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The street light industry has a surprising new player as of Nov. 7: German automaker BMW. The company announced it has created two prototypes for a street light that can also serve as a charging station for electric cars. These “Light and Charge” lamps use ultra-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) along with the charger, in order to provide a two-for-one energy benefit without expensive modifications to underground power lines. "Seamless charging infrastructure is essential if we want to see more electric vehicles on the road in our cities in the future," said Peter Schwarzenbauer, a BMW board member, on why BMW had taken on the development project. A pilot program will be implemented in Munich next year using existing street lights, and BMW says it hopes they will have them complete...

The prevalence of teeth whitening procedures has increased by over 300% in the past five years alone, but it seems it's still hard pressed to meet demand. People are now turning to alternative ways to get teeth whitening done, including theft and...charcoal? According to CBS Pittsburgh, authorities in Hempfield Township, PA are still on the search for a couple who allegedly stole at least $1,200 worth of teeth whitening supplies from a local Target Store. In an interview with the local CBS Affiliate, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani said that loss prevention at Target caught the female suspect on surveillance video placing teeth whitening products in her purse. According to Limani, the kits stolen were high-end products that are most likely in the $50 range. The male suspe...

The demand for storage facilities is growing by the day, but businesses are often running into roadblocks when they try to open a new facility or expand an existing one. Cities are notoriously not big fans of storage facilities, for a number of reasons. They're lacking in curb appeal, as they are mostly just bland, garage-like buildings. These facilities also do little to boost tax rolls or generate jobs. City governments are much more likely to welcome businesses that will boost revenue or provide jobs for the community. However, in spite of city disapproval, the storage business is booming across the country. Over the years, storage units have gone from temporary to long-term storage solutions for many people. According to a survey by the Self Storage Association, 30% of storage re...

Electronic health records could protect the United States against the next Ebola-like crisis, Department of Health and Human Services CTO Bryan Sivak told VentureBeat on Oct 28. “Wouldn’t it be great if the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] could be immediately alerted if a patient showed up at a clinic somewhere with a temperature of 104 degrees, and who had recently traveled to West Africa?” he asked, commenting after his appearance at the HealthBeat Conference in San Francisco. Many healthcare providers have already begun EHR adoption under the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009, and clinics and hospital are required to report serious infectious disease cases to state health authorities, who in turn can make a report to the C...

When it comes to finding child care options, many working parents turn to in-home day care providers to ensure their children will be properly supervised. But while these residential centers are a safe choice, some present serious danger to the families who use them. Such was the case in a recent fire in Midlothian, Virginia, where a fire in an unlicensed day care facility resulted in the death of a 13-month-old boy. Virginia State regulations state that any residential day care center, or "family day home," must be licensed by the Virginia Department of Social Services if the center plans to take care of more than five children not related to the provider. According to Chesterfield County fire officials, the day care operator, Laurie Underwood, told firefighters at the scene that she w...

After State Farm Insurance moves two miles down the road in Richardson, Texas, it will leave behind a building that can house thousands of employees. The relocation is one of the biggest office moves the Dallas area has ever seen. The new facility, part of the CityLine project, will serve as a base for almost 8,000 of the insurance company's regional employees. But in a couple of years, the old building will sit empty, leaving more than one million square feet of office space. Gary Stephenson, spokesperson for State Farm, said that the company projects a move throughout 2015 and into 2016 in four new buildings. However, due to State Farm's lease of five buildings south of its new campus, with some leases running until 2018, the entire block of old office space is unlikely to go...

Sports have a long and well-documented history of helping kids in many ways. Kids who are in shape tend to score 30% higher on tests than kids who aren't, and kids who play sports generally have higher self-esteem. High school athletes are more likely to attend college and earn a degree than non-athletes, and youth sports can even discourage negative behavior, according to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.But is there a downside associated with all of these benefits? As youth sports become more "professionalized," it's beginning to look more and more like there might be.  Children are starting sports earlier than ever before, and some even begin playing competitively by age three or four. Children ages five and six are playing in "elite level talent develop...

Even though she can afford a squad of elite nannies and an army of caretakers, socialite Kim Kardashian likes to have a more personal touch when it comes to parenting, preferring to take care of her first born daughter North herself. Though she may be new at the whole "mom" thing, Kardashian is learning the ropes rather quickly, it seems, and even has a neat little trick to conk baby North out when she needs to go to sleep. "[I give her] a bottle at night with some cereal in it," explained Kardashian. "I put in the milk, and then the rice cereal, and then you have to cut the nipple a little bit more to let it pass through, and it fills North's tummy and she'll pass out." Though the technique might seem unorthodox to say the least (and perhaps downright weird to say the most) it actually ...

Getting ripped off is a homeowner's nightmare, especially when it comes to home improvements. And that's exactly what happened for residents in Knox and Hancock counties in Illinois, where several individuals say they were the victims of a scheme by fraudulent garage builders. According to investigators in the area, homeowners met with the owners of Sturdy Building, based in Moulton, Iowa. The contractors told the homeowners they would perform work for them, but only after they signed a contract and put down 20% of the costs up front. The Knox County Sheriff's Office released a statement explaining the scheme. "The work is never started or completed," they said, "and the suspects keep the 20% down payment." Sturdy Building, owned by Jeremy and Amanda Lawson, received a Better Business B...

Most Americans have been raised to believe that U.S. law enforcement organizations are on their side, and that government agencies exist to protect them. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is no exception to this assumption. It exists to protect innocent citizens from injuries caused by illegal drug use, and DEA agents are given a fair amount of leverage, as far as privacy policies go, in order to track down criminals. But when news leaked that the DEA had been impersonating a real woman on Facebook -- had been communicating with Sondra Arquiett's friends and pretending to be her, and had hacked into her phone for her private photos, which were posted on the fake profile -- Americans were outraged. It's a well-known fact that social media platforms are breeding grounds for fake profil...