uSmartphones Leapfrog Over Laptops, Now In Nearly 3 Out Of 4 U.S. Householdsr

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  (JD Hancock)

  All one needs to do to get a grasp on the near-ubiquity of smartphones is to go out to a bar any night of the week. Anyone who is not actively involved in conversation (and plenty of people who are supposed to be conversing), can likely be spotted looking down at their screens, scrolling, pinching, and tapping the glass. And a new report confirms that the devices are not only as widely used as you’d suspect, but are approaching TV levels of popularity.

  The Consumer Electronics Association has released its data on the most widely owned tech devices in U.S. households, and this year’s list shows that smartphones continue to increase in use to the point where they are poised to become the second-most owned devices in the near future.

  According to the CEA, smartphones leapt over both laptops and digital cameras to go from #5 on the 2014 list to #3 this year. In all, 72% of U.S. households now own a smartphone, up eight percentage points from last year. That puts the devices right on the tail of DVD/Blu-ray players, which are still in 78% of homes. While it seems inevitable that smartphones will soon surpass these disc-based media players on the list, TVs are still king with a 97% ownership rate.

  

  Of course, with smartphone adoption continuing to increase, it means fewer people are carrying traditional cellphones. These non-smart phones vanished from the top 10 list for the first time ever and fell to below 50% of households.

  Tablets gladly took that #9 spot from cellphones, jumping up nine percentage points to be found in 54% of U.S. homes to make their debut on the list.

  With the increased use of smartphones and tablets as media devices, it’s not a surprise that headphone ownership jumped up five percentage points to 59%, moving up one spot to #7.

  Wearable fitness trackers didn’t make the list, as they’re currently only in around 11% of homes, but that’s more than double the ownership of just a year ago.

  Streaming media devices like Roku or Apple TV that let you bring things like Netflix and HBO Go to your TV are also continuing to become more popular and can now be found in 29% of homes, up from 24% in 2014.

  “A strong consumer appetite for mobile connected devices is causing some very interesting changes in the CE ownership landscape,” said Steve Koenig, senior director, market research at CEA. “These mobile devices have greatly influenced the type of content Americans consume, and given birth to new emerging tech categories such as wearable activity trackers and smart home devices that consumers are beginning to embrace more broadly.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uHere We Go Again: Bakery Owner Selling Business For $75, An Essay & A Cupcake Reciper

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  (Dyanna Hyde)

  There’s a new bandwagon rolling through the country and it’s only gaining more riders: After the owner of a Maine inn became the darling of the viral news cycle by offering up her establishment to the winner of an essay contest, a goat cheese farm and now a bakery have chosen to use her method of finding the ideal person to take over their business.

  A Vermont bakery owner’s plan for a successor to her business selling soups, sandwiches, cakes, cupcakes and pies is relatively simple, reports VPR.com: Whoever submits the winning essay (along with a $75 entry fee) and a cupcake recipe will take over the already established storefront at a small shopping plaza as well as all the equipment inside and 80 hours of training for those who need it.

  “I wanted to spread out the pool of perspective owners. It’s not necessarily about being a buyer. It’s more about having the love and the ability to do this job,”she says.

  Before the current owner can hand over the keys — she’s leaving town because her partner got a job out of state — she says she needs to first make $22,000 to walk away, basically to cover the cost of the equipment.

  To raise it, she’s crowdfunding on Facebook to help raise donations, and hopes that people will help out. With the clock ticking and only a few entries so far, if the plan is unsuccessful, she says she’ll close the business and return the donations.

  “It’s about creating opportunities for people and keeping our local economy strong. Its set up for people to enter and it’s also set up for people to donate,” she says.

  Waitsfield Cupcake Business Is For Sale For $75 (Sort Of) [VPR.com]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uNew York Launches Task Force To Combat Nail Salon Labor Abusesr

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  (Great Beyond)

  In the wake of news reports and an undercover state Dept. of Labor investigation into allegedly horrid labor practices — from employees who don’t get paid until the boss deems they are ready to illnesses believed to be caused by chemicals in the products they use — at nail salons in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo says his administration is taking immediate action to protect employees’ health and wages.

  Cuomo says he is launching an multi-agency enforcement task force that will “work together to implement new health and safety regulations for nail salon employees and engage in new enforcement actions to recover unpaid wages, issue fines and penalties for violations of all relevant laws and regulations, assess damages and evaluate whether to revoke the license of violators.”

  The task force will work to secure back wages for those employees whose pay was illegally withheld by their employers. According to reports, many salon workers were paid well below minimum wage. While it’s legal to pay a tipped employee (such as a restaurant server) below the minimum, that employees total, tip-included compensation must still add up to at least the minimum hourly rate. In some cases, salon employees were also being paid on a purely commission basis, meaning they could make no money if no clients came in.

  According to Cuomo, new regulations will requiring every nail salon to secure either a bond or expanded insurance policy to cover claims for unpaid wages as part of its licensure. And if a salon fails fails to comply with an order to pay assessed back wages, it must then take out an additional bond to cover those wages and two years’ worth of future wages.

  While much of the focus on the nail salon reports has been centered on wage-related issues, it was also revealed that many employees are inhaling and coming into contact with toxic chemicals, without using or being provided with equipment to keep them from falling ill.

  The new task force will create regulations that require the use of things like gloves and face masks when needed. Salons will also be required to be compliant with existing rules giving salon employees the right to demand and wear protective equipment. In addition to enforcing compliance on existing ventilation regulations, new rules will require personal fans at each work station.

  Because many nail salon employees, especially the newest workers, speak little-to-no English — and because there are often multiple languages spoken within a salon — all salons will be required to post notices that all employees can see and read, describing their rights to full, legal wages and a safe working environment. These notices will also include contact information for employees to file complaints or alert authorities of violations.

  Cuomo says the task force will take action to revoke the business licenses of any egregious offenders, and currently unlicensed nail salons will be shut down.

  “We will not stand idly by as workers are deprived of their hard-earned wages and robbed of their most basic rights,” reads a statement from Cuomo. “This Task Force will crack down on these kinds of abuses in the nail salon industry, enforce all of New York’s health and safety regulations, and help ensure that no one – regardless of their citizenship status or what language they speak – is illegally victimized by their employer.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uArby’s Joins New Fast Food Trend: Kettle Chipsr

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• Are fancy potato chips the new pretzel bun? It’s possible: the fried potato slices first showed up in a few Taco Bell test locations as a base for nachos, and now Arby’s is joining the tater party with their own line of garlic and Parmesan-coated chips. Will fast-food customers accept fresh chips as an alternative to French fries?

  Will anyone stop at Arby’s for chips as a standalone snack, or do the chips go along with their sandwiches instead? Brand Eating reports that the chips will cost $2.29 for a bag, making them pricier than curly fries but significantly less curly.

  Another limited-time offering announced at the same time as the chips are Boylan sodas at Arby’s. Those are craft sodas based on sugar rather than on corn syrup, which will be an alternate offering to fountain sodas.

  We look forward to the inevitable Doritos-flavored kettle chips from KFC.

  Arby’s Now Offering New Garlic Parmesan Chips and Boylan Soda [Brand Eating]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uWould You Eat A Chicken Parmesan Breadstick Sandwich From Olive Garden?r

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  (Morton Fox)

  Olive Garden has never been shy when it comes to experimenting with new menu items. Remember when the company introduced burgers and tapas? Apparently the scientists in the OG kitchen haven’t hung up their goggles just yet, with the restaurant now set to test breadstick sandwiches.

  That’s right, the company’s new board members – who famously dissed the restaurant’s over-zealous dishing out of breadsticks just a few months ago – are embracing the idea of using those well-known sticks as sandwich bread, Business Insider reports.

  News of the experiment, which includes chicken parmesan on a breadstick, was revealed when Starboard Value CEO Jeff Smith made an appearance on Wall Street Week on Sunday.

  “We’re going to use that great brand equity and we’re about to come out with breadsticks sandwiches,” Smith said of America’s love affair with the restaurant’s garlic- and butter-coated breadsticks.

  When Smith was asked about his feelings toward the restaurant’s free breadsticks, he made it clear he actually loves the iconic item.

  “It might surprise people that I actually like the breadsticks,” he says. “It’s one of the things I said at the annual meeting… then it got blown out of proportion. In our slide presentation, we were very clear that what we were talking about was a return of discipline at Olive Garden and Darden. It wan’t about getting rid of breadsticks.”

  Smith also reiterated that the investor’s 300-page proposal outlining a plan to turn around the Italian chain – which criticized the restaurant’s management – was about addressing policy infractions.

  “They are supposed to give out breadsticks equal to the number of people at the table plus one, so they stay warm, they had lost that discipline,” Smith says.

  Smith didn’t elaborate on how the new Starboard-led company has worked to turn around the breadstick policy or what exactly the new sandwiches would look like. All we can picture is a skinny piece of bread with a skinny strip of chicken parmesan.

  Olive Garden is getting breadstick sandwiches [Business Insider]
  Jeff Smith [Wall Street Week]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uFacebook Testing In-App Search Engine Powered By Users’ Postsr

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  (Raymond Bryson)

  For those moments when it’s just too much work to copy a link on your phone’s web browser, open up the Facebook app and hit “paste,” the social network is now testing out an “add link” option that uses an in-app search engine.

  The keyword search pulls up sites and articles to add to your status updates, with a link symbol added along the bottom row of current options like adding a photo or tagging friends in post.

  The “Add a Link” option is being tested on a small group in the U.S., with results apparently sorted by what users are most likely going to share or highlighting things that are trending on Facebook.

  “We’re piloting a new way to add a link that’s been shared on Facebook to your posts and comments,” Facebook said in confirming the test to TechCrunch, adding that the company has already indexed over one trillion posts to let people search for links that have been shared with them.

  So let’s say your mom’s best friend from high school posted a link from her local newspaper about a traveling kitten circus (made that up but I want it to be real) and your mom clicked “Like” on it. If you use the in-app search engine looking for “kittens,” you could get that result over some other non-relevant kitten information you might find with that query on Google or Bing.

  Of course along with the ability to search for news on Facebook comes the fact that Facebook will k now what you’re interested in posting an sharing, as well as your friends if they respond to your post. That’s the kind of user information that keeps Facebook rolling in advertising revenue as well as a repository of valuable data about its users.

  Skip Googling With Facebook’s New “Add A Link” Mobile Status Search Engine [TechCrunch]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uGoogle’s Self-Driving Cars Involved In Minor Accidentsr

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  (Mariordo/Wikipedia)

  Google, one of a handful of companies with permits to test self-driving vehicles in California, has 23 such cars roaming the streets there. But in just the few months since obtaining those permits, three of those Google vehicles have been involved in traffic accidents.

  This is according to the AP, which looked at California DMV records and found that a total of four self-driving cars have been in collisions since permitting began last fall. The fourth vehicle belonged to Delphi Automotive and was apparently not in driverless mode at the time.

  The DMV does not indicate the nature of the Google incidents, but the company tells the AP that all three collisions were the fault of another driver. It’s believed that two accidents occurred while the cars were in self-driving mode, and all were minor collisions at low speeds.

  Google says that its fleet of self-drivers has already logged some 140,000 total miles. The AP notes that the rate of 3 property-damage-only accidents per 140,000 miles is significantly higher than the national average of .3 accidents per 100,000 miles. The report does however point out that many of these sort of accidents never get reported to police or insurance companies, so that many not be an accurate metric for comparison.

  Even before California began issuing the self-driving permits, Google’s tricked-out Lexus cars were a target of criticism. Human drivers in other vehicles apparently have a habit of gawking at these driverless cars, possibly putting others on the road at risk.

  In total, there are 48 permitted self-driving cars in California.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist