Got laid off? Hyundai will take your car back

Those of you who are regular readers, or have gone through the archives of my posts, know of my gripes against the auto industry and the money they're asking for and taking, while still making lots of money... but here's something you don't hear about:

If you've been laid off, worried about job security, money being tight, not being able to pay your bills etc....and you just bought a hyundai... Don't worry about it!! Hyundai will take your car back...

The automaker's new incentive program aims to reassure car buyers who are worried about losing their jobs.

Hyundai Motor America is taking aim at Americans' worries about job security: If you buy a new Hyundai and lose your job within a year, you can give it back.

"In this uncertain economy, we are looking for ways to reassure shoppers that Hyundai still represents the best value in the auto industry," said John Krafcik, president and chief executive of Hyundai Motor America, the U.S. arm of the South Korea-based automaker, in a company statement.

"If you find that you cannot make your payment because of a covered life changing event, we'll allow you to return your vehicle and walk away from your loan obligation - and in most cases we will cover most, if not all of the difference," the carmaker's Web site says.

With no extra charge to the sticker price, the program pays the difference between the car's trade-in value at the time the owner files a claim and any remaining balance on the loan up to a maximum of $7,500.

"Hyundai is offering the program because its own market research showed car shoppers weren't attracted by rebates and other more normal incentives", said Joel Ewanick, Hyundai America's vice president for marketing. "People are simply too worried about making payments no matter how good the deal is," he said.

"Until they saw a change in that, customers just aren't going to buy," he said.

As defined by Hyundai, life changing events include involuntary job loss, personal bankruptcy if self-employed, getting transferred overseas and accidental death. The benefit will be given to any qualified Hyundai vehicle buyer or lessee, the carmaker says, regardless of health or employment history.

To get the benefit, the vehicle buyer must have made at least two payments before filing for the benefit, and buyers are responsible for any payments due before filing.

The program is managed by a Walkaway USA, a subsidiary of Dallas-based EFG Companies, which provides finance and insurance products and support services for auto dealers.

"The goal is that this gives the consumer the opportunity to avoid default and maintain their credit rating," said Jeff Beaver, senior vice president for marketing at EFG Companies.

Walkaway said it has been selling a similar program as an extra-cost product through various auto dealers in Canada since 2000. The company recently began offering similar plans in the U.S., but Hyundai will be the only manufacturer offering the plan nationally.

The program neatly fits the needs of Hyundai's market said Art Spinella, an analyst with CNW Market Research, and it builds on the 10-year 100,000 mile warranty that Hyundai began offering in the U.S. in 1998.

"Hyundai has kind of carved its own niche with warranties and it's been successful with it," he said.

The program should appeal to Hyundai buyers, according to Spinella, because they tend to have lower household incomes and are more likely to be worried about income loss than buyers of more expensive cars.

Customer value

Since the program is offered on all Hyundai vehicles with no extra charge, it's impossible to say whether it would really be worth it to consumers, said Peter Sorgenfrei, a New York-based automotive marketing consultant. It would depend on whether the dealer would have charged less for the vehicle without the protection, but it's impossible to know how much less.

Given the low odds even in today's economy, that any given Hyundai buyer would lose his or her income within a year, the protection wouldn't add much value to the typical consumer, according to Sorgenfrei. "Not a lot of people are going to take advantage of it," he said.

"Few of those drivers who lose their income," he said, "would want to give up a car they would need to find a new job and then commute to it."

"But some customers might want to trade in their new Hyundai for a less expensive used car," said EFG's Beaver, so the program benefits dealers by turning a customer with a financial problem into another potential sale.

While Hyundai will be the only carmaker offering a national program, Walkaway plans to allow auto dealers selling any brand to offer the program, said Beaver.

Regardless of the dealer or the vehicle brand, 12-month protection plans would always be offered at no extra charge, Beaver said, but customers could also purchase longer-term plans for an extra charge. Hyundai dealers will soon be able to offer longer coverage at additional cost, said Hyundai's Ewanick.

But even if it's never used, Sorgenfrei said, the plan has public relations value: The program should drive some car shoppers to at least consider a Hyundai and it will make them feel cared for.

German battlefield yields Roman surprises

Archaeologists have found more than 600 relics from a huge battle between a Roman army and Barbarians dating back to the third century, long after historians believed Rome had given up control of northern Germany.

"We have to write our history books new, because what we thought was that the activities of the Romans ended at nine or 10 (years) after Christ," said Lutz Stratmann, science minister for the German state of Lower Saxony. "Now we know that it must be 200 or 250 after that."

For weeks, archeologist Petra Loenne and her team have been searching this area with metal detectors, pulling hundreds of ancient Roman weapons out of the ground. They paint a picture of a highly organized, technologically superior Roman army beset by Germanic tribes in a forest about 80 km (50 miles) south of the modern city of Hanover.

The hillside battlefield was discovered by relic-hunters that were illegally searching for souvenirs of more recent wars near the town of Kalefeld-Oldenrode. One of them brought some of the items he found to Loenne, who works for the local government.

The artifacts are so well preserved that the scientists can already retrace some of the battle lines.

"We believe the Germans ambushed the Romans here, but the legions quickly fired back with catapults and archers -- and then it came to a massive man-on-man onslaught," Loenne said.

The items unearthed so far include an axe, still sharp after nearly 1,800 years; horseshoes; shovels; spearheads; and dozens of arrowheads for a Scorpio, a cross between a catapult and a crossbow -- the ancient equivalent of artillery.

"With a very high speed, on a very long distance -- about 300 meters -- you can hit targets precisely," said Henning Hassman, of Hanover's archeological institute.

Researchers say the evidence suggests the tribesmen lured the Romans into the forest to keep them from making full use of those long-range weapons and draw them into hand-to-hand combat, outside of the formations the imperial troops had mastered. However, they believe the Romans ultimately prevailed.

Other relics include coins depicting the late second-century Roman emperor Commodus, depicted in the Oscar-winning Hollywood epic "Gladiator" -- a film that opens with a scene of battle against a barbarian horde that scientists say appears to be largely accurate. Loenne said her team may have only begun to scratch the surface of the forest.

"We hope we might find fortifications and if we are lucky, maybe even battlefield graveyards," she said.

Commissioner Gordon passes away

Longtime character actor Pat Hingle, a veteran of early television dramas, Westerns and four "Batman" films, has died at age 84, his family announced Sunday.

Hingle died Saturday evening at his home in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, after a two-year battle with the blood disorder myelodysplasia, his cousin, Lynn Heritage, said.

"He was awake one moment, and in the next breath, he was gone," Heritage said.

Hingle began his acting career in the 1950s, appearing in numerous television theater shows.

His first movie role was an uncredited appearance in 1954's "On the Waterfront," which won eight Academy Awards; he played the by-the-book judge opposite Clint Eastwood's vengeful marshal in 1968's "Hang 'Em High," and appeared as Sally Field's father in 1979's "Norma Rae."

In 1989, he appeared as Gotham City's Commissioner Gordon in Tim Burton's "Batman," carrying on the role through three sequels. His last film role was in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," released in 2006.

He also guest-starred in countless TV series, including a memorable turn as a character named Col. Daniel Webster Tucker in a 1980 "M*A*S*H" episode. In the episode, called "April Fools," Hingle's Tucker antagonized the unit's surgeons -- with surprising consequences.

Hingle's other TV series included "Hawaii Five-O," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Hart to Hart," "St. Elsewhere," "Magnum, P.I." and "Cheers."

Hingle is survived by his wife of nearly 30 years, Julia, and their five children.

U.S. digital TV subsidy program running out of cash

The Feb. 17 transition from analog to digital television broadcasts looms and as many as eight million U.S. households are still unprepared.

However, the government program that subsidizes crucial TV converter boxes is about to run out of money.

People who still rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air signals -- whether it is through "rabbit-ear" aerials on TVs or antennas on the roof -- will see their screens "switch to black" when the changeover happens.

To avoid that, those people have to switch to cable or satellite TV, buy a television set with a digital tuner or buy a converter box that can translate digital signals from the airwaves into analog.

To subsidize the converter boxes, most of which cost between $40 and $80 and can be purchased without coupons, the government has been letting consumers request up to two $40 coupons per home.

But, any day now, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the arm of the U.S. Commerce Department in charge of administering the coupon program, expects to hit a $1.34 billion funding ceiling set by Congress.

Now the NTIA is warning that unless lawmakers step in quickly with more funding or new accounting rules, it will have to create a waiting list for coupon requests.

That would mean it could send out additional coupons only as unredeemed ones expire, freeing up more money for the program.

In other words, if Congress doesn't act soon, consumers who apply for coupons in the final weeks leading up to the digital transition might not get them in time.

"If the government invests in just a few million TV converter boxes, which is a drop in the bucket of the enormous amount of money being spent on the stimulus package, it would do more good to keep all households connected," said Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal policy at Consumers Union.

Under the rules set by Congress, which mandated the digital TV switch to free up more room in the wireless spectrum, the NTIA cannot commit more than $1.34 billion at any time to cover the cost of the coupons.

That pool includes coupons that have already been redeemed; unexpired coupons that have been mailed out but not yet redeemed; and coupons that have been requested but not yet mailed out.

The NTIA estimates the funding cap, which excludes administrative expenses, is enough to cover 51.5 million coupons through March 31, which is the last day consumers can request them.

Consumers had already requested 44.9 million coupons as of Wednesday, including 18 million that had been redeemed and 10.8 million that were in circulation but yet to be cashed in.

That leaves just $68.2 million for additional coupons.

Coupon requests have ticked up sharply over the past two months as the NTIA, along with the Federal Communications Commission, TV broadcasters, cable operators and consumer electronics makers have ramped up efforts to educate people about the upcoming transition.

The NTIA received 184,000 coupons requests on Thursday alone.

If demand remains at or near current levels, the program would hit 51.5 million coupons by late January -- and ultimately, roughly 60 million coupons would be requested by March 31, said NTIA head Meredith Baker.

Buses wired for surveillance worry experts

Surveillance cameras are gradually making their way onto school buses with education and transport officials defending the equipment as a good deterrent to rowdy behaviour and bullying.

But some privacy experts say the cameras don't always discourage misbehaving and represent a possible invasion of student privacy.

Earlier this month, Pembina Trails School Division in Winnipeg became one of the latest school districts to put surveillance cameras on all of its buses after a 65-year-old driver was charged with sexually assaulting a female student.

Across the country, some school divisions in Canada have already been using such technology for up to 15 years.

Dave Carroll, a safety and legislation consultant for the Ontario School Bus Association, says there are 18,000 school buses in Ontario and the practice of using cameras is not widespread.

But there are boards which use them to discourage rowdy behavior by students.

"To my knowledge, the board would decide to install cameras not so much to monitor drivers, but to monitor student behavior so that the kids would be more inclined to act responsibly," Carroll said from his office in Etobicoke, Ont.

Some school districts place phony cameras with a glowing red light on buses to fool students, he said.

"It's a less expensive way to equip the fleet, and then they move the real cameras from bus-to-bus so the kids never know if they've got an active camera or not."

Joel Sloggett, chief administrative officer for Student Transportation Services of Central Ontario, which provides service for several school boards in the region, said the company rotates about 25 cameras on its 650 school buses.

Sloggett said the principal of a particular school decides whether there's a need for video cameras on a particular bus due to allegations of bullying or physical altercations between students.

"Nine times out of 10, when you put a video camera on, things settle right down because students now realize that the camera is on."

Cameras are also being used on public transit.

The Toronto Transit Commission is putting cameras on its buses after attacks on drivers, Carroll noted.

About 535 transit buses in Winnipeg will also be equipped with digital cameras by the end of 2009 in an attempt to make buses safer from vandals and violent passengers.

But Brian Edy, a Calgary lawyer and former president of the Alberta Civil Liberties Association, said there are always privacy concerns when people are being filmed without their consent.

Edy said parents may be concerned about how widely the tape could be viewed, and who could look at it.

"People will always suggest that cameras will assist us. It doesn't always increase security and that is the unfortunate part of it. It doesn't always prevent a problem," Edy said.

"We have to be careful about getting on that slippery slope of trading away all our privacy, everywhere, in favor of a camera that may or may not be a deterrent."

School bus drivers may end up benefiting from the cameras, Carroll said.

"Some of them may feel that it's a good way to protect the driver against any kind of false accusations. So the drivers might benefit from that as well."

But Carroll said it's rare to hear complaints against bus drivers, especially complaints of a criminal nature.

"We just don't hear very often of any kind of driver conduct that would warrant putting them in tens of thousands of school buses across Canada. It would be a very expensive proposition."

Chinese software pirates get prison sentences

The alleged ringleaders of a Chinese counterfeiting gang that sold at least US$2 billion worth of bogus Microsoft Corp. software were sentenced to prison terms of up to 6 1/2 years, in what is believed to be the harshest penalties yet under China's tightened piracy laws.

The punishments meted out against the 11 defendants, and announced by Microsoft Corp., could help China improve its image as a country that doesn't crack down hard enough on copyright violators, though the technology and entertainment industries still say China has a long way to go. The sentences ranged from 1 1/2 to 6 1/2 years, according to Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft.

The fact that Microsoft, and not the Chinese courts, disclosed the sentences is not unusual. Lawyers are the only source of information in many cases in China because rulings often are not publicly announced. Court officials usually refuse to disclose details to reporters.

Microsoft calls the counterfeit software operation -- which was headquartered in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and busted by Chinese authorities with help from the FBI in 2007 -- the world's biggest phony-software syndicate.

The counterfeit software was found in 36 countries and 11 different languages. It was so sophisticated that it contained legitimate computer code written by Microsoft for programs such as Windows XP and Vista and Microsoft Office, but also had touches of the criminals' own coding as well. That was allegedly added to mimic security programs and fool users into believing the product was authentic.

Microsoft contends that much of the bogus software was detected by its Windows Genuine Advantage program, which is automatically installed on users' machines. It scans computers for pirated software and alerts people if it believes their products aren't properly licensed. The counterfeits were also discovered through customs seizures, test purchases by Microsoft, and resellers who alerted authorities to suspicious competitors.

"There were a number of things that made this case unique and striking, and among them are the fact that customers provided information, the reach of the syndicate was so international, and that Chinese law enforcement partnered so well with American law enforcement," David Finn, Microsoft's associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting, said in an interview.

Software piracy is still rampant despite individual countries' attempts at cracking down. Research commissioned by the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group, found that 82 percent of the software used in China in 2007 was not legitimately purchased, more than double the worldwide piracy rate of 38 percent.

China targets Google in crackdown on pornography

China has launched a major crackdown on Internet pornography, targeting popular online portals and major search engines such as Google.

Seven government agencies will work together on the campaign to "purify the Internet's cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors," according to an announcement on the government's official Chinese-language website, china.com.cn.

Pornography is banned in China, though the government's Internet police struggle to block Web sites based abroad.

The government announcement said Google and Baidu, China's two most heavily used search engines, had failed to take "efficient" measures after receiving notices from the country's Internet watchdog that they were providing links to pornographic material.

The statement also named popular Web portals Sina and Sohu, as well as a number of video sharing sites and online bulletin boards, that it said contain problematic photos, blogs and postings.

It said violators will be severely punished, but did not give details or say how long the campaign will last.

A Google spokeswoman in China, Cui Jin, defended the site's operations, saying it does not contain any pornographic content.

"If we find any violation, we will take action. So far, I haven't seen any examples of violations," Cui said.

Baidu did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment, and phones at Sina and Sohu rang unanswered.

China has the world's largest population of Internet users with more than 250 million. The central government has blocked access to many websites it considers subversive or too political, including The New York Times' website on Dec. 19. It was unblocked a couple days later and remained open Monday.

Beijing loosened some media and Internet controls during the 2008 Summer Olympics -- gestures that were meant to show the international community that the games had brought greater freedom to the Chinese people. During the August games, China allowed access to long-barred Web sites such as those of the British Broadcasting Corp. and Human Rights Watch. Those Web sites remained open Monday.

In the past the Foreign Ministry has defended China's right to censor Web sites that have material deemed illegal by the government, saying that other countries regulate Internet usage, too.

No proof that so-called detox products work

According to scientists who have studied the topic, there is no proof that detox products actually work

Many products that claim to detox the body may not actually work, British scientists warn, as the companies that manufacture them can provide little, if any, research to support their claims.

A report issued by Sense About Science, a British charity founded to protect the public from bogus science claims, compiled data on products ranging from shampoos to cleansers to so-called detox patches.

When they tried to compile scientific information for 15 products that make detox claims, the researchers found that the manufacturers could not provide research to prove the efficacy of their products.

"In fact, no one we contacted was able to provide any evidence for their claims, or give a comprehensive definition of what they meant by 'detox,'" the report said. "We concluded that 'detox' as used in product marketing is a myth."

For example, Garnier's Clean Detox Anti-Dullness Foaming Gel claims it "detoxifies by cleansing the skin's surface."

When researchers called the company to find out how the cleanser detoxifies the skin, they found out that the company defined toxins as dirt and oil, which any cleanser can remove.

The researchers found that similar products like shampoos that claimed to detoxify hair were simply washing hair much like any other shampoo.

The evidence wasn't much better for health products that claimed to detox the body.

The researchers found that Vitabiotics, a daily vitamin that promises to remove toxins and pollutants from the body, was never tested to prove that it works and may only provide the body with nutrients that can be acquired through a healthy diet.

Other products, such as detoxifying waters and smoothies, did not have any scientific evidence to back up their claims of being able to flush toxins out of the system. Some even promised improved functioning of the liver, which processes liquids and neutralizes toxic chemicals that are both produced within the body and come from environmental sources, such as a poor diet.

"Companies use the word 'detox' as a trendy attention-grabber to sell products," said Harriet Ball of Voices of Young Science, the group of researchers that conducted the study.

"This is misleading, suggesting there is something additional or special about the product. Many people would buy face wash with the 'detox' pretense anyway, but the more companies make such claims, the less shoppers really know what they are paying for, nor understand what detox is and whether they even need it."

People should not get confused over the concept of "cleansing" or "detox" itself, as these are valid scientific concepts and natural processes of the body (of all organisms, in fact). The thing is, though, that only the body can cleanse and detox itself through its own natural healing abilities. All a person needs to do is provide the conditions in which the body can perform the detoxification and healing process.
This is done by eating a raw food (fruit and veggie) diet followed by a water-only fast of a few days.

The raw food diet should be followed for 3 weeks before commencing the fast, and then raw food should be used to break the fast and continued that way for another 2 weeks. You'll be feeling years younger after this, and will also be at your ideal body weight. A great part about the diet? There's no money to be spent in this natural process! It's free, and only requires nutritious natural food.

But of course companies will try to exploit people's lack of knowledge on this point and try to sell us whatever they can..(why pay for something, when you don't have to??)

As with all forms of diet and exercise though, Consult a physician before beginning anything..

With these detoxification "diets" you'll feel great at first since it will give you a 'high' as your body enters starvation mode and gives off endorphins so that you can keep functioning to find food. Further, the starvation mode will also tell your body to store fat as rapidly as it can once food is reintroduced. This goes for fasting diets, the maple and lemon diet, and all other fad diets.

Eat a balanced diet and exercise. Then your body will be healthy enough for your liver and kidneys to detoxify itself.

Companies forcing workers to take unpaid vacation as recession hits

Here's the vacation no one wants to take, courtesy of the recession: Forced time off without pay.

Financially struggling universities, factories and even hospitals in North America are requiring there employees take unpaid "furloughs" - temporary layoffs that amount to one-time pay cuts for workers and a cost savings for employers. This year, the number of temporarily laid off workers hit a 17-year high.

"If they do it once, I think it's easier for them to try to do it again," said Carrie Swartout, who researches traumatic brain injuries at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Maryland is requiring unpaid time off for 67,000 of its 80,000 (that's near 83.75% of it's workforce) employees as it struggles with a budget crisis. The state says the furloughs will save an estimated US$34 million during the financial year.

State governments, facing lower revenues but stymied by the long process required to cut public sector jobs, are using furloughs as a quick way to trim payrolls. Private-sector businesses - from automakers to small businesses - are shutting down factories and offices as sales drop.

The temporary layoffs are "kind of employment purgatory, but it's better than the alternative," said Carl Van Horn, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University. They're a typical response to decreasing demand in a recession, although this round is slightly worse than past bad recessions, Van Horn said.

Of 10.3 million unemployed workers in November, roughly 12 per cent were unemployed because of temporary layoffs, according to data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics. The last time this many workers fell into the category was February 1991, when 1.4 million workers were unemployed because of temporary layoffs. As a proportion of the total work force, workers on temporary layoff are roughly one per cent, nearly the same now as 17 years ago.

The numbers, based on a Census Bureau survey of households, likely understate temporary layoffs. The survey asks about participants' working hours during the prior week, so a worker who knows he faces a temporary layoff later in the month would not be included.

Swartout, the 28-year-old Maryland researcher, could lose as much as $800 in pay, or nearly two per cent of her salary, depending on how long she's furloughed. "That's a huge chunk," she said. The timing and duration of the furloughs of non-critical state workers are still unclear, she said, but the loss will mean she'll struggle to make her monthly $500 student loan payment.

Filmmaker to use eye camera for documentary

Big Brother is watching you - and so is Little Brother.

Toronto filmmaker Rob Spence says he is getting a tiny video camera put inside a prosthetic eye to allow him to secretly film his subjects.

Spence says his goal is twofold: to raise awareness of constant surveillance in society and to get people talking unself-consciously.

"When you bring a camera, people change," said Spence, who lost his right eye as a young teen in a shooting accident on his grandfather's farm. "I wouldn't be disarming at all. I would just be some dude. It's a much truer conversation."

He hopes to have a prototype eye cam by February.

"As opposed to Big Brother watching from above, there (will be) Little Brother checking things out from below," he said of his project.

Spence, who has been writing about it on his blog "Eyeborg," plans to use the device for a documentary that will touch on his concerns about surveillance. His subjects won't know they will be on camera.

"People won't be aware of it at all. There's ethical issues with that, but I am a filmmaker," he said. "If you're averse to it, that's fine, don't sign the release form. I won't put you in the documentary."

Spence, 36, likens the idea to HBO's TV show "Taxicab Confessions," where participants can sign a release to have their cab conversations - recorded by hidden cameras - made public.

He's getting help with the project from the University of Toronto's Steve Mann, an expert on wearable computing and cyborgs (organisms that have artificial and natural systems). Mann also has expressed concerns about surveillance in society and how it needs to be counterbalanced by ordinary citizens.

Spence said he believes the tech-savvy will be the modern keepers of civil liberties.

"The more techno-geek you become, probably the safer we will all be."

Spence starred in the 2007 documentary "Let's All Hate Toronto," which aired on CBC-TV. His work has also appeared on Discovery, Vision and Space TV.

He's not alone in his quest for an eye camera. San Francisco artist Tanya Vlach wants a camera implant in her prosthetic eye and has put out a call on her blog for engineers to build her an eye cam, which could let her shoot video from her perspective or "lifecast" events.

Spence said he isn't going to focus on "lifecasting," or broadcasting his life 24-7 on the Internet.

He also isn't going to swap the eye cam, which won't restore vision, for his regular prosthetic eye on a permanent basis.

The video camera will be embedded in a prosthetic eye shell being made by Toronto ocularist Phil Bowen, who said he's not looking at the project from the "whole Big Brother thing."

"I am looking at it as the first step in taking a prosthetic eye that people might be able to see out of," Bowen said, adding that he is hoping a doctor will be able to take the research forward.

He described the camera as about the size of a pea and said people shouldn't notice Spence's camera eye. "It would look slightly lazy, but you shouldn't be able to tell."

The eye cam could be similar to a tiny medical camera used in such procedures as colonoscopies.

Digital commentator Carmi Levy said Spence's eye camera documentary should make people think about how they can move from convenience store to gas station to office to bank and home under the view of surveillance cameras.

Levy said Spence is taking back control.

"It's a Little Brother to the Big Brother presence," said Levy of Toronto's AR Communications Inc. "You are pointing the camera at the world instead of the other way around."

What do you guys think of this idea? would you be open to being recorded by the camera? would you be willing to appear in the documentary? or does the idea of being recorded by someone you don't even know sort of freak you out? post your thoughts...