Tame your pet costs

Americans spent more than $48 billion on pet products and services last year, according to the American Pet Products Association. Consumer Reports says you can provide the care your pet needs while curbing some of your expenses, too.

Don't pay a premium for "premium" pet food. Food is the biggest cost of owning a cat or dog, according for $20 billion in annual sales in the U.S. But you don’t have to spring for “premium” pet foods. Any food that’s marked “complete and balanced,” “total nutrition,” or “100 percent nutritious” should meet the minimum standards for nutrition set by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, meaning it’s adequate for most healthy pets.Don't automatically get pet medicines from the vet. Vets’ markups on medications start at 100 percent and often hit 160 percent, according to the American Animal Hospital Association’s latest Veterinary Fee Reference. However, if your pet is taking a medication that’s also prescribed to humans, you might be able to fill the prescription inexpensively. Walgreen’s allows customers to enroll their pets as family members in its Prescription Savings Club, while Giant/Eagle, Target, and Kroger have discount programs that are open to pets.Take simple steps now to prevent costly problems. Brushing your cat’s or dog’s teeth or giving them dental chews can help prevent tooth plaque, which leads to periodontal disease in pets. Spaying female pets can reduce the risk of mammary tumors, while neutering male pets can reduce aggression and prevent some diseases. Finally, don’t over-feed your pets: Obesity can lead to arthritis and diabetes for them and huge prescription bills for you.

For more on how to care for your pets while curbing some expenses, check out the full story, Tame your pet costs.

—Evan MacDonald

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Large Canadian retailer expands its paint recycling program

RONA, a large chain of Canadian home centers, has expanded its paint recycling program to include British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta as well as Ontario and Quebec provinces, according to the Home Channel News. But if that seems a tad too far to drive, there are safe ways to properly dispose of extra paint on this side of the border.

In this country, retailers haven’t yet gotten into the paint recycling business but some states have proposed legislation that's been supported by the American Coatings Association. The industry group believes that rules are needed for paint-collection programs to succeed, not just voluntary efforts by companies or communities.

The best way to avoid the issue, of course, is to not have any leftover paint to begin with. Remember a gallon of paint covers about 400 square feet for smooth walls and ceilings, a bit less for rougher surfaces. One coat coverage and superb stain resistance helped put Home Depot’s Behr Premium Plus interior paints, $31 to $38 per gallon, at the top of our paint Ratings. But others did nearly as well for less money.

If you do end up with leftover paint, here’s how to get rid of it. You can find information specific to where you live at Earth911.com.

Donate it for reuse. Some organizations will accept paint that’s in good condition, meaning it can be easily stirred to a smooth consistency and is uncontaminated. The paint should also be in an intact, labeled container.

Recycle it. Some communities offer recycling programs for old paint and empty paint cans. Water-based, or latex, paint can be recycled into new paint or it can even be used to create nonpaint products such as cement. Oil-based, or alkyd, paint is usually used for fuel blending—meaning it’s burned to create energy at a power plant. To find out whether paint recycling is an option in your area, contact your municipal recycling or household-hazardous-waste center.

Dispose of it. If you can’t donate or recycle your paint, find out how to properly dispose of it in your area. Each municipality has different requirements, depending on whether the paint is oil- or water-based. Oil-based paint is always considered hazardous and should be disposed of at a household-hazardous-waste collection facility. Water-based paint is treated as hazardous in only a few states—including California, Washington and Minnesota—and is still generally accepted at hazardous-waste facilities.

—Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman

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Five dirt-cheap kitchen upgrades that pay

The fed's big retreat from the mortgage market is the latest argument for smaller-but-smarter home upgrades, especially in the kitchen. As of this October, the biggest home loans that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and federal agencies will guarantee drops from more than $700,000 to as low as $271,050, according to The Wall Street Journal. That’s likely to give an added boost to lower-priced homes—and another reason to spend wisely when it comes to remodeling your kitchen.

The good news: Consumer Reports’ latest tests yields a tantalizing menu of value-priced kitchen upgrades that cost as little as $1,000. Besides paying off now in improved looks and convenience, these smaller upgrades are likelier to pay bigger dividends later as home prices rebound. Here’s the list:

Add fresh paint. If cabinets are structurally sound but shabby, spruce them up with a coat of paint. Paying a pro costs as little as $50 per door, less if you tackle the prepping and painting yourself. One pick from our tests is the self-priming Behr Premium Plus Ultra Satin Enamel, $33 per gallon at Home Depot. Check out our buying advice for paints.

Improve convenience. For about $200 or less, you can improve cabinet storage with pull-out shelves and retractable trash bins.

Update the countertops. Designers’ views are mixed between granite and quartz (about $40 to $100 per square foot), which mimics granite and other stone. Quartz topped our gauntlet of tests, and it never needs sealing. Want to spend less? Laminate costs just $10 to $40 per square foot and resisted stains and impact even better (but be careful about cuts). Want more guidance? See our countertop buying advice.

Beautify the backsplash. Durable ceramic-tile starts at about $10 per square foot installed. And even high-maintenance materials like glass are smart options, since they don't get the wear and tear of a countertop. Whatever you use for the backsplash, caulking between the backsplash and countertop is a must.

Fix up your flooring. Tile or wood may impress realtors, but some top-rated vinyl and laminate floors also look sharp, resist wear significantly better, and cost far less when the work is done. Examples from our latest tests include the vinyl-tile Congoleum DuraCeramic Sierra Slate SI-74 Golden Greig, $5 per square foot, and the laminate Armstrong Coastal Living L3051 White Wash Walnut, $3.50 per square foot. We also found a CR Best Buy among laminates for just $1 per square foot. Our buying advice for flooring helps you weigh your options.

Feeling more ambitious? Check out these videos for kitchen improvements you can do for a total of $5,000, $15,000, or even $50,000.

—Ed Perratore

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Spotify: U.S.A., here we come!

Now that the company's pockets are flush with cash and it has tied up major-label music licenses, Spotify is readying its U.S. launch, which will likely happen this month.

No specific details have been announced, but for the first time Spotify has confirmed on its website that the service will soon be available in the U.S. The company is also allowing U.S. music fans to register for an invite to the service when Spotify goes live. On its website, the company dangled this carrot in front of prospective users: "Millions of tracks ready to play instantly, on your computer and your phone. Any track, any time, anywhere. And its free."

As we've previously reported, Spotify has been edging closer to a U.S. launch for several months, as it inked deals with most of the major U.S. music labels. There's still been no firm word of a deal with Warner Music, the lone major-label holdout. Although Spotify says on its website that the service is free, the labels have traditionally looked more favorably at subscription-based services, which provide a more guaranteed revenue stream.

In Europe, where the service is wildly popular, Spotify recently began imposing limits on the amount of music accessible to users of the free ad-based service, hoping to push more users to its paid subscription service, which offers unlimited music without any ads. The company is reportedly looking to charge about $10 a month for its paid subscription service here in the U.S.

Spotify also recently raised about $100 million in funding, which will presumably in part be used to fuel its U.S. launch.

We're waiting to see the official details of how Spotify will work in the U.S., and whether the service will be integrated within Facebook, as rumored. So stay tuned for more details as they emerge.

—James K. Willcox

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Warranties void on cars burning E15, say automakers

In one of the last steps toward selling gasoline with higher concentrations of ethanol, the EPA finalized a label that will identify gas pumps dispensing E15 ethanol, a fuel containing 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline. (Read: "Move over E85, here comes E15.")

The new orange label displays "E15" in large type and states that the fuel is for use only in 2001 or newer model-year vehicles or flex-fuel vehicles, and that it is illegal to use it in other vehicles or in power equipment such as lawnmowers.

In response to the release of the labels, nine automakers—including Chrysler, General Motors, and Toyota—wasted no time writing letters to Congress criticizing the proposal and noting that they will not honor warranties for older cars running on E15. The automakers say they are concerned about the effects of E15 on engines, fuel pumps, and other fuel-system components in cars that were not designed for it. (Learn more about ethanol: "The great ethanol debate.")

In January, the EPA approved the use of E15 in all cars from the 2001 model year on. The only cars that would be warranted for use of the new fuel are flex-fuel vehicles, which are designed to use concentrations of ethanol up to 85 percent (E85).

Since many of the older cars approved to use E15, however, are out of warranty by now anyway, the main disagreement among automakers and legislators centers on the use of E15 in newer cars still under warranty. However, consumers are concerned whether 2001-and-later cars out of warranty may encounter higher repair costs using E15. Most regular gasoline sold in the United States, especially in the summer, is already blended with up to 10-percent ethanol (called E10), which automakers do allow under warranty coverage.

"I don't know that owners would have a good experience" using E15 in older cars, says Wade Newton, a spokesman for Auto Alliance, a lobbying group for automakers in Washington, D.C.

Even with the EPA approval and the new labels, other hurdles remain for gas station operators to begin pumping E15. Because stations will need to continue to provide regular fuel for older cars and power equipment, they would need to install a new underground storage tank and pump to offer E15—a significant expense.

The common objections to E15 point out how long and difficult the road will be to wean the U.S. economy from imported oil. As a liquid fuel that has been produced for centuries, ethanol should require the fewest changes from traditional petroleum among combustible alternatives.

Ethanol has promise as a renewable, locally sourced fuel. And it doesn't have to be derived from food stock. In fact, companies are working on commercializing ethanol made from sources other than corn in the United States. (In Brazil, Sweden, and South Africa, most ethanol is made from other sources.) But laws, standards, technology, and the legacy automotive fleet would all have to change to accommodate more ethanol in our national fuel portfolio. Even moving to gasoline or biodiesel made from algae or soy beans is likely to run into similar constraints. Clearly, the shift away from a gasoline-dependent national fleet will take time, commitment, and investment.

See our guides to alternative fuels and fuel economy.

—Eric Evarts

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Selling it: It's alive!

Just think what this stuff could do for crabgrass.

Submissions: SellingIt@cro.consumer.org or Selling It, Consumer Reports, 101 Truman Ave., Yonkers, NY 10703

—Consumer Reports

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Daily electronics deals: Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS digital camera

Today's electronics deals, courtesy of The Consumerist:

TigerDirect: 20" Acer S201HL Widescreen LED Backlit Monitor for $99.99Canon.com: Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS for $229.99 with Free ShippingTanga.com: Logitech Harmony 650 Advanced Universal Remote Control $44.99

Entertainment

Amazon Rango [Blu-ray] $14.99Buy.com: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) $53.99, free shipBestBuy.com: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Limited Edition (Xbox 360) $29.99 + $1 ship

Neither Consumer Reports nor The Consumerist receive anything in exchange for featuring these deals; the posts are intended to be purely informational. These deals are often fleeting, with prices changing or products becoming unavailable as the day progresses.

These posts are not an endorsement of the featured products or the Web sites that sell them—though some of the sites may be included, and recommended, in our Ratings of retailers for computers and other major electronics (both available to subscribers). Price shouldn't be your only criterion. Be wary of lower-priced deals that seem too good to be true, and check return policies for restocking fees and other gotchas.

For general buying advice for many of the products on sale above, check out our free Buying Guides.

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Mini Stars building sets recalled due to choking hazard

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Edushape Ltd., of Deer Park, N.Y., have issued a recall today of roughly 18,000 Mini Stars building sets. The children's toy construction sets contain small parts that may break off and pose a choking hazard.

The Mini Stars measure three inches in diameter and are made of opaque plastic with no further markings or logos. Each star has six circular knobs protruding from a ring-shaped center (see image) and were sold nationwide in sets of 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72 pieces at retailers and on-line at ToysRUs.com, Amazon.com and Walmart.com from January 2007 through December 2009.

According to the recall notice, CPSC and Edushape have received two reports of the knobs breaking off from the center of the stars. No injuries have been reported.

Consumers are urged to immediately take the recalled Mini Star building sets away from children and contact Edushape (800-404-4744, www.edushape.com) for a free replacement set or credit towards another Edushape product of equal or lesser value.

—Paul Eng

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Selling it: Well, maybe a thread

We took this boast as a challenge and looked for the string, and voilà: “Caribbean Cruise Line markets … travel packages … and in return requires the attendance at a presentation on the sale of independent vacation ownership resorts.”

Submissions: SellingIt@cro.consumer.org or Selling It, Consumer Reports, 101 Truman Ave., Yonkers, NY 10703

—Consumer Reports

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Personal picks: Our choices for a fuel-efficient car

With gasoline prices continuing to hover around $4 in much of the country, fuel economy remains a primary concern for car shoppers. There are so many choices across car types, it can be hard to decide on the right vehicle to deliver the desired mileage, as well as be a good, safe, and reliable car. The “good” is key, as car owners are holding on to vehicles longer than ever. We challenged the Cars Team to come up with personal picks for what fuel-efficient car they would purchase, and here are their choices.

Liza Barth: I would have to choose a Toyota Prius. The fuel economy can’t be beat, plus it has a low cost of ownership and excellent reliability. And since I prefer to buy cars that can last, I know they can go the distance based on years of reliability data and our recent tests of two Priuses that clocked over 200,000 miles. The only issue I have is the rear visibility. In the future, I may have to give serious thought to the Prius v wagon. With an expected fuel economy of 42 mpg combined and room enough to fit the family, plus all our stuff, it may be the vehicle that has me rethinking my small SUV.

Jeff Bartlett: With a long commute, fuel economy is a constant concern. Among the cars we’ve recently tested, I keep referring to the Hyundai Sonata as my mileage benchmark. The variety of smaller sedans we’ve driven this year have not matched the 40 mpg I can get on my commute with the Sonata. Even the Hyundai Elantra, as nice as it is, fell well short in my personal experience on the same daily drive. A very livable car, the Sonata is my mainstream choice. But if gas prices threaten to increase, I would have to look seriously at the Toyota Prius. Boring as store-brand oatmeal, the Prius delivers extraordinary mileage and reliability. These days, that’s a winning combination. To make it more palatable, I’d have to opt for the new Entune infotainment system, but I just can’t justify $3,700 for the tempting new Plus “sport” package. It would seal the deal if the Prius, or a worthy competitor, were made in America.

Eric Evarts: As a primarily “green car” writer, people ask me all the time what I think about the Toyota Prius--the first full-hybrid sold in the United States, the most fuel-efficient car sold here, and the darling of environmentalists who otherwise have no affinity for cars. It’s a hard question for me. See, I’ve always been a car guy. Cars to me symbolize beauty, freedom, and the joy of hustling down a twisty road feeling the car respond to my every input. The Prius is about getting a job done with as little energy as possible, technical and intellectual superiority, adapting to our changing world, and yes, about preserving our freedom of mobility in the face of shrinking resources. But in no way does it bring any true joy to the road. While I greatly admire the Prius and its hybrid brethren, I don’t really have any desire to own one. So what would I pick for a fun, fuel-efficient car? I’ve always enjoyed driving Volkswagens, and the Jetta Sportwagen is no exception. With the TDI diesel engine and a six-speed stick shift, we got 36 mpg out of it overall. And I find I use the torque from the diesel far more often than the high-end horsepower from a gasoline engine. The available big sunroof and seat heaters are prerequisites for year-round enjoyment. So, the Jetta TDI Sportwagen gets my nod.

Tom Mutchler: There are certain cars that give me hope that moving to a higher CAFE fleet standard won’t cause much of a sacrifice. The Ford Fusion Hybrid nears the top of that list. Comfortable, roomy, very fuel-efficient, quiet, and even fun-to-drive: The Fusion does it all.

Mike Quincy: I am an unabashed diesel fan. The highway fuel economy never ceases to amaze me, and I feel that you give up very little driving enjoyment when you switch from gas to diesel. So, if I could spend liberally, I would plunk down the cash for a Mercedes-Benz E350 BlueTec diesel. Getting a 600-plus-mile cruising range is amazing. And the E350’s comfortable seats and good all around visibility make it a nearly perfect car. But for far less money, I’d also be thrilled with the Volkswagen Golf TDI, which returned an excellent 38 mpg overall in our tests. And call it a Yankee Doodle Diesel.

Rick Small: My choice leans toward a hybrid, and my favorite one is the Ford Fusion. It doesn’t have much quirky hybrid styling or many distinguishing markings on it. To the untrained eye, the Fusion looks like any other Fusion, and when I drive it, it doesn’t feel like a hybrid. The Fusion is roomy and comfortable with a useable backseat. The hybrid system is quick and responsive and it handles crisply while delivering excellent fuel economy--34 mpg overall.

What fuel-efficient models stand out to you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Learn more about fuel economy and alternative fuel vehicles.

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Vitamin D might save lives

Taking a daily vitamin D supplement might extend your life, at least if you’re an older woman. That’s the suggestion of a comprehensive review published this week by the Cochrane Collaboration.

The analysis looked at 50 prior trials, including 94,148 people—mostly women living in nursing homes, with an average age of 74—from high-income countries. Researchers concluded that over a two-year period, one life was saved for every 161 people who took an average daily dose of less than 800 international units of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Other forms, including vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and the active forms of vitamin D (alfacalcidol and calcitriol), did not show the same benefit. People who took vitamin D3 with calcium were more likely to develop kidney stones.

Bottom line: None of the trials included in the analysis were designed to detect a reduction in mortality, so the findings need to be confirmed. And more research is still needed comparing different doses of vitamin D3, alone or combined with calcium, on mortality. Meanwhile, the best way to get vitamin D is through dietary sources, such as fortified milk and fatty fish such as salmon or sardines. Limited exposure to sunlight can also provide vitamin D, but talk with your doctor first, to assess your risk of skin cancer. And if, in consultation with your doctor, you decide to take vitamin D supplements, choose one labeled "USP Verified", which indicates that it meets standards for purity and potency set by the U.S. Pharmacopeia, a nongovernmental authority, and have what the USP considers acceptable limits of contaminants. For a list of products that have been verified by the USP, go to www.uspverified.org.

Source
Vitamin D supplementation for prevention of mortality in adults (Review) [The Cochrane Library]

—Doug Podolsky

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Facebook rolls out Skype video calling

Facebook today announced that Skype video calling on the social network will roll out today. According to Facebook executives, a user can use the new feature to make a video call to any Facebook friend in about 30 seconds via a couple of mouse clicks. (Obviously, such video calls could only be made to friends who have a functioning webcam on their end).

In the same announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said that Facebook now has 750 million users worldwide, who share “4 billion things per day,” and that Facebook will also add another new communication feature, group chat.

Zuckerberg described the these new features as the beginning a new phase in the development of social networks in which the traditional measure of “user growth” will replaced by exponential “sharing growth” in which users share more and more information.

We’ll have more details on Facebook’s new features as they become available.

—Jeffrey Fox

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Experts say security on Twitter lags behind other sites

Twitter security is lax, according to experts quoted in a recent Reuters article.
The site’s security came under scrutiny most recently after a Fourth of July hack of a Fox News Twitter account sent out false reports of President Barack Obama’s death. The hack may have been prevented if Twitter had simply had two-factor authentication available to users, according to the Reuters article.

"Two-factor authentication" means that to gain access to your account, you have to enter a code in addition to your password. The code changes every minute or so and is sent to your cell phone or other electronic device. Both Google and Facebook do offer two-factor authentication to their users.

Twitter also lets users communicate with the site using an ordinary, unscrambled connection, which can make it easier for potential hackers to steal passwords. The site offers the option of a secure connection, but to get to an encrypted connection you have to type "https" before entering the Twitter URL into the Web browser.

Given so much recent news of hacks, are you worried about the security of your Twitter feed--or that of any of your other online accounts?

Security online makes headlines:
CU Poll: Consumers want government to protect Internet privacy
Internet privacy, data security discussed at Senate hearing
Citigroup lost $2.7 million from credit card hack attack in May
Electronic Arts becomes latest cyber hacking victim

Twitter security lags some other sites: experts [Reuters]

—Maggie Shader

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Daily electronics deals: Samsung R540-JA06 laptop with Intel Core processor

Today's electronics deals, courtesy of The Consumerist:

TigerDirect: TigerDirect June Black Friday Sale: Up to 78% off computers and electronics6ave: NYC: $100 6th Avenue Electronics in-store gift card for $59TigerDirect: Samsung R540-JA06 Intel Core i3-380M 2.53GHz 15.6in Laptop (4GB/320GB) $399.99AR

Entertainment

NewEgg: Xbox 360 4GB bundle w/ Kinect + Dance Central and JoyRide Games $339.99, free shipGameStop.com: Wii Remote with Gripz $19.99 with free store pickup

Neither Consumer Reports nor The Consumerist receive anything in exchange for featuring these deals; the posts are intended to be purely informational. These deals are often fleeting, with prices changing or products becoming unavailable as the day progresses.

These posts are not an endorsement of the featured products or the Web sites that sell them—though some of the sites may be included, and recommended, in our Ratings of retailers for computers and other major electronics (both available to subscribers). Price shouldn't be your only criterion. Be wary of lower-priced deals that seem too good to be true, and check return policies for restocking fees and other gotchas.

For general buying advice for many of the products on sale above, check out our free Buying Guides.

View the original article here

Mizuno USA Inc. Recalls Baseball and Softball Gloves Due to Presence of Mold

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Mizuno Supreme Series and Ballpark Pro baseball and softball gloves

Units: About 131,000

Importer: Mizuno USA Inc., of Norcross, Ga.

Hazard: Some gloves were found to contain a variety of molds that could cause respiratory or other infections in individuals with chronic health problems, or in individuals who have impaired immune systems.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The recalled items are leather Mizuno baseball and softball gloves. The gloves have a sewn-in white label on the heel of the glove with the words Made in Vietnam and the model number. Supreme Series gloves affected are further identified by the date code imprinted on the heel of the glove near the thumb opening. The following models are affected by this recall:

The glove is dark brown on the top and palm sides with a yellow wrist strap. The words SUPREME SERIES are stamped into the palm of the gloves.SV0910
SV1110
SV1210
SV0111
SV0311The glove is light tan on the top and palm sides with a dark brown wrist strap and dark brown bindings. The words SUPREME SERIES are printed in dark brown on the palm of the gloves.The glove is dark tan on the top and palm sides with a brown wrist strap and dark brown bindings. The words SUPREME SERIES are printed in dark brown on the palm of the gloves.SV0610
SV0910
SV1010
SV1110
SV0111
SV0311The glove is dark brown on the top and palm sides with a dark brown wrist strap and dark brown bindings. The words BALLPARK PRO are printed in gold on the palm of the gloves.The glove is tan on the top and palm sides with a light tan wrist strap and dark brown bindings. The words BALLPARK PRO are printed in dark brown on the palm of the gloves.The glove is tan on the top with dark brown palm and webbing and tan wrist strap and bindings. The words BALLPARK PRO are printed in gold on the palm of the gloves.

Sold at: Walmart and Target stores nationwide from April 2010 through May 2011 for between $24 and $60.

Manufactured in: Vietnam

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the gloves and contact Mizuno USA to receive a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Mizuno USA Inc. at (800) 451-7913 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

View the original article here

Scientists find extremophile organisms lurking in dishwashers

The IMAX movie Journey into Amazing Caves shows scientists exploring remote caves, Arctic glaciers, and Mexican rainforest beds to find extremophiles, organisms that thrive amid conditions too extreme to support most life. But a team of scientists has discovered you don’t need to go to the end of the earth to find these microbes—you just need to open your dishwasher.

That’s what a team of scientists based primarily at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, found when they sampled 189 dishwashers installed in homes in six continents, including 13 in North America. While the rubber door seals of 102 models yielded numerous yeasts and other fungi, two organisms in particular proved especially tolerant of wide ranges in temperature, PH, and salinity—the black yeasts Exophiala dermatitidis and E. phaeomuriformis. Both have been known to cause systemic disease in humans and can colonize the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients.

The study, published in the journal Fungal Biology, suggests that energy-efficiency measures such as lower temperatures and less aggressive detergents, along with a nutrient source (food from the dishes) and large amounts of water, could be helping microbes flourish. And what survives the dishwasher can reach the dinner table as a biofilm over dishes, utensils, and other items.

“House appliances are perfect places to actually accelerate the evolution, to make them develop more quickly—and into really pathogenic forms,” said Nina Gunde-Cimerman, PhD, a co-author of the study and chair of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at U. of Ljubljana. “The conditions we found are also very similar to what they need in order to become human pathogens. It’s a combination of factors like you’d never find in natural environments because they aren’t found in nature. But in these appliances, they’re present.”

So far, the researchers have found no relation between drying with electric heat versus ambient temperature with the dishwasher door open. They have also seen no patterns relating to type of detergent or the cleanliness of water coming into the home. What they have found is that water higher in calcium carbonate, a chief ingredient of hard water, tends to help invasive microbes better resist attack from the human immune system.

In addition to further research on dishwashers, the same team eventually hopes to sample front-loading clothes washers—complaints about which have spawned lawsuits—and other home appliances. But in the meantime, the researchers can offer no solution other than, perhaps, washing dishes by hand. It’s hardly a comforting conclusion for dishwasher owners, let alone the industry’s trade group, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which so far has declined our request for comment on the study.

—Ed Perratore

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Want to spend $600 on a diaper bag?

You can! The Mia Bossi Maria Chocolate, for example, is a couture bag with distressed Italian leather that retails for about $600. But if somehow you can’t see yourself stuffing drippy bottles of formula, plastic containers of crunchy snacks and wads of wipes and diapers into a bag with that kind of price tag, you’ve got lots of other choices.

A diaper bag can get dirty and worn pretty quickly, so a durable, wipe-clean model is probably your best bet. Regardless of what you spend, you'll want something more substantial for a day trip, when you need to pack an extra outfit for your baby, your cell phone and wallet, and a day's worth of juice boxes or formula.

From budget to deluxe
When it comes to diaper bags, prices can range from $15 for a low-end fabric or vinyl model to as much as $500 and up for a bag from Gucci, Kate Spade, or Juicy Couture. Here are more specifics about what you'll find in each price range:

The lowdown on the low end
At $35 or less, these bags might skimp on quality and durability, leaving you with a zipper that won't zip, or a bag that quickly frays and needs to be replaced. If you expect to have more kids and want diaper-bag shopping to be a one-shot deal, spending a little more (in the upper end of the mid-priced range) will get you a good-quality bag that might last through several years of Sesame Street.

The mid-range
If value is what you're after, a midpriced model (pictured) in the $35-to-$100 range offers the best mix of sound construction and generous storage. The best bags can be wiped clean inside and out because gunk tends to accumulate on all surfaces. They also have lots of Velcro or zippered pockets, which can help you stay organized.

High-end, haute, and hip
Many of the top names in fashion have jumped into the diaper-bag business, as they have with baby clothing. Just be prepared to pay. The Addison Op Art Baby Bag by Coach, for example, will set you back $500. Before you're seduced by all the choices in shape, style, fabric, and fashion, think about where you'll be bringing the bag and what will work best for you. A bigger investment might not deliver a bigger return in terms of convenience or durability.

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Cuddling keeps men happy, says study

The key to a long, happy relationship? Surprisingly, cuddling and caressing is more important to men than for women, according to a study published this week in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Researchers at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington surveyed 1,009 middle-aged and older couples from the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Japan, and Spain, who were together an average 25 years. The asked how many times during the past 4 weeks they engaged in sexual activity with their partner, how often they kissed, cuddled, and caressed, and their degree of happiness in their relationships and sex lives.

Men were most likely to be in a happy relationship if they kissed and cuddled a lot, and if their partner experienced orgasm. Men also said they were happier, and were more satisfied with their sex lives, the longer they had been together. Women who had been with their partner for more than 15 years also reported greater sexual satisfaction—though, paradoxically, those who had been in a relationship for 20 years or more were less happy with it. In both genders, sexual satisfaction was also associated with intimacy, frequent sex, and higher sexual functioning.

Japanese men reported more sexual satisfaction than American men, while Japanese and Brazilian women were more satisfied sexually than American women.

Bottom line: Taking time to cuddle and kiss might improve your relationship and your sex lives too, especially for men. We’ve previously reported that a satisfying sex life can promote good emotional and physical health. Moreover, sex itself may have direct health benefits. For example, orgasm or any loving touch may cause the body to release substances that ease pain, bolster immunity, or elevate mood long after the immediate pleasure passes. And research suggests people who have strong, intimate relationships tend to have fewer chronic diseases and to live longer.

Read our advice on how to maintain a healthy sex life and take our sex quiz.

Source
Sexual Satisfaction and Relationship Happiness in Midlife and Older Couples in Five Countries [Archives of Sexual Behavior]

—Ginger Skinner

View the original article here

Colon cancer deaths declining, but more screening needed

Increased colon-cancer screening prevented 66,000 colon-cancer cases and saved 32,000 lives between 2003 and 2007, according to a new report this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But those numbers could be even better: roughly a third of U.S. adults between the ages of 50 and 75 still aren’t up to date with their screening.

Colon cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. among cancers that affect both men and women. But those deaths are largely avoidable. Colonoscopy can help detect the cancer early and prevent it by finding precancerous polyps. A study published earlier this year in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that screening colonoscopy cut the risk of colon cancer by 77 percent over 10 years. But other research suggests that doctors often fail to recommend the test. And when they don’t bring it up, neither do patients.

Bottom line: If you’re 50 or older, or are at high risk for colon cancer, ask your doctor about scheduling a colon-cancer screening.

Find out what to expect during a colon screening, and see our tips on getting through the before, after, and during of the procedure.

Sources
Vital Signs: Colorectal Cancer Screening, Incidence, and Mortality --- United States, 2002—2010 [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]

Protection From Colorectal Cancer After Colonoscopy: A Population-Based, Case-Control Study [Annals of Internal Medicine]

Predictors of colorectal cancer screening behaviors among average-risk older adults in the United States [Cancer Causes Control]

—Ginger Skinner

View the original article here

CR analysis: Tiered data plans won't change bills for most Verizon smart-phone users

As of tomorrow (July 7), Verizon will have replaced its $30-a-month unlimited plan with three new plans with varying data limits. But the least expensive of those is also $30, and it offers 2GB of data per month. That's far more data than the vast majority of phone users ever need—even Verizon smart-phone subscribers, who reportedly have relatively large appetites for data.

Our past reporting, as well as other more recent reports from the likes of MSNBC, indicate that data usage, even by Verizon smart-phone users, averages no more than about 500MB per month. And many customers, of course, use far less than that—including owners of some regular phones (detailed in our Ratings, available to subscribers) that require a data plan, even though they can't use the data-intensive apps that distinguish smart phones.

Unlike other major carriers, Verizon has not introduced a lower-priced tiered plan for the many smart-phone owners who send and receive only a small amount of data every month. For example, minimal data users on AT&T can get a 200MB-a-month plan that costs $15 (its 2GB plan costs $25 a month). T-Mobile's plans are even cheaper, at $10 (220 200MB) and $20 (2GB) a month.

Minimal data users on Verizon will, then, continue to pay the same $30 they’ve been paying for the unlimited plan. The small percentage of data hogs among the carrier’s customers will pay more: $50 a month for 5GB or $80 for 10GB.

[UPDATE: As we stated in our previous post, Verizon's new data plans won't affect current subscribers already enrolled with Verizon's $30 unlimited data plan. -- Ed.]

The amount of data used by smart-phone owners may, of course, increase in the future. That's especially true if they're on networks, including Verizon's, that are about to be upgraded (or expanded) to significantly faster 4G technology that may encourage greater data use by considerably increasing download and upload speeds. So far, Verizon isn't charging more to service the relatively few phones that run on its LTE 4G network. But that could change: Sprint, for example, charges a $10 premium on plans for its 4G phones.

Want more detail? See our updated comparison of data plans from the major carriers.

Related:
AT&T kills unlimited data plans for new iPhone and iPad customers
CR analysis: T-Mobile's new data plans could widen cost gap with AT&T

—Paul Reynolds

View the original article here

Amazon takes on Apple: Cloud Player updates, use of 'App Store'

Yesterday, Amazon announced three upgrades to its Cloud Player, an online music streaming and storage branch of its Cloud Drive service. And in other news, the online retailer might have just scored an early hit against the iconic computer company in the right to use "app store" as a name.

For a limited time, Amazon is offering unlimited storage space for music files to customers who enroll in any Cloud Drive storage plan, which start at $20 per year for 20GB. (Initially, Cloud Drive members get 5GB of storage space for free.) The company is also extending the unlimited storage offer for all Amazon Music Store purchases—including tunes bought prior to April's launch of Cloud Player. (Prior to this, uploads of previously purchased Amazon tunes counted against a subscriber's Cloud Drive storage limits.)

Amazon also announced Cloud Player for iPad, enabling owners of the Apple tablet access to the cloud-based music storage and streaming service.

By comparison, Apple's iCloud service, which was announced last month, also offers 5GB of storage for free. But subscribers will pay an additional $25 per year to store up to 25,000 tunes on iCloud's iTunes Match Service. And although Apple hasn't released final subscription plans, additional iCloud storage space is expected to be competitive—perhaps 50GB for $10 annually. (See: Apple iCloud: Seven things you need to know for more details.)

As for Amazon's legal skirmishes, a federal judge in California has denied Apple's request to bar Amazon from using "App Store" as the online retailer's name for its marketplace of applications for Android smart phones and tablets. The rejected injunction was filed earlier this year by Apple along with a trademark lawsuit, which alleges Amazon's infringing use of the term would cause consumer confusion.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton does not mean the courts agree with Amazon's defense that "app store" is a generic term—as was once used by Steve Jobs. But the judge noted Apple did not meet the burden of proving the "likelihood of confusion" in order to receive the legal injunction against Amazon.

The lawsuit will be tried at the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California this October.

Amazon Announces Storage Plans for Amazon Cloud Drive with Unlimited Space for Music, Free Storage for all MP3s Purchased at Amazon MP3 and Cloud Player Support for iPad [Amazon press release]
Judge rejects Apple bid for injunction against Amazon [Reuters]

—Paul Eng

View the original article here

Amtran launches its first JVC-branded HDTVs

As part of a deal that was announced last fall, JVC has licensed its brand for HDTVs to Amtran Video, a unit of the giant Taiwanese contract-TV manufacturer, Amtran. The company's first TVs under the deal will be BlackCrystal-series 1080p LCD sets, in screen sizes ranging from 32 inches to 47 inches. They'll be available in the next few weeks, initially from several online retailers, including Amazon and Buy.com.

The company plans to augment its initial product series with other lines later in the year, including a BlackSapphire series that will offer step-up features such as access to Internet content and 3D, as well as larger screen sizes. Compared to previous JVC HDTVs, the BlackCrystal sets will be lower priced and will include a mix of CCFL (3000 series) and LED-backlit models (3001 series). The 1080p TVs will be available starting in about two weeks, and the company hopes that better sound quality—via a sound system dubbed XinemaSound, which includes an audio-only mode—will help differentiate the line.

Models in the 3000 series will range from $470 for a 32-inch TV to $950 for a 47-inch set. Prices for the LED-based 3001-series TVs will range from $600 for a 32-inch model to $1,200 for a 47-inch set.

The TVs will be manufacturer by Amtran, which counts Vizio—a top U.S. TV brand—among its current customers. Previously, JVC had its TVs built by another manufacturer but was directly responsible for marketing and distribution; those are now assumed by Amtran Video.

—James K. Willcox

View the original article here

Putting a speed limit on the mile-a-minute vine

Don’t look now but there’s a bully taking over your garden, entangling the forsythia and strangling the lilacs. Invasive plants with names like Oriental Bittersweet, Japanese Barberry and the Mile-A-Minute Vine are encroaching on gardens and displacing native plants by out-competing them for resources. More than a thousand invasive species have been reported in the U.S.—combating them starts in your own backyard.

The Asiatic tear thumb, better known as the mile-a-minute vine, got its nickname because it grows rapidly reaching lengths of 20 feet in a season as it climbs and clambers over other plants. It’s familiar to residents of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. In fact. the vine has become so virulent in parts of Connecticut that conservation groups hold mile-a-minute vine-pulling parties to rid their parks and riverbanks of the scourge.

With a little effort, you can eradicate it from your own yard and then have a party afterwards. Here’s what the National Park Service and Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences recommend.

If you find mile-a-minute or another invasive vine on your property, you can remove it yourself. Wearing garden gloves, pull the root completely out of the ground. You’ll have to do this several times a season to get them all. Put the vines in an outdoor trash bag and let them dry until the vines are dead. That way the seeds will not be released at the dump.

You can also use herbicides to dispatch the mile-a-minute vine. However, once the vine grows into the vegetation you want to keep, getting rid of the plants this way can be difficult. Penn State has recommendations of the best herbicides for this task.

Even when the vine is gone, your work is not done. The seeds can remain viable in the ground for five years so you'll need to do some preventive management for the next few seasons.

To identify a strange vine in your yard check Invasive.org: Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia. You can also check with your local Cooperative Extension office.

—Mary H.J. Farrell

View the original article here

Water less often and the savings will have you jumping for joy

A lot of water gets wasted trying to keep up with the Joneses and their green lawns. But lawns don’t need to drink as much as you think and over watering them will not only cost you but waste a natural resource as well. To stay green in summer, lawns need only about one inch of water a week, including rain. Here’s how to determine if your lawn’s thirst is being quenched.

On its GreenScaping website, the Environmental Protection Agency advocates a number of landscaping practices that can improve the health and appearance of your lawn and garden while protecting and preserving natural resources. Being stingy with the water is on the list.

Water your lawn deeply, but infrequently, to moisten the whole root zone. Let the soil dry between waterings to prevent lawn disease and save water. You can even let areas of lawn that don’t get heavy wear go brown and dormant—just water once a month and it’ll bounce back in the fall. Here’s how to measure the amount of water your sprinklers are spouting.
Scatter clean, empty tuna cans or other straight-sided containers on your lawn.
Turn on the sprinklers and check the time.
When most cans have one inch of water in them, turn off the sprinkler and check how long it ran.
Now you know how long to run your sprinkler each week in summer if you want to keep your lawn green.

When you mow, cut no more than one-third the height of the grass. This minimizes the amount of grass clippings. The EPA says that “grasscycling,” or leaving the clippings on the lawn can make lawns healthier. Mulching mowers makes grasscycling easy and can reduce mowing time by 30 to 40 percent by not having to bag clippings.

Mulching is one of the factors considered in Consumer Reports lawn mower tests. Eleven self-propelled mowers aced our mulching test but only one lawn tractor excelled at this task and no push mowers.

—Mary H.J. Farrell

View the original article here

EPA rates Mitsubishi "i" electric at 62 miles of range and 112 mpg equivalent

Mitsubishi has announced that the range for its upcoming all-electric car “i”, formerly known as the MieV, will be EPA-rated at 62 miles in average driving, or 98 miles in the city. The company had originally announced the “i” would have a range of 80 miles. This gives the small car a shorter range than the 75 miles we’ve been getting on average in the all-electric Nissan Leaf.

In addition to the range rating, Mitsubishi announced the new car’s energy efficiency or MPG-equivalent ratings of 126 MPGe in the city, 99 MPGe on the highway, and 112 MPGe combined. That promises to give it the highest EPA rating of any car sold in America when it goes on sale early next year, with the west coast first.

The Mitsubishi i is significantly smaller than the Leaf. Think of it as more like a four-door Smart ForTwo. Consequently, the electric Mitsu has a smaller battery pack to carry around, which accounts for much of the higher MPGe rating and the shorter range.

Mitsubishi says the i will retail for $27,990, or $20,490 after a $7,500 federal tax credit.

In a parallel announcement the Japanese conglomerate, which also makes electronic products, said it will install a solar-powered four-car electric-car charging station at its U.S. headquarters in Southern California. The station will offer all three standard levels of charging: 110-volt Level 1, 240-volt Level 2, and DC “fast” charger, which can recharge an i or a Leaf up to 80 percent in under 30 minutes. Such solar charging stations could be a quick way to provide a public charging infrastructure for electric cars that doesn’t tax the existing electrical grid at peak times during the day. Mitsubishi Electric claims to be one of the largest manufacturers of solar photovoltaic cells in the world.

When the Mitsubishi i debuts, it will be the fourth primarily or exclusively electric car to roll onto America’s highways from a major brand, following the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf, and the Ford Focus electric (due out this fall).

—Eric Evarts

View the original article here

GM offers free car insurance to buyers in Oregon, Washington

If you live in Oregon or Washington and are shopping for a new car this summer, General Motors has a deal that might entice you to its dealerships' doors: Free car insurance for a year.

GM will offer the car insurance, provided by MetLife Auto & Home, to those states' residents who take delivery of a new 2010-2012 Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, or GMC vehicle by September 6. The policy, which includes liability and physical damage, will cover the new car owner and any designated driver. And if the new GM vehicle is damaged beyond repair in the first year (or up to 15,000 miles, whichever comes first), MetLife will "repair or replace the vehicle with a new vehicle, without deducting for depreciation," says the GM press release.

GM is said to be testing the insurance incentive to boost new vehicle sales in those two states. And if it is successful, the program may be offered in other regions or possibly nationwide.

Overall sales of new GM vehicles have been positive—up 10 percent from the previous year, as we noted. But Ford and Chrysler have also made substantial in-roads (12 and 30 percent growth, respectively) against Japanese competition still struggling with the aftermath of March's disasters. (See: June car sales: American automakers post gains, Japanese still struggle.)

And Detroit's Big Three aren't likely to let up on the drive for more sales. Last week, for instance, we identified the best 4th of July American car deals. Of the 39 vehicles featured, 12 were GM-badged models. Some, such as the 2011 Chevrolet Malibu, offered a potential savings of 20 percent off the sticker price.

Check out our Best & worst cars list from Consumer Reports April 2011 which also contains information about overall car ownership costs. And for more car shopping tips, read our free online car buying guide and Top 10 tips for finding the right car insurance policy.

And let us know what you think. If you're shopping for a new car, would you want more "perks" such as free insurance for a year or would you rather see lower prices?

GM to offer free car insurance [CNN Money]
Official: GM offering free insurance with new vehicle purchase - in Oregon and Washington [AutoBlog]
Buick free insurance offer [Buick]
Cadillac free insurance offer [Cadillac]
Chevrolet free insurance offer [Cevrolet]
GMC free insurance offer [GMC]

—Paul Eng

View the original article here

Talking to Your Doctor - from Consumer Reports

Get all the latest information from the CU Press Room, including podcasts of our syndicated radio feature, "Report to Consumers", delivered right to your desktop.

View the original article here

What are your options for wireless data?

Verizon Wireless has confirmed that it will end its $30 monthly unlimited wireless-data plan for new two-year contracts. Tomorrow, Verizon joins AT&T in the move to tiered data plans. (Note that current Verizon customer with an existing unlimited plan won't have to change plans.)

So if you're shopping for a new smart phone or tablet computer, what will be your choices? How much will you have to shell out for data at Verizon or any of the other major U.S. wireless service providers?

To try and get a handle on the different data options, Consumer Reports compiled the following table from information on carriers' official websites and other online sources.

In a nutshell, here are some of the service plans and options you'll have to wade through if you're shopping for service on a single mobile phone on July 7, 2011:

Monthly Wireless Data Plans (for individual cell and smart phones)$10 for 75MB
(for feature phones only)$15 for unlimited
(e-mail, Web, music, and Sprint TV only)$30 for unlimited
(adds video and texting)$45 for 4GB
(allows tethering)$70 for unlimited data
(includes 450 minutes of talk)$90 for unlimited data
(900 minutes talk)$15 per MB or
$10 per GB
(depending on plan)None
(Data connection speeds will be slowed if you go over your limit)$20 for tethering and an extra 2GB$10 for "premium data" for smart phones

Confused yet? Hold on: Here are some additional notes and caveats to consider.

All the plans from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon require an individual cell phone talk plan, which start at $40. The new $10 plan from Verizon is available only for feature phones—those that can access the Web, but don't feature apps. The $15 and $30 Sprint data plans are add-ons to its talk plans, which start at $30 per month. The other Sprint plans listed include voice minutes. Shared family plans, which feature different rates and options, from all four carriers were not included in this table.

The experts at Consumer Reports are still going over the coming changes to Verizon's data plans and will have a deeper analysis soon. Update: Here's our CR analysis: Tiered data plans won't change bills for most Verizon smart-phone users.

What do you think? Has shopping for a mobile device and wireless service gotten more complicated for you? Let us know what you think below.

And if you're shopping for a new service contract, check out our recent analysis of T-Mobile and AT&T wireless plans. And our free cell phone buying guide online also contains a section on how to choose the best wireless service provider for your needs.

Verizon confirms it will ditch unlimited smartphone data plans starting July 7 [Fierce Wireless]
T-Mobile unveils new tiered data plans for smartphones, details throttling speeds [Fierce Wireless]
Verizon Wireless Individual Plans [Verizon]
AT&T's Data Plans [AT&T]
T-Mobile Even More Individual Plans with Data [T-Mobile]
Sprint service plans for individuals [Sprint]

—Paul Eng

View the original article here

Customer Service - from Consumer Reports

Get all the latest information from the CU Press Room, including podcasts of our syndicated radio feature, "Report to Consumers", delivered right to your desktop.

View the original article here

Sound Byte: Kindle unseated by Nook at top of our Ratings

Since we first started covering e-book readers, the Kindle has ruled undisturbed--until now. Barnes & Noble's newest Nook Simple Touch e-reader has features that put it slightly ahead of the Kindle for the first time.

Consumer Reports electronics editor Paul Reynolds compared the two devices point by point; on last week's Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline radio show, he explains just how the Nook gained its top-of-the-charts position. Listen to our Sound Byte podcast for the details.

About Sound Bytes
Every week, Consumer Reports experts produce a short (less than two minutes in length) audio segment which cover a wide variety of issues regarding consumer electronics and technology. These small "sound bites" can be heard on Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline. The Sound Byte that is featured in the Consumer Reports Electronics Blog is a segment that aired on last weekend's Into Tomorrow over-the-air broadcast.

About Into Tomorrow
Now in its 15th year, Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline covers the Latest in Consumer Electronics & Technology available today and... into tomorrow. The show airs on over 160 AM and FM radio stations around the U.S., on SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio, radio stations in Germany, Bermuda, New Zealand, Canada and several other sources including Mobile Broadcast Network, BeOS Radio, Sprint Radio, TiVo, and many others—every weekend. "Into Tomorrow" is also heard around the world on the Armed Forces Networks in several other countries. You can also catch all Into Tomorrow episodes on the Web. (The most recent show is usually added about three or four days after it has been broadcast on the radio.)

View the original article here

Tomorrow's 56.2-mpg technology showcased today in Toyota Highlander Hybrid

We've heaped a lot of praise lately on the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. It is a recommended model, our top-scoring SUV, and it recently made our list of the 12 fuel most useful cars per mpg. What we haven't said about the Highlander Hybrid is that it epitomizes the type of technology that America needs to move toward a less oil-dependent future. Can automakers achieve 56.2 mpg, on average, by 2025? The Highlander Hybrid shows the technology is not only in reach, but much of it is on the road today.

At 27 mpg overall in our testing, this big three-row SUV gets better fuel economy than any other SUV and even better than many small cars. And it does it all with very good reliability.

Clearly as a hybrid it doesn't waste gas idling, and it recoups some of the energy that otherwise would be wasted in braking. Its all-wheel-drive system adds minimal drag, because it's electric. The new engine this year, which boosted mileage by 4 mpg, uses direct injection, as almost all of the most fuel-efficient new models do. And the engine has no external belts at all. All accessories, from power steering to air conditioning, are driven electrically. Its hybrid transmission uses no energy-wasting fluid couplings, and it functions as a continuously variable unit to keep the engine spinning at its most efficient rpm.

Added together, these technologies make up the SUV that environmentalists, sometimes called heretics, said could be built back in 2003. None of the Highlander's technologies are new since then, although all have been more fully developed to operate more seamlessly and reliably.

The Union of Concerned Scientists back then posted a blueprint on their website of "the 35 mpg SUV" (though they weren't the only ones to advocate for it). Back then, 35 mpg was the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) target these groups were advocating, and which automakers, including Toyota, were loudly proclaiming was impractical. Congress eventually passed fuel economy standards in 2007 that called for CAFE to rise to 40 mpg by 2020.

Although the Highlander doesn't quite get there, it looks a lot like the blueprint. And it does save owners more than 200 gallons of gas a year, adding up to about $800 compared with a non-hybrid Highlander which gets 18 mpg overall. And that's key. Improving the gas mileage of a big utilitarian vehicle like the Highlander saves more than twice as much gas as a Prius does compared to a very fuel-efficient conventional small car like the Toyota Corolla. And under the corporate average fuel economy scheme, SUVs would still be allowed to make up the low end of an automaker's average.

The only drawback to the Highlander, which we've noted before, is the cost: $47,255 for the AWD Limited version we tested. Our Highlander has leather, navigation, a sunroof, all the bells and whistles. No question, it's very nice. And it's a fair argument that spending the extra thousands for a Highlander Hybrid will be a tough sell to some.

The Obama administration estimates adding all these technologies to more average new cars would cost an average of between $2,100 and $2,600, and that gas savings would more than make up for that extra cost within five years.

With the Highlander Hybrid as the standard bearer, we think the more fuel-efficient cars of the next decade could be very easy to live with.

Related:
The car technologies needed to reach 56.2 mpg and beyond
Consumer Reports says 56.2 mpg is good, but we can do even better
Downsizing: The 12 most useful cars per mpg
Downsizing your SUV for better mpg—does it make cents?
Guide to fuel economy

—Eric Evarts

View the original article here

Investment companies let customers make deposits by smart phone

New smart phone applications from Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments let customers deposit checks into brokerages accounts without actually having to deposit the paper check. Customers simply take a picture of the check with their iPhone or Android-based phone and upload it to their account.

The new applications puts these two investment companies more in line with other banks when it comes to mobile banking offerings. J.P. Morgan Chase, PNC Financial Services and U.S. Bancorp have already rolled out technology allowing customers to make deposits by smart phone.

Both Charles Schwab and Fidelity have safeguards in place to guard against repeat deposits of the same check.

As the concept of mobile wallets and mobile banking spreads, more Americans are testing the concept of deposits on the go. A survey by Schwab found that almost seven in 10 Americans (between the age of 18 and 44) were at least interested in deposit checks via smart phone.

According to the Wall Street Journal, other investment companies, such as Vanguard and T. Rowe Price, report that they too are exploring new mobile banking options.

Other recent news about mobile banking offerings:
Google announces Google Wallet: Pay using your mobile phone
Banks move into PayPal turf, offer electronic cash transfers
Mobile wallet app lets you pay by saying your name at checkout
Buzzword: What is NFC?

Use a Phone for Deposits on the Go [Wall Street Journal]

—Maggie Shader

View the original article here

For high blood pressure, home measurement is best

If you have high blood pressure, you’re better off taking measurements periodically at home than relying on those taken in your doctor’s office, according to a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It found that multiple home readings provide a more accurate picture of blood-pressure control—and thus might lead to better treatment.

Researchers analyzed systolic (upper) blood-pressure measurements taken from 444 veterans with hypertension over 18 months. They had their blood pressure measured in three ways: via a home monitor that transmitted measurements electronically three times a week; during regular office visits (approximately once a month) with their primary-care provider; and at 6-month intervals by the researchers conducting the study.

Rates of blood-pressure control—defined as a systolic reading of less than 140 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) for in-office measurements and less than 135 mm Hg for home measurements—varied widely across the three methods, with the lowest rates (28 percent) coming from single doctor’s office measurements and the highest (68 percent) from the research measurements. The low rate of “controlled” readings at the doctor’s office could potentially lead to overtreatment with antihypertensive drugs, since physicians would rely on numbers that might be artificially high in determining where to go with drug treatment.

In contrast, the researchers found that taking an average blood-pressure reading from several measurements resulted in substantially greater accuracy, and suggested home monitoring as a convenient, cost-effective way of generating those measurements. “The effect of within-patient variability could be greatly reduced by averaging several measurements, with most benefit accrued at 5 to 6 measurements,” they wrote.

Bottom line: If you have hypertension, this study provides more reason to get a home monitor, and to use it regularly. For tip on how to get the best results, watch our video, below.

See our Ratings of blood-pressure monitors as well as our advice on how to lower your blood pressure levels.

Source
Measuring Blood Pressure for Decision Making and Quality Reporting: Where and How Many Measures? [ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE]

—Jamie Hirsh

View the original article here

EPA approves two insecticides to control stink bugs

Image courtesy of Gary Bernon, USDA APHIS, Bugwood.org

Taking emergency measures, the Environmental Protection Agency has approved two insecticides to control the brown marmorated stink bug, which has caused untold losses to fruit trees and crops in the mid-Atlantic region. An invasive species, the stink bug has no known predator in this country so growers have been seeking ways to rid their crops of the destructive insect. Included in the approval is an insecticide that can be used by organic farmers.

In what it calls an emergency exemption, the EPA approved the insecticide dinotefuran (trade names Venom and Scorpion) for emergency use in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey. Under the exemption, producers of stone fruit (such as peaches, plums and cherries) and pome fruit (including apples and pears) are allowed use two applications of dinotefuran per season. In a related decision, the EPA approved an insecticide for organic farmers that contains azadirachtin and pyrethrins, which are derived from botanical ingredients.

The stink bug is native to Asia and was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1998, according to entomologists at Penn State University. Since then the bug has been found in at least 33 states where it's become a threat to fruit and other crops. “Some growers have lost their entire crop to stink bug infestations,” Kim Hoelmer, a research entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told U.S.A. Today.

Last summer millions of the inch-long bugs not only feasted on crops but invaded homes, especially in the mid-Atlantic region. Homeowners resorted to shoveling up the swarms and carting them away in buckets, or vacuuming them up. But because the stink bugs emit an odor when crushed or irritated, removing them with a vacuum cleaner can ruin a good machine. Better to buy a wet-dry vac for that purpose.

“The feeling in the bug world is this is the worst bug we’ve seen in 40 years,” Michael J. Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland, told the New York Times. “It eats peaches and grapes and soybeans. It’s annihilated organic growers who can’t use pesticides. And guess what? After it eats your crops, it comes inside your home. I’ve never seen another bug do that.”

—Mary H.J. Farrell

View the original article here

Roundup: Five tablets that are taking on the Apple iPad

When the Apple iPad debuted in April, 2010, it basically defined the tablet-computer category. Eventually, competitors began to roll out tablets to compete with the iPad and even offer features and capabilities you won’t find on the iPad. Consumer Reports continually tests the newest tablet computers; here’s a rundown of some newer tablets, what they offer, and how they stack up to the iPad.

HP TouchPad
The Hewlett-Packard TouchPad, roughly the size of the original Apple iPad, is HP’s first tablet computer. It is also the first tablet to run on the webOS platform, which allows for unique capabilities such as stacked-app windows (a.k.a. the “card” interface) and the pairing of webOS phones with the tablet, a feature called “Touch to Share.” The TouchPad also runs Flash video, unlike the iPad. Some apps are slow to launch, though, and there’s a dearth of them compared to those available to Apple and even Android tablets. But overall, the TouchPad shows promise. Available in two configurations: $500 for 16GB, $600 for 32GB.

HTC Flyer with stylus option

The 16GB HTC Flyer offers a memory card slot so that you can expand its storage capacity. But the Flyer is most notable for its optional stylus, which allows you to write and draw in addition to typing and navigating with your fingers. Unfortunately, there’s no slot to store the stylus in, making it easy to lose. But the ability to draw on notes, photographs, and e-books offers a fun level of functionality to the tablet. The Flyer is available only in Wi-Fi for now and operates on the Android 2.3 operating system. $500; optional stylus $80.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer is sort of a functional bridge between a tablet and a netbook, because it comes with its own docking station/keyboard. The keyboard is designed to mimic a tablet screen, with buttons for Home, Search, Back, and Menu, among others. It can be difficult to type accurately and there’s no Delete key, so it may not be ideal if you’re doing a lot of typing. But the Transformer does provide the unique experience of working as a full-functioning tablet and a netbook-like device. Available in two configurations: $500 for 16GB, $600 for 32 GB.

BlackBerry PlayBook

Research in Motion touts the BlackBerry PlayBook as “the world’s first professional-grade tablet,” but it lacks an email client. If you’re a BlackBerry user you have to wirelessly connect your phone to the device to read mail. But the device is lightweight, its display is crisp and bright, and the touchscreen is responsive and quick. The device has its own app store, but lacks the selection of apps found in Apple’s and Google’s stores. Its navigation gets mixed reviews; the tablet would benefit from Home and Back buttons, but the Play/Pause button on top of the device makes it easy to start and stop music and videos. Available in three configurations: $500 for 16GB, $600 for 32GB, and $700 for 64GB.

Samsung 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab

Samsung launched the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab last month, and so far it’s available only in Wi-Fi. It uses the tablet form of Android OS, Honeycomb 3.1, but software upgrades are planned for the future. That upgrade will feature Samsung’s user interface, called TouchWiz UX, and will feature a tray of mini-apps like a calendar and music player. It will also install a Media Hub (for downloading movies and other content), a Reader Hub (for downloading e-books), and a Social Hub (for email, instant messaging, and social networks). Available in two configurations: $500 for 16GB, $600 for 32GB.

Ready to pick out a tablet? Check out our free buying advice and complete tablet computer Ratings (available to subscribers).

—Evan MacDonald

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The car technologies needed to reach 56.2 mpg and beyond

Automakers have demonstrated they know how to boost fuel economy. The question is, are consumers ready to accept it?

Fuel economy standards are already rising from today's 27 mpg to 35.5 mpg by 2016. The latest proposal is to raise that to 56.2 mpg by 2025. Here at Consumer Reports, we've endorsed that goal as a minimum standard. We think automakers can rise to this technical challenge and doing so will be good for the nation.

The technology to boost fuel economy to these levels is already appearing on the roads, from hybrids and clean diesels and the adaptation of direct injection, start-stop systems, new types of transmissions, and electric power steering and air conditioning systems for conventional cars.

But that's not to say a significant bump in fuel econonomy will come without sacrifice. We've tested a number of cars with some of these new systems. And we've found that not all of these technologies work quite seamlessly.

Direct-injection engines generally improve fuel economy. This is one of the chief technologies used in the new Hyundai Sonata, a comfortable midsized sedan that gets 27 mpg overall in our testing and 40 mpg on the highway. But we've found in many cars that direct injection makes the engines sound louder and feel less smooth. When Audi first introduced it on the 2006 A4, some of our testers thought it sounded like a diesel.
The latest clean diesels get great mileage, have impressive power, and are much quieter than diesels from the 1980s. But they have frequent maintenance schedules to clean their particulate emissions traps and in some cases add a new "diesel exhaust fluid" to help them run cleaner.
Continuously variable transmissions can give a boost to fuel economy. One of the cars where we've seen this to great effect is the current Subaru Outback, which grew taller and wider and gained 250 pounds over the old model. It still has all-wheel drive but gets a significant 3 mpg more than the old Outback. But some of our testers found it annoying when the new Outback's CVT began "motorboating" or holding high revs up hills and spun up the rpm (and the noise) with every press of the accelerator pedal.
A different take on transmissions has been the proliferation of automated manual transmissions such as Volkswagen's DSG and Ford's Powershift. Automakers say these transmissions save gas by combining the mechanical efficiency of a manual transmission with the consumer demand for automatic shifting. We've found that the cars that use these transmissions have only returned fuel economy that is on par with other models in the same class. And many of our drivers have criticized that at low speeds, the transmissions are jerky, like riding with a driver just learning to use a clutch.
Electric power steering is getting better, and we've found that in several models where it has been employed, including several Fords, fuel economy has increased by 2-3 mpg. But we've also criticized it in many cars for feeling artificial and offering too little feedback. That's not a universal criticism, as some models have decent feedback, but it has taken some automakers a few years to get the tuning right.

With these and any other new automotive technologies, there will be a development curve that sees early adopters making inherent sacrifices.

As consumers, that can be an uncomfortable place to be. But it's likely to be less uncomfortable than being left having no alternatives to gas-guzzling cars if oil prices continue to rise. Since that's what most commodity traders and industry and government analysts expect, there is a movement to have the nation focus on making real advances in fuel economy to hedge our bets.

Since most of these systems have the potential to save consumers money at the pump while limiting the amount of oil we use, we think the latest Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard proposals are well worth the effort. And we promise to keep our finger on the pulse as we continue testing upcoming cars, to call out any issues we encounter and steer consumers toward the products with the best gas mileage and the fewest drawbacks.

Related
Guide to fuel economy
Guide to alternative fuels
Consumer Reports says 56.2 mpg is good, but we can do even better

—Eric Evarts

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