Three Rugby Players in Argentina Received Dental Implants That Can Open Beer Bottles

Dental implant head and bridge
It’s estimated that about three million people in the U.S. currently have dental implants, but there could very well be a sudden interest in these dental devices, thanks to an Argentinian dentist who successfully installed tooth-beer opener hybrids in the mouths of three rugby players.

According to Fast Company and the Toronto Sun, Dr. Sebastian Juri partnered up with Salta, an Argentinian beer company, to create and install the implants “to reward [rugby] players who gave everything they’ve got on the field — including their teeth.”

Three Argentinian rugby players (Johnathan Batiga, Pablo Kwiczor, and Uriel Santiago) were each chosen to receive the new implants, rather than having their missing teeth replaced with traditional titanium implants.

Just one implant has the power to open a bottle of beer, with a unique curved edge to pry off a sealed metal top. The bottle opener implants, just like traditional dental implants, were installed directly into the gums of the rugby players in a surgical procedure (and allowed to heal before the first test run in a local pub).

Unlike normal implants, the bottle opener implant stands out in metallic stark contrast to the rest of the players’ teeth — but this aesthetic quality is a small price to pay for being That Guy at the party who laughs at the sight of a bottle opener.

It doesn’t appear that these dental implants are available to the general public just yet, unfortunately; Salta is well known for its impressive advertisements, particularly ones that emphasize the company’s involvement in rugby.

It’s reported that Molson is currently trying to fund a similar project for hockey players.

Iowa Chiropractor/Exorcist Loses License

Male Osteopath Treating Female Patient With Hip Problem
Each year, some 22 million Americans go see their local chiropractors. These physicians can help patients deal with chronic pain, auto accident injuries, muscle strains… and possession?

The Iowa Board of Chiropractic released documents last month revealing that Charles Manuel, a southern Iowa chiropractor, had surrendered his state license after he allegedly “bartered sex for services with some of these patients” and “performed exorcisms as part of his chiropractic treatment of patients.” He also allegedly told patients to stop taking medicines that had been prescribed to them, as well.

Dr. Bryan Nowlin, who once shared the office with Dr. Manuel, but now he practices by himself, told KCCI, “We didn’t notice any of that stuff while he was here.”

Although no reports have stated whether Manuel knew how to perform exorcisms or not, the fact that he used them as part of his chiropractic therapy suggests he didn’t. What’s interesting, though, is that exorcisms do require an extensive amount of training to perform. According to Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, there are only about 30 Catholic priests in the entire country who are qualified to perform the Rite of Exorcism. Father Thomas, pastor of the Sacred Heart Parish in Saratoga, California and the inspiration for the movie The Rite, had to travel to Rome to complete a year-long training course under the tutelage of a master Italian exorcist to become certified. All of this suggests that it’s highly unlikely that Manuel knew how to do exorcisms.

According to the agreement, Manuel cannot apply for reinstatement for at least another 10 years. According to the documents, before he’d be able to resume practicing chiropractic therapy, he would have to prove, “the basis for revocation of his license no longer exists, and that it is in the public interest for the license to be reinstated.”

However, that also means that Manuel may still be able to get his license back someday.

Quarterly Reports Showcase Competition Between Amazon and Microsoft

Graphs of financial analysis - Isolated

With 35% of IT services today delivered totally, or partially, by cloud, it should come as no surprise that cloud computing is a huge industry. However, few people realized exactly how much this market was worth until Amazon and Microsoft released their quarterly earnings reports in late April. With both companies revealing figures in the billions solely for their cloud computing services, the only question that remains is who will take the lead as this field continues to grow.

On April 23, Amazon released the numbers for its cloud computing service as part of its quarterly report for the first time in the company’s history. Called Amazon Web Services, the division reportedly collected $1.56 billion in revenue in the first few months of 2015, collecting a profit of $256 million with a 17% margin. The company also boasted that its revenues had grown 49% between the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of the previous year. And that’s just for the first quarter: in the past year, Amazon Web Services has reportedly collected $5.16 billion in revenue, in comparison to the $4.64 billion it had generated in 2014.

The figures released in Amazon’s quarterly report fit with several other impressive statistics: for example, Amazon Web Services currently has over a million business customers, an increasing number that is driving an annual revenue growth of more than 40%. This is primarily due to the division’s Simple Storage Service, which is increasing 132% year over year, and Elastic Computer Cloud, which is growing 99%.

However, Microsoft’s data proves that Amazon isn’t without competition: while the company combines all of its cloud-related services into a single “cloud revenue” figure that includes the cloud computing platform Azure, Office 365, SaaS, and Dynamics CRM, this revenue is estimated to bring in $6.3 billion in 2015, a 106% increase for the year. Moreover, Microsoft’s earnings call slide deck indicated that customer usage of Azure has more than doubled, a vague description that nevertheless can’t be disregarded.

Amazon and Microsoft aren’t the only major parties in the industry, of course. Unfortunately, competitors Google and IBM do not release financial data about their cloud computing services. Google places this division into its “Other” category, which topped $1.75 billion for the quarter, a 23% increase year-over-year. Meanwhile, IBM announced that their service ended the quarter with a revenue of $3.8 billion, an increase of a billion and a half in the last year. While these figures are indeterminate, with little indication of how much revenue and growth came specifically from cloud computing services, one thing is clear: the competition between these major players won’t be easily resolved, and businesses will likely need to turn to cloud consultants and other services to help them choose and implement the right service.

Telecommuting Policies Shrink Carbon Footprints of Major Corporations

Home office and computer and chair with brown walls.

Telecommuting has a lot of benefits, and not just for employees. Nearly six out of 10 employers identify cost savings as a significant benefit to telecommuting. Aside from perks for both employees and employers, telecommuting offers several environmental benefits as well.

April 22 marked the 45th anniversary of Earth Day. Since its inception, Earth Day has continued to evolve and change, but its message remains the same. Instead of just a small number of environmentalists participating in Earth Day activities, large corporations are also jumping on the go-green bandwagon.

Companies such as Aetna, Dell, and Xerox are taking advantage of their unique position in order to help their employees make a bigger, long-term impact on the environment than any one individual would be able to accomplish on their own. Thanks to their telecommuting policies, these companies and their employees are making a big, green difference.

Aetna is far ahead in the telecommuting game, as they have had a remote work option for over two decades. Nearly 43% of its current workforce have telecommuting arrangements. Aetna’s company statistics reveal that their telecommuting policy reduced greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 46,700 metric tons in 2014 alone. In addition, last year the company was also able to reduce its employees’ commutes by 127 million miles, which saved 5.3 million gallons of gas.

In 2012, Dell created its “2020 Legacy of Good Plan” which vowed to make 50% of its entire workforce remote by 2020. As of now, 20% of Dell’s employees — nearly 20,000 people — telecommute, and it’s already making a positive environmental impact. In 2014, Dell’s telecommuting policy reduced its greenhouse gas emission by 6,700 metric tons, which is the equivalent of not driving 16 million miles.

As for Xerox, the company’s Virtual Workforce Program currently has 8,000 employees, or 11% of its workforce, working from home full time. Because of this, Xerox was able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40,894 metric tons, and its telecommuting employees saved 4.6 million gallons of gas by not commuting. In fact, the program has been so successful Xerox added an addition 1,000 remote positions in 2014.

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. uses a staggering 19 million barrels of oil every single day. However, if employees worked from home part-time, 1.75 million barrels — roughly 10% — could be completely eliminated.

Plum Island Resident Complains About $4,200 Repair Bill For Frozen Pipes

Oil lickign from pipe
A Plum Island, MA resident is perturbed over what he feels to be an excessive bill for the repair work done on his home’s sewage system, and is taking his plight to city hall.

The Daily News of Newburyport reports that Mark Friery was given a bill of $4,198 for two hours of work on his sewage pipes. The repair company, ServiceMaster, was contracted by Newburyport’s insurance carrier, MIIA Property and Casualty Group, Inc., for a series of sewage repair jobs which were the result of recent winter storms.

Friery, a restaurant owner, warned City Councilor Bruce Vogel in a letter that the city should be concerned about the bill, which he believes isn’t an anomaly. ServiceMaster, after all, will eventually submit the bill to MIIA, not to him.

“Someone somewhere should be concerned about the $4,198.25 bill presented to the city through its insurance carrier by ServiceMaster,” Friery wrote. “ServiceMaster was at my home for less than two hours. While I am happy that they addressed my problem, in what world do they justify getting paid $4,198.25 for this — over $2,000 per hour.”

Friery isn’t the only local resident to deal with sewage problems. After a particularly harsh winter, many residents on Plum Island saw frozen pipes and sewage backups in their homes and businesses. About 170 residents had to leave their homes because of backup problems or their inability to use water while repairs were being done.

Local officials contracted companies like ServiceMaster to repair the damage but did not anticipate the steep costs.

In Friery’s case, he was forced to contact ServiceMaster after the sewage pipe under his house froze. Specifically, sewage material was clogged up by a faulty frozen valve pit. As a result, parts of his home overflowed with sewage waste.

The damage to his sewage system was the result of both the recent winter storms to hit Massachusetts and the outdated pipe system itself. Piping experts recommend that pipes older than 40 years should be evaluated or even replaced.

Though he was pleased with the repair work overall, he was taken aback by the bill. He felt it was too much, especially considering the repair crew was only in his house for two hours.

“While this outrageous bill doesn’t directly come out of my pocket, it impacts us all as taxpayers,” he wrote. “It may increase the city’s insurance rate.”

Blue Bell Expands Recall to Include All Products Amid Listeria Scares

Motion Blur Stretcher Gurney Patient Hospital Emergency
Blue Bell Ice Cream announced last week that the company has extended an existing recall to include all of its products. The company issued a recall earlier this month after a health risk was discovered in half-gallon units of the company’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream that were manufactured on March 17 and 27, according to USA Today.

The company expanded the recall to include all products made at their Brenham, TX and Broken Arrow, OK facilities, which includes products like ice cream, sherbet, frozen yogurt, and frozen snacks. The expanded recall was announced after Blue Bell’s investigations found positive evidence of listeria in different products and locations.

According to ABC News, three people have died from consuming Blue Bell products that were contaminated with listeria.

Listeria is a bacteria that poses the most risk to children, elderly people, and pregnant women. It is generally contracted by humans through the consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The bacteria live in animals’ digestive tracts and can contaminate foods in a number of different ways.

Blue Bell’s announcement of the expanded recall came just after Sabra Dipping Company announced a recall for their hummus due to listeria contamination. USA Today reported on April 9 that the recall included 30,000 cases of Sabra’s Classic Flavor hummus.

The contamination was discovered after routine inspections. As of April 9, there had been no reported cases of illness, and Sabra has been working with the Food and Drug Administration.

Cases like these can fall under the area of law referred to as product liability, which has the second-highest median damage awards of any type of personal injury case at $300,000. In cases of food contamination, it’s generally a matter of unsafe or unsanitary manufacturing practices.

Unconventional Web Design Helped Spring Become a Successful Mobile ‘Cyber Mall’ App Within Eight Months

A woman is in the jewelry store
It’s a simple mobile app with a simple name — Spring — but it’s something that that marketing experts are calling the first successful “cyber mall,” and it might just change the way consumers think about mobile shopping.

The company started eight months ago, when brothers David and Alan Tisch launched the app in August 2014 on the iOS platform. Spring only had 22 employees in tow, according to a report by Business Insider, and was only working with a modest number of well-known brands in the fashion industry to create one single catalog that includes all the brands.

The concept behind Spring was based on previous shopping apps like Seamless and Grubhub, which work as third-party middlemen in between consumers and manufacturers. Rather than purchasing items and reselling them, like traditional retail stores do, these shopping apps merely take consumers’ orders and deliver them to the manufacturers.

The major difference between Spring and other shopping apps, however, is that its design is more consumer-friendly and mobile-friendly. The layout resembles a Pinterest board or Instagram feed, as BI noted, and focuses on informal “lifestyle photos” instead of staged “product shots.” Consumers upload payment information (or simply connect with their Apple account, since Spring is already integrated with Apple Pay), and they can purchase items with a simple swipe.

By cutting out the fluff that other mobile shopping apps still use, Spring was able to increase its products (it now works with over 700 different brands, according to Fortune) without becoming too overwhelming for consumers. Considering that 75% of consumers admit to making judgments about a company’s credibility and quality just based on the business’s website design, Spring was able to appeal to consumers in a way that other “cyber malls” have not.

Spring recently closed out its second round of funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $30 million, and the app just launched on Android devices. Experts estimate that the company, which is now supported by a team of 48 employees, is worth about $90 million.

Sewer Water Beer Gets the Go Ahead in Portland

Glass of light beer on a dark pub.
New craft beers and keeping things weird are the norm in Portland, OR, but a new venture is combining both and taking weirdness to a whole new level. After months of waiting, a group of homebrewers has finally gotten the go-ahead to brew beer made from wastewater.

That’s right — the group is actually planning to brew beer made from treated wastewater, and has gotten approval to serve it to the public from both the Oregon Health Authority and, as of last week, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission.

Craft beer is a trend in America that’s simply not going away — according to the Brewer’s Association, 2014 was the first year in which craft beer earned a double-digit market volume share of 11%. Now, the craft beer market in the United States is worth about $14.3 billion.

According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, Hillsboro-based wastewater treatment company Clean Water Services has an advanced treatment process that can turn wastewater into drinkable water. The company seeks to prove the purity of its water by turning it into beer.

A homebrewing group, the Oregon Brew Crew, would use the water in its brewing process. The beer would not be sold in a brewery, but served at special events.

Though skepticism about the safety of the beer is obvious — it doesn’t seem safe to drink what was one wastewater — the Oregon Health Authority concluded that “the high quality of the treated water, additional microbial reduction in the brewing process, and a low health risk overall” contribute to the beer’s safety.

Clean Water Services spokesman Mark Jockers says that the water purification company wants to help people reevaluate what they think about wastewater and to play a role in expanding the use of recycled water in Oregon.

Turning the wastewater into craft beer isn’t a bad way to go about it; craft beer is a big business in Oregon. The Oregonian reports that one in five brewers on the Brewer’s Association Top 50 Craft Brewers of 2014 list is based in Oregon.

Furthermore, the state leads the country in the number of dollars spent on craft beer, and brewers in Oregon produced more than 1.64 million barrels of beer last year, which is about a 17% increase from the year before.

It might be weird, but if there’s anywhere to emphasize the importance of recycling water and using a specially-brewed beer to do it, Portland is it.

How Tomorrow’s Forklifts Will Be More Intelligent and Efficient Than Ever Before

warehouse
As technologies continue to advance, it’s becoming increasingly likely that even the forklift — a vehicle responsible for manual material movement at warehouses everywhere — will soon become integrated into the “Internet of Things.”

According to a March 16 Forbes article, forklifts have been excluded from “smart” technologies for as long as they’ve been in use. These machines rely entirely on an operator’s control and input, and aren’t connected to any networks.

As part of the “Internet of Things” — a term used to describe the eventual network connectivity and intelligence virtually every object will have in the future — the “smart” forklift will be equipped with diagnostics that send out signals when it needs servicing, speed controls, anti-slip technology, collision detection and much more.

Smart forklifts, which are already in use today, are also able to raise and lower their forks much faster than would safely be possible if a human were operating the vehicle, and the forklift can even detect the height of the pallet being picked.

In addition to becoming smarter, forklifts are becoming more efficient. According to ferret.com.au, changes to the AC operating systems within electric forklift units are making them significantly more efficient, extending the lifespans of forklift batteries and reducing their carbon footprint.

Despite the fact that these smart forklifts are currently in use, they’re far from being a common implementation at warehouses, Forbes reports. The majority of warehouse control systems and architectures still need to be adjusted and re-conceptualized to enable optimum warehouse performance with the use of smart forklifts.

Even so, it might be sooner than you think before you see a smart forklift moving along the aisles of your warehouse.

Report Reveals Bright Future for Maryland Residential Solar Power Market

install solar panels
To say that the solar power industry in the United States is booming is truly an understatement. It’s estimated that a new solar photovoltaic (PV) system is installed every four minutes, a fact highlighted by Maryland’s rapidly expanding residential solar power market.According to the recently released U.S. Solar Market Insight 2014 Year in Review, the Old Line State more than doubled its amount of installed solar capacity in 2014. Also, nearly half — 48% — of Maryland’s electrical capacity came from solar energy.

Just last year, Maryland added an additional 73 megawatts (MW) to its solar electric capacity, bringing the state’s total to a whopping 215 MW. That’s enough affordable and sustainable energy to power almost 25,000 average homes. While the report focused on Maryland’s flourishing residential solar power market, the state also experienced an increase in commercial solar system installations.

Of the 73 MW of solar electric capacity added last year, 40 MW were residential while the remaining 33 MW were commercial. Combined, these installations represent a staggering $221 million investment across the the state of Maryland, which is a 95% increase from the previous year.

“To put the state’s solar growth in some context, the 215 MW of solar PV installed today in Maryland is nearly as much as the entire country had installed by 2005. And frankly, the state is just scratching the surface of its enormous potential,” explained Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “Looking forward, we expect 2015 to be another good year for new PV installations across the state, with growth topping 100 percent.”

Maryland’s thriving solar power market has also expanded into the higher education sector. Recently, the University of Maryland announced plans to install roughly 7,000 solar panels — enough to power over 218 average U.S. homes for an entire year — on the roof tops of three parking garages by December 2016, according to university officials. This would bring more clean, sustainable energy to the campus.