Government seeks to regulate maps apps

The Department of Transportation will issue guidelines on handheld devices behind the wheel.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently in the process of developing guidelines to address the use of handheld devices behind the wheel. The guidelines are expected to be released later this year.

"Safety is our top priority," the Department of Transportation said in a statement. "We're working to address all forms of distraction to reduce the amount of deaths and ensure drivers keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel."

The move will follow the NHTSA's voluntary distracted driving guidelines released in 2013, which address drivers' use of in-vehicle electronic devices, including GPS navigation tools. News of the impending guidelines for handheld devices has led to speculation about the potential impact on the mobile navigation app market, including the wildly popular Google (GOOG) Maps, Waze, MapQuest and Apple (AAPL, Tech30) Maps.

Related: Get ready for car software updates

NHTSA maintains that it already has the authority to regulate and recall specific electronic devices, including certain apps on handheld devices, including those that can be considered accessories or additions to vehicles.

NHTSA is not currently planning on introducing mandatory regulations, however. It is seeking, as part of the GROW AMERICA Act transportation bill, to clarify its authority in the area as new technologies develop.

Currently, texting-while-driving is banned in 44 states and Washington, and the use of handheld cell phones while driving is prohibited by 12 states and Washington.

NHTSA's 2013 study on the impact of handheld and hands-free cell phone use while driving found that there is an extreme risk associated with drivers taking their eyes off the road in order to interact with mobile devices.

In April, NHTSA launched an $8.5 million National Distracted Driving Enforcement and Advertising Campaign, including a call-to-action for drivers to power down their electronic devices and put them out of reach while behind the wheel.

First Published: June 17, 2014: 2:23 PM ET

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How Congress can prevent another recall disaster

GM CEO Mary Barra testifying before Congress in April.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Anton Valukas, the former U.S. prosecutor who conducted the internal probe into the 10-year delay in the ignition switch recall will also appear. In his remarks, he tells Congress the crisis was caused by "failures throughout the company -- including individual errors, poor management, byzantine committee structures, lack of training, and inadequate policies."

But there are plenty of steps that lawmakers can also take to protect the American public from potentially deadly defects in their cars and trucks.

Raise the fines. GM (GM) has already agreed to pay the maximum fine of $35 million for the delayed recall. But that fine represents less than 1% of GM's earnings over the last 12 months.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx admitted the fine amounted to a "rounding error" for the automaker. The Department of Transportation has asked Congress to hike the maximum fine to $300 million, while safety advocates don't want fines to be capped at all.

Criminal penalties. The fine that GM agreed to pay is a civil penalty. The company is also the subject of criminal probes, but it's not clear that the automaker will face criminal charges.

Even if GM is charged criminally, it's doubtful that any executives would go to jail. Instead, the automaker will probably just have to pay another, much larger fine

Toyota recently shelled out a $1.2 billion penalty to settle criminal charges levied against it for the way it handled its unintended acceleration recall.

Safety advocates argue that if an automaker fails to report safety information to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration it should be a criminal offense.

Related: 1 in 10 cars and trucks have been recalled

"Nothing changes corporate behavior faster than the possibility of criminal charges," said Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety.

More public information. A lot of the information about accidents and vehicle problems that's reported to NHTSA is never released to the public. Officials within the safety regulator may recommend action, but those recommendations also remain non-public.

For example, soon after GM employees learned of the flawed ignition switch in 2004, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation recommended an investigation into the problem of air bags not deploying in fatal crashes. But a committee within NHTSA turned down that request, and the recommendation for an investigation wasn't made public until this year.

Related: GM victims' families face tough choices

Rep. Henry Waxman proposed legislation to make more NHTSA information public in April, the first time Barra testified on Capitol Hill.

Ditlow says more public disclosure of NHTSA reports would significantly improve safety. "We need a better early warning system," he said.

Make sure recalled vehicles are fixed. More than one car or truck out of every ten out of every ten that's on the road today have been recalled this year.

But CarFax estimates that 30% of vehicles that are recalled are never repaired, which means that more than 36 million cars and trucks now on the road haven't been repaired.

Cars that have been recalled but not repaired can still be rented out by rental car companies and sold by car dealers, without informing consumers.

Safety advocates say that should not be permitted. They also want laws that prevent car owners from renewing their car registration or passing inspection if they haven't fixed a recall problem.

First Published: June 17, 2014: 3:26 PM ET

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Wal-Mart and Costco make price shopping easier online

Six major retailers are adding unit pricing to their websites, making it easier to compare prices online, but the world's largest retailer is staying out.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The companies -- Wal-Mart (WMT), Costco (COST), Walgreens (WAG), FreshDirect, CVS (CVS) and Drugstore.com -- agreed to add unit prices to their product pages over the next nine months.

Unit prices, which are already common at many of the retailers' physical locations, show what a package of ground beef costs per pound, for example, or the price of a single aspirin within a bottle of 300. That helps customers price shop when different products are different sizes.

"We think that this is going to make shopping at Walmart and realizing how much you're saving at Walmart even easier," said Ravi Jariwala, a spokesman for Walmart.

The agreement was announced on Tuesday by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who helped broker it.

Amazon's (AMZN, Tech30) resistance to unit pricing confused analysts.

Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali, a vice president at retail analysts Forrester Research, wrote in an email that, since Amazon often has the lowest prices, comparisons usually benefit them.

"I have no idea why Amazon wouldn't agree to this," she wrote.

Related story: Stephen Colbert gets nasty with Amazon

The company already offers unit prices for some items, including certain foods, medicine and other goods.

"Customers rely on Amazon for all kinds of product information, including descriptions, ratings, customer reviews, frequently asked questions and pricing," said an Amazon spokeswoman in a statement. "Unit pricing is included on www.amazon.com."

So why not participate in the new initiative with its competitors, expanding unit pricing to all items on its website? Amazon wouldn't comment. But the company has long tried to distinguish itself from competitors with physical stores, said Bob Hetu, research director of retail merchandising for tech consultancy Gartner.

Related story: What to expect at Amazon's mystery event

"I think it's just that they don't like to be pooled in with the other retailers," he said.

Despite Amazon's prices, other retailers are starting to push back and that pressure would probably bring Amazon along, Hetu said.

First Published: June 17, 2014: 4:30 PM ET

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GM recalls another 3.4 million vehicles

The Buick Lacrosse and other vehicles are included in the new recall.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The new recall affects cars from model years 2000 through 2014. The ignition switch can move out of the run position, turning off power steering and power braking while the car is being driven. Extra weight on the key chain can jostle the ignition when the vehicle strikes something in the road like a pothole.

Some model years of the Chevrolet Impala, Cadillac Deville and DTS, as well as the Buick Lacrosse, Lucerne and Regal are included in this recall.

Monday's announcement comes after a review of ignition switch issues in the wake 2.6 million recalled Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars for a similar problem. At least 13 deaths have been blamed for the earlier ignition switch problem.

It took the company more than a decade to recall those cars, and the automaker is currently under investigation and facing several lawsuits over the delay.

Related: Barra set to testify again on GM recall

Monday's recall pertains to a different ignition switch and requires a different solution, GM spokesman Alan Adler said.

Owners of cars included in the Cobalt recall must get the ignition switch replaced, but those affected by Monday's recall don't have to. Instead, GM dealerships will add an insert to the key that closes the slot and leaves only a small hole where a key ring can be attached.

Dealerships are expected to start fixing owners' keys in the next few weeks. Until then, owners are urged to remove any additional weight from their key chains.

GM engineer Ray DeGiorgio was involved with the design of both ignition switches, according to Adler. DeGiorgio was placed on paid leave at the start of the Cobalt investigation and is no longer with the company.

The automaker also issued five smaller recalls Monday, affecting about 194,000 vehicles worldwide. More than half of those are Cadillac ATS and CTS cars with a problem that could prevent the driver from shifting gears. The company said it is unaware of any related crashes or injuries.

GM (GM) said it expects to take a charge of about $700 million for recalls this quarter, on top of the $1.3 billion in recall-related charges that it's already announced this year.

First Published: June 16, 2014: 4:16 PM ET

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Pope Francis rails against food speculation

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The leader of the Catholic Church chastised investors in food-based commodities markets, especially those who make speculative bets on price movements. The Pope said these types of investors reduce the affordability of food for the poorest families.

He went as far as to call it a "scandal" of our time.

"Advances in technology have increased the speed of financial transactions, but in the long run this is significant only to the extent that it better serves the common good," he said. "In this regard, speculation on food prices is a scandal which seriously compromises access to food on the part of the poorest members of our human family."

Related: Milk demand from Chinese, others boost dairy prices

The position is not a new one for Pope Francis. He similarly railed against food commodity speculation last year in a speech before the Food and Agriculture Organization at the United Nations, and his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI also spoke out about the issue.

This year's remarks came during the Vatican's Investing for the Poor conference, which seeks to highlight ways that investors can make social and environment impacts.

Related: Pope made same denunciations last year

"It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences," he said.

The Pope's comments come at an interesting turning point in global commodity markets. Many food prices rose in the past year as droughts and other issues impacted the supply of various crops.

But food prices have been falling in the last month, according to data from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The organization said overall food prices fell by about 1.2% from April to May, with indices for major global food staples all falling further since then.

First Published: June 16, 2014: 5:06 PM ET

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Judge rules against J.C. Penney in Martha Stewart case

J.C. Penney may have to pay up for striking a deal with Martha Stewart.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

New York Supreme Court Judge Jeffrey Oing called the actions of J.C. Penny's top executives "less than admirable."

"At best, one can only describe such conduct as adolescent hijinks in the worst form," he wrote in the court order.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) has been selling Martha Stewart-branded products at Macy's (M) since 2006. But in 2011 it reached a deal with J.C. Penney (JCP) to start selling some of its products at that retailer as well.

Macy's took both companies to court claiming they violated its own exclusive deal with Stewart's company. It settled with MSLO in January, but the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Related: Martha Stewart and Macy's settle legal fight

Oing did not rule on how much J.C. Penney may have to pay Macy's for lost profit and attorney fees, deferring that decision to special judicial hearing officer.

J.C. Penney said that it "does not believe that money damages are warranted." It is also considering appealing the ruling.

Meanwhile, a statement from Macy's said the company was "delighted" by the order and looking forward to the damages phase of the case.

Since litigation began, J.C. Penney axed CEO Ron Johnson, who struck the deal with Stewart's company back in 2011, and scaled back its partnership, limiting it to window treatments and hardware, lighting, rugs and holiday products. J.C. Penney also sold its stake of MSLO, for which it paid $38.5 million in 2011.

"Their grand strategy was a colossal and abject retail failure," Oing wrote.

J.C. Penney has suffered massive losses in recent quarters following Johnson's failed turnaround effort.

First Published: June 16, 2014: 7:44 PM ET

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World Cup: Most social sporting event ever, experts say

This year's World Cup is likely to be the most social ever.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The 2014 World Cup will be the most social sporting event ever, according to projections from the Adobe (ADBE) Digital Index, a study of online marketing.

The month-long soccer championship is already is outpacing the Sochi Olympics and 2014 Super Bowl. The most famous athletes, such as Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, are getting millions of mentions each.

In the year leading up to the first matches in Brazil last week, the World Cup was mentioned 19 million times across the blogs and social outlets Adobe tracks, which include Facebook, (FB, Tech30) Google (GOOG)+, Reddit, Twitter (TWTR, Tech30), Instagram and YouTube.

Related: Celeb security a big deal at World Cup

The conversation is more global than the Olympics, Adobe said, and spans 230 countries. People in Japan are most engaged, posting nearly two of every five mentions, while the U.S. was just behind Brazil, contributing about 8% of social media mentions.

Sentiments from the host nation reflect what has played out in the streets of Sao Paulo, where protesters have demonstrated their frustration with the government spending $11 billion to host the games. Adobe said in an online post about the findings that 42% of posts from the host nation "expressed sadness, anger, or disgust."

The matches are also expected to set records on viewers' other screen: the television. Experts say the worldwide audience could number 3.6 billion people. Advertisers -- most notably Nike (NKE) and Adidas -- are fighting to put their products in front of those fans.

First Published: June 15, 2014: 12:22 PM ET

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Jon Steinberg headed to the Daily Mail

The Mail Online claims 50 million monthly unique visitors in the U.S., citing internal metrics.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

His goal, he said, is to make the Daily Mail "the largest news and entertainment site" in America -- even bigger than BuzzFeed.

Steinberg exited BuzzFeed last month, triggering speculation about his next step. His title will be the CEO of North America for Mail Online, the Web arm of Britain's Daily Mail newspaper. The news was first reported by Re/code on Sunday.

The tabloid-oriented Mail started to expand in the U.S. a few years ago. In 2012, a BuzzFeed article about the Mail called it an "omnivorous middle-market British tabloid" that "feels like several newspapers stacked on top of one another" and "blends original reporting with sharp rewrite, celebrity gossip and hard news."

In a telephone interview on Sunday afternoon, Steinberg said his CEO appointment is "part of a larger thrust to invest more heavily in the U.S."

Related: Univision explores a sale -- again

Steinberg compared the Mail's status in America to WhatsApp; at the time Facebook acquired that messaging app, Mark Zuckerberg said WhatsApp "doesn't get as much attention in the U.S. as it deserves," given its popularity.

Mail Online currently has about 50 million monthly unique visitors in the U.S., according to the web site's internal metrics. It has about 150 staffers in New York and Los Angeles.

Steinberg said he saw opportunities to expand the Mail's video production, areas of news coverage and variety of advertising products -- roughly the same strategy BuzzFeed has pursued.

Related: Stephen Colbert gets nasty with Amazon

"I loved my time at BuzzFeed," Steinberg said. "It was a spectacular four years and I learned a lot about operations."

He added, however, "I wasn't the CEO, and that's something I've always wanted."

Asked about the prospect of competing with BuzzFeed, he said, "I see many more partnership opportunities than I see competition."

That said, his goal is to grow the Daily Mail into the country's largest news and entertainment site.

Along with Mail Online, Steinberg said he would remain with CNBC, where he is a part-time contributor.

First Published: June 15, 2014: 1:02 PM ET

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Starbucks offers workers 2 years of free college

There's about to be an even greater chance your barista is working his way through college.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The company announced it will offer both full- and part-time employees a generous tuition reimbursement benefit that covers two full years of classes.

The benefit is through a partnership with Arizona State University's online studies program. Employees can choose any of more than 40 undergraduate degrees, and aren't limited to only business classes.

It's yet another unconventional move from the upscale coffee retailer. Starbucks bucked the trend, for example, when it continued offering health insurance for both full- and part-time employees as other companies dialed back offerings and blamed Obamacare.

CEO Howard Schultz, who retook the company's helm in 2008 and turned around the slumping business, has also stood out among his peers for backing a boost in the minimum wage. He has also made bold statements about gun control and Washington political gridlock.

He described the new education initiative in grand terms: rebuilding the American Dream for employees, known as "partners," who are left behind in an economy that requires a degree. At the same time, the cost of education can be prohibitive.

"Supporting our partners' ambitions is the very best investment Starbucks can make," Schultz said in a statement.

Related: Obama promises student loan relief

Starbucks did not release an estimate for how much the program would cost, in part because it does not know how many employees will sign up.

The benefit is equal to about $30,000 per employee, said Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson.

Most of the company's 135,000 U.S. employees are eligible, he said. About 70% of them do not have undergraduate degrees. Those currently pursuing studies at another institution can apply to transfer their credits to Arizona State University.

Employees will not be required to stay with Starbucks after earning their degree.

The university will provide enrollment, financial aid and academic advisers to help students stay with the program, Starbucks said.

Starbucks announced it would roll out the program to employees at a Monday event with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Arizona State University officials.

First Published: June 15, 2014: 9:15 PM ET

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The death of U.S. savings bonds

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Americans bought over 40 million of the most popular savings bonds in 2000. Last year, the U.S. sold a mere 400,000 of them.

They were often given to students, newly married couples or anyone having a birthday. It was akin to gifting cash, but better. The bond certificate looked extra official, and it encouraged young people to save for the future -- whether for further study, a car or a house.

Savings bonds offer some interest each year -- much like money held in a bank's savings account -- but if you hold the bond to the end of the 10 to 30 year duration, you often make more money due to various adjustment procedures. It's akin to a bonus payment.

But these bonds are going the way of the landline telephone, and there are several reasons why.

For starters, savings bonds, which have been around since the 1930s, are no longer an attractive investment.

Related: Investors chase higher yields in scary places

"The interest rates are so low these days that people just don't even get involved in them anymore," says Jim Moore, a Wells Fargo financial advisor based in St. Louis.

The fixed-rate "EE" bond offers a mere 0.5% interest rate for the next 20 years, barely better than putting money under a mattress. Bonds issued at the end of last year were yielding an even more lousy 0.1% rate.

Moore recommends buying a good quality, high paying dividend stock or exploring other savings options instead. Many parents and grandparents utilize 529 savings plans for colleges that are run at the state level. Investment growth in a 529 plan is tax deferred, and any money taken from the 529 to pay for college isn't taxed at the federal level.

Related: Tax-savvy college savings options

But it's the Internet that really killed off demand for savings bonds.

You can no longer buy a paper savings bond. On January 1, 2012, the government stopped sales of over-the-counter paper bonds and forced people to buy them online via TreasuryDirect.

That's when the big plummet occurred. The goal was to save money, but in the process, the government made it harder for potential buyers.

Many older Americans were raised on ads to be patriotic and buy these bonds to help the country (and yourself). There were slogans such as "Back Your Future." The savings bonds were sold in many places, including local banks and brokerages.

Now you have to go online and fill out cumbersome forms with your taxpayer ID number, the intended recipient's Social Security number, your bank account and other information. It's even more complex if you try to gift a savings bond to someone under 18.

Related: Fewer students have jobs on graduation day

Kate Warne, investment strategist for Edward Jones, says the only time she hears about savings bonds these days is from clients telling her how hard the website is to navigate.

"The complaint I get is 'I have trouble. What should I do instead?'" Warne says.

Those formal looking certificates that made such lovely accompaniments to graduation degrees are history. The only way to get one now is to ask for your federal tax refund to be returned to you as savings bonds.

Even that is convoluted. The bonds are only issued in $50 increments, so unless your refund is perfectly divisible by 50, you get savings bonds plus a check for the difference. It's a small program according to the Treasury Department.

The government has no plans to revive paper savings bond sales. There is a mock certificate people can print out online to wrap up in a box and give as a gift. But that just doesn't have the same appeal.

First Published: June 14, 2014: 9:10 AM ET

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