Current Events in March 2019

North Country Smokehouse of Claremont, N.H., is recalling approximately 9,000 pounds of pork sausage.

Although the front of the label says the product is gluten free, it contains wheat.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of this product.

The following ready-to-eat item, produced from January 28 through February 25, 2019, is being recalled:

• 12-oz. vacuum-sealed packages containing 4 pieces of “NORTH COUNTRY SMOKEHOUSE NATURAL IRISH BRAND BANGER SAUSAGE” and use by dates from 3/30/19 through 4/30/2019, represented on the packaging.

The recalled product, bearing establishment number “EST. 5390A” inside the USDA mark of inspection, was shipped to distribution and retail locations nationwide.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled product should not consume it, but discard or return it to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Alicia Baker at (603) 543-0234 Ext.214.

Tech Gear 5.7 of San Marcos, Calif., is recalling about 4,000 pair of Mobile Warming Performance Heated Socks.

The lithium-ion battery can overheat, melt or ignite when charged with a charger other than the one provided with the product, posing fire and burn hazards to the user.

The firm has has received four reports of batteries overheating, melting or igniting, resulting in minor property damage in two instances, and melting of the battery case in the others. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves Mobile Warming Performance Heated Socks sold with lithium-ion batteries. Only socks with serial number MW18A04-17-14, MW18A04-17-15, MW18A04-M4-10/W6-11 and MW18A04-M10-14 are included in the recall.

These socks are gray and made of a poly-cotton blend in men’s and women’s size 6-10 and 10-14. The socks heat when the battery is connected and is in the on position. The heating on/off is controlled through the battery switch or the phone app when a phone is paired.

The socks, manufactured in China, were sold at Scheels and other sporting goods, workwear and farm supply stores nationwide and online at www.mobilewarming.com and www.Amazon.com from September 2018, through November 2018, for about $130.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled socks, remove the battery and contact the firm for instructions on how to receive a free replacement pair of socks with battery or a full refund.

Consumers may contact Tech Gear 5.7 toll-free at (888) 908-6024 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PT) Monday through Friday, by email at cs@techgear5-7.com or online at www.mobilewarming.com and click on “Recall Information” at the bottom of the page for more information.

Don’t look now, but Bitcoin has crawled its way out of the crater the digital currency dug for itself at the end of last year.

Cryptocurrencies, in general, have rallied in recent weeks, and Bitcoin has led the way. It’s up more than 20 percent as measured against the dollar. Measured against other cryptocurrencies, it’s up nearly 7 percent.

Bitcoin’s volatility has caused some to flee from the cryptocurrency in terror. In about 15 months' time, it has hit highs of nearly $20,000 and fallen to below $4,000.

Bullish sentiment toward Bitcoin has grown so far in 2019. The currency’s relative value against the dollar has soared in recent days, even as other currencies have lost some of their momentum.

No one is sure what is driving the Bitcoin rally. One trader noted on Twitter that Chinese stock market profits have lately been flowing into Bitcoin.

“Largest Chinese exchange has more than doubled volume in the past week,” he tweeted. That just so happened to coincide with some of Bitcoin’s biggest gains.

Talk to your financial advisor

Is it safe to get back into Bitcoin? That’s a conversation you need to have with a trusted and objective financial advisor.

When Bitcoin closed Sunday at just under $4,000, it represented a 1.73 percent gain in a week, according to Bitstamp data. It was also the fourth straight weekly gain and the longest streak of gains since April 2018.

Analysts at this point are cautiously optimistic, saying the strong volumes behind Bitcoin make a strong case for an extension of the ongoing recovery. But not everyone is convinced.

The Cboe Futures Exchange, an early Bitcoin backer, has announced it is not adding any Bitcoin futures products this month. According to CNBC, the move represents “cooling enthusiasm for Bitcoin after an all-out mania led by retail investors in 2017.”

San Diego city officials are vowing to investigate the circumstances of the first fatal scooter crash in the city and hold dockless scooter companies “accountable” for the safety of their products.

Christopher Conti, a 53-year-old from Georgia, was visiting the beach town last week. He and a friend decided to rent dockless scooters placed outside by Bird on Wednesday. At around 10 p.m., Conti was riding on the sidewalk without a helmet when he crashed into a tree, San Diego police said.

Riders typically must go helmet-free if they decide to rent a dockless scooter, unless the rider happened bring their own helmet or is able to rent one from a local shop. It’s also unclear whether riders are safer taking the scooters in the roadways or on sidewalks.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has promised to introduce “common sense rules” next month to address dockless scooters.

“We all agree there needs to be clear rules of the road and the companies need to be held accountable for how they do business in our City,” his office told reporters in a statement.

Bird says that it will conduct its own investigation into the matter. The company sent the local news a statement saying that it is "deeply saddened” by Conti’s death.

While virtual reality (VR) technology has typically been used for entertainment purposes, a new study reveals how it could help consumers from a medical standpoint.

According to the study, watching VR videos can be an effective way to help older people with balance issues, patients rehabbing from injuries, or even those suffering with certain illnesses.

“People with long-term dizziness sometimes rely a lot on their vision and do not use the very quick and effective balance system provided by sensory information from joints and muscles,” said researcher Eva Ekvall Hansson. “This can intensify feelings of dizziness, which is very unpleasant. The new study shows a possible treatment method for these conditions.”

Getting better balance

To see how VR can improve consumers’ balance, the researchers had 20 healthy men and women participate in their experiment.

The participants -- comprised of 10 men and 10 women -- watched a 90-second VR video that mimicked a rollercoaster travelling through rocky terrain. The participants stood on a platform that evaluated their stability and watched the video five different times.

The researchers note that we typically use our vision first to help ground and balance us, and so the trick here was to see how the participants found their balance when their vision was compromised.

The researchers found that the men were better at maintaining their balance while watching the videos, whereas the women in the study needed a few extra tries before getting the hang of things.

According to the researchers, watching the videos forced the participants to rely on other senses to maintain their balance. The study found that despite not being able to see, the participants were able to use their other senses, and the work of their muscles, feet, and joints to remain stable and balanced.

The researchers are hopeful that the findings from this study will be useful moving forward, and can help consumers -- particularly older consumers -- who oftentimes struggle with balance issues for a slew of different reasons.

“We know that older people, to a greater extent than young people, use vision to maintain postural stability,” Hansson said. “The lessons from this study will therefore be an important incentive to introduce new training methods for the older, for example using VR technology to prevent falls.”

For years, researchers have seen a trend among patients who suffer with depression, as they frequently have issues with heart disease, and vice versa.

While this phenomenon has long gone unexplained, researchers from the University of Cambridge recently found that the link could be inflammation, which can result from both psychological and physical stress.

“It is possible that heart disease and depression share common underlying biological mechanisms, which manifest as two different conditions in two different groups -- the cardiovascular system and the brain,” said researcher Dr. Golam Khandaker. “Our work suggests that inflammation could be a shared mechanism for these conditions.”

Identifying inflammation

The researchers started their experiment by looking at different genetic explanations for both heart disease and depression and used data from nearly 370,000 UK Biobank participants.

While genetic risk for developing heart disease was not tied to depression in any way, the researchers did find that family history played a role. Participants were 20 percent more likely to develop depression if they had a parent die from heart disease.

Based on these findings, the researchers then turned to individual environmental factors that could increase the risk for both heart disease and depression.

The researchers were able to find 15 biomarkers of heart disease, and of those, two were also indicative of depression: triglycerides and proteins IL-6 and CRP, both of which are associated with inflammation.

According to Dr. Khandaker, these findings align with what he’s seen in the past, as many patients whose depression has been resistant to typical treatments have higher levels of these proteins in their blood. Moreover, patients in the midst of high-intensity depressive episodes have higher levels of the biomarkers.  

These proteins are most frequently found in patients as a response to smoking, infection, or stress, and the more IL-6 and CRP in the blood, the more likely a patient is to develop depression.

The researchers were unsure how triglycerides affected depression, but with this new information, Dr. Khandaker and his team were confident that these findings can lead to better treatment options moving forward.

“Although we don’t know what the shared mechanisms between these diseases are, we now have clues to work with that point towards the involvement of the immune system,” said Dr. Stephen Burgess. “Identifying genetic variants that regulate modifiable risk factors helps to find what is actually driving disease risk.”

Fighting inflammation

Recent studies have found ways for consumers to fight inflammation and lead healthier, longer lives.

For those who are unable to physically exercise, experts found that sitting in a hot water treatment -- which involves sitting in a 102-degree tub of water up to their necks for one hour -- can improve both inflammation and blood sugar.

Additionally, following an anti-inflammatory diet can help consumers live longer.

The report suggests that consumers looking to cut back on foods with inflammatory properties should stick to more fruits and vegetables, breakfast cereal, nuts, chocolate, whole-grain bread, and low-fat cheese, among other things.

“Adherence to a diet with high anti-inflammatory potential may reduce all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality and prolong survival time especially amongst smokers,” the researchers stated.

Starbucks is revamping its popular rewards program to allow program members to accrue and redeem “stars” faster.

Beginning April 16, consumers won’t have to earn the initial 300 stars to achieve “gold status.” Under the new structure, members still earn 2 stars for every $1 spent. However, they will be able to use their stars in as little as two or three visits.

“Since introducing Starbucks Rewards ten years ago, we’ve experienced tremendous growth and continued to evolve the program to meet the changing needs and purchase patterns of our customers,” said Starbucks chief marketing officer Matthew Ryan in a press release. “These new updates put choice in the hands of our customers and a personal touch they can only get from Starbucks.”

Tiered structure

Under the updated loyalty program, consumers can redeem their points for the following perks:

• 25 stars. An extra espresso shot, dairy substitute, or additional flavor.

• 50 stars. Brewed hot coffee, tea, or certain bakery items.

• 150 stars. A handcrafted drink, hot breakfast item, or yogurt parfait.

• 200 stars. Lunch sandwich, protein box, or salad

• 400 stars. Some merchandise, as well as packaged coffee.

Additionally, rewards members can get an “anything on the menu” reward on their birthday, as well as perks like free refills on hot coffee and tea.

Starbucks’ membership program currently has more than 16 million members, and customers who use the program account for 40 percent of sales at the coffee chain’s U.S. stores. according to CNN.

Other chains have also launched programs designed to reward loyal customers. Last week, Chipotle partnered with Venmo to give Chipotle fans money in celebration of the launch of its first national rewards program. Burger King announced that consumers can now get a free small cup of coffee under a new $5-per-month subscription service.

Wearable technology can do more than just count your steps. A Stanford Medical School study found wearables can safely identify heart rate irregularities such as atrial fibrillation.

It should be pointed out that Apple was a major sponsor of the study. Apple produces a wearable product, the Apple Watch, which was used in the study.

The study involved more than 400,000 participants and was designed to find out if a mobile app that uses data from a heart-rate pulse sensor on the Apple Watch can identify atrial fibrillation. That’s an important consideration since the condition is often hard to detect.

One of the big concerns about the Apple Watch and other wearables is false alerts. The study found there were very few of them, with only 0.5 percent of participants being notified of an irregular pulse.

When researchers compared the irregular pulse-detection on the Apple Watch with simultaneous electrocardiography (ECG) patch recordings, the watch had a 71 percent positive predictive value.

Impressive accuracy

In 84 percent of the cases, study participants who got notifications of an irregular pulse were found to be suffering from atrial fibrillation.

“The results of the Apple Heart Study highlight the potential role that innovative digital technology can play in creating more predictive and preventive health care,” said Lloyd Minor, MD, Dean of the Stanford School of Medicine. “Atrial fibrillation is just the beginning, as this study opens the door to further research into wearable technologies and how they might be used to prevent disease before it strikes.”

The study did not include the use of the most recent Apple Watch, which features a built-in ECG. That device, released last September, also has a new accelerometer and gyroscope to detect hard falls. Upon its release, it earned a De Novo classification from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says his agency worked with Apple to develop the new version of the device and said it “may help millions of users identify health concerns more quickly.”

Potential to do more

Wearables, often called fitness trackers, are worn on the wrist like a watch and count steps, monitor your heart rate, and track your sleep. But Gottlieb and others think they have the potential to do a lot more.

As wearables evolve, they may feature glucose monitoring for people with diabetes and detect ultraviolet light exposure.

“The performance and accuracy we observed in this study provides important information as we seek to understand the potential impact of wearable technology on the health system,” said Dr. Marco Perez, one of the Stanford researchers. “Further research will help people make more informed health decisions.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that the aerospace company will “hopefully” begin test flights of its “Hopper”spacecraft this week. The vehicle, which was designed to take passengers to Mars, will be tested at low altitude at a launch site east of Brownsville, Texas.

“First hops will lift off, but only barely,” Musk said in a tweet. He added that the first hop attempts would be "really short" due to the fact that the vehicle will have only one Raptor engine. However, he noted that the spacecraft could do "suborbital flights with three” of the engines.

Residents of Boca Chica Village, a housing division near the test site, received a notice in the mail on Friday informing them that SpaceX could start testing "as soon as the week of March 18, 2019.” The notice said that a “safety zone” would be established around the launch site.

Though initial tests won’t send the Test Hopper into orbit, Musk has said that he hopes the craft can be sent into orbit in 2020. He hopes the first crew can be sent around the moon in 2023 and the first people can be sent to Mars in 2024. The Starship may eventually be able to carry 100 people and 150 tons of cargo at a time on its journey to Mars.

The test SpaceX is aiming to conduct this week will “trial crucial hardware and ideas that SpaceX needs to create a full-scale Starship (formerly called Big Falcon Rocket),” according to Business Insider.

Burger King might not be known for its coffee, but that may be about to change.

In a shot fired at competitor McDonald’s, which upgraded its coffee several years ago, Burger King is launching a coffee subscription program. Pay $5 a month and it entitles you to a small cup of coffee at participating Burger Kings every day of the month.

That’s a little over 16 cents a cup if you get a cup of coffee every day.

The subscription is available through the BK app. The burger chain says its daily coffee subscription model is a departure from the expected coffee service. Consumers who have the app can click the “offers” tab on the program and sign up for the coffee subscription.

“We continue to leverage technology to enhance our guests experience in our restaurants,” said Chris Finazzo, President, North America, Burger King Corporation. ”We are proud to launch our own subscription service where guests can now enjoy a hot cup of coffee every day for just $5 a month.”

Limitations

At 16 cents a cup, you might expect some limitations -- and there are some. The subscription is only good for hot coffee. Specialty coffee drinks, iced coffee, and frappe are not included in the subscription.

Burger King probably isn’t out to dethrone Starbucks, Dunkin’, or any other coffee brand. Most likely, the target here is McDonald's. While it might not make money on its coffee subscription, BK is banking on consumers grabbing a breakfast sandwich when they stop for coffee. If they do, that probably means they won’t be stopping at McDonald’s.

McDonald’s has already used coffee to fortify its breakfast business. In 2014, it announced that coffee would play a major role in its McCafe rebranding. At the time, McDonald’s was struggling to increase same-store sales.

Since putting new emphasis on its coffee drinks and making other menu modifications, such as all-day breakfast, McDonald’s stock has doubled in price.

Carnivore Meat Company of Franklin, Tenn., is recalling approximately 379 pounds of raw ground beef and pork sausage boerewors.

The products contain soy, an allergen not declared on the label.

There are no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The following raw ground beef and pork sausage items, produced on January 8, 28, and February 7, 2019, are being recalled:

• 1 and 2-lb. vacuum sealed plastic packages of “Beef Boerewors, South African Farm Sausage.”
• 1 and 2-lb. vacuum sealed plastic packages of “Traditional Boerewors, South African Farm Sausage.”

The recalled products, bearing establishment number “EST. 45742” inside the USDA mark of inspection, were shipped to retail locations in Florida and Georgia.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them, but discard or return them to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Carnivore Meat Company at (615) 614-3134, or by email at info@carnivoremeatco.com.

Ford Motor Company is recalling 27,609 model year 2017-2019 Lincoln Continentals.

The door latch pawl motors may not function properly, possibly resulting in a door latch not fully engaging.

A door latch that is not fully engaged may result in a door opening while the vehicle is being driven, increasing the risk of injury.

What to do

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the latch assemblies on all four doors free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin in March 2019.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 19S03.

Fresh off its corporate rebranding campaign to make baby powder more appealing to millennials, Johnson & Johnson is once again facing scrutiny over whether the product is contaminated with asbestos.

Johnson & Johnson shares dipped late last week following the news that a California jury had ordered the company to pay $29 million in the latest lawsuit alleging a link between its talcum powder products and cancer.

Terry Leavitt said that she had used Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower gel, both of which contain talc, in the sixties and seventies. She was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2017. Her lawsuit charging that the products contained talc contaminated with asbestos began in January and concluded last week with a $29.4 million verdict against the company.

"We are disappointed with [Wednesday's] verdict and will pursue an appeal because Johnson's Baby Powder does not contain asbestos or cause cancer,” the company told reporters in a statement responding to the news.

Company continues to defend its product

Last year, Reuters published documents revealing that Johnson & Johnson was aware that its talc products occasionally tested positive for traces of asbestos in the sixties and seventies.

An attorney who handles asbestos litigation told ConsumerAffairs that she avoids all talc-based products over concerns that talc and asbestos are often found together in nature.

Also last year, Johnson & Johnson announced that it was relaunching its baby care line to increase the brand’s appeal among health-conscious millennials. As part of the move, the company released a line of talc-free baby powder, but the company has remained insistent that its baby powder never contained asbestos.

"We are absolutely certain that science shows that our talcum product is safe, and we will defend our brand and defend our product," a company executive told CNBC.

The Texas legislature is taking up a bill that would prevent automobile manufacturers from repairing the cars they make -- a move some believe is aimed at Tesla.

The proposed legislation would change the language in the state’s transportation regulations to prohibit manufacturers from performing service and repairs on the cars and trucks they sell. It would not affect dealerships since they only sell vehicles, they don’t produce them.

The brand it would seem to affect most is Tesla, which has had a rocky relationship with Austin over the years. The bill under consideration states that an automobile manufacturer may not have a stake in a business that provides service to the vehicles it produces.

Should the bill become law, Tesla -- which is currently trying to expand in Texas -- would be blocked from the service part of the business, which is increasingly lucrative as the carmaker gains market share.

The state currently does not allow direct car sales to consumers, which is Tesla’s business model. Four attempts in the legislature to change that provision have failed because the bills never made it to a vote.

Texas dealers deny any role

The state’s automobile dealers deny they are behind any effort to hamstring Tesla’s efforts in Texas. The Texas Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) has published a position paper denying that it is trying to limit Tesla or electric vehicles in general.

“Many dealers in Texas already sell electric vehicles on the market such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and Cadillac ELR and many dealers have expressed interest in selling Tesla vehicles as well,” TADA said in its paper. TADA and our members are open to new technology and excited to welcome new companies into the marketplace who will contribute to the economies of nearly 300 communities around the state. We do, however, have issue with any company who enters the Texas market and expects special treatment outside the parameters of the laws governing our industry. We simply believe that everyone should play by the same rules.”

Tesla has 13 stores in Texas

Because Texas does not allow direct-to-consumer car sales, Tesla has opened 13 stores within the state. However, consumers who go to these businesses to purchase a Tesla place their orders online without much interaction with Tesla personnel.

At the same time, some Texas lawmakers are supporting exceptions to the rules that would allow Berkshire Hathaway to own a recreational vehicle manufacturer in the state as well as car dealerships that perform service. The company controlled by Warren Buffet operates more than 20 car dealerships in Texas.

Twitter, which has for the past year been striving to improve the user experience on its platform, has confirmed that it’s testing a new conversation “subscription” feature. The feature would enable users to follow a tweet thread without liking or replying to it.

After a prototype of the feature was spotted by a user in the Android version of the app, Twitter quickly confirmed that it was working on the tool with the goal of making Twitter more “conversational.”

To subscribe to a conversation, users will soon be able to simply click a button at the top right corner of a thread of interest. Users will then be notified when additional tweets are added to the thread. The company didn’t say when it would launch the feature.

Testing other features

In recent years, Twitter has made several efforts to try and facilitate “healthy” conversations on its platform. Earlier this month, the platform confirmed that it’s testing a way to let users hide and unhide replies to their tweet instead of blocking or muting them.

“With this feature, the person who started a conversation could choose to hide replies to their tweets. The hidden replies would be viewable by others through a menu option,” said Michelle Yasmeen Haq, a senior product manager at Twitter.

“We think the transparency of the hidden replies would allow the community to notice and call out situations where people use the feature to hide content they disagree with. We think this can balance the product experience between the original Tweeter and the audience.”

Last summer, Twitter announced that it would begin automatically demoting replies that its system deemed to be from so-called “troll” accounts as part of a larger effort to curb abuse on its site.

In February, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said the company was “looking at” possibly launching a clarification tool that would let users edit their tweets within a five to 30-second window while still keeping the original version of the tweet publicly viewable.

At the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival recently, Twitter unveiled a new in-app camera function that lets users take and post photos and videos.

“We’ve really intentionally tried to make the images and footage that are captured on the ground at an event look different than other images and videos that you might attach to a tweet,” said Keith Coleman, Twitter’s head of consumer product.

Lyft, the on-demand ridesharing service, announced Monday that company brass are hitting the road for a two-week tour trumpeting its initial public offering (IPO).

With its eyes set on the stock (symbol “LYFT”) going live sometime in the next two weeks, the company is offering 30,770,000 shares of its Class A common stock, plus up to an additional 4,615,500 shares that the underwriters have the option to purchase.

The IPO price is expected to be somewhere between $62.00 and $68.00 per share. If all goes according to plan, Lyft could realize a $2+ billion windfall.

Can Lyft Overtake Uber?

Experts and consumers alike have wondered whether Lyft can overtake its main competitor Uber.

Unlike Uber, the big kid on the rideshare block that has gotten its hands in everything from grocery delivery to flying taxis, Lyft is sticking strictly to taxis, ride-sharing, bikes, and scooters.

“We like Lyft's relatively narrower focus on consumer transportation but still note that Uber has an edge on Lyft in terms of an earlier start, higher market share, and a stronger network effect* around its service,” wrote Morningstar UK. *Network effect means that, the more people use a product or service, the more people are attracted to use it.

Lyft knows it may be in for a dogfight. The transportation-as-a-service (TaaS) market has moved from a niche to a full-blown battlefield. Besides Lyft and Uber, there’s Gett and carpooling service Via. Then, in the scooter-sharing market, Lyft has to contend with Uber’s Jump, Lime, and Bird. Let’s not forget the automakers, either. GM, BMW, and others are also trying to find some room for themselves in the TaaS market.

“We expect competition to continue, both from current competitors, who may be well-established and enjoy greater resources or other strategic advantages, as well as new entrants into the market, some of which may become significant competitors in the future,” wrote Lyft in its Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

Lyft and the consumer

“Consumers are seeking better ways to get around,” Lyft said in the filing. “They have grown accustomed to the convenience and immediacy of the on-demand economy and expect their experiences to be more simple and enjoyable. Existing transportation options have failed to meet this shift in consumer demand, creating the opportunity for a better solution.”

Chief among the consumer-centric strategies Lyft laid out is an attribute often used by big companies but not always made good on: “authenticity.”

“We believe the authenticity of our culture and values positions us to build the defining brand of our generation. Our brand embodies a commitment to exceptional offerings and social responsibility,” Lyft said. “We have built a brand that balances our mission-driven ethos with a friendly, hospitality-oriented personality. The strength of our brand is a key driver of our ability to attract and retain users and serves as a strategic differentiator. We believe that affinity for our brand will continue to strengthen as consumers increasingly gravitate towards brands that are purpose-driven and emphasize corporate social responsibility.”