Business

After car companies recalled more than 12 million cars in October due to potentially dangerous air bags, many consumers and retailers have expressed concern at the confusing nature of the situation. Notably, the United States government has yet to issue a statement, despite the fact that there may be as many as 25 million faulty vehicles in the U.S. alone. However, one of the largest used car dealership chains in the nation is taking a stand: the CEO of AutoNation has announced that the company will not be selling cars included in the recall. The recall targets millions of vehicles in the U.S., Europe and Asia that use airbags made by the Takata Corporation, an auto-parts company based in Japan. The faulty airbags reportedly explode with unusually powerful force when their chemicals are t...

The notion that many American citizens disapprove of and mistrust their government is, unfortunately, not uncommon. But the notion that employees of the federal government also lack faith in their leaders may come as a surprise. Nevertheless, as the Washington Post reports, the nationwide 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which was released at the end of October, found that morale among government workers is at a five-year low. While the majority of Americans employed at various government agencies still believe that their work is important, the survey found that these employees are increasingly frustrated with their senior leaders. And as Federal Times reporter Andy Medici notes, statistics comparing employee morale between 2011 and 2014 are indicative of how quickly this frustrati...

A recent audit of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission's Office of Inspector General turned up some concerning things. According to the audit, the OIG did very little to prevent Medicaid fraud. OIG screening is designed to prevent the hiring of individuals who have committed fraud or other crimes that make them unfit to provide federal health care services. Unfortunately, the audit of the Texas OIG revealed that it took an average of over three years for the Texas office to close cases, and only a tiny percentage of fraudulent or erroneous payments were recovered. According to the audit, the Texaz OIG identified $1.1 billion in Medicaid overpayments between 2012 and 2013, but only $5.5 million was recouped in that time period. This implies poor screening policies and possib...

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has been struggling to transport its troops' privately owned vehicles (POV) for some time now, dealing with major delays, late payments to car shipping companies, and hundreds of angry civilians who have been left without their family vehicles. And this situation isn't likely to improve, as yet another subcontractor is threatening to discontinue its car transport services for the U.S. military. Liberty Global Logistics, located in Lake Success, N.Y., is a shipping subcontractor to Georgia-based shipping service International Auto Logistics. This past May, International won a contract with the DOD wherein they provided shipping services for personal cars of DOD employees and of Americans serving in the military. The service is focused on transporting c...

The internet is often seen as a realm of innovation, constantly moving from trend to trend -- and hopefully creating a better online experience in the process. For this reason, older layouts are typically derided as outdated and stale, more amusing than an effective method of drawing users. However, a number of web developers are drawing attention for their 90s-inspired designs, which they claim invoke a sense of community largely absent from the modern internet. In a world that seems to desire nostalgia and modernity in equal amounts, could the way of the future mean a return to the past? In early October, author and web developer Paul Ford launched Tilde.club, an experimental hosting provider he claims has quickly gained thousands of users, as well as financial donations and technical h...

Recent studies are reinforcing the efficacy that video marketing boasts by taking a look at how consumers respond to online video content. According to Net Imperative, a September Brightcove study of 2,000 people around the world found that an amazing 76% of consumers consider video to be their preferred form of online content when researching information on brands. Almost a quarter -- 24% -- of consumers reported that video is their "most trusted" form of marketing content. Another study, conducted by Levels Beyond, revealed that 59% of consumers are likely to watch video marketing content if they visit a website. Moreover, 61% will watch a marketing video if a friend shares it on his or her social media page. The Levels Beyond study also found that marketers aren't prioritizing video ...

The next push in renewable energy may be supported by an unlikely material: concrete. Midwest Energy News reported Oct. 20 that Sri Sritharan, an engineering professor at Iowa State University, is working on a modular tower design for wind turbines that would allow them to reach above the 80-meter limit of current steel towers. Sritharan has developed two pieces that can be precast from concrete, a panel and a column, that can be assembled in as many combinations as are necessary to reach the desired height. “It’s flexible,” he told Midwest Energy News. “If you’re using a GE turbine, you use one set of dimensions. If you’re using a Siemens turbine, you have a different set of dimensions.” The Limitations of Steel Steel cannot be used to create taller towers because steel towers are tr...

According to a new study recently released by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, the slow recovery of the home remodeling industry is expected to continue, but that the recovery process could take a while. After the housing market was hit by the recession in 2008, secondary industries (like the home remodeling business) were also impacted quite severely. However, unlike the housing market, which has regained health quite suddenly in the past couple of years, the remodeling business is expected to continue its slow trajectory of recovery throughout 2015. The Harvard study used an algorithm called the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) which calculated the numbers of remodeling projects, along with homeowner spending habits on remodeling projects, in order ...

The results of a recent survey show that a majority of people would be interested in purchasing semi-autonomous vehicles. The study, by Boston Consulting Group, revealed that 55% of people would be likely to buy a car that had partial self-driving abilities, such as taking over the wheel on the highway or during traffic jams, while 44% said they'd be interested in a car that was fully autonomous. Apparently people are willing to pay a good chunk of change for these vehicles, as well. More than 20% of those surveyed said they would pay $4,000 extra for a car that was able to entirely drive itself. As the hype builds over these new autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, the reality of putting self-driving cars on the market is closer than ever before. Just last month, California issued 2...

Since 1880, according to research from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, global median temperatures have increased by 1.5°F. While that might not seem like much, the shift in temperature is having a staggering effect on oceanic water levels, crop development, and weather patterns. It's also a driving factor behind a huge increase in the number of people across the world using air conditioning.Hoping to stem demand and do its part to fight off the forces of climate change, the University of California-Berkeley has developed a new technology that effectively air conditions structures without using a single watt of energy. SABER, as the tech is known, emulates skin to regulate air and light flow into buildings. The skin automatically senses changes in light and temperature, openin...