Bose faces lawsuit after spying on customers
Kyle Zak, an Illinois resident, recently filed a lawsuit against Bose Corporation for spying on customers. He accused Bose of profiting on the sale of private customer information. Bose’s Connect app tracks the audio that customers listen to.
“People should be uncomfortable with it,” Christopher Dore, the lawyer representing Zak, said. “People put headphones on their head because they think it’s private, but they can be giving out information they don’t want to share.”
Bose did not comment on the case. The Bose products that transmit the private information include the QuietComfort35, QuietControl30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, SoundLink Color II, SoundSport Wireless and SoundSport Pulse Wireless.
Zak wants Bose to refund any buyers affected by the privacy violating products. He also demands the company immediately cease the collection of customers’ media information.
Britain achieves its first coal-free day
This past Friday, the United Kingdom operated without the use of coal power for the first time since the Industrial Revolution. The National Grid control room continuously monitored the coal-free 24 hours and tweeted about the momentous achievement. West Burton 1, the last coal powered plant in operation on Thursday, stopped running for the day.
“The first day without coal in Britain since the Industrial Revolution marks a watershed in the energy transition,” Hannah Martin, head of energy at Greenpeace — a non-governmental organization that works to conserve the environment — said in a press release.
Britain’s last coal station is lawfully required to close in 2025 as part of a government measure to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Maryland schools introduce open-source textbooks
Open educational resources (OERs) are freely accessible and openly licensed materials, such as electronic textbooks. The University System of Maryland recently announced an incentive for several community and public four-year schools to use OERs in an attempt to reduce costs for students.
Twenty-one grants will be given to professors who plan to use OERs starting in the fall of 2017. These grants will be intended for larger-sized courses where quality OERs exist. The $500 to $2,500 grants are low in number but are expected to save 8,000 Maryland students up to $1.3 million.
Fastest growing occupation: wind turbine technician
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “wind turbine technician” is the fastest growing job in the United States. The median annual pay of about $51,000 is estimated to double between 2014 and 2024. The projected growth can be explained by the expansion of renewable energy.
According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), in 2016, more than 100,000 people were employed in some way by the growing wind industry.
“Getting over 100,000 jobs in wind is an important milestone,” Tom Kiernan, chief executive of the AWEA, said in a press release. “Sometimes people think of wind or renewables as a niche industry. But the proven reality is the industry is at a scale where we are reliably and affordably contributing to the grid.”
Only 5.5 percent of total energy generation was attributed to wind energy in 2016, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, but tax incentives and advancement in wind energy generation technology continue to push the growth of the industry.
