Gri.pe about undesirable service with a free application

Occasionally, people depend on the Better Business Bureau when undesirable business happens. Nevertheless, dealing with the bureaucratic speed of a business like the BBB isn’t really necessarily the most efficient way to handle an issue, specifically in this age of online social networking. It makes cell users want to Gri.pe, using a new application that acts like a better edition of the BBB for the age of Twitter.

‘Word of mouth is powerful’

Consumers looking to lodge meaningful complaints against a business at the pace of Twitter need look no further than the free Gri.pe iPhone or Android application, reports the New York Times. Consumers realize the power they have to fight back since the “word of mouth is powerful,” the company explains. With a simple user interface, Gri.pe enables consumers to simultaneously post their complaints to Facebook and Twitter and directly to the company’s consumer service department. Just like Yelp works for businesses, Gri.pe then allows the company to respond and make an effort to fix the problem.

On the flip side, customers can send out optimistic notices, called “cheers.” They can talk with their friend over it. This is all available on the Gri.pe network.

Getting rid of fakers with a Facebook post requirement

The anticipated add-on is not the reason why Gri.pe requires posts to online websites such as Facebook. According to Gri.pe CEO Farhad Mohit, there is a good reason for this requirement. As it would be very easy for customers looking for a free payday to loan their voice to a chorus of boos, Gri.pe utilizes Facebook and Twitter as security devices to help discourage users from making frivolous posts (“social bullying”). Nobody wants to sound like a jerk in front of friends and family. Gri.pe is allowed to remove any offensive comments if the process doesn’t work as well as the company has planned.

Gri.pe: It was a very good year

Gri.pe was founded concerning a year ago by a six person team. When it comes to the users, the company is doing well. Mohit thinks that concerning 1.7 million people use the application already. It is just power. This is the “Online word-of-mouth power,” or “womp” as Mohit refers to it. With Gri.pe, there are over 100 million local companies that are interested. It must be as powerful as it claims.

Check out the griping concerning service on ‘The View’

Citations

Gri.pe

gri.pe/

New York Times

nytimes.com/2011/05/29/technology/29digi.html

Confirming a bill with an autopen causes controversy

President Obama recently signed a controversial bill. The bill renewed certain provisions of the Patriot Act that were going to end. Congress passed the bill recently, even though the President is really visiting Europe. He signed the bill with an autopen, a mechanical device which replicates signatures. The machine being used at all is causing a debate.

Still seeing government surveillance occurring

Unless a new bill was created and passed by Congress and finalized by the president, some Patriot Act provisions would have expired. Three provisions of the domestic security laws that allow for highly controversial surveillance procedures would have expired, according to the Christian Science Monitor, but Obama signed the bill at the last moment. Even though Senator Paul tried to rally against the bill, the government can still use the internet, business records and wiretaps without a warrant whenever they want. However, according to CNN, brouhaha in Congress has begun because the president used a robotic pen.

How the autopen works

An autopen was used to sign the document since the president is in France right now and the signature was needed. The autopen is a system that could be used. A person’s signature could be reproduced with it. The main difference between an autopen and genuine signature is almost extremely hard to tell. Some of the machines are extremely complex. Some aren’t complex at all though, states MSNBC. There are two corporations in the U.S. that make them, and a brief interview with Bob Olding, owner of one of those companies, is being reproduced on several news websites. Since the 1930s, the technology to do this hasn’t changed much, Olding said. ABS states that Olding owns Damillic Corp. He makes sure the goods are being used ethically by Damillic customers as part of company policy.

Nothing illegal about it

The Constitution says “he shall sign it” in reference to the president signing the bill. The signature is valid, the Department of Justice says. It simply has to be directed a document to be legal. The Justice Department told President Bush that an auto signature was legal in 2005 when looking into using an autopen for this same purpose. Donald Rumsfeld was found to have used an autopen to sign letters of condolences to the families of troops killed in action in 2004, and former V.P. Quayle admitted to using one in 1992. Signature and letter duplication machines were known as polygraphs in the 19th century, and Thomas Jefferson actually built one. Autopens are not that uncommon. They were used in the past by astronauts, business executives and government officials.

Citations

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0527/Patriot-Act-three-controversial-provisions-that-Congress-voted-to-keep

CNN

whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/27/rise-of-the-machines-autopen-puts-bill-into-law/?hpt=T2

MSNBC

firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/27/6731197-the-great-presidential-autopen-hullabaloo

ABC

blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/robama-is-it-ok-for-a-president-to-autopen-a-bill-into-law.html

Damillic Inc

realsig.com/index.htm

Toyota Prius recall declared as a result of power steering problems

A Toyota Prius recall has been declared, involving the 1997 to 2003 Prius model years. Nuts in the power steering system can come loose and will trigger the vehicle’s steering to become unstable.

First time Prius has ever had an issue a recall had to take care of

MSNBC reports that Toyota Motor Business issued a recall for the Toyota Prius Hybrid due to some issues with the power steering system. In the past couple of years, Toyota has dealt with a ton of different recalls. All Prius automobiles made from 1997 to 2003 is being recalled. There are 48,000 cars affected from 1997 to 2003 in Japan. Since Toyota didn’t start selling the Prius in foreign markets until 2001, the worldwide impact is only vehicles from 2001 to 2003. There are 58,000 Prius cars affected from those years outside of Japan. About 800 of those automobiles are in Germany, 52,000 in the United States and 1,800 in the UK. There will be a total of about 106,000 cars recalled. That’s lots of cars that need fixing.

Recall means free fixes

According to AutoWeek, there are low-quality nuts in the power steering structure. This has caused the Prius recall. The steering and left turns can be very hard to do if the nuts get unfastened with wear that secure the pinion shaft to the steering gear box. This loosening occurs whenever the wheel is turned many times to the full lock position, states MotorTrend. This is likely to occur over the lifetime of an auto though. Toyota will fix the vehicles for free by simply putting in better nuts that don’t loosen, which will take about four hours. USA Today states that there was one minor accident that has happened due to this. In August 2007 in Japan, the first complaint was made. There were 28 more grievances in Japan and one in the United States This brought on the issue to be dealt with.

Production at Toyota to return to normal

Toyota has declared that it expects to be returning to full production capacity soon. Automakers in Japan, including Toyota, were devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year. This brought on the corporations to stop production for a while. After the March 11 catastrophe, Toyota is back to recuperate faster. Almost right away, Toyota’s Japan operations are expected to go back to 90 percent capacity. Global operations in Thailand, China and Europe are expected to be at 100 percent capacity this month. The recall is something Toyota is getting done. The company wants it finished as soon as it can. Over 14 million cars have been recalled in the past two years by Toyota which has the automaker excited to get back to normal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su5V4I2kwQI

Information from

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/43235940/ns/business-autos/

Auto Week

autoweek.com/article/20110601/CARNEWS/110609999

MotorTrend

wot.motortrend.com/toyota-recalls-2001-2003-prius-steering-defect-82679.html

USA Today

content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/06/toyota-recalls-52000-prius-models-in-us-after-report-of-single-accident-/1?loc=interstitialskip

New mobile payment program approaching from Google

Android smartphones will soon have a Google made mobile payment system. Google is introducing its own near-field communication technology, which uses a chip mounted in a phone that is read by a sensor and linked to a bank account. Google is just the latest business to jump on this technology for financial transaction purposes. The wallet will soon be a thing of the past.

Sprint debuting new payment system on Nexus S smart phone

Do you’ve a smart phone? Then you better have mobile payment processing too. In the next few years, ISIS will be developed and installed as a near-field communications technology in a joint effort with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Near-field communication, or NFC, technology works by planting a readable chip in a phone that contains the user’s credit card or bank account information. If a merchant has an NFC reader at the point of purchase, customers need only to tap the phone near the reader to initiate the transaction and have their checking or credit account charged accordingly. Sprint, according to Bloomberg, is unveiling its own NFC program developed in part with Google, and will be accessible on Sprint phones starting with the Nexus S Android smartphone.

Same product, but from Google

The Nexus S Android smart phone will be how you are able to get the system from Google at first. With increasingly more phones coming out on the Google-based Android platform, the Google payment system will become more readily accessible. At first, Google will only debut the NFC technology in a few major cities. These include Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. VeriFone Systems and ViVOtech software is used to run the Google NFC technology. Mobile-phone based commerce was estimated at $370 million worldwide last year. Currently, Apple is working on an NFC program too. It needs to keep up. To be able to ensure uniformity, ISIS is hoping to be able to team up with Google, Apple, credit card businesses and banks to make sure the systems are all compatible. This will make sure there is uniformity throughout the states. When doing transactions, NFC technology is hardly ever used. It is fairly old technology though.

Other mobile payment systems on the horizon

There are always many options. There are more than “mobile wallet” types around. Square, for instance, turns a smart phone into a credit card machine. The charge card reader is put into the headphone jack while the Square app has to be downloaded. The user then can simply swipe a charge card to receive a payment. Square was unable to send payments, just receive, in 2009 when it came out. When going to a clerk in a participating store, an individual can now purchase goods with Square. This is the new version, states CNN. The store clerk finds the Square customer’s information. This is how the charge card is billed. No chip reading is needed.

Articles cited

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-24/google-to-unveil-mobile-payment-service.html

Forbes

blogs.forbes.com/elizabethwoyke/2011/05/17/mobile-payments-jv-isis-eager-for-apple-google-sprint-to-join/

CNN

cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/05/23/square/

Suit for Los Angeles Dodgers to deal with

The family of Brian Stow, the man who was viciously pummeled by Dodgers followers after a game, is suing the Dodgers organization. Stow went to the opening day game between the Giants and the Dodgers, and was viciously beaten by Dodgers fans and almost died of his injuries. He is still in the hospital. Only a single arrest was made.

Case for Brian Stow causes criminal arrest to happen

The Los Angeles Police Department made a criminal arrest in the Brian Stow beating case recently, according to the Los Angeles Times. The LAPD arrested 31 year old Giovanni Ramirez as one of the two people who supposedly beat Brian Stow, who was attacked on March 31 and remains in critical condition. Stow was wearing a Giants shirt. Two men were angry over it and were seen taunting him until one hit him. He fell to the ground and was kicked over and over by the men, even when he was no longer conscious. Ramirez has three prior felony convictions and is a known gang member. He is being charged, because he killed a victim to near death, with assault with a deadly weapon.

How the Dodgers were involved

The Stow family is filing a lawsuit against the Dodgers organization for failing to provide adequate security, according to ESPN. The Dodgers stadium was not safe as it should have been made, according to the Stow family attorney. The Dodgers took care of security right after the incident. They hired more security personnel including previous LAPD officials. Some suggest that “problem fans” are gang members in the Dodgers stadium since there have been other troubles with Dodgers followers being drunk and unruly. Ramirez’s parole officer said he looked a lot like the sketch of one of the two men which identified him to the law enforcement. Nobody knows who the other man is. CNN reports that Stow has movement in his arms and legs and has been able to open his eyes.

Sports enthusiasts were violent in the past too

There is a long history of violence among sports followers. For instance, the Nika riots of 532 A.D., according to Wikipedia, was a weeklong period of rioting that broke out in Constantinople, where two rival factions of chariot racing supporters created such chaos in the capital that half the city was burned to the ground and more than 10,000 were killed before the army slaughtered the rioters. Violence has been a problem in Europe among soccer fans for some time. Fox News reports that in Greece, there was a huge riot at the end of April. This was when the Greek professional soccer championship was finished. The Daily Mail states that on May 3, Polish soccer supporters also rioted when the Polish Cup Final match was over all with fire in the stadium and players getting assaulted until law enforcement stopped it.

Information from

Los Angeles Times

latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dodgers-20110523,0,2773021.story

ESPN

sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/news/story?id=6584013&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines

CNN

articles.cnn.com/2011-05-19/justice/california.fan.beaten_1_billboard-campaign-brutal-attack-parking-lot?_s=PM:CRIME

Nika Riots

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots

Fox News

foxnews.com/sports/2011/05/02/aek-fan-club-torched-2-days-cup-final-riots/

Daily Mail

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1383480/Concerns-hooliganism-Poland-football-cup-final-ends-mass-riot.html

Acting sexual outlawed in Utah with legislation

Laws that regulate any sexuality tend to be controversial. The same is true in Utah. According to the AP, two Utah escort services have filed a federal lawsuit against the state because the broadly worded solicitation ordinances not only ban prostitution, but make acting sexual illegal.

No more implied sex offers in Utah with new law

According to Salt Lake City Law enforcement Chief Chris Burbank, Utah adopted its currently worded anti-prostitution laws in order to assist undercover agents working stings within the sex trade. Since asking officers to “expose or touch themselves” is now against Utah law, it would not be allowed for prostitutes to ask law enforcement this to prove they aren’t law enforcement. It is completely illegal to just ask for money in exchange for sexual favors. Now, it is too illegal in Utah to have any “lewd” or “suggestive” nonverbal acts due to the amendments.

According to Burbank, non-prostitutes will not be targeted with the law. It is simply to stop the sex trade from occurring, specifically when under-aged parties are involved.

“Officers were being put in a position that we’re not going to allow, so we took a different direction,” he told the AP.

Is it a crime to be sexy?

The escort service will be represented by attorney Andrew McCullough in the lawsuit. He is worried that some of the other businesses with sexual components will be in legal trouble. Several people have to “act sexy” for work but are not selling sexual favors. McCullough explains this could contain strip club dancers.

“Most girls who touch their breasts are not telling you they’re open for sex,” the attorney said.

Acting sexual isn’t good at home, either

In other strange sex news, a Massachusetts bill would make it a crime for parents to have intercourse at home if they’re in the process of a divorce. The idea is to protect kids and slow domestic violence, according to Wrentham, Mass., Selectman Robert Leclair. Critics claim the law wouldn’t only rob parents of their rights, but additionally ban any sexual relationship within the home until the divorce is final, yet another example of broad wording.

On the bright side, supporters of the bill point out that it would too end the practice of lifetime alimony payments and cap how much one spouse could be ordered to pay the other.

Rounding out the docket with bestiality

Bestiality would have been banned in Florida with Senate Bill 344 too. Sen. Nan Rich of Sunrise, Fla., who first introduced the bill in 2009, believes that such legislation is long overdue in the Sunshine State. However, some critics maintain that SB 344 is another bill that suffers from overly broad verbiage. SB 344 could be banning human sexual intercourse since the word “animals” in the phrase “sex with animals” may be referring to humans too, according to Escapist Magazine.

Articles cited

Associated Press

wapo.st/jgXAOq

Escapist Magazine

escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/528.283827-Florida-outlaws-sex

Mother Jones

motherjones.com/mojo/2011/05/annals-big-government-florida-ban-bestiality-baggy-pants

My Fox Boston

bit.ly/m50Qb6

David Archuleta’s dad Jeff could not resist the sexy (allegedly)

youtube.com/watch?v=xm6R-V3tL8g

Pawlenty on ethanol: No-go for government funds

GOP presidential hopeful Pawlenty showed brass during his candidacy announcement, states The Daily Caller. The former Minnesota governor didn’t mince words, calling ethanol subsidies an idea that needs to die now. Even though ethanol fuel continues to have its proponents, the mounting criticisms over the fuel’s inefficiency and impact on world food prices makes it debatable, argues Intellectual Takeout.

America and corn

When it comes to United States farming, growing corn is very essential. Even traditional bluegrass nuggets like “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn” equate the ability to grow corn with male virility:

“Why do you come for me to wed?
Can’t even make your own corn grain.
Single I am and will remain;
A lazy man I won’t maintain.”

Buying a culture

Beyond corn’s place in United States culture, the automotive industry’s battle to improve fuel efficiency has brought intense focus to renewable fuel sources like ethanol. Ethanol fuel production is supported by the National Corn Growers Association and other political lobbies.

Yet politicians like Tim Pawlenty believe the government subsidy investment is not worth the return. Using grains to produce an option fuel to gasoline has already begun to create shortages that have elevated the cost of corn. Cheap grain is more valuable as food than fuel, argues Pawlenty. He was able to help manage fiscal challenged in Minnesota while reducing ethanol subsidies. This has given him confidence that he can do the same in the U.S.

“I’m here today to tell Iowans the truth about federal energy subsidies,” said Pawlenty during his presidential candidacy announcement. “(That includes) federal subsidies for ethanol… (They must) be phased out gradually. We need to do it fairly. But we need to do it.”

Fuel efficiency connection to ethanol

Scientists explain that ethanol fuel has 34 percent less energy per unit of volume. This is when it is compared to traditional gasoline used in cars. As much as 50 percent fuel could be used in an ethanol only motor than that of a standard gasoline motor.

The connection between miles per gallon and ethanol fuel shows a lot. It has many people reconsidering how viable ethanol is. It may not be possible to add ethanol fuel to the mix considering the idea that Keith Crain and others have that national MGP standards need to go up.

Information from

Auto News

autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110523/OEM01/305239986/1137

The Daily Caller

dailycaller.com/2011/05/23/pawlenty-announces-2012-run-under-banner-of-truth-tells-iowans-that-ethanol-subsidies-must-be-phased-out/

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel

Intellectual Takeout

intellectualtakeout.org/library/agriculture/ethanol-renewable-energy

National Corn Growers Association

ncga.com/

Tim Pawlenty

timpawlenty.com/

Tim Pawlenty, et al, on ethanol subsidies

youtube.com/watch?v=V5y6E2TQTw0