Business

If you haven't checked out your homeowner's policy within the last six months, you may be in for a less-than-pleasant surprise from a potentially expensive new deductible sneaking it's way into many policies.Most homeowners write one deductible into their policy, set anywhere from 250$ to $1,000 depending on how much the homeowner is willing to pay. However, homeowners who request insurance quotes are finding out that many large insurance providers are slipping in a new deductible for hail, wind, and other types of damage that seems to be particularly focused on conditions that can damage roofs. Unfortunately, these deductibles aren't set dollar amounts, and they aren't determined by homeowners. They're set by large companies like Farmers, Allstate and State Farm and they deduct a perce...

Each year, thousands of people visit hospital emergency rooms for dental maladies that aren't life-threatening emergencies. In fact, a quarter of Americans who have health insurance don't have dental insurance -- which prompts them to go to an emergency room when they have a dental concern. The resulting effect is longer wait times at emergency rooms and skyrocketing costs for emergency room visits -- which the Affordable Care Act is looking to reverse by offering grants to help fund the construction of emergency dental clinics. According to an August 7 Asbury Park Press article, one such dental clinic that has received this funding is Asbury Park, N.J.'s Dr. Barry D. Elbaum Dental Center at the Monmouth Family Health Center, which will open its expanded practice and emergency den...

A macaque monkey stole the camera of British nature photographer David Slater back in 2011 and inadvertently took a series of selfies. Now, the photographer is struggling to get the Wikimedia Commons, the organization behind Wikipedia, to remove the photos. The problem? Wikimedia claims that Slater shouldn't own the photos' copyrights, because he technically was not the photographer -- the monkey was. The organization argues that the monkey is responsible for the photos because the monkey was the one who actually pressed the shutter button, whereas Slater contends that "A monkey pressed the button, but I did all the setting up." Wikimedia's stance on the copyright issue has been clear. In the licensing conditions they put beneath the monkey selfie, Wikimedia put, “This file is in the...

If there's one thing we know about hackers, it's that they're opportunists: there is no company, organization or server they won't try to access if the defenses are weak enough. This week, members of the Chicago Yacht Club learned that this same concept applies to the wealthy. The yacht club discovered malware on its computer this past June, and sent a notice to its membership at the end of July. They discovered the club's server had been compromised, and that hackers potentially had access to credit card numbers, address, names, and bank account numbers -- all linked to some of Chicago's most important business people. Luckily, the bank and credit card data was encrypted, so it is less likely that the hackers were able to successfully use that information. The heist, however, highli...

We live in an incredibly connected world of cell phones and wireless internet, but even those systems have their limits. Anyone who's tried to make a call in a cramped conference center or at the top of a hiking trail can confirm that.To get around this pervasive and frustrating problem, consumers can now look to a new product called GoTenna, but that doesn't mean they will. GoTenna is an incredible concept that still may not be practical enough to take off in the technology market.GoTenna consists of a small, low-power radio transceiver powered by a lithium-ion battery. It connects to any iOS or Android device via Bluetooth and allows you to create a separate, encrypted network for sending messages to other devices on the same network. Essentially, it turns your smartphone into a CB radio...

Google currently has a 70% market share in the search engine optimization industry. As a result of being, by far, the biggest search engine out there, Google has the ability to throw its weight around in determining what websites people view. This week, it made the power of this influence clear by announcing that it would change its search formula to promote more secure websites, in a move to protect consumers using its services.Google's algorithm will now boost up in search rankings websites that automatically encrypt their services. When sites are secured, it is more difficult for hackers, the government, and other entities to steal personal data. Google says that, for the moment, it will only be a small factor in their overall algorithm -- however, over time, they may increase its impor...

People often base their first impression of a store on its window displays. Yet, they're so commonplace that most people tend to just walk by them, failing to even notice the business's window art or otherwise just blatantly ignoring the displays. While some might take this as a sign to stop working on window displays all together, many stores are going the opposite direction and investing even more time and effort into their window art, which makes complete sense. After all, an eye-catching window can increase a store's foot traffic, bring in more sales, and even attract some press for the company. "Window displays and graphics are important, especially in the retail industry, for a variety of reasons. Before the customer enters the store, the first thing they typically see are th...

An accountant in Trumbull, Connecticut pleaded guilty to a federal tax charge on Thursday, July 17, 2014 after being caught defrauding a property owner in nearby Bridgeport. The accountant, Thomas Ragonese, 55, is believed to have worked alongside a construction and property management company to steal thousands of dollars from their client. The property management company and its owner also pleaded guilty.While working for ACT Builders, owned by Anthony Testo, Ragonese reportedly prepared monthly rent rolls and provided other services for the company, which was contracted to manage an apartment and several other residential units. From January 2007 to August 2010, Ragonese assisted Testo and his company in defrauding the owner by submitting false rent rolls that listed certain occupied re...

Thirty-two high school and teenage graphic designers from 17 different countries recently descended upon Anaheim, Calif. tocompete in this year's Adobe Certified Associate World Championship. According to a July 29 Las Vegas Review-Journal article, graphic design software giant Adobe hosts the competition each year for graphic designers 22 years of age and younger. Of 117,000 entrants, only 1% were selected to compete at Anaheim -- the United States sent only three representatives. Competitors were required to design a promotional poster for Kiva, a real-world client, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Kiva is a nonprofit organization that works to alleviate poverty around the world by encouraging people to donate to entrepreneurs in developing nations, according to a KFOX 14...

America's most popular teenage chat app just made a bold marketing move. The creators of the app launched a new feature that could end up being the future of the advertising industry, or could at least breach a new marketing territory regarding how different brands interact with each other and consumers. Social media reputation management is critical to any type of brand management, and without it minor issues can become major public relations disasters. But what if people conversed directly with brands and companies via bots? This is what Kik, a popular teen chat service (similar to WhatsApp) is doing. There may be nay-sayers out there already saying that the chat box is nothing new, and most of us have AOL's Instant Messenger in mind when it comes to talking with bots. Kik users ar...