Current Events in September 2014

Tom Wheeler thinks it’s time to sack the National Football League blackout rule. And as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, he may be just the guy who can do it.

Wheeler has scheduled a vote for Sept. 30 on a proposal to end the nearly 40-year-old rules, which were enacted back in 1975, prohibiting cable providers from airing a game that has been blacked out on the local television station because it was not sold out.

That's a situation that Wheeler says belongs in the era of fender skirts and buggy whips, when barely 40% of games sold out and gate receipts were the league's primary source of revenue.

"Last weekend, every single game was sold out. More significantly, pro football is now the most popular content on television," Wheeler said yesterday on his blog. "NFL games dominated last week’s ratings, and the Super Bowl has effectively become a national holiday. With the NFL’s incredible popularity, it’s not surprising that last year the League made $10 billion in revenue and only two games were blacked-out."

The NFL and major broadcasters are opposing Wheeler's proposal, arguing that it would jeopardize pro football on "free" TV, meaning over-the-air broadcasts. They say eliminating the rule would endanger stadium attendance and threaten local businesses. 

Wheeler's not buying that argument. 

“Clearly, the NFL no longer needs the government’s help to remain viable,” he said.

“To hear the NFL describe it, you would think that putting a game on CBS, NBC or Fox was a money-losing proposition instead of a highly profitable multibillion-dollar business,” he wrote in an op-ed in USA Today. “If the league truly has the best interest of millions of American fans at heart, they could simply commit to staying on network television in perpetuity.”

Your car has lasted for years but, with potential repair bills looming, you've decided you have to make a change. But do you trade one clunker for another?

Purchasing a new car may be out of the question. The average price on a current model car is more than $32,000. You're looking at a big down payment and a monthly payment the size of a small mortgage.

Even when money is tight there are a couple of ways to upgrade your wheels without breaking the bank. Which way works best for you -- or if either does -- will depend on your circumstances.

Cheap lease

The first option is finding a cheap lease, preferably one that doesn't require you to put any money down. This option works best if you don't have money for a down payment but you can carve out a couple hundred dollars in your monthly budget for a payment.

A cheap lease does not necessarily mean a cheap car. The way a lease works, you pay the difference between the new car price and the value of the vehicle at the end of the 3-year lease period.

That's why it's important to negotiate a competitive price for the car and what the dealer says it will be worth at the end of the lease. A car that tends to hold its value well will often produce a cheap lease.

For example, through November 3 you can lease a 2014 Honda Civic for $230 a month with no money down. Pay $2,499 up front and the monthly payment drops to $159.

Over the 36 months you'll pay the same either way -- it just depends on whether you want to pay as you go or pay upfront. The advantage is you get to drive a new car, with up-to-date technology and safety features, without the new car price.

The downside is you have to give it back in 3 years, and pay for any extra miles you put on it.

Quality used car

If leasing isn't for you, how about purchasing a late model used car? A 3-year old model is often a very good value. The initial depreciation has been paid by someone else but there's still a lot of life left in the vehicle.

But buying a late model used car will likely mean a hefty down payment and sizable monthly payment, just not as large as for a new car. So if you buy a used car, you need to make sure it will last many years before it has to be replaced.

The automotive website iSeeCars.com has done a study of models between 2 and 6 years old. To make the list, the models had to routinely give their owners more than 200,000 miles.

Durable cars selling at a discount

They also had to be a bargain. To make the list they had to be selling for at least 5% below market value.

The company found that 15-20% of all the cars making its top 10 list are priced at least 9% below market value.

“These substantial discounts are yet another indicator that, while our economy is recovering, sellers recognize that the best way to sell more cars is to offer them at a discount,” said Phong Ly, iSeeCars.com CEO.

What makes a car sell below its market value? Frankly, it's because it's not as trendy or popular as its competitors. Cars that go unloved by consumers tend to be underpriced, Ly says.

You pay for popularity

The range in the percentage of discounted cars seems to directly correlate with popularity. The vehicles on this list that are top sellers in their segment have a smaller percentage of deals, while those that are less popular with buyers have a larger percentage of discounted cars available.

Making the list of the longest-lasting vehicles are the Ford Explorer, Acura TL, Ford Taurus, Nissan Maxima, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ford F-150, Honda Civic and Honda Oddyssey.

iSeeCars.com says you'll find more good deals on a used Taurus or Maxima than you will an Acura or Honda.

50,000 miles is average

Most of the cars making the list are being sold with around 50,000 miles, but one car with exceptionally low mileage is the Toyota Camry, averaging just 39,648 miles on those cars priced at least 5% below market value.

It's also one of the most affordable cars on the list, averaging $16,303, at a savings of about 9.5% below market value.

“And with 17% of all Toyota Camry cars available for sale being priced at least 5% below market value, it should be relatively easy for consumers to find a good deal on a specific model that suits their tastes,” said Ly.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Postal Service announced plans to lower its prices for package and parcel (though not letter) delivery for its corporate clients, to compete with private package-delivery services such as FedEx or UPS.

Package and parcel delivery are the only areas where the post office actually has to compete for customers. Where letters and other forms of mail are concerned, the post office enjoys a near-monopoly thanks to a series of federal laws and regulations known as Private Express Statutes, which either make it completely illegal for private carriers to deliver any letters and other forms of mail, or legal only if the carriers charge prices considerably higher than what the USPS charges to deliver the same thing.

So if you're a customer who is unhappy with how the USPS handles your First Class mail, that's too bad; Private Express Statutes mean you can not take your business elsewhere because there is no “elsewhere” for you to take it to. This is particularly bad news for certain New York City residents in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood.

Safety hazard

The New York Daily News reported that the postal service has stopped household delivery in parts of that neighborhood, claiming that the mail slots in the houses' front doors are a “safety hazard,” according to a letter which USPS customer-service manager L. Howard sent to people living on 46th Street.

Neither the houses nor their mail slots are new; one resident has lived at the same address with the same mail slot since the 1970s and never had home mail delivery problems until now:

Necha Altman has lived on the street for 35 years, always getting the mail through a slot near the bottom of her door. She installed new mailboxes on the wall after receiving the letter, but that wasn’t good enough for the carrier, who wanted the boxes at street level to avoid her nine steps [leading from the street to her front door].

If nothing else, Necha Altman and her neighbors will surely appreciate knowing that in the future, if anyone tries to send them packages or parcels through the U.S. mail, they can enjoy this same non-existent level of service for a slightly lower price.

A new study finds that demographics and the core values of various age groups are combining to speed consumers' changing tastes in food, as fast-casual eateries increasingly displace fast food joints.

The 3,000-consumer study conducted by Brand Keys examined attitudes and behaviors of 1,000 consumers in each of three generational cohorts --– Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials.

"You only have to look at the same-store sales of brands like McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell to see the shift that's taking place," said Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys founder and president. "The declines reported by all three segments prove the loyalty shifts seen in our Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, with fast food brands rapidly losing loyalty and profits."

The survey conducted in the 3rd Quarter of 2014 identified the following trends influencing food choices:

Baby Boomers Want Better Service

Baby Boomers reported an 18% decrease in fast food restaurant visitation.

"Not surprisingly this group placed an extraordinarily high value on health and living well," noted Passikoff. "They can afford, what nearly a third of the sample (32%) called, 'quality food,' something that they attribute more to the fast casual restaurants like Panera and Chipotle than they do to the traditional fast food brands."

"The survey showed that Baby Boomers also expect better service, something traditional fast food chains have fallen down on in recent years. They're not as fast as they used to be." 

Gen X Looking for Value For Dollar

Gen Xers reported an 11% decrease in visitation to fast food restaurants, – the lowest decline in the three groups examined – but with an equal increase reported in visitation to fast-casuals.

"The Gen X group is more pragmatic about their decisions about eating out, so they seem to be more vulnerable to value positioning," said Passikoff. "But they're skeptical about brands too, and are looking not for price-value but value for dollar. They feel the fast-casuals offer that too, equal to and more often better, than the fast food brands."

Nearly 50% of this cohort reported that time was important to them so 'fast" has its advantages.. "But years of experience and process-engineering pretty much guarantee you don't have wait long at a Panera either," noted Passikoff.

Millennials Not Interested In "Dollar Food"

Millennials reported a 20% decrease in visits to fast food chains. Forty-two percent (42%) reported increased visits to fast-casual restaurants in the past year. "Millennials are, perhaps, our most sophisticated segment right now," said Passikoff. "They're the toughest to reach via traditional marketing à la McDonald's et al. And, they are the toughest group with whom to build loyalty."

When asked to characterize traditional fast food brands more than half of this group (53%) called it "dollar food," a reflection of the reliance of traditional fast food brands on the 'Dollar Menu' to boost sales. "You don't build brands or loyalty on the basis of price," said Passikoff. "That only works for commodities."

Virtually all this group (89%) reported looking for fast, casual food that they deemed tastier, healthier, and more customized, than fast food.

"There's an issue with this group regarding how they see value as well. They see fast-casual restaurants as offering better, more customizable options – and they're willing to pay more for them. And while it's true that digital and mobile behavior has changed – particularly for Millennials – more mobile apps and outreach isn't "going to change how they see the brand," noted Passikoff.

Brands diluted

"It's true that consumers in all cohorts have definite expectations about eating out, but a new McWrap isn't going to do it," said Passikoff. "The traditional fast food brands have tried to be all things to all customers and failed. Longer menus have just resulted in longer waits, but more significantly, a real dilution of the brand.

"Your brand may be all over, but you can't be all things. You really do have to stand for something in the mind of the consumer. Otherwise, loyalty for fast food brands is only going to move in one direction. Down."

If you've ever watched a sitcom, any sitcom, you probably remember the episode where Character 1 overheard Character 2 say something completely innocuous, which led to a hilarious misunderstanding because, out of context, C1 became convinced that C2 was up to no good.

Or maybe you remember the episode where the exact opposite happened: Character 1 said something serious and important, which Character 2 misunderstood and treated as a joke, which led to a hilarious misunderstanding possibly followed by some important life lessons.

The moral of that sitcom episode is: if you only hear a tiny snippet of a conversation, don't make any assumptions based on that snippet alone.

Unfortunately, it appears that whoever handles Twitter marketing for DiGiorno frozen pizza never learned that lesson, which led to a not-hilarious misunderstanding this week.

You had pizza

The Baltimore Ravens fired their former running back, Ray Rice, after security video emerged of Rice punching his then-fiancee in a casino elevator. The story has inspired several national discussions about the problem of domestic violence. One of those discussions, on Twitter, involved former victims of domestic violence sharing their stories under the respective hashtags #WhyILeft or #WhyIStayed.

On Monday evening, someone at DiGiorno's corporate Twitter account presumably noticed that #WhyIStayed was trending, and decided to join in the conversation before determining exactly what is was about, by tweeting a full-color marketing photograph of a pizza alongside the words “#WhyIStayed You had pizza.”

The tweet inspired instant outrage, and only stayed up for a few minutes before DiGiorno took it down. To the company's credit, it immediately took responsibility for the blunder and tweeted: “A million apologies. Did not read what the hashtag was about before posting.” The next day, DiGiorno tweeted: “We heard from many of you, and we know we disappointed you. We understand, and we apologize to everyone for this mistake.”

As of presstime, those two apologetic tweets remain the most recent ones on the DiGiorno feed @DiGiornoPizza.

And, in all fairness, the company handled its mistake as well as anyone possibly could have: it offered a prompt, straightforward apology rather than a typical corporate PR responsibility-avoiding non-apology of the “Mistakes were made, sorry if we offended anyone” variety.

The state of Illinois is taking a Kansas-based company and two of its Chicago area sales agents to court, charging that they scammed Illinois residents out of at least $80,000 for membership in a bogus travel club that failed to deliver on its promises of vacation destinations across the globe.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Global Connections of Overland Park, Kan., Madmol Inc., based in Crystal Lake, Ill., and GVN Illinois, based in Tinley Park, Ill.

According to the lawsuit, the companies operate a bogus travel club called Global Discovery Vacation Program. Madigan maintains the club scams as much as $8,000 in upfront payments and $398 annual fees from consumers for membership in the program that in reality provides no discounts and -- instead -- charges consumers even more money to book vacations.

Phony checks from phony companies

The Global Discovery Vacation Program is sold through direct mail solicitations and telemarketing calls that claim recipients have won a free prize or free roundtrip airfare. Many consumers reported receiving a fake check or letter made out to them from legitimate-sounding airlines, including “US Airlines” or “American Airways.”

When consumers contacted the company to claim their free prize and airfare, they learned they first had to attend a sales presentation for the Global Discovery Vacation Program. The presentation billed the program as an exclusive club, promising consumers access to hundreds of properties across the country and around the world for a discount.

“This operation has all the makings of a scam,” Madigan said. “Any time you are offered a ‘free’ prize or a supposed award, that’s a red flag. If you receive solicitations like this, your first and only move should be to throw it in the trash.”

The suit alleges consumers who signed up for the travel club had access to few of the promised vacation properties -- if any at all. The few consumers who were able to book a vacation found substandard conditions of the vacation properties, including reports of hotels infested with cockroaches and broken appliances.

The lawsuit seeks to ban the companies from operating in Illinois, provide full restitution to affected consumers and assess penalties based on violations of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

If you have Adobe Flash and/or Microsoft's Internet Explorer on your computer or mobile device, be warned: both companies have released security updates to fix major critical flaws. If you haven't updated these systems on your devices, do so at once.

In a security bulletin published yesterday (Sept. 9), Microsoft announced that its upgrade “resolves one publicly disclosed and thirty-six privately reported vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.”

Just how serious are these 37 vulnerabilities? Security blogger Brian Krebs pointed out that this most-recent update to Internet Explorer is “the only patch this month to earn Microsoft’s most-dire 'critical' label. A critical update wins that rating if the vulnerabilities fixed in the update could be exploited with little to no action on the part of users, save for perhaps visiting a hacked or malicious Web site with IE.”

In other words: this isn't a case where you can protect yourself by following such well-known online security rules as “Never click on an unfamiliar link” or “Don't download any file from an unknown source;” without the security fix, simply visiting a website is all it takes to make yourself vulnerable to dangerous malware.

Microsoft says the fix is necessary for all forms of Internet Explorer starting with IE6 all the way through to IE11. If your system is set up to allow automatic updating, the fix should go through automatically. However, if you do not allow automatic updates, this link will show you how to change your settings and allow them.

12 holes

As for the Adobe security update, it “only” involves plugging 12 different security holes. Adobe says any Macintosh or Windows users with Adobe Flash Player v. 15.0.0.152 should visit the Adobe Flash Player Download Center, or using the update mechanism within your own Adobe system. However, Krebs offers another option: “If you’d rather not be bothered with downloaders and software 'extras' like antivirus scanners, you’re probably best off getting the appropriate update for your operating system from this link.”

If you don't know which version of Adobe Flash you have, you can find out by checking this link.

If you use Windows, and also use anything other than Internet Explorer for web-browsing (such as Firefox, Chrome, or others), you might have to apply the Adobe patch twice: once in Windows and once in your browser.

More Adobe security patches are to be introduced at the beginning of next week: Adobe was originally going to release updates to Reader and Acrobat alongside the updates to Flash, but pushed the Reader and Acrobat update-releases back to Sept. 15, to deal with some unidentified “issues” it discovered while testing the original patches.

Most of us eat too much. But elderly people sometimes eat too little, which can have dire consequences for their survival, as a study by Australian researchers at Monash University has confirmed.

In fact, a simple question about appetite can provide important insights into old people’s general health that may help reduce their risk of dying, said Emeritus Professor Mark Wahlqvist in a study published in the journal Appetite.

“Appetite is generally regarded as one of the most important indicators of health,” Professor Wahlqvist said.

The urge to eat is often reduced in the elderly, with many afflicted by the “anorexia of aging.” Chewing difficulties, general deterioration or the side-effects of medication may have an adverse effect on appetite, as may psychological factors such as loneliness or depression. Family circumstances and other environmental factors may also play a role.

Risk of mortality

“Factors of this kind lead to poor appetite and related poor health,” Wahlqvist said. “We found that elderly people with fair or poor appetites had higher risks of mortality than those with good appetites.”

The study, based on data from more than 1,800 independently living Taiwanese over the age of 65, found that those who had poor appetites consumed a less diverse diet than others, with a consequently lower intake of energy, protein, vitamins and other nutrients.

Poor appetite does not directly bring about death: it’s the resulting poor diet that causes the harm.

“Knowledge of old people’s appetite therefore has considerable potential to be useful in both clinical and community settings, and should be part of an integrated approach to diet that underpins a healthy old age,” Wahlqvist said.

Mortgage applications have fallen for the first time in 4 weeks.

Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey show applications were down 7.2% during the week ending September 5, to the lowest level since December 2000.

The weekly results include an adjustment for the Labor Day holiday.

The Refinance Index plunged 11% from the previous week, to the lowest level since November 2008, taking the refinance share of mortgage activity down 2% -- to 55% of total applications

The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity fell to 7.5% of total applications from 7.8% the previous week.

Contract interest rates

• The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) posted its first increase in 4 weeks, rising 2 basis points -- from 4.25% to 4.27%, with points increasing to 0.25 from 0.24 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) fell to 4.15% from 4.22%, with points increasing to 0.23 from 0.19 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs backed by the FHA dipped 2 basis points 3.97%, with points rising to 0.08 from 0.03 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 15-year FRMs dropped to 3.44% from 3.48%, with points slipping to 0.28 from 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate was down from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs declined to 3.12% from 3.19%, with points unchanged at 0.45 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.

The news about the Home Depot customer-database hacking keeps getting worse: in addition to countless credit- and debit-card numbers, it looks like the hackers are managing to get people's personal identification numbers (PIN), too.

From an identity thief's perspective, this is a huge advantage, because a stolen credit-card number generally is only useful for buying merchandise, whereas a stolen debit card and PIN is sufficient to make actual cash withdrawals.

Meanwhile, from the perspective of an ordinary Home Depot customer whose data was compromised in the breach, this is fantastically bad news because you're at greatly increased risk of being personally liable for any money fraudulently withdrawn from your account — if your bank thinks “That withdrawal was made with your PIN, and you're the only person who knows it, so it must have been you who withdrew all that money.”

Security expert Brian Krebs, who first broke word of the hacking almost a week before Home Depot formally admitted it, reported yesterdaythat his sources at “multiple financial institutions” have noticed a steep increase in fraudulent withdrawals from customer accounts.

Changing PINs

For what it's worth, Home Depot says that no debit-card PINs were stolen in the data breach, and they're probably correct in saying this. The problem is that, while the thieves didn't get the actual PINs, they did get enough other customer data to call various banks and change them:

Countless banks in the United States let customers change their PINs with a simple telephone call, using an automated call-in system known as a Voice Response Unit (VRU). A large number of these VRU systems allow the caller to change their PIN provided they pass three out of five security checks. One is that the system checks to see if the call is coming from a phone number on file for that customer. It also requests the following four pieces of information:

-the 3-digit code (known as a card verification value or CVV/CV2) printed on the back of the debit card;
-the card’s expiration date;
-the customer’s date of birth;
-the last four digits of the customer’s Social Security number.

But apparently, at least some thieves had had success in changing PINs without calling from the customer's actual phone number. Krebs mentioned an unidentified bank in New England that lost more than $25,000 to PIN fraud at ATMs in Canada: “In this attack, the fraudsters were calling from disposable, prepaid Magic Jack telephone numbers, and they did not have the Cv2 for each card. But they were able to supply the other three data points.”

Another bank, this one on the West Coast, lost more than $300,000 in only two hours on Monday afternoon:

the bad guys called the customer service folks at the bank and provided the last four of each cardholder’s Social Security number, date of birth, and the expiration date on the card. And, as with the bank in New England, that was enough information for the bank to reset the customer’s PIN.

The fraud manager said the scammers in this case also told the customer service people they were traveling in Italy, which made two things possible: It raised the withdrawal limits on the debit cards and allowed thieves to withdraw $300,000 in cash from Italian ATMs in the span of less than 120 minutes.

The good news is that, obviously, such frauds would be easy to stop by simply requiring all five of the authentication points before allowing a PIN reset — as many banks have already hurriedly done in the past two days.

Of course, inevitably there will come a downside; a legitimate customer who actually is visiting Italy (or some other country) will legitimately need to reset their PIN and be unable to do so since they're not calling from their regular phone, perhaps. With current limits on both technology and human nature, it probably isn't possible to create any security system that's 100% failproof, let alone a security system that never, ever keeps people “out” who should be allowed “in.”

Tokenization to the rescue?

More security changes are sure to be on the horizon, though. Credit card companies this week announced plans to adopt a process called “tokenization:” instead of every card-accepting merchant (such as Home Depot) being entrusted with the security of all their customers' credit-card data, the credit card company keeps all this information, and the merchant merely sees a “token” good only for confirming your identity with the credit card company.

But even tokenization is still a form of what's called “knowledge-based authentication” which, as the name says, is authentication requiring certain knowledge (such as your birth date, Social Security and other account numbers, and so forth).

The downside of knowledge-based authentication is obvious to anyone who's noticed the near-constant stream of recent “hackers break into database” news stories: even presumably confidential knowledge can be stolen, and the past few years have made it equally obvious that the world's financial institutions can't afford to continue relying on security systems that assume you are the only person on Earth who could possibly know your middle name, SSN and DOB.

But it doesn't look like they'll continue relying on this much longer. Krebs also spoke to security experts who said that banks are starting to move away from VRUs requiring knowledge-based authentication to VRUs with more “robust” security strategies: most likely biometric identifiers including “voice printing.”

Living fingers

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Barclay's Bank in the United Kingdom is taking biometric identifiers a step further: last week, Barclay's announced a new anti-fraud initiative wherein clients can access their bank accounts by sticking their fingers into a special scanner that identifies — not even a person's fingerprints, but the pattern of the veins inside the fingertip. (The scanner is only supposed to work with fingers still attached to living human bodies.

The Barclay's finger-scanners are currently limited to corporate clients, not to everyday account holders; certainly, such technology (at least for now) is far more expensive than the voice-printing and phone-testing which, according to Krebs' sources, might soon be standard security features on American payment cards.

Meanwhile, if you're an ordinary credit- or debit-card holder who's used it to buy something from any American or Canadian Home Depot store since last April, you might want to contact your bank and make doubly sure nobody can change your PIN except you.

September is the month when Apple traditionally unveils its newest-generation iGadgets, and the offerings this time around include the iPhone6 and an iWatch or “smartwatch” (basically a smaller iPhone worn like a wristwatch).

However, the real buzz so far does not involve the gadgets themselves, but a standard feature both offer: the ability to not only make payments with your mobile device (as opposed to a credit or debit card), but to make payments that are supposedly more secure than traditional American credit card purchases, thanks to the process of “tokenization.”

On the other hand, privacy advocates understandably have qualms about the idea of tying yet another vital aspect of daily life (buying and paying for things you need or want) to a hackable and NSA-accessible device that already has the ability to monitor everyplace you go and overhear everything you say.

Apple already included a fingerprint scanner on last September's iPhone5S. As with all such innovations, it includes equal parts increased security and increased security risk: greater security, in the sense that any thief would find stealing and copying your fingerprint much more difficult than stealing and copying your Social Security number, bank-account information or other presumably “confidential” data about you, plus the increased security risk of yet more personal information about you for a thief to find after breaking into the secure database where it's stored.

(Not to mention that if or when this happens, you can always change your bank or credit card account numbers, and even get a new Social Security number if you're willing to put some money and effort into it – but changing your fingerprint is a completely different ballgame.)

Next big thing

That said, tokenization has nothing to do with fingerprints or biometric identity. Right now, tokenization appears on track to be the Next Big Thing in electronic-payment security; earlier this week, the Americn credit card industry announced plans to introduce tokenization to fight back against the epidemic of hackers breaking into corporate databases, filching customers' “confidential” financial information, and using those to steal enormous sums of money (last year's security breach at Target alone was estimated to cost financial institutions over $200 million in losses — as of last February. The amount may have increased since then.)

Basically, current American electronic payment systems work like this: you, the shopper, have a credit or debit card with a unique account number which (in theory) is only known by you. In practice, of course, that account number is known to you, your credit card company, and every single business, financial or government entity where you used your credit card to pay for something.

Eventually, at least one of those business, financial or government entities will get hacked, the hackers get your confidential information, and then they either use it to pay for their own spending spree, or sell it to an identity thief who then does the same thing.

Tokenization is supposed to simplify matters: when you use your credit card to buy merchandise, the merchant does not get your personal account information. Instead, the merchant gets a “token” – a long and unique string of numbers – and uses that token to verify your data with the credit card company before giving you (or the identity thief posing as you) the merchandise.

With tokenization, credit card companies still must protect against the risk of hackers breaking into their database, but that is much easier than our current system, where the companies must merely put their faith in the database security of every merchant who accepts their card.

The new Apple products with their mobile payment options are expected to do essentially the same thing while bypassing the credit card companies.

The mobile payment system has this in common with credit cards: they're not strictly the equivalent of cash, which anybody can collect and spend; you can only accept credit-card payments if you have made arrangements to do so with the credit card company. The same will hold true for Apple mobile payments, with the additional wrinkle that the number of businesses currently accepting Apple is far less than those who will take MasterCard, Visa or Discover. (Of course, if you buy anything in Apple retail stores, you can defnitely use your iPhone to pay for that. CVS and Walgreens have also agreed to accept Apple mobile payments.)

Though the number of businesses accepting mobile payments in general is almost certain to increase. Apple's is not the first non-credit-card mobile payment system: Google Wallet and Softcard have already pioneered the field.

Gasoline prices continue to drift lower in most areas of the country, an unusual experience for most drivers.

According to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey, the national average price of self-serve regular is around $3.43 a gallon – 14 cents lower than at this time last year. What's going on?

The biggest reason pump prices are on the decline has to do with the price of crude oil. In spite of all kinds of turmoil in the Middle East and sanctions against Russia, the price of oil has gone steadily lower over the summer.

International oil prices started with seek below $100 a barrel for the first time in more than a year. The price of U.S.-produced oil is even lower.

In addition to cheaper oil, four other major factors are combining to bring down the retail price of gasoline. We're using less, we're producing more, our money goes farther and seasonal factors are kicking in at just the right time.

Falling demand

Since the Great Recession, Americans have been using less gasoline. At first it was attributed to the weakness of the economy, but as the economy has slowly recovered, consumers still aren't using as much gasoline as before.

Reduced demand – in part because of more efficient cars and trucks – appears to be not just a response to an economic calamity but part of a long-term trend. The averagefuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in August was at a record high of 25.8 mpg -- up 0.2 mpg from the value in July.Vehicle fuel economy is up 5.7 mpg since October 2007.

Thanks in large part to more efficient cars, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects gasoline consumption will be less in 2015 than it will be this year.

Shale revolution

Meanwhile, the U.S. is swimming in oil, thanks to the shale revolution. U.S. producers continue to find and refine more oil, reducing the need to import more expensive Brent crude oil. With the U.S. buying less Brent, that creates more slack in that market – perhaps one reason Brent prices dipped below $100 this week.

With plenty of oil at its disposal, U.S. refineries are operating at about 93% capacity, maintaining about a 23-day supply of gasoline at all times. Throughout August, the U.S. had gasoline stockpiles of between 210 million and 213 million barrels.

Strong dollar

A third factor leading to lower gasoline prices – indirectly at least – is a strengthening U.S. dollar. Since oil is priced in dollars, the more valuable the currency the lower the price of the things it will buy.

While a strong dollar hurts American exports, since U.S. products will cost more in foreign markets, it helps consumers who buy imported products, like oil. The Dollar Index, meanwhile, is sitting near its highest levels of the year after a big run-up over the summer.

Lower costs

Finally, the seasonal switch from summer blend gasoline to winter blend is providing some relief at the gas pump. Producing a winter grade gasoline costs less than producing the fuel we use in summer. So the price falls.

Because of this seasonal factor, AAA expects the national price of gasoline could drop as much as another 20 cents per gallon by the end of October.

“The big crunch in summer travel is done and most of us can look forward to lower gas prices during the next few months,” said Avery Ash, AAA spokesman. “If we can get through September without any major refinery or overseas problems, we should see more gas stations drop below $3.00 per gallon this fall.”

Enjoy it while it lasts.

This is probably not the day to ask Jeff Bezos how everything is going. It is, after all, the day that Amazon has cut the price of its Fire smartphone to 99 cents from its original price of $199. 

Meanwhile, down the Coast a bit, Apple's latest product release -- the iPhone 6. which is, after all, an awful lot like the iPhone 5 -- is being treated with the adulation, bluster and hype once reserved for space shots and other marvels. 

When Amazon introduced the Fire Phone, it confidently expected to sell between 2 and 3 million phones by the end of this year, analysts said. To put that in perspective, that's about how many iPhones Apple sells each week. Not a really lofty goal, in other words.

Whether it has come close to hitting those numbers isn't known and Amazon's not saying. Which tells you something right there.

Wounded drone

The Fire was supposed to set the world ablaze by making it super easy to order stuff. Just point the phone at a box of cereal, hit the button and -- whoosh -- your order would be placed and a nice fresh box of Cheerios dispatched to your domicile. 

No doubt this sounded great in the marketing meetings but it landed with something of a thud, sort of like a wounded delivery drone making a hard landing.

So will the phone sell at its new 99-cent price? Well, considering that it comes with a year of Amazon Prime, which normally costs up to $99, you could throw the phone away and still come out ahead.

The only fly in that ointment is that so many consumers -- again, no one knows quite how many -- already have Prime, which cuts down the universe of qualified prospects by a rather significant margin.  

At least Amazon was able to get prime advertising space to promote the Fire sale in Bezos' Washington Post this morning. 

Ebay's PayPal says it will begin accepting bitcoins, a major endorsement of the fledgling virtual currency system. With 152 million registered PayPal users and the world's biggest Web martketplace, Ebay's entry could spur wider use and acceptance of bitcoin by consumers and businesses. 

It could also make Ebay a big transactional player in such fast-growing businesses as Uber and Airbnb, which use Ebay's Braintree as their mobile payment processor. Ebay acquired Braintree last year to expand its mobile-transactions business.

Tens of thousands of PayPal merchants used Braintree as their payment processor, potentially enabling them to accept bitcoin payments for everything from a $2 cup of coffee to an $895 pair of Paul Andrew boots at Neiman Marcus.

Dish Networks, Overstock and Expedia also accept the virtual currency, as do 63,000 smaller businesses. There are estimated to be about 5 million digital "wallets" currently in use. Although an individual could have more than one wallet, the number of wallets is generally considered to translate roughly to the approximate number of users worldwide.

Imaginary currency

Bitcoins are "imaginary" units of currency that exist in online public ledgers that are kept confidential through cryptography. Governments, which are accustomed to having exclusive rights to print money, are somewhat dismayed by the prospect of a global currency that is completely beyond their control but so far have done little to impede its growth.

It's relatively easy for consumers to set up a bitcoin account at sites such as Blockchain and Coinbase. But consumers should be aware that there are no protections similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and no help is available for consumers who lose their virtual funds.

Most bitcoin wallets are linked to consumers' bank accounts and it's also wise to be aware that if a consumer loses control of his virtual wallet, evil-doers could clean out the connected bank account.

There's also the little matter of volatility. Bitcoin prices have swung from more than $900 to as low as $341 this year. Today's price is $465.77. 

Detroit's bankruptcy has focused attention on the financial problems many cities face. Their costs continue to rise but their tax revenue simply can't keep up.

The collapse of the real estate market is one factor. Municipalities get a lot of their money from property taxes. Since the tax is based on the value of the property, it does down when the value of the property goes down.

And as every homeowner knows, the value of property has gone down over the last 5 years.

But there could be another threat to cities in the next few years that would compound those revenue problems. It has to do with demographics.

In recent years cities have enjoyed new popularity as young people have moved in, taking advantage of lower property values and a more vibrant night life. But young people, at the start of their careers, don't make and spend as much money as their parents' generation – the Baby Boomers.

Moving, and taking their money

When the Boomers retire and no longer need to live in the city or its nearby suburbs, they could move, taking their money with them. That's what could well happen in the nation's largest city, according to AARP New York.

AARP estimates that Boomers living in the state of New York would contribute $179 billion to the state's economy if they remained in New York after they retired. But in a new report, the association found 60% of Boomers are thinking about leaving the state after they stop working.

Politicians and policymakers, the group maintains, should do what they can to keep this age group from relocating.

"New York State's 50-plus are a major force both at the ballot box and in the local and state economy – but many are worried about their futures here, and finances and affordability are major factors for them," said Beth Finkel, State Director for AARP in New York State. "We are working with lawmakers to help identify solutions to New York's looming billion-dollar Baby Boomer flight problem and tackle some of the key issues of concern to the overall 50-plus population."

Longevity economy

There's a name for the money older Americans spend and that which is spent providing services for them. AARP calls it the “Longevity Economy” and in New York, it's huge.

According to AARP estimates, it's $600 billion, supporting 53% of the state's jobs, 48% of its employee compensation and 44% of all state taxes.

Why do Boomers say they plan to move after retirement? The answers are not surprising and not that different from what seniors living in other urban states might say.

Worried about housing

Forty percent say they have a concern about housing costs. Many have significant equity in homes that can be cashed out for the purchase of a less expensive home in a less-populous state.

Fifty-six percent said they are very concerned about property taxes. Taxes tend to be high in New York and other urban states. They're a lot lower in states like South Carolina, which is experienced a major of influx of Boomers from New York and the Washington, D.C., area.

Large majorities of fleeing Boomers say they are looking for improvements in health care, housing, transportation and jobs for older residents.

Many retirees, after all, want to keep working after they retire. But instead of working at the job that has paid the bills all these years, they may be looking for something a bit more fulfilling.

AARP says states have the best chance of keeping their seniors from taking their money and leaving if they make staying put more worthwhile.  

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue an opinion on whether phone companies can legally implement call-blocking technologies to protect phone customers from “robocalls,” the maddening automated calls pushing scams and proposals of every sort imaginable.

Call-blocking technologies, such as NoMoRobo, Call Control and Telemarketing Guard, allow phone carriers to identify and block unwelcome sales calls at a customer’s request. However, some phone carriers have not implemented this technology in part due to a federal law that they believe prevents them from blocking calls on a customer’s behalf.

Despite coordinated efforts by Madigan’s office, other state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Madigan says Illinois residents continue to report robocalls to their homes, even when residents have placed their numbers on the FTC’s “Do Not Call” registry. The calls frequently originate from scammers in foreign countries, using technology to hide their location and identity, which makes enforcement efforts difficult.

Carriers quake

Phone carriers have expressed concern that the FCC’s legal framework prohibits them from determining which calls should be allowed to go through to a customer and which should be blocked.

Last year, in explaining the obstacles that phone carriers face in implementing call-blocking technologies, US Telecom wrote to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance that “the FCC has concluded that call blocking is an unjust and unreasonable practice under section 201(b) of the Communications Act of 1934.”

In a letter to the FCC today, Madigan and 38 other attorneys general sought a formal opinion from the FCC on whether an exception can be made to allow companies to block illegal telemarketing calls at the request of a customer.

“Robocalls are a growing problem in Illinois and across the country,” Madigan said. “It is imperative that we use every tool available to put a stop to these annoying and unwanted calls.”

There can be a lot of dirty work in your job. I mean REALLY dirty if you build a garden with your co-workers. Yep, it's a new trend: the office garden.

There are a lot of jokes we could make about this: You can grow in your job. Plant a seed, see if the boss notices. But maybe it's a good idea. Companies are encouraging employees to start gardens as a way to stretch the food dollar, build teamwork and promote healthy foods and eating habits.

It's no surprise that healthcare institutions like Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare and Gundersen Health System in Wisconsin are digging in with this concept. Along with the healthcare benefit it's a great stress reliever. Just think -- when things get pretty heavy at work you can walk outside and do a little garden therapy. Pull some weeds and take a valued time-out for yourself.

How to do it

Find a spot. The company property would be ideal,whether on adjacent land, in containers on a deck, or even on the company roof. It that’s not possible, look into renting space from a local community garden.

Independent School Management, a private school management consulting firm in Wilmington, Delaware, put in three raised beds and a high trellis for vertical gardening on company land. They planted things that were easily picked like tomatoes, radishes and melons.

Find a leader, preferably someone who knows a little bit about gardening. Usually there is someone on staff. If not hire someone to just get you started. Maybe a local nursery. What great exposure for them to come over and get you started and then get residual business when you decide to start your own in home garden. (There's your selling point so you don't have to pay them!)

Organize the project. See if your company will furnish tools or will you have to purchase them? Will you start your own plants from seed, or purchase them? Decide who will do what and create a chore chart so everyone has a part and you build it together.

Post photos on the company website. At the Subaru of America headquarters in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, six teams of employees maintain six 13-by-20-foot garden plots in the Share the Love Garden. All the garden harvest is donated to the New Vision Homeless Day Center in Camden.

Enjoy and have fun. What a great way to bond with your fellow cubicle mates you can share recipes and food ideas.

The truth about gardening is that once you’ve taken care of a few startup costs, it really is a very inexpensive hobby that results in delicious produce.

Operators of an illegal robocall scheme that falsely told consumers they could get refunds from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on their behalf have been put out of business -- for good.

According to an FTC complaint, the operators of The Cuban Exchange “spoofed” the agency's own toll-free number on consumers’ caller ID and misled more than 13,000 people into believing the operation had a connection with the FTC and could help them get refunds from the commission.

The FTC called the claims a ruse, known as “imposter fraud,” that was designed to trick consumers into providing their personal information and bank account numbers. The operation also did business as CrediSure America and MyiPad.us.

The shutdown order

A default order and final judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York permanently bars The Cuban Exchange and its principal, Suhaylee Riviera, from making misrepresentations in connection with the marketing or sale of any goods or services.

Among other things, the order prohibits defendants from claiming an affiliation with, or endorsement by, the FTC, or claiming that they can obtain refunds from the commission on behalf of consumers.

The judgment also bars the defendants from making illegal robocalls and calling consumers whose phone numbers are on the Do Not Call Registry. Finally, it permanently shuts down the websites that were used in the scheme -- including ftcrefund.com -- and prohibits defendants from starting any new website that advertises an ability to provide government refund services.

New research finds that babies who sleep on animal fur for the first three months of their life are less likely to develop asthma. Nobody is suggesting sticking the family dog in the baby's crib. But letting your kids be around the dog and other animals may just be beneficial. 

The results of the study were presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress in Munich, Germany, yesterday. Germs in the hide and fur prime the immune system not to trigger allergies, scientists believe.

The results go hand in hand with the "hygiene hypothesis" that suggests too much cleanliness early in life can increase susceptibility to allergies.

Study details

The researchers collected information on the health of the children until they reached 10 years of age. The study utilized data on a total of 2,441 children; of these, 55% slept on animal skin for the first 3 months of their lives.

They found that the risk of a number of factors connected with asthma was greatly reduced for those sleeping on animal skin. Children who had slept on animal skin were 79% less likely to have developed asthma by the age of 6 than children who had not been exposed to animal skin.

By the age of 10, the risk of developing asthma had decreased further to 41%.

Earlier studies have found that microbes in a rural setting can protect from asthma and the thinking was that animal skin might be a reservoir for various kinds of microbes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 9.3% of children and 8% of non-institutionalized adults in the U.S. have asthma. In 2010, asthma was estimated to have caused 1.8 million visits to emergency departments. These numbers are increasing every year.