Uncategorized

A Texas couple is suing the construction company that built their home over claims of negligent construction after the home's foundations began to crack "excessively," an April 24 article in the Southeast Texas Record reported. On April 14, John and Donna English filed a lawsuit against Ronald Allen Hansen of Sandcastle Construction in the Galveston County District Court, citing breach of contract and negligence. According to the Southeast Texas Record, the complaint stated that the plaintiffs hired Sandcastle Construction to construct a house on their property in Galveston and paid Hansen in full. In the complaint, the plaintiffs also alleged that their house's foundation was now cracking excessively. The couple is seeking attorney's fees and damages to cover the repairs needed to r...

This past Monday, 39-year-old Jovany Tavarez from the Bronx got a taste of guitar great Carlos Santana's own handiwork when he was able to take home a custom Paul Reed Smith guitar signed by the master himself. No, there was no "Black Magic Woman" to thank for the feat -- Taverez was the lucky winner of a contest held by the New York Daily News' Viva publication, a Latino lifestyle magazine. Tavarez, a social worker, participated in Viva's contest (which HBO Latino co-sponsored) along with nearly 800 other entrants and became the sole victor on May 5. His prize package includes the instrument itself, a custom Paul Reed Smith guitar emblazoned with Santana's face on the body with psychedelic and traditional Latin-inspired artwork decorating it. Santana's signature lies just near the guit...

Fox TV has made the decision to axe its "underperforming" Animation Domination HD block of programming. The Saturday night program's last night will be June 28; no replacement for the 11 p.m. hour has yet been announced, according to Broadcasting and Cable. The Animation Domination High Def (ADHD) brand will continue on digital platforms off the air, including FoxADHD.com, Broadcast and Cable reported. Sunday's primetime Animation Domination block, which airs shows like The Simpsons and Family guy, is staying put, executives said. Animation Domination's Saturday night block, which had been geared toward young males and resembled Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming, made its debut last year. Fox describes ADHD as “alternative animated series, shorts and user-adapted material.” ...

A new driving simulator called "Drive Smart Virginia" hopes to show youth the effects of texting while driving. Since it's only a simulator, the program will show teens the repercussions of texting while driving without having to face any of the consequences. "I was texting my friend Morgan saying 'Hey' and I killed a guy," said Highschool freshman Ericka Lester after she experienced the simulator. Texting isn't the only way to get distracted while driving. Eating, drinking, talking, grooming, as well as using a mobile device for anything--to update social media, check emails, or read sports scores--can increase a driver's chance of getting into an accident. However, since texting is the one activity that can take a driver's eyes off the road for the longest time, it's the most dange...

On Tuesday, April 29, phone company Sprint announced it will offer a phone optimized for playing music along with discounts for Spotify's premium music streaming service. According to Yahoo News, the HTC One M8 Harman Kardon edition, a special edition of the HTC One smartphone, will feature special audio technologies that will enhance sound quality. The two technologies will restore the sound frequencies lost during audio compression, ultimately providing optimized audio quality for playing music. The Harman Kardon edition One also boasts a unique black finish with champagne highlights. Customers who sign up for Sprint's Framily friends and family program will also receive six free months of Spotify Premium access, cnet.com reports. After the first six months, Sprint customers can co...

For carmakers around the world, increasingly strict global CO2 emissions standards seem to be pointing in one direction: the electric engine. According to DigitalTrends.com, Subaru is the latest auto manufacturer to consider further development of an electric car model to introduce in the U.S. before emissions regulations are tightened again in 2018, according to The Japan News. Currently, American car purchases account for about half of Subaru's global sales. “Electric vehicles are [effective] products to help cope with these new regulations,” Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, president of Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries, told The Japan News. Subaru will likely make a decision by the end of the year. While Subaru has previously experimented with electric cars in the last five years, this i...

The possibilities the internet provides are virtually limitless. People now have greater, faster access to information, and can easily communicate with one another with little more than a mobile device and an internet connection. Applications such as Viber and Google + have eclipsed the need for expensive cell phone plans, while Skype and other secure video and audio programs allow real face-to-face interaction. In addition, several other programs are continuously solicited to the public that change the way people think about interacting with one another. These technological advances have even proven helpful for doctors, particularly sports medicine professionals. Called telemedicine, the use of video and audio tools and apps on smartphones, mobile devices, cameras and computers are tak...

"Google says that cars it is programming to drive themselves have started to master the navigation of city streets and the challenges they bring, from jaywalkers to weaving bicyclists -- a critical milestone for any commercially available self-driving car technology," Fox News reported Monday. Google's self-driving cars previously traveled relatively straightforward, rural highways only. New software enables the automated vehicles to pick up on cyclists, hand signals, instructions from crossing guards, buses, and pedestrians walking alongside or crossing the road. With some improvements, experts argue that self-driving cars will make the roads safer. The cars will likely drive even better than humans. "A self-driving vehicle can pay attention to all of these things in a way that a human...

The U.S. has lost some 7.5 million industrial jobs since the employment sector hit its peak in 1979, in large part because companies chose to ship their manufacturing jobs to less-expensive overseas markets. However, that trend is reversing, and, according to a new report, the U.S. now ranks second in overall competitiveness. It trails only China. On Friday, the report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said that the U.S. was a “rising star” of global manufacturing. It also said that China’s place as the top manufacturer was, if not being explicitly challenged, “under pressure” because of increased labor and transportation costs as well as reduced productivity growth. Conversely, the U.S. is becoming a better market for manufacturing thanks to the lower cost of natural gas...

After spending the better part of a decade in disaster mode, the American economy has used the past four years to gradually bounce back to a relatively stable state, according to recent reports. In fact, millions of Americans are now back to work. But of course, with these numbers come a bit of good news and a bit of bad news. The good news? A bolstered economy means an enlivened workforce, with nearly 4 million jobs being created in the past few years. The bad news? The overwhelming majority of these employment opportunities have come at places like McDonald's, Taco Bell and retail shops in strip malls. In a grander sense, the economy's bounce-back has yielded far more low-paying jobs than better-paid ones. But who cares, as long as there are jobs at all, right? The housing market, ...