uCool Mist, Warm Mist; Large Unit, Small Unit: There’s A Lot To Consider When Buying A Humidifierr

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  Humidifiers come in all shapes, sizes, and apparently, animal likeness. While variety is always a good thing for consumers, knowing which product is best for your specific needs and home can be a daunting task. 

  To clear up some of the confusion, our colleagues at Consumer Reports put together an interactive video for humidifier-buyers, detailing the various tests they perform, along with a few tips for picking the unit that makes the most sense for their needs.

  The video is divided into five chapters — Cool Mist, Warm Mist, Key Features, Room Size, and Maintenance — that viewers can use to jump to features that matter most to them in their search for a new device.

  There are generally two types of humidifier: cool mist and warm mist. Each device is suited for a different need. While cool mist humidifiers are great for warm, dry climates, warm mist humidifiers are suited more for dry, cool climates.

  Cool and warm mist devices also differ in their construction, cool mist uses filters, while dry mist doesn’t. Warm mist uses more electricity, while cool mist doesn’t.

  These are all factors CR suggests potential buyers keep in mind, as well as whether or not a unit is convenient for your home and lifestyle.

  For example, size really does matter. If you opt for too large of a unit, you could end up with excess condensation, which can result in a mold problem.

  The interactive video also has you covered once you bring home your unit, with tips and tricks to keep your humidifier in tip-top shape.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uShuttle America Flight Diverted After Passenger Allegedly Became Violent Toward Flight Attendants, Othersr

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  We get it, sometimes you want to shove your seatmate’s elbow off the armrest, or maybe wish evil upon the person taking up all the overhead space. But cooler heads should prevail, lest you find your flight making an unscheduled stop. A Shuttle America flight yesterday had to be diverted after a passenger allegedly attacked a flight attendant and her fellow travelers.

  The flight was operating as United Express, heading from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Chicago’s O’Hare International airport with 69 passengers and four crew members, reports CBS Chicago, when a female passenger allegedly attacked a flight attendant and threatened other travelers.

  Four passengers helped restrain her, using belts and seat belt extenders to keep her in her seat until the plane landed in Detroit. Police then removed her from the plane.

  “She went to hit [another passenger] more towards the face, and she started kicking me, so I grabbed her legs, he grabbed her arms,” one of the men who wrangled the suspect told CBS Chicago, adding that another man “came flying over and jumped in the middle of it. He grabbed her legs, and then another gentleman got involved” while he grabbed items to tie her with.

  On video recorded by some passengers, the passenger can be heard swearing and cursing at the men as the hold her down. Witnesses say it’s unclear what set her off, but he and others didn’t want to take any chances.

  The flight continued onto O’Hare without further incident. It’s not immediately clear if the passenger was charged.

  Chicago-Bound Flight Diverted After Passenger Attacks Flight Attendant [CBS Chicago]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uFounder Of Jelly Belly Looking For Re-Entry Into Candy Industry With Caffeinated Jelly Beansr

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  We’ve already seen caffeinated Cracker Jacks, chewing gum, and peanut butter (some of which are already off the market), and now the founder of Jelly Belly is hoping to give a jolt to the candy market with caffeinated jelly beans. 

  Back in the mid-’70s David Klein came up with the idea of Jelly Belly — a jelly bean that would have flavor throughout the bean, not just on the outside — which he then sold off a few years later for a few million dollars.

  Now, the L.A. Times reports, Klein is trying to get back into the candy game with a caffeine-infused jelly bean.

  Unlike traditional jelly beans that tend toward sweet — or really gross with flavors like grass — the new candy fits more with its “slightly caffeinated” concept with coffee-inspired flavors.

  The idea for Original Coffee House Beans was cooked up by Klein and his business partners as a way to cater to adults looking for a more sophisticated candy, you know, with a kick.

  “Everybody goes to Starbucks or those kinds of places, but nobody has actually made a line of jelly beans that was inspired by the flavors of the coffee that they drink there,” Klein said.

  With flavors like hot cocoa, peppermint, chai tea, coffee and doughnuts and caffe macchiato, Klein believes the candy will appeal to all kinds of coffee drinkers.

  Klein and his partners recently launched a Kickstarter campaign seeking $10,000 to launch the new brand.

  “We have seen people that have been able to fund their business almost immediately, and you don’t have to give up any equity portion,” he said. “We felt with Kickstarter, people would be aware of our product.”

  Analysts tell the L.A. Times that the unusual candy-coffee-caffeine combination could end up being a lucrative concept.

  Viraj D’Costa, an anylst with IBISWorld, says the coffee and snack industry has seen an increase in revenue in recent years, and a niche candy would be a welcome addition.

  “Those actually might be things that adults are actually interested in buying,” he said. “He might have a good shot at having a product that fits in to the market.”

  Still, the idea of caffeinated anything doesn’t always sit well with health advocates and regulators.

  In May 2013, Wrigley pulled its Alert Energy caffeinated gum just months after it was released, shortly after the Food and Drug Administration announced it would investigate the gum and other products with additional caffeine.

  And in November 2015, lawmakers urged the FDA to look into the safety of caffeinated peanut butter.

  Jelly Belly inventor hopes caffeinated jelly beans will fuel his comeback [Los Angeles Times]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uFired St. Louis Cardinals Exec To Plead Guilty To Hacking Houston Astros Front Officer

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  Sports-related chicanery often ends in suspensions and the occasional expulsion, but rarely does it rise to the level of actual crime. Then again, it’s not every day that one team illegally breaches the private network of another.

  Last year, we told you that the FBI was investigating whether or not someone at the St. Louis Cardinals had hacked into the Houston Astros’ network to gain access to sensitive and proprietary information about the team.

  Now the Wall Street Journal reports that former Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa is going to plead guilty to five of twelve charges related to the hacking, which first occurred as far back as 2012.

  Back in 2011, Houston hired general manager Jeff Luhnow away from the Cardinals front office, where he had been the Vice President of Baseball Development.

  Once he arrived at Houston, Luhnow built a database called “Ground Control” — containing information like stats, player evaluations, and trade negotiations — that was similar to the “Red Bird” one he’d used at St. Louis.

  After some of the stolen information was leaked online, an investigation tracked the source of the breach to a computer in a home where Cardinals staffers had lived.

  In July, the Cardinals fired Correa, reportedly for his involvement in the breach. His attorney pointed the finger back at Luhnow, effectively accusing the Astros GM of misusing proprietary info gleaned from his years with the Cards. Luhnow and the Astros have denied these claims.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uWoman Files Lawsuit Against Applebee’s Claiming She Found Bloody Fingertip In Her Saladr

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  Unless it’s of the chicken tender variety, finding a finger in your food would no doubt be an unwelcome and highly unpleasant experience. Enough for one California woman to sue Applebee’s, after she says she found a bloody fingertip in her salad, after she’d already consumed some of the dish.

  The woman and her family were eating at Applebee’s on Dec. 20, and she had ordered the Chinese chicken salad, her attorney said in a statement, and she’d shared it with her husband and their young child. That’s when she says she found a small slice of fingertip in her food.

  “It was so gross,” the woman said in a press release from the attorney’s law firm. “I’m on pins and needles worrying about what my family might have been exposed to,” adding that she was particularly worried because she’s pregnant.

  The family notified the restaurant, which confirmed that the fingertip belonged to an employee at that location. Applebee’s counsel sent a letter to the family nine days later, informing them that they wouldn’t require the cook to undergo any medical tests.

  The claim is seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress, medical expenses for testing and lost income.

  A spokesman for Applebee’s forwarded a statement from the area director of the franchisee, Apple MidCal, to the San Luis Obispo Tribune, calling the incident “unacceptable.”

  “We take matters involving the health and safety of our guests and team members seriously,” the statement reads. “Accordingly, we immediately investigated and determined that an accident did occur in our kitchen. We discussed the matter with the [family] while still at our restaurant, shared our sincere apologies, and have continued to speak with [the woman] in an effort to address her concerns.”

  The statement adds that the employee involved volunteered to undergo any screening that would provide peace of mind for the customer, and that the franchisee is retraining team members on safety protocols “and will take any necessary actions to prevent anything like this from occurring again.”

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uFCC Chair: 39% Of Rural America Lacks Broadband Accessr

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  If you live in the city, it’s almost a certainty that your property can get high-speed Internet access from at least one company. But for rural America, it’s a different story, with nearly 4-in-10 people lacking access to fixed-line broadband service.

  This is according to FCC Chair Tom Wheeler, who will issue his latest annual Broadband Progress Report later this month.

  In a fact sheet [PDF] released in advance of that report, Wheeler notes that, as of 2014, 39% of the U.S. rural population didn’t even have the option of calling up a cable or phone company to provide their homes with broadband service. While that’s an improvement over previous years — it was up at 55% in 2012 — the urban/rural gap still represents a very wide and deep digital canyon.

  Only 4% of Americans in densely populated urban areas lack access to broadband (that doesn’t mean that 96% of people have it; just that they could purchase it if they chose to), while the nationwide average shows that 90% of Americans can get acceptable landline Internet service.

  A big part of the problem with providing high-speed Internet to rural America is infrastructure. Many of these areas are served by old copper-line networks that telecom companies have repeatedly been accused of neglecting and allowing to fall into disrepair.

  Unless these companies are willing to improve their rural networks — and not just wait until the FCC eventually relents and lets them replace copper-line service with wireless tech — there will likely still be a significant portion of the country’s rural population that lags behind in Internet connectivity.

  Likewise, the telecom industry is fighting efforts by some government-owned broadband providers to expand the availability of high-speed Internet to areas in need. In 2015, the FCC voted to overturn two industry-backed state laws — one in North Carolina, another in Tennessee — that prevented municipal broadband providers from selling their service to other towns and counties, but nearly half the states have some sort of law either barring municipalities from operating broadband networks, or from making that service available directly to consumers.

  In better news, earlier this year, the FCC announced deals with 10 Internet service providers, including Verizon and AT&T, to spend a total of $1.5 billion each year over the course of six years to improve rural broadband service in 45 states and one U.S. territory. The goal is to reach some 3.6 million U.S. households that are currently unserved or underserved.

  Tribal lands and U.S. territories lag even farther behind in connectivity, with 68% of people in rural tribal lands lacking broadband access (41% for all tribal residents), and 66% of everyone in U.S. territories unable to get high-speed Internet in their homes.

  [via DSLreports]

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uWalmart Employee Drags Unconscious Woman From Her Burning Carr

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  When employees of a Pennsylvania Walmart learned that there was a car on fire in the parking lot early in the morning on New Year’s Day, they didn’t sit around, stare into space, and wait for the fire department to show up. An overnight employee ran outside with a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze… and that’s when he noticed an unconscious woman inside the locked vehicle.

  “We all responded as quickly as we could,” he told TV station KDKA (warning: auto-play video), “I got out there first. I believe I was the first one from the store.”

  She was sitting in the driver’s seat, passed out or napping, with her head against the window. This was around 7 a.m. on New Year’s Day. While the car was locked, its windows were open, and the employee was able to reach in, unlock the car, and pull the woman out of the vehicle.

  It was mostly the front of the car that was on fire, and the employee was unable to put the fire out before rescuing the driver. The brave employee then woke up the still-unconscious driver and walked her into the store. Police said that the woman smelled of alcohol and was charged with drunk driving, but wasn’t injured. They didn’t share the cause of the fire.

  Don’t call the Walmart employee a hero, though. He rejects that label, saying, “I work with a lot of amazing associates. If it hadn’t been me out here, somebody else would have done what needed to be done.”

  Walmart Employee Saves Woman From Burning Car In Parking Lot [KDKA] (warning: video may start automatically)
  Wal-Mart employee pulls unconscious woman from burning car [Sharon Herald]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist