzone products.

The products are formulated with an egg wash glaze that contains egg, an allergen not declared on the label. There have been no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The products subject to recall include:

• 10-ounce packages, in 7.5 pound cases, of “ENZO’S Italian Combo Calzone” bearing the establishment number “EST. 9014” inside the USDA mark of inspection on the label. Identifying case codes are: 7163, 7173, 7183, 7223, 7253, 8143, 8303 and 9043.
• 10-ounce packages, in 7.5 pound cases, of “ENZO’S Chicken Fajita Calzone” bearing the establishment number “P-9014” inside the USDA mark of inspection on the label. Identifying case codes are: 7163, 7173, 7183, 7223, 8133 and 9043.

The products were produced between July 16 and Sept. 4, 2013, and shipped to distributors, retail locations and possibly restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area.

The problem occurred because the wrong computer was connected to the label printer during the firm’s recent relocation.

Consumers with questions about the recall should contact Richard Fairchild, the company’s recall coordinator, at 415-552-5475.

“Three square meals a day,” the saying goes. But how many of us actually eat three meals a day? Specifically, how many of us eat breakfast every day?

In many households, mornings are a chaotic time. Kids have to get off to school and parents usually set off in different directions, sometimes facing long commutes to get to their jobs. Who has time for breakfast?

For decades nutritionists have called breakfast “the most important meal of the day” and that hasn't changed over the years.

Despite that, a recent survey conducted for the California Almond Board found 50% of women said they skip breakfast on busy mornings. Some said they don't eat because they just aren't hungry in the mornings.

Mood, weight, well-being

"Ditching breakfast can affect your mood, weight and well-being," said nutritionist Bonnie Taub-Dix, author of "Read It Before You Eat It." "Breakfast helps fill up our minds and bodies after we've gone without food for several hours while sleeping."

The American Diabetes Association has also weighed in on the issue of breakfast, pointing out it usually ends the longest period most people go without nourishment. If the last thing you eat is at 8 p.m. and then sleep to 7 a.m., that's eleven hours of fasting.

“Your body enters into a prolonged fasting state,” the association says in an article on its website. “It starts to believe that you won’t be eating any time soon. When you finally eat lunch, your body stores it as fat because it thinks, 'I’d better save this for later. I don’t know when the next meal will come.' That, of course, leads to weight gain. When you break the fast in the morning, on the other hand, your body can use that food to power you through the day.” 

Eat the right things

Nutritionists generally say that people who eat breakfast tend to eat healthier throughout the day. And eating the right things for breakfast can be just as important as eating the morning meal.

Eating a huge breakfast of eggs, sausage and pancakes – typical in the past – is not going to be helpful, unless you are preparing for a day of hard, manual labor, like plowing the back 40. Even then it probably isn't the best choice. Starting the day with a lot of calories probably means you'll consume a lot more before the sun sets.

Dr. Heather Leidy, a nutrition expert at the University of Missouri, says the best breakfasts are low in carbs and fat and high in protein and fiber. Fiber will fill you up and keep you from being hungry later on. And less is more. A healthy breakfast, she says, should really be no more than 500 calories.

Eating a healthy breakfast is particularly important for children and adults with chronic health conditions. According to Katherine Zeratsky, at the Mayo Clinic, it can also help people lose and control their weight. In addition to keeping you from getting hungry later in the day it will also boost your energy level. 

Healthy breakfast foods

What makes for a healthy breakfast? According to the John's Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, you should sample from the bread and grain, dairy and fruit or vegetable food groups. When you have little time for breakfast, have fruit, non-fat yogurt or granola bars on hand. 

You can also be creative. There's no law saying your have to consume traditional breakfast food first thing in the morning. If you have leftovers from a healthy dinner the night before and the mood strikes you, there's no reason you can't have warmed up salmon and vegetables for breakfast.

Cold pizza, on the other hand, is probably a bad idea.

Lots of things can make us fat -- too much food, too much sitting around and so forth. But researchers at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) say there's another factor, one you might not of: the microbes in your gut.

Working in mice transplanted with intestinal microbes from lean and obese twins, a new WUSTL study shows that altering the microbial mix prevents mice destined for obesity from gaining weight and fat or developing related metabolic problems linked to insulin resistance.

But there’s a caveat: Microbes associated with leanness can’t take up residence in mice with “obese” gut microbes unless the animals eat a healthy diet. The research is reported Sept. 6 in the journal Science.

“Eating a healthy diet encourages microbes associated with leanness to quickly become incorporated into the gut,” said senior author Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, director of the Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology at Washington University.

“But a diet high in saturated fat and low in fruits and vegetables thwarts the invasion of microbes associated with leanness. This is important as we look to develop next-generation probiotics as a treatment for obesity,” Gordon said.

While the research may lead to effective new treatments in the future, for now the advice remains the same: eat your vegetables and move around a little.

The study

The research involved identical and fraternal female human twin pairs, ranging in age from 21 to 32, in which one twin is obese and the other lean. This stark weight disparity occurs in about 6 percent of twins and is more common among fraternal twins than those who are identical.

As part of the study, the twins’ gut microbes (captured from fecal samples) were transferred into mice that had been raised in a previously microbe-free environment. Because mice naturally eat each other’s feces, the researchers had a chance to observe what happens when a mouse carrying a collection of gut microbes from an obese twin is housed with another mouse carrying gut microbes from the lean twin.

Do the mice transfer microbes to one another through their feces, the researchers asked. And if so, which microbes ultimately take over?

The answer depends on diet.

If the animals ate a healthy diet low in saturated fat and high in fruits and vegetables, microbes from the lean twin invaded the gut of the mouse with the obese twin’s microbes, preventing weight gain and the development of metabolic problems associated with insulin resistance. In people, insulin resistance is associated with significant weight gain and typically is the first sign of metabolic problems that eventually can lead to diabetes.

In 2009, a study by Gordon and his colleagues indicated that the collections of microbes in the guts of obese people lack the diversity and richness of people who are lean. This observation was confirmed by the new research.

“We think the lack of diversity leaves open niches – or jobs, if you will – that can be filled by microbes associated with leanness,” he said. “Our results underscore the strong interactions between gut microbes and diet and help illustrate how unhealthy diets select against gut microbes associated with leanness.”

A massive class action case against Google has survived, at least for now, a motion for dismissal by Google. The case concerns Google's policy of scanning every email sent to and from Gmail users so it can pick out keywords that are used to target advertising to its users.

The plaintiffs in the case argue that Google is violating federal wiretapping laws and California state privacy laws by reading the emails. Google, for its part, has challenged the legal standing of the two lead plaintiffs because they don't live in California and has claimed its electronic eavesdropping is legitimate.

But U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh seemed lukewarm to Google's arguments and warned the parties to be ready to go to trial in 2014, Courthouse News Service reported. 

Google lawyer Whitty Somvichian argued that the company's practice of scanning emails is used solely for its targeted advertising scheme and to enhance its other services.

"It's a legitimate business function," Somvichian argued at the Thursday hearing. "All users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing."

Emails aren't postcards

But plaintiffs' attorney Sean Rommel fired back, saying Google's practices benefit Google alone.

"Emails are not postcards, they're private transmissions protected by Congress," Rommel said. "Google reads every single email sent. Advertising is the greatest smokescreen in the modern era."

While Google claims it gives adequate notice of its policies to its users who must agree to its terms of service to open a Gmail account, Rommel noted that Google reads the messages of non-Gmail users who write to Gmail users.

Those non-Gmail users have never agreed to Google's terms of service, he noted.

"Every Gmail user gives Google a lifetime license to use every email received and sent," Rommel added. "That's astonishing and the scariest thing I've ever heard." according to the Courthouse News Service report.

Manufacturers of electronic cigarettes -- or e-cigs -- like to say the devices help smokers quit while also dissuading non-smokers from taking up the tobacco-smoking habit.

But data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest the claims may be a smokescreen. The percentage of U.S. middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, according to the findings from the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

The survey is likely to provide ammunition to critics who say the federal government is not moving quickly enough to regulate the e-cigs. In April, five U.S. Senators wrote to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, urging her agency to issue regulations for the devices. The letter was signed by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Il.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Oh.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.). 

The FDA has left no doubt it intends to regulate e-cigs. The only questions are when and how.

“These data show a dramatic rise in usage of e-cigarettes by youth, and this is cause for great concern as we don’t yet understand the long-term effects of these novel tobacco products,” said Mitch Zeller, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “These findings reinforce why the FDA intends to expand its authority over all tobacco products and establish a comprehensive and appropriate regulatory framework to reduce disease and death from tobacco use.”

Britian began regulating e-cigs in June, treating them as non-prescription medicine, allowing them to be sold widely by retailers but empowering the government to enforce quality and purity standards.  

The CDC survey found that the percentage of high school students who reported ever using an e-cigarette rose from 4.7 percent in 2011 to 10.0 percent in 2012. In the same time period, high school students using e-cigarettes within the past 30 days rose from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent.  Use also doubled among middle school students. 

Altogether, in 2012 more than 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide had tried e-cigarettes. 

Lifelong addiction

"The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.  "Nicotine is a highly addictive drug.  Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes."

The study also found that 76.3 percent of middle and high school students who used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days also smoked conventional cigarettes in the same period.

In addition, 1 in 5 middle school students who reported ever using e-cigarettes say they have never tried conventional cigarettes. This raises concern that there may be young people for whom e-cigarettes could be an entry point to use of conventional tobacco products, including cigarettes.  

“About 90 percent of all smokers begin smoking as teenagers,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health.  “We must keep our youth from experimenting or using any tobacco product. These dramatic increases suggest that developing strategies to prevent marketing, sales, and use of e-cigarettes among youth is critical.” 

No proof

Although some e-cigarettes have been marketed as smoking cessation aids, there is no conclusive scientific evidence that e-cigarettes promote successful long-term quitting, the FDA noted. However, there are proven cessation strategies and treatments, including counseling and FDA-approved cessation medications.

Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of dis­ease, dis­ability, and death in the United States, responsible for an estimated 443,000 deaths each year.  And for every one death, there are 20 people living with a smoking-related disease.  To quit smoking, free help is available at 1-800-QUIT NOW or www.cdc.gov/tips.

PayPal is upgrading its iPhone and Android apps today, making it easier to pay for purchases in stores. It's supposed to make it easier to use various stored accounts, like bank accounts and credit cards, to make purchases.

PayPal executives say that most mobile wallets -- like Google Wallet -- haven't taken off because they're simply too cumbersome, making it more convenient to pull out a credit card or just pay cash. 

That may still be true but PayPal has added or reshuffled several features that it thinks will make the app more popular. For one, it's now easier to send money to friends or pay for certain items iin stores. 

Users will also be able to place and pay for orders ahead in participating restaurants and shops like Jamba Juice, which was one of the first to test the new system. Special offers and coupons will also be more prominently feature, the company said.

PayPal is also making Bill Me Later a payment option.

OK, we've got streaming music and video from Netflix, Amazon and other providers. So why not streaming books?

Well, it might be kind of hard to read streaming text but you get the idea. A new start-up called Oyster is promoting an all-you-can-read service for $9.95 per month. It has an initial library of 100,000 books and unlike a bricks-and-mortar library, you don't have to wait if someone else is reading the title you want.

Taking a page from the snobbish Google-style rollout that gives first crack to those who are for some reason anointed, Oyster advises that the common rabble can't sign up yet. But Oyster promises that if you ask nicely, they'll let you know when you might be admitted.

At least that's what we think the site's home page says. It would take a mirror to read the text in the blue box, but perhaps that's a test to exclude those not deemed worthy of admission.

"We created Oyster to evolve the way people read and to create more of the special moments that only books can offer," Oyster's site advises, failing to mention it also apparently hopes to modify the accepted usage of "evolve," which has not previously been a transitive verb.

For now, the VIPs will have to read their books on iPhone although Oyster says it will have an iPad app this fall. No word on an app for Android. Too common, perhaps?

The nation's economy cranked out 169,000 jobs in August, falling short of the 177,000 forecast by analysts surveyed by Briefing.com. As it released the figures from last month, the Labor Department revised its July total sharply lower, from an initially reported 162,000 new jobs to just 104,000.

At the same time, the unemployment rate inched down 0.1% -- to 7.3%. A year ago, it stood at 8.1%. However, analysts say the August drop was not due to strengthening trends in the labor sector. Instead, it was the result of the labor force declining by 312,000 people in August. The number of people employed actually fell by 115,000.

The gains

Retail trade led the advance, adding 44,000 jobs in August for a total of 393,000 new jobs over the past 12 months. Job growth also occurred in clothing stores (+14,000), food and beverage stores (+12,000), general merchandise stores (+9,000), and electronics and appliance stores (+4,000).

Who's working

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.1%), adult women (6.3%), teenagers (22.7%), whites (6.4%), blacks (13.0%), Hispanics (9.3%) and Asians (5.1%) were little-changed in August.

The number of people out of work for 27 weeks or more (long-term unemployed) showed little change at 4.3 million. They make up 37.9% percent of the jobless population. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed has declined by 733,000.

The full August employment report is available on the Labor Department website.

Manning Equipment Inc. LLC is recalling 37 model year 2012 Ford F-350, F-450 and F-550 gasoline engined dual rear wheel chassis vehicles manufactured October 2011 through June 2012.

The tailpipe on the exhaust system does not extend out beyond the edge of the body, allowing heat to build up in rear curbside storage compartment, which could result in fire.

Manning Equipment has notified owners, and dealers will install tailpipe extensions free of charge. The recall has already begun.

Owners may contact Manning Equipment at 1-502-426-5210.

Honda is recalling 270 model year 2013 Pilot 2WD and 4WD vehicles and model year 2013 Odyssey vehicles.

During manufacturing of the engine piston, it is possible that the heat treatment process was not properly applied, resulting in the piston having an insufficient hardness level, making it more susceptible to premature wear. A worn piston may suddenly fail, causing the engine to stall, increasing the risk of a crash.

Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the engine short block free of charge. The recall is expected to begin September 16, 2013.

Owners may contact Honda at 1-800-999-1009. Honda's recall numbers are JB4 for the Odyssey and JB5 for the Pilot.

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., is recalling some 235,000 vehicles in two separate actions

The first involves approximately 133,000 MY 2006-2010 Highlander Hybrid and MY 2006-2008 Lexus RX 400h vehicles.

In the recalled Toyota Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX 400h vehicles, transistors within the hybrid system's inverter assembly can experience heat damage due to variations in characteristics of the transistors built in parallel circuits. Should this occur, various warning lights on the instrument panel will illuminate, and in most cases the vehicle will enter "limp home mode." In limited instances, the hybrid system will shut down and resulting in the vehicle stopping while the vehicle is being driven.

The second recall involves approximately 102,000 MY 2006-2011 Lexus IS 350, IS 350C, and GS 350 vehicles.

In these vehicles, bolts used to secure the variable valve timing control device can become loose, causing the vehicle to stop while being driven. Early warning for this condition can be an abnormal noise just after start-up.

Owners of vehicles subject to these recalls will receive a notification by first class mail.

Social media users compromise their privacy all the time. They post pictures while they are on vacation, for example, advertising the fact they aren't at home. They reveal other personal information that ought to be private.

But the social media infrastructure may also present some privacy problems. Chris Weidemann, a graduate student at the University of Southern California (USC), has focused his efforts on Twitter, finding that some Twitter users may be inadvertently revealing their location through updates on the social media channel.

“Really there are four ways a user can give away information,” Weidemann said in an interview. “The first, a user can geo-enable their tweets – meaning they include GPS coordinates. Roughly four to eight percent of all Tweets are geo-enabled - that's 30 million Tweets a day that have GPS coordinates associated with them. This provides accuracy down to the five to 50 foot level, depending on the mobile device the user is using and if they're indoors or outdoors.”

This vulnerability in compounded when a user with geo-enabled Tweets makes reference to a personally identifiable feature that provides additional metadata about the location. For example, someone might Tweet "I just got home from a long day and now I just want to watch TV." Weidemann says that could tell someone, should they want to know, where “home” is.

TMI

A third way users provide location data is when they simply broadcast too much information. For example, someone may Tweet they are meeting friends at a particular restaurant for dinner.

“A process known as natural language geo-coding is used on the text to try and derive location coordinates for these locations,” Weidemann said. “This can be taken one step further when you have a user who provides some geo-ebabled Tweets for location reference. For instance, if a user enables GPS sharing on one Tweet, but not the others, I can then use their known locations to narrow down the geo-coding search results for the Tweets without locations.”

The fourth way is far less risky, Weidemann concedes. It uses information gleaned from a public Twitter profile to determine what country and time zone a Tweeter is in.

As part of a research project, Weidemann and fellow researchers developed an application called Twitter2GIS, to analyze the metadata collected by Twitter, including details about the user's hometown, time zone and language. It was then processed by a software program, which mapped and analyzed the data, searching for trends.

Results

Here's what they found: during a one-week sampling period, some 20% of the Tweets they collected showed the user's location to an accuracy of street level or better. Many also revealed their physical location directly through active location monitoring or GPS coordinates.

An additional 2.2% of all Tweets – about 4.4 million a day – provided so-called "ambient" location data, where the user might not be aware that they are divulging their location.

"The downside is that mining this kind of information can also provide opportunities for criminal misuse of data," Weidemann said. "My intent is to educate social media users and inform the public about their privacy."

As a grad school project Weidemann has developed a site called geosocialfootprint.com to keep social media users informed on privacy issues.

Decreasing geo-social footprint

“Not only does the site help them visualize that risk in a map, but it also points out areas of concern, provides a basic risk assessment, and also tries to provide some dynamic suggestions on decreasing a geo-social footprint,” he said.

For Twitter users worried that they might be revealing too much information, the social media site provides some documentation on how to disable geo Tweets and instructions for deleting your old Tweets. 

In the meantime, Weidemann hopes social media users, include those active on Twitter, begin to think more about privacy and exercise more caution. There's a lot more information out there than you think.

“I think most people would be shocked at the results if they paid an investigator to collect information on themselves,” Weidemann said. “I have received feedback already from shocked users, and for now I'm doing nothing more than helping them visualize their Tweets.”

It's especially worrisome, he says, for teenagers and children who use social media. Not only do they open themselves up to location privacy matters but also general privacy concerns.

If anyone still doubts Americans are concerned about their privacy online, a new Pew Researcher Center study should dispel those doubts. The researchers found that nearly nine in 10 Web users try to remain anonymous online by clearing their cookies and browser histories, encrypting email or using proxy servers.

Pew also found that consumers frequently edit or delete things they've posted in the past, set their browser to disable cookies, avoid websites that asked for their real names and use fictitious names and email addresses.

The report also found that people are more concerned about the amount of data available about them today online than in the past. In July, 50% of Web users said they were concerned about how much information about them was online, up from 33% in September of 2009, Pew found.

Real problems

The researchers said consumers' fears are often based on problems they've experience because others stole their personal information or took advantage of their visibility online. 

It cited these examples:

• 21% of internet users have had an email or social networking account compromised or taken over by someone else without permission.
• 13% of internet users have experienced trouble in a relationship between them and a family member or a friend because of something the user posted online.
• 12% of internet users have been stalked or harassed online.
• 11% of internet users have had important personal information stolen such as their Social Security Number, credit card, or bank account information.
• 6% of internet users have been the victim of an online scam and lost money.
• 6% of internet users have had their reputation damaged because of something that happened online.
• 4% of internet users have been led into physical danger because of something that happened online.
• 1% of internet users have lost a job opportunity or educational opportunity because of something they posted online or someone posted about them.

Some 68% of internet users believe current laws are not good enough in protecting people’s privacy online and 24% believe current laws provide reasonable protections.

Concern is growing

Consumers' concerns about their privacy have been growing steadily in recent years. Pew found that 50% of those surveyed say they are worried about the amount of personal information about them that is online — a figure that has jumped from 33% who expressed such worry in 2009.  

Another study, this one conducted by advertising agency Omnicom's Annalect, also found consumers increasingly concerned. The study found 57% of web users in July were "concerned" or "very concerned" about their online privacy, up from 48% in June. The jump was attributed to the news that the NSA has been collecting metadata about U.S. citizens for years.

"People would like control over their information, saying in many cases it is very important to them that only they or the people they authorize should be given access to such things as the content of their emails, the people to whom they are sending emails, the place where they are when they are online, and the content of the files they download," the Pew researchers said.

Companies try to duck

The rising tide of consumer resistance, often bordering on outrage, doesn't seem to be making an impression on companies, which are trying to find ways to hide their surveillance activities rather than cutting back on them.

After conducting its study that found 57% of consumers concerned about their online privacy, Annalect, a market research company, said it would "continue to evolve how we measure and triangulate consumer consumption patterns."

Adam Gitlin, global managing director for digital analytics at Annalect's data group, told Online Media Daily his company was "looking at all possibilities" for tracking people without cookies.

Some industry executives have been talking about "device fingerprinting," a method of tracking people by keeping track of the characteristics associated with their computers. 

Everyone knows it pays to shop around for prescriptions and other pharamacy items. But while most of us may not think it's necessary to shop around different stores in the same chain, a new study finds that's not always true.

Walgreens shoppers could be paying too much depending on which location of the chain they choose, with stores in the same market offering the same products for up to 55 percent more, a new study finds.

The study of several markets throughout the country finds that price variation across Walgreens locations was up to five times higher than at Rite Aid and two-and-a-half times higher than CVS. 

The report, released by Change to Win (CtW) Retail Initiatives in partnership with the National Consumers League (NCL), compiles data on a basket of 25 items at 485 CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid locations in Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York City, and Orange County, California. 

“Certainly consumers expect different chains to offer different deals,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of NCL. “But price variation within a single chain is a wake-up call for consumers, who don’t tend to shop around and compare within a chain. This is a reminder that caveat emptor – let the buyer beware – applies even within the same chain, where prices may vary depending on where you’re shopping.”

All over the map 

The study found that Walgreens prices were "all over the map."

"Walgreens stores in a single market were up to five times more likely than a competitor to charge different prices for the same item.  This price variation was not limited to one or two items; researchers encountered storewide price differences at Walgreens at a rate several times higher than the other chains in most markets.

“Price variation isn’t fair to consumers, who need their dollars to stretch in a tough economy and deserve to get the best price available, regardless of which Walgreens they happen to walk into,” said Nell Geiser, Research Director of CtW Retail Initiatives.