Apple Confirms: Tattoos May Mess With Apple Watch

80 voda trika

(photo: reddit user guine55fan)

Following last week’s launch of the Apple Watch, some tattooed users of the device complained that their new smartwatches weren’t working properly when worn on heavily inked wrists. Apple has now updated its website to explain that there is indeed the chance that a user’s tattoo may interfere with the sensors on the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch uses multiple sensors the rear face of the device to sense the wearer’s heartbeat. Among other things, this lets the watch know that it’s currently being worn and thus doesn’t constantly go into lockdown mode and require a passcode to be used.

But some users with wrist tattoos said that their Apple Watches were behaving as if they weren’t being worn and were frequently locking up when they shouldn’t have.

In an update to this Apple Support page about the Apple Watch’s heart rate monitor, the company explains:

Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance. The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings.

This confirms earlier speculation about the reason for the trouble.

As Engadget points out, some other wearables on the market have similar problems with tattoos.

Right now, the only suggestion Apple has for dealing with sensor interference is to wear yet another device — a bluetooth heart rate monitor that you put on your chest. This is why we suggest that anyone with wrist tattoos, especially solid or heavily inked pieces, get a hands-on (or rather wrist-on) demo of the device before they buy it.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Ford Expands Door Latch Recall To Include 156,000 Additional Fiesta, Fusion & Lincoln Vehicles

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(Don Buciak II)

Less than a week after Ford finally issued a recall for nearly 400,000 vehicles that may contain malfunctioning door latches, the car manufacturer is adding another 156,000 of the same vehicles to the recall roster.

The company announced today that it would expand its recent door latch recall to include an additional 156,000 model year 2011 to 2014 Fiesta, and model year 2013 to 2014 Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans after receiving a request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has been investigating the door latch issue for more than seven months.

The expansion bring the number of Ford-made vehicles that may contain doors that inadvertently open while the car is in motion to 545,906.

According to Ford’s recall notice, the door latches in these vehicles may experience a broken pawl spring tab, which typically results in a condition where the door will not latch.

The manufacturer says it is aware of two allegations of soreness resulting from an unlatched door bouncing back when the customer attempted to close it, and one accident where an unlatched door swung open and struck an adjacent vehicle as the driver was pulling into a parking space.

Ford’s recalls come less than two months after NHTSA upgraded its investigation into the malfunctioning latches to include the Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles. In addition to increasing the scope of the investigation, regulators upgraded the probe to an engineering analysis – a step that can sometimes lead to a recall.

Prior to Ford’s recalls, NHTSA said [PDF] it had received 207 reports related to improperly latching doors. Sixty-five of those reports claimed that the door or doors opened inadvertently while the vehicle was in motion.

When NHTSA originally launched an investigation into the Fiesta models last September, the agency had accumulated 61 reports of potential door latch failures, of which 12 allegedly occurred while the vehicle was in motion. Since then, Ford has provided the agency with 451 additional reports and 1,079 warranty claims related to door latch failures.

Ford previously said it did not believe that a latched door experiencing this condition would inadvertently unlatch and that there are many overt warnings associated with a door that does not latch.

Still, regulators said back in March that the “rate of occurrence for this failure is comparable to other door latch failure investigations” and that the agency “questions the effectiveness of warning signals given the number of complainants alleging that the door(s) opened while the vehicle was in motion.”

Ford Expands Door Latch Safety Recall in North America [Ford Motor Co.]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

California Authorities Cite SeaWorld San Diego For Not Properly Protecting Employees

80 voda trika

(Bob Reck)

Another wave of controversy is washing over SeaWorld, as the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health has handed the company’s San Diego park four citations for not making sure employees who work with killer whales are properly protected.

Three of those citations are categorized as serious, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune, and says SeaWorld failed to put in place an effective “injury and illness prevention program” designed to spot workplace hazards that could result in serious injury or death.

In two of the citations officials said that the park doesn’t have procedures to protect workers “rode on the killer whales and swam with killer whales in the medical pool” and “who were present on the slide outs with killer whales in various pools.”

A Cal/OSHA spokeswoman told the Union-Tribune that the agency’s investigations and the resulting citations were kicked off by a complaint, though SeaWorld wouldn’t identify the source of the complaint.

“All employers are required to have a safety plan that looks at all of the jobs and duties, looks at any hazards related to those duties and takes the appropriate steps, whether it’s specific work practices or protective equipment in order to keep employees safe on the job because the goal is to have people go home safe and sound,” the Cal/OSHA spokeswoman noted.

The investigation found that SeaWorld doesn’t have procedures for responding to “imminent hazards,” including a way to get personnel away from the area with the hazards. And the park doesn’t have an effective safety plan, Cal/OSHA’s report says, as it requires trainers to sign a confidentiality agreement that the agency said discouraged them from informing their employer of “hazards for fear of reprisal.”

SeaWorld San Diego said it has put in place safety precautions like fast-rising pool floors and personal emergency air systems for those in the water with the whales. The park says it will appeal the citations, which come with a total fine of $25,770.

“There is no higher priority for SeaWorld than the safety of guests and team members and the welfare of our animals,” the park said in a written statement Thursday. “The citations issued by Cal/OSHA today were not precipitated by any workplace incident, accident or injury, and they reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the requirements of safely caring for killer whales in a zoological setting.”

SeaWorld has been the subject of much criticism since the documentary Blackfish came out in 2013, chronicling alleged mistreatment of orca whales by the park as well as accusing it of violating Occupational Safe and Health Administration laws.

The documentary looked at the death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed in front of park visitors when an orca named Tilikum pulled her into the water and kept her under it during a performance. The documentary created quite a public relations headache for the marine park, landing it in Consumerist’s Worst Company In America contest for the first time in 2014.

Just recently, Mattel confirmed it had stopped making all SeaWorld-branded merchandise, including SeaWorld Trainer Barbie.

State cites SeaWorld for safety violations [San Diego Union-Tribune]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Tesla’s Worst Kept Secret Is Out: It’s Making Solar-Based Batteries For Homes, Businesses

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Tesla unveiled its new battery products Thursday night, including the residential Powerwall.

For months Tesla CEO Elon Musk has subtly (and not so subtly) hinted that the company’s next big foray wouldn’t be another car, but a battery system aimed at homeowners, businesses and utilities. On Thursday night, he finally made the announcement most of us saw coming.

The New York Times reports that Tesla’s next big move will be in the solar storage market with two distinct battery products: the Powerwall home battery and the business system Powerpack.

As Consumerist previously reported, the new batteries can be used with things like solar panels to collect and distribute electricity as needed, especially in developing parts of the world or in areas where it’s impractical to run electrical wiring or operate a gas-powered generator.

Both of the battery systems, which will be connected to the Internet and can be managed by Tesla remotely, will allow customers to connect up to nine battery packs to store larger amounts of power over time.

The slim paneled Powerwall, which will run about $3,500 and must be installed by a licensed technician, stands roughly four feet by three feet and uses much of the same lithium-ion battery technology that Tesla puts in its electric vehicles.

The device – most likely to be mounted in garages – allows solar panel customers to store energy in order to have power in the event of a failure, or when utility rates are high.

“If you have the Tesla Powerwall, if the utility goes down, you still have power,” Musk said. “The whole thing is an integrated system that just works.”

As for the business system, Powerpack, it’s already being tested in pilot programs with several companies, including 11 Walmart stores in California.

The tests are in conjunction with Tesla’s sister company SolarCity, which already provides residential energy-storage units for about 300 customers.

The system, which is expected to sell for $250 per kilowatt-hour of storage capacity, is designed to help businesses lower the demand for electricity from their solar grids, which Musk says in turn can lower costs.

Walmart isn’t the only big company gearing up for more Tesla-powered batteries: The NYT reports that Amazon Web Services is set to begin the pilot program soon to assist in achieving its goal to derive all of its energy from renewable sources.

“Batteries are important for both data center reliability and as enablers for the efficient application of renewable power,” James Hamilton, an engineer at Amazon Web Services, told the Times through a spokeswoman. “They help bridge the gap between intermittent production, from sources like wind, and the data center’s constant power demands.”

Powerwall is expected to be marketed by a new division called Tesla Energy, with deliveries set to begin later this summer, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“We are talking about trying to change the fundamental energy infrastructure of the world,” Musk said at the conference.

Tesla expands from electric cars to energy storage for businesses, homes [The Los Angeles Times]
Tesla Ventures Into Solar Power Storage for Home and Business [The New York Times]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds

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Here are eight of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last two weeks, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

(elnina)

(Coyoty)

(Matthew Hunt)

(John Hanley)

(Chris Blakeley)

(Mark Turnauckas)

(Nicholas Eckhart)

(Brian Kelly)

Want to see your pictures on our site? Our Flickr pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

martial-arts-kiev: Frank Arias from Vladimir Vasiliev s Systema - Str...

martial-arts-kiev: Frank Arias from Vladimir Vasiliev s Systema - Str...

This Independent RadioShack Isn’t Going Anywhere

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(Nicholas Eckhart)

If you don’t happen to live near one, you may have never heard of RadioShack dealers and franchisees. They’re locally-owned stores that happen to sell merchandise from RadioShack. However, they aren’t part of the RadioShack that declared bankruptcy in February and is in the process of closing down most of its stores. The owner of one of these Shacks in Virginia wants to make sure that customers know they’re staying open.

The curious thing, of course, is that remaining RadioShack stores are now part of a joint venture with mobile carrier Sprint. Sprint’s branding is more prominent, or will be once the stores have their new signage. If the new owners don’t win the bidding for the brand name in next month’s auction, they will no longer have the right to call the new stores RadioShack at all. For now, though, the franchise and dealer stores get to call themselves “RadioShack,” and that may be why people are getting confused.

“I want to reassure people that regardless of what happens with RadioShack (corporation), we have no intentions of going anywhere,” explains the president of Kittronics, the local company that owns the store. The store is even going to some effort to assure customers that they’re staying open: they’ve placed ads explaining how they plan to stay open, and also out signs out front and on the sidewalk.

Thank you for your concern!

This store is an independently owned and operated location.

Although we display the name Radio Shack, we will not be closing. Please contact us directly with any questions.

The company also sells DirecTV subscriptions, Exede satellite internet access, and metal detectors, which are arguably more popular than fuses and wires, but the store will continue to sell most of the same merchandise.

RadioShack of Warrenton continues as independent [Fauquier Now]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist