uNaked Woman Trashed Subway Restaurant, ‘Appeared To Be On Drugs’r

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  We don’t know what a woman spent two hours doing in the bathroom before she went on a rampage and trashed a Subway restaurant in Anchorage, Alaska, but one of her agenda items was “remove clothing.” Police say that she emerged from the restaurant and started to destroy the furniture, tear down ceiling tiles, and cause general mayhem.

  Police attribute her erratic behavior to synthetic marijuana, making this yet another case of a person opting for the lab-created stuff while living in a state where recreational use of real pot is legal. Synthetic stuff, called “spice” in some regions, is significantly cheaper and doesn’t show up on drug tests. The major downside is that it may make you strip naked and rampage through a sandwich shop. Apparently.

  The Subway is in rough shape, and the woman is now in police custody. At least she hasn’t landed in the hospital, which is usually how users of frequently-changing synthetic marijuana blends make the news.

  Naked woman destroys Subway restaurant in Anchorage [KTUU]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uVW Moving Forward With New Emissions System, Electric Power For Future Modelsr

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  Volkswagen’s immediate future is in a bit of a holding pattern. The company has a plan for how to properly handle diesel emissions in new vehicles, but it can’t implement it right away. Meanwhile, its 2016 lineup of diesels has yet to win approval from the Environmental Protection Agency.

  The New York Times reports that VW, which admitted last month to rigging the emissions control systems of more than 500,000 cars in the U.S. — and around 11 million worldwide — with a device that cheats emissions tests, will revamp the technology it uses to control diesel exhaust in upcoming models.

  The method, called a selective catalytic reduction system, is similar to what is already in use by many carmakers: vehicles are equipped with a tank of urea-based fluid that cleans the emissions from the exhaust.

  Officials with VW say the system is not part of its remedy plan for the 11 million vehicles currently awaiting a fix for their deceptive emissions systems.

  The Times reports that the carmaker previously considered a similar approach back in 2007, but deemed it to be too costly. Instead, the company opted for its current method now at the center of the emissions scandal.

  VW says the change to the new urea tank systems will take place “as soon as possible” for future models.

  “Diesel vehicles will only be equipped with exhaust emissions systems that use the best environmental technology,” Herbert Diess, chairman of the company’s car brand, said in a statement.

  In addition to revamping its diesel emissions systems, VW said on Tuesday that it plans to push ahead with the development of electric and hybrid vehicles.

  The Times reports that the new technology will first be seen in the company’s 2019 and 2020 model of its Phaeton limousine.

  As for the company’s more pressing matter of a 2016 model line up, the EPA says it still hasn’t determined if the vehicles’ emission-control device is legal, Reuters reports.

  The software was first publicly disclosed by VW’s U.S. Chief Michael Horn during a congressional hearing last week.

  “In Volkswagen’s recent ongoing discussions with the regulators, we described to the EPA and CARB that our emissions control strategy also included a software feature that should be disclosed to and approved by them as an auxiliary emissions control device (“AECD”) in connection with the certification process,” he explained at the time. “As a result, we have withdrawn the application for certification of our model year 2016 vehicles.”

  Horn and VW have been mum on whether or not the software was configured before or after the emissions scandal broke on Sept. 18, and whether it is similar to the previous defeat devices.

  “We have a long list of questions for VW,” EPA Assistant Administrator Janet McCabe tells Reuters. “When we have all of the answers, we will be able to make a determination” on the whether the cars can be certified for sale.

  Volkswagen, in Future Cars, to Adopt New System for Controlling Diesel Emissions [The New York Times]
  EPA hasn’t decided if new software on 2016 VW diesels is legal [Reuters]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uT-Mobile CEO Rips AT&T CEO, Asks AT&T Customers To E-Mail Him Their Suggestionsr

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• Yesterday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made it clear that he has no interest in hearing from customers who might have a suggestion for a new product or service. And because T-Mobile CEO John Legere will take every opportunity he can get to needle AT&T, he’s using this news to point out that he’s slightly more receptive than Dandy Randy from the Death Star — and that he’s also willing to field suggestions for AT&T.

  Even though Legere still refuses to answer our questions about his company’s blatant disregard for the people of Andorra, he announced yesterday that he’s still willing to take suggestions and feedback either through his often-candid Twitter account or via e-mail at John.Legere@T-Mobile.com.

  For AT&T customers, Legere also had his folks create a suggestion line, IdeasforRandall@t-mobile.com that will collect ideas for AT&T services and send the best ones on to Mr. Stephenson. Suggestions will also be harvested from the Twitter hashtag #IdeasforRandall.

  “It absolutely amazes me that Randall would tell a lifelong customer to basically go away and talk to my lawyers,” said Legere in a statement. “I interact with customers on a daily basis so I can hear their ideas firsthand. It’s called living in the 21st century.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uTarget To Be First Major Credit Card Issuer To Require PINs For Chip-Enabled Cardsr

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  While many banks and other financial institutions issuing credit cards have shifted from magnetic-strip cards to the more secure EMV smart cards, most of those companies have opted to let their customers continue signing for purchases rather than memorizing a PIN. That apparently isn’t the case for Target, which is poised to become the first major credit card issuer to convert to cards that require a PIN. 

  Nearly two years after Target fell victim to a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 100 million customers, the retailer is once again taking steps to ensure customer data is protected by reissuing its store-branded credit cards, the Plain Dealer reports.

  The retailer began notifying customers this week that they would soon receive new account numbers, and new EMV Target-branded MasterCards that can be used outside of the retailer’s stores.

  Target previously issued chip-enabled credit cards to customers, but didn’t require the use of a PIN to complete transactions.

  It’s unclear if customers will have to use the PIN at other retailers, but the Plain Dealer reports that the four-digit code will be required when checking out at Target.

  While Oct. 1 marked the beginning of the EMV card era in the U.S., most banks made a compromise that allowed consumers to continue signing for purchases rather than entering an actual PIN.

  Transactions completed with the EMV system — named for EuroPay, MasterCard and Visa and already in use in many parts of the world — are approved using a one-time authentication code that makes it difficult for a criminal to reproduce. Even if the credit card information is gathered, without the chip the card is useless — except online.

  However, chip-and-signature cards, which would still be difficult to reproduce, lack the extra safeguard of a PIN requirement.

  Only a few banks have started making their customers memorize PINs for the new chip cards.

  One example is First Niagara, a regional bank in upstate New York: they took over many of HSBC’s consumer branches when HSBC decided to quit the consumer banking market.

  Although the bank doesn’t have very many credit card customers: only about 250,000 cards, it was the largest bank requiring their credit card customers to use PINs instead of signatures for transactions. Until now, that is.

  Target converts to credit cards with PINs, not just signatures, for security reasons [The Plain Dealer]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uToyota Plans To Be Done With Gas-Powered Cars By 2050r

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• Thirty-five years is nearly half a lifetime, but that’s how long Toyota thinks it will take the company to phase out traditional gas-powered vehicles from its product lines.

  The world’s largest carmaker has unveiled a general plan that would have Toyota producing all (or mostly all) alternative-fuel vehicles by 2050.

  In the short term, the company aims to grow its hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle output over the next five years. By 2020, Toyota hopes to be selling 1.5 million hybrids, and 30,000 fuel cell vehicles, annually. It also intends to begin selling fuel cell buses in 2017, primarily for use in Japan.

  The goal, explains Toyota, is for the CO2 emissions of all its new 2020 vehicles to be 22% below the company’s 2010 levels. By 2050, it expects to see a 90% reduction.

  Right now, gasoline-powered vehicles account for around 85% of Toyota’s annual production.

  Toyota is planning to launch its fuel cell-powered Mirai in Japan later this year, with later rollouts in Europe and the U.S. The Mirai reportedly gets more than 300 miles on a full tank of hydrogen and only takes minutes to refuel.

  The company says it is making 5,680 fuel cell patents freely available to other manufacturers in the hope of fostering development and innovation of new fuel cell technology.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uUber Lauches UberRUSH Courier Service In Chicago, San Franciscor

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• After spending nearly a year-and-a-half testing a courier service that provides customers with on-demand orders from local businesses in New York, Uber has officially expanded UberRUSH to two additional cities. 

  The service, which uses cars, bikes, and even pedestrians willing to simply carry things from place to place, went live in San Francisco and Chicago on Wednesday , the company announced. 

  UberRUSH is a partnership of sorts between the ride-hailing company and e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Bigcommerce, which will now let local small businesses choose UberRUSH delivery as an option on orders.

  Through the service, businesses plug-in a customer’s order into an online form. A courier is then dispatched to their shop to pick up and deliver the order.

  Businesses will have the choice of passing on the $5 to $7 delivery charge per order to customers, or eating the cost themselves, the Wall Street Journal reports.

  As Consumerist previously noted when tests of UberRUSH began in New York, Uber will take its standard 20% commission for each delivery in that city, while that fee will be 25% in Chicago and San Francisco.

  “Businesses that tap into UberRUSH will make getting anything in your city faster, more reliable, and more affordable than picking it up yourself,” Jason Droege, Head of UberEVERYTHING, writes in a blog post. “It’s time to save business owners the headache, save you the trip, and save us all a bit more time.”

  [via The Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uTeachers Call On McDonald’s To End McTeacher’s Nightsr

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• McDonald’s has several methods for marketing directly to children and parents, including McTeacher’s Nights, where educators will volunteer to work for the night at a McD’s in exchange for a “percentage of sales from the event” being donated to the school. Today, groups and unions representing some 3 million American teachers are asking McDonald’s to put an end to the program.

  In a letter [PDF] to McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook, dozens of national and local teachers’ organizations — along with school nurses and consumer advocates like Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood — describes McTeacher’s Nights as an “exploitative” and “harmful” practice that should be halted.

  “It is wrong to enlist teachers to sell kids on a brand like McDonald’s whose core products are burgers, fries, and soda,” reads the letter. “We are in the midst of the largest preventable health crisis in the U.S.—one that is spreading throughout the world, and that increasingly affects children. If this trend is not reversed, many children will be burdened with diet-related diseases like obesity and Type 2 diabetes, affecting their heath for life.”

  The groups accuse McDonald’s of undermining efforts by the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and others to curb the marketing of fast food to children.

  McTeacher’s Nights, according to the letter, are “exploiting educators’ authority and popularity to lure kids to McDonald’s,” and “negate the good work of educators to create healthy food habits and environments in schools.”

  “It is wholly inappropriate for McDonald’s to exploit cash-strapped schools to market its junk food brand, while miring its workers in poverty, effectively hollowing out the tax base for our schools,” said Jesse Sharkey, Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union, in a statement. “In Chicago we face potentially devastating cuts to our schools, yet one of the world’s richest corporations operating in our backyard is exploiting this situation by eroding the school food environment and our students’ health in the long-run.”

  While McTeacher’s Nights are touted as fundraisers, some argue that McDonald’s franchises get more out of it than the schools do.

  In general, schools involved in these events get around 15-20% of proceeds from a McTeacher’s Night. That means supporters are spending a lot more on food than they are giving to the school. For example, customers at one Ohio McTeacher’s Night spent around $1,273, but only $191 of that ended up going to the school while the McDonald’s benefited from the advertising and marketing of associating itself with the fundraiser.

  “Frankly, it’s disrespectful for a multi-billion dollar corporation such as McDonald’s to throw pennies at our schools while it uses our teachers to market its products,” said Melinda Dart, Vice President of the California Federation of Teachers and President of the Jefferson Elementary Federation of Teachers. “At a time when we are working hard to help our youth adopt healthy habits, this corporation and its junk food simply have no place in our schools.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist