No. of claims between 2015 and 2019: 1,668,285 (Photo: Shutterstock)
No. 4: Texas
No. of claims between 2015 and 2019: 1,982,993 (Photo: Shutterstock)
No. 3: California
No. of claims between 2015 and 2019: 2,162,089 (Photo: Bloomberg)
No. 2: Florida
No. of claims between 2015 and 2019: 2,568,946 (Photo: Shutterstock)
No. 1: Arizona
No. of claims between 2015 and 2019: 2,655,567 (Photo: Shutterstock)
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Car and truck windows become damaged for various reasons including road debris, vandalism and fender-benders.
But in Florida, for instance, these types of claims grew by 52% from 2015 through 2019, and a recent survey by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB)indicted there may be a reason other than accidents and other common mishaps: fraud.
“Some fraudulent auto glass companies are convincing consumers to sign an assignment of benefits (AOB) form, which means you are giving up your rights to the auto glass company,” Haskins said in a recent press release. “When a consumer signs over their claim they are no longer in control if there is a dispute over inflated repairs and may be eventually named in a lawsuit. Some unscrupulous auto glass companies are turning this into a lucrative business by inflating the insurance claim and collecting the money for themselves. This type of AOB abuse is a scam and must be stopped.”
The NICB is especially concerned about fraudulent auto glass claims in Florida, the U.S. state that had the second highest number of claims during the five years surveyed. The organization suggests the following steps to help insureds avoid being pressured into what could be a fraudulent auto repair:
Work only with licensed and insured vendors.
Ask for references, and check them.
Ask to see employee identification.
Get everything in writing including repair costs, scheduling and payment arrangements.
Don’t be pushed or pressured into signed anything.
Never pay cash up front.
Get more than one estimate.
Never sign a repair contract in which some detail are left blank.
The slideshow above indicates the top five states in the country for auto glass claims between 2015 and 2019, according to the NCIB.
(DETROIT) — The U.S. auto industry’s coronavirus comeback plan was pretty simple: restart factories gradually and push out trucks and other vehicles for waiting buyers in states left largely untouched by the virus outbreak.
Yet the return from a two-month production shutdown hasn’t gone quite according to plan. For some automakers, full production has been delayed, or it’s been herky-herky, with production lines stopping and starting due to infected workers or parts shortages from Mexico and elsewhere.
“There’s a lot that can go wrong in bringing people back into the plants to try to build very complicated assemblies,” said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry and labor at the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank.
Most automakers closed factories in mid-to-late March when workers began to get sick as the novel coronavirus spread. The factories started to reopen on one or two shifts in mid-May as state stay-home restrictions eased, with automakers touting safety precautions that include checking workers’ temperatures, certification by workers that they don’t have symptoms, social distancing, time between shifts and plastic barriers where possible to keep workers apart.
Still, some workers got COVID-19, although it’s not known where they were infected. In some cases they still came to work, forcing companies to close plants temporarily for cleaning. In at least one case, a worker at a seat-making plant near Chicago got the virus, forcing a shutdown and cutting off parts. General Motors had to delay adding shifts at truck plants because the Mexican government wouldn’t allow full parts factory restarts until June 1.
Ford seemed to be hit the hardest, pausing production a half-dozen times in Dearborn, Michigan; Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri; to disinfect equipment and isolate workers who may have come in contact with those who tested positive.
Honda and Toyota each reported brief production pauses to disinfect equipment when a small number of workers became infected. GM and Fiat Chrysler said they have not shut down production lines due to infected workers.
None of the automakers would give exact numbers of workers who have become ill since plants were restarted. The United Auto Workers union said Ford and GM have had at least a half-dozen cases, while Fiat Chrysler has had five. At least 25 UAW members employed by the Detroit Three have died from the virus this year, but it’s not clear where they caught it.
Dziczek says the on-and-off work stoppages will make it difficult for automakers to meet any increased demand.
“I think this is the way this is going to be for a while,” she said. “You need to have the confluence of healthy workers, a healthy supply chain and healthy demand all at the same time.”
U.S. auto sales have tanked since the virus began spreading in March, with sales in April down 46% from a year ago. Analysts are forecasting an improvement in May, but still a year-over-year decline of more than 30%. Cox Automotive predicts that May pickup truck sales will be down 18% from a year ago.
Despite those declines, automakers are reporting depleted supplies at some dealers, especially for pickup trucks in the Midwest.
Assembly lines at Ford’s 4,000-worker pickup factory in Dearborn, Michigan, have been closed twice due to workers with the virus or union fears that the shutdowns weren’t long enough.
The UAW local at the plant filed a grievance against the company seeking a full shutdown and testing of every worker, said Gary Walkowicz, a local bargaining committeeman. The local also wants a 24-hour waiting period after equipment is disinfected to restart the plant.
GM spokesman Brian Rothenberg said it’s being vigilant about making sure companies follow safety protocols.
“We have advocated for as much testing as possible and full testing when it’s available,” he said.
Ford procedures, following newer recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and epidemiologists, say equipment is safe within minutes of being disinfected. In some instances the company has waited several hours before bringing workers back.
“We are requiring our workforce to follow these protocols in our facilities – and encouraging them to do the same outside of work,” Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker said.
GM announced that production will get closer to normal starting Monday as it adds shifts “to meet strengthening customer demand and strong dealer demand.” A company statement said three pickup truck assembly plants will go from one to three shifts, while three SUV plants in the U.S. and Canada will go from one shift to two.
At GM’s pickup truck factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, worker Andrea Repasky was waiting for the call to return to work on the third shift.
“I’m ready to go back, as long as everyone is cautious and stays safe,” she said. “We have to go back sometime, right?”
Fellow workers have told her that GM is doing all it can to protect workers from the virus as they return to work, Repasky said. Yet she knows infected people might unintentionally spread the virus if they don’t have symptoms.
“I don’t know that anyone anywhere can really make it so we don’t catch it,” she said.
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Atari’s repeatedly delayed VCS console is nearly ready two years after its announcement. The team has revealed that the first 500 (or so) Atari VCS production models should leave the factory by mid-June. That will still leave the majority of Atari’s 11,597 crowdfunding backers waiting, but the team “cautiously” expects that production for those will get underway this summer now that the parts are available.
Things are still falling into place. Atari has yet to detail the full software lineup for the VCS even with a game subscription deal locked in. Nonetheless, this is good news for backers worried that multiple delays, changing specs and behind-the-scenes drama might prevent the system from shipping.
Whether or not the VCS succeeds is another matter. It’s a relatively powerful device for the money with an embedded Ryzen chip and some PC-like functionality, but there’s no guarantee it’ll be the nostalgia-inducing console of your dreams, particularly if the Atari 2600 doesn’t mean much to you.
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A better lifestyle means better health, better relationships, better time management, more effortless days, and relaxed. No, gadgets are not an answer to everything or a solution to life’s all problems. But there are some gadgets that can help you, do more, bet healthier, lead a less-hurried life. Today we have enough gadgets available that can help us micromanage our lives. In terms of improving our lifestyle, some can help us better clean our homes, manage our health, watch our steps, stress, sometimes even blood oxygen levels -- that’s right. Here are five gadgets that we believe should be on your shopping list, that is if you are looking for products that will help you and not hinder you.
Microsoft is finally shipping the Windows 10 May 2020 Update (version 2004) for compatible devices with a slew of improvements and several small new features, as well as a new version of Cortana, which is significantly different.
Starting with version 2004, Cortana no longer has a deep integration on Windows 10. Instead, it becomes a regular system application that receives updates through the Microsoft Store. This means that the company can now release new features and improvements without having to wait until the next feature update.
As part of the design changes, there's a new experience in which you can move around the desktop, and it offers a chat-based interface designed primarily to interact with Cortana using the keyboard, but you can always use voice.
Also, since Cortana didn't become as popular as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, Microsoft has decided to shift focus to make the assistant a tool exclusively for productivity that will work best with a Microsoft 365 subscription. As a result, many non-productivity features have been removed, including skills and the Notebook.
This means that Cortana will now only be useful at helping you manage meetings, tasks, surfacing Office documents, and other work-related tasks.
In this Windows 10 guide, we'll take a closer look at the new Cortana experience available with the May 2020 Update.
Cortana app features and improvements
Starting with the May 2020 Update, Cortana introduces a new interface, simplified settings, and options to quickly fix problems with the app.
Cortana new interface
Although the new interface looks familiar to the old experience, the new design is clean and simple. When you first open the Cortana app, you'll be prompted to sign in with your Microsoft or work account. Once signed in, you'll access the new interface that's no longer attached to the taskbar, and because it's an app, it behaves like one, and you can drag it around the desktop, resize, or full screen like any other modern app.
Source: Windows Central
The app has also been designed to make typing the primary method of interaction. Something that makes a lot of sense, since most people use devices with a keyboard and mouse, and many do not prefer talking to a computer. However, you can still use your voice to interact with Cortana using the mic button or the hands-free option.
Above the text box and voice control, Cortana also provides query suggestions to help you get familiar with interacting with the assistant. Then there's the main chat canvas that shows your text interaction in a threaded conversation, similar to the text interface on your phone, which you can also scroll to revisit certain information at a later time.
You can also right-click every one of your text or response from Cortana to access the context menu with options to ask again, copy text, delete a specific text, or clear the thread history.
Cortana now updates automatically through the Microsoft Store, but sometimes, you'll see a New version available notification in the experience, which you can click to update the app manually.
The new experience also supports the light and dark modes, but you can't change the mode independently within the app, the color mode will change automatically when you switch modes on Windows 10.
Cortana functionalities
Since Cortana now has an emphasis on productivity, moving forward, the assistant will focus only on managing your work life.
If you're in the United States, the digital assistant will continue to assist you in managing tasks and schedules. You can ask for Office files or people using typing or voice. You can also check calendar events and create and search emails.
You'll also be able to create reminders and add tasks to your lists inside Microsoft To Do.
Source: Windows Central
Similar to the previous version, Cortana is connected to Bing, which means that you'll continue to have the ability to ask for the weather, jokes, and other information. And it'll help you set alarms timers, change settings, and open apps.
The app will be available outside the United States, but initially, the experience will be limited to answer questions using Bing and interactions with the assistant using chat. However, Microsoft says that it has plans to bring more functionalities in future releases.
Alongside the new visuals and improvements, Cortana is losing noticeable features. For example, starting with this new version, the left rail has been removed, and the Notebook is no longer available either. In addition, because the new assistant is now focused on productivity, Microsoft has also removed some of its core functionalities, such as skills.
Finally, for security reasons, Microsoft is ending support for Cortana in older versions of Windows 10 that have reached the end of support, so you'll only be able to access the assistant on the most recent releases.
Cortana app settings
The Settings app no longer includes a section exclusively to control the Cortana experience on Windows 10, but you can still adjust settings within the app.
The settings are available, clicking the main (three-dotted) menu button from the top-left and selecting the Settings option.
Source: Windows Central
This device
In the Talking to Cortana page, you'll find the "Activating Cortana" section, which you can use to turn on the Wakeword toggle switch to allow the assistant to respond when you say "Cortana." (This option may or may not be available.)
Source: Windows Central
Also, under the "Keyboard shortcut preference" section, you can choose whether you prefer to Type or Speak or type when activating Cortana.
In the Permissions page, you can control device permissions, but the options available are links to customize related features using Settings. For example, clicking the Microphone option opens the Settings app to allow or deny Cortana access to the microphone.
Source: Windows Central
The Speech option opens the settings page to allow or deny sending speech information to the cloud to improve speech recognition when using the assistant. And the Voice activation option will enable you to control Cortana access to voice activation on Windows 10.
Account
The Privacy page includes the Revoke permission and sign out option to disable Cortana (in a sense) by removing Cortana access to your calendar, contacts, emails, and other information as well as to sign out of the experience.
Source: Windows Central
Similar to the previous version of the digital assistant, there's a "Clear your data" section with an option to open the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard on your Microsoft account online to review and delete Cortana data.
You'll also see a Clear history feature that you can use to delete all the information about Cortana and you on the device.
Hardware
Finally, the "Hardware" section includes a page to add, remove, and control devices that support the digital assistant, like the Surface Headphones, Xbox One, and Amazon Alexa devices.
When you open the page, you'll see any device already connected to Cortana. You can click the available options to manage the device.
Source: Windows Central
If you recently purchased a new accessory, you can click the Add a device button to open the Cortana Device Setup app to complete setting up the device.
Cortana repair options
If you're having problems with Cortana, you don't get an option to remove and install the app again, but since it's now a regular app, you can now access the tools to reset or repair the app using Settings on Windows 10.
You can access the new options from Settings > Apps > Apps & features, selecting the Cortana app, and clicking the Advanced options link.
Once inside the page, under the "Reset" section, click the Repair button, which runs an option designed to fix the app without affecting the data in the app.
Source: Windows Central
However, if Cortana doesn't start or is not working correctly, you can use the Reset button to reset the app and delete the data from the app store on your device.
The page also includes an "App permissions" section to grant or deny the app access to the camera, microphone, or the ability to let the app run in the background without the need to change those same settings from the "Privacy" section.
Source: Windows Central
If you don't want the digital assistant to run on startup, under the "Runs at log-in" section, you now have a toggle switch to decide whether Cortana should launch automatically as you sign in to Windows 10.
Alongside these changes, Microsoft is also introducing some other additional features, such as Play My Emails and the ability to receive an Outlook "Cortana Briefing" email for Microsoft 365 Enterprise customers.
What are your thoughts on the new features and changes rolling out with Cortana? Let us know in the comments.
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Never mind a text character crashing your phone — if you’re on Android, your choice of wallpaper could be a larger problem. Users have discovered (via Android Authority and 9to5Google) that an innocuous landscape photo is “soft-bricking” some Android phones when it’s used as a background. Your phone isn’t completely dead if it happens, but it’ll get stuck in a loop that turn the lock screen on and off, even after a reboot. Your recourses are to either use safe mode to delete the photo file or use the bootloader to reset the device entirely.
The issue may come down to the color spaces your phone supports and how they’re handled. Dylan Roussel from 9to5discovered that the source image uses the RGB color space instead of Android’s preferred sRGB, and Android 10 doesn’t convert it where the Android 11 preview does — that causes problems any time an incompatible phone has to display the picture, which is a problem if you’ve just set the photo as your wallpaper. Other images will likely lead to the same issue.
We’ve asked Google for comment. This is easy enough to avoid if you’re aware of it. It could be a serious problem if pranksters trick unsuspecting people, however, especially if they don’t know how to recover. If nothing else, it’s a reminder to get wallpapers only from sources you trust.
... if the current display supports it. If it isn't supported, it will replace the Color Space of the image to SRGB, and it will log its current Color Space.
This is why it doesn't crash on the Pixel 4 XL. However, on the Pixel 3 XL with Android 10...
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It appears no one is safe from the rise of the bots: Microsoft has announced that it will be axing its team of journalists that work for MSN.com, and replacing them with news-savvy artificial intelligence.
The tech giant currently contracts several dozen journalists to select and curate news stories that appear on MSN and its Edge internet browser. But starting in June, these media workers will be out of a job – with their responsibilities being delegated to software designed to sniff out the most suitable news for human consumption.
One anonymous employee who will soon be out of work told the Guardian that there is an ironic element to his precarious future. “I spend all my time reading about how automation and AI is going to take all our jobs, and here I am – AI has taken my job,” he said. The journalist added that he feels Microsoft is taking a big risk with automated news aggregation, as the company has strict editorial guidelines when it comes to curating content.
Microsoft said its employees were notified about the changes, and that the decision to do away with its human news staff was based on a routine evaluation of business practices.
“This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time to time, redeployment in others,” the company told the BBC, stressing that the move is not related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Artificial intelligence is starting to rapidly transform the global economy. From computer-driven taxis to self-checkout at the grocery store, “essential” workers are becoming increasingly obsolete.
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OnePlus will no longer release McLaren editions of its phones in the future. The phonemaker and the British auto manufacturer have ended their partnership, a McLaren spokesperson has confirmed to Android Authority after reports about their split came out. Word started going around that the two were parting ways, because OnePlus is no longer listed as a Formula 1 partner on McLaren’s website.
In a statement sent to the publication, the spokesperson said:
“Our partnership with OnePlus, which came to its scheduled conclusion recently, has been a highly successful collaboration between two iconic and innovative brands. Since the start of this partnership in 2018, OnePlus has been a supportive, valued partner and we wish them well and hope to see them in the future.”
The rep didn’t explain why the two companies are no longer working together, but it sounds like they decided not to renew their deal after their collaboration ended. OnePlus’ McLaren phones are usually souped up versions of their basic counterparts. The OnePlus 6T McLaren packs 10GB of RAM instead of just 6GB or 8GB, for instance, while the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren has 12GB of RAM and 5G connectivity, which the standard 7T Pro doesn’t have.
At CES earlier this year, OnePlus also showed off a phone called Concept One that’s clad in papaya-hued leather that McLaren uses for some of its cars. Since it’s still a concept device and the companies’ collab has ended, we might never see the device make its way to shelves.
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When it comes to import drag cars, the Mk4 Toyota Supra is king. With so many shops and aftermarket companies dedicating time and resources to the platform, we've seen quarter-mile records fall almost constantly at the hands of various Supras around the globe. The most recent might also be the most impressive, though, as Grannas Racing has pushed its six-speed, H-pattern Supra to a 6.9-second quarter-mile at 194.77 miles per hour.
That's believed to be a new benchmark as allegedly no other H-pattern car has run a sub-seven-second time before.
The crew's Mk4 Supra, nicknamed "Orange Man Bad," is no stranger to the drag racing community. It famously achieved a 7.17-second run at 205 miles per hour in December, making it the fastest six-speed in terms of mph. Now, it holds the title of quickest as well, all while running a Tremec T56 transmission with a factory gearset.
Grannas Racing posted a video of the record-setting run online, along with a slip showing the time and speed.
There's no V8 swap here, either, as it's still sporting a 2JZ inline-six, albeit one that's heavily modified. It takes about 1,800 horsepower—not to mention a ridiculously good driver—to notch these kinds of times. Keep in mind that this Supra is still rear-wheel-drive, meaning it takes an immense amount of throttle discipline to launch it off the line without shredding the tires.
Lastly, this run solidified Grannas Racing's pride and joy as the quickest Supra in the world with independent rear suspension. That makes the feat even more impressive as IRS cars are typically harder to handle on the dragstrip. There's no sign of the Supra getting out of hand here, though, as it's pointed straight for the line and crosses it in record time.
Who knows what the next benchmark with be for Joel Grannas and Co., but rest assured, it'll be something ludicrously quick.
Apple has quietly adjusted the pricing for RAM upgrades in the entry-level $1299 MacBook Pro. Until today, Apple had charged $100 to upgrade from 8GB of RAM to 16GB of RAM, but now that upgrade costs $200 in the United States.
As first noted by MacRumors, the change also applies to other countries; in Germany, the price has doubled from €125 to €250. In the United Kingdom, the upgrade price has doubled from £100 to £200.
It’s not unusual at all for Apple to adjust build-to-order configuration pricing for the Mac lineup. Most recently, Apple drastically lowered Mac SSD pricing last summer while also introducing new storage configurations.
These fluctuations in component pricing are generally due to changes in supply and demand. For example, it’s possible that Apple’s supplier for entry-level MacBook Pro RAM is experiencing disruptions, whether it be because of COVID-19 or other changes.
Apple refreshed the MacBook Pro lineup last month, bringing the new Magic Keyboard design and performance improvements. The entry-level model, however, went largely unchanged, with the only upgrade being the new scissor switch keyboard.
As such, changes in component pricing are also evident when Apple releases a new Mac and adjusts the default storage configuration, such as last month when the MacBook Pro refresh also included double the SSD storage.
As of right now, RAM pricing for the rest of Apple’s Mac lineup has not changed. This is not necessarily surprising as Apple has different RAM types and suppliers for different Mac models.
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Twitter finally added the ability to schedule tweets from its website. People have requested this feature for the better part of a decade, and you can now schedule all of your brilliant thoughts and witticisms throughout the day instead of just posting them at weird hours of the night.
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Though Twitter’s tweet scheduler is pretty straightforward, it does blend in a bit with the normal Twitter UI, so you might not even notice it’s there at first.
To get started:
Open Twitter and begin drafting a new tweet. This works with single Tweets or Tweet threads
Click or tap the calendar icon at the bottom of the tweet editor to open the schedule menu.
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Screenshot: David Murphy
Use the drop-down boxes to select the date, time, and time zone you want the tweet(s) to post at, then wrap up your tweet as normal. It’ll post at the time and date you set.
Screenshot: David Murphy
If you decide you’re not ready to post or schedule the tweet, but want to save it for later, just close the composer and select “Save Draft.” When you’re ready to finish up the tweet, click the calendar button again, select “Scheduled tweets,” and click on the “Drafts” tab. (If you’re on mobile, there should be a dedicated button for drafts that appears in the upper-right corner whenever you fire up a new tweet.)
You can also click or tap “Scheduled” from the calendar menu to manage your saved drafts and scheduled tweets.
Auto insurance carriers and agents in Michigan have staked out a new line of business selling motorists extra liability coverage in case they are sued by an injured driver who opts out of unlimited medical coverage under the new no-fault law that takes effect next month.
Insurance agents are selling so-called "umbrella" policies for bodily injury claims, an added layer of protection once Michigan's law no longer requires all motorists to carry the same limitless Personal Injury Protection, starting July 2.
"We're seeing a huge increase in umbrellas," said Milene Plisko, a Livonia-based district manager for Farmers Insurance Co. "We're going to have a lot of people who are woefully underinsured, and they're going to have no recourse but to sue to recover what's not covered."
The emerging trend of motorists buying an additional layer of insurance may eat away at the savings on Personal Injury Protection they were promised by lawmakers a year ago when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a sweeping overhaul of Michigan's 47-year-old auto insurance law.
The cornerstone of the new law seeks to rein in Michigan's highest-in-the-nation auto insurance rates by imposing a fee schedule on medical providers who care for injured drivers and then allowing motorists to choose different levels of PIP coverage.
Those coverage levels include $50,000, $250,000 and $500,000 of PIP, resulting in average mandatory rate reductions on the PIP portion of a driver's premiums of 45 percent, 35 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
Senior citizens with Medicare and drivers who have a qualified health insurance plan through their employers can choose to opt out of unlimited personal injury coverage, a 100 percent savings on just the PIP portion of their auto insurance.
Motorists who choose to continue carrying unlimited PIP are supposed to see a 10 percent reduction in that part of their premiums.
Multiple insurance agents and executives contacted by Crain's said they're advising customers who decide to stick with an unlimited PIP coverage plan to still buy additional bodily injury protection. Bodily injury insurance provides coverage for pain and suffering lawsuits from injured motorists against the at-fault driver.
"You don't have the security blanket of knowing everybody has it anymore," said Daniel Schrock, a senior vice president at the Dearborn-based Auto Club Group, Michigan's AAA insurance carrier. "We know that liability — BI — risk is going to go up."
The new law will likely increase basic Bodily Injury costs for an unknown number of motorists, agents say.
Under the old law, motorists could carry as little as $20,000 for claims involving one injured motorist and $40,000 for multiple motorists. Unlimited medical benefits meant there was little incentive to sue for coverage by that portion of the policy, and the coverage was little-used.
The new law taking effect next month requires BI coverage of $250,000/$500,000 unless a motorist signs a form acknowledging the risks and chooses to carry $50,000/$100,000 of liability coverage in the event they hurt someone in an auto accident.
Under the current law, third-party pain and suffering lawsuits were sometimes limited based on how much BI coverage the at-fault driver had. But the higher dollar limits and umbrella policies could open up a new front in auto accident lawsuits.
"If the other party has a lower PIP limit, then when they run out of that PIP (coverage), they're going to come to your Bodily Injury (coverage)," said Patrick Green, co-owner of First Independent-Descamps Insurance Agency in Sterling Heights.
The additional bodily injury umbrella policies range in value from $100,000 to $3 million of additional coverage, Plisko said.
"Most of our drivers truly don't understand they're at risk" if they hit another motorist under the new law, she said.
July 2 is the first day motorists can start insurance plans under the new law and pricing. Insurance carriers were authorized to begin marketing those plans to motorists on May 15, prompting a stream of phone calls in recent weeks, agents say.
Insurance agents say the changes to bodily injury coverage coupled with the new levels of PIP coverage have changed the way they sell plans.
There's a lot more time now required to educate and advise customers and explain the potential implications of decreasing PIP or increasing bodily injury coverages, said Scott Hulverson, a 35-year veteran AAA insurance agent and owner of the Hulverson Insurance Agency LLC in Northville.
"I described to my wife that we're going to do a year's worth of policy reviews in a month," Hulverson said. "It's a fairly daunting task we have in front of ourselves. We try to talk to every customer as frequently as we can, but we need to talk to every customer in this transition."
Hulverson is advising longtime customers to stick with unlimited PIP coverage for now.
"Let's make sure we're not making rash decisions — and that's what I'm telling my customers," he said. "Don't be slashing your coverage just to save a minimal amount,"
Green, whose brokerage sells auto insurance for carriers such as Nationwide, Progressive, Pioneer State Mutual and Frankenmuth, said he's advising customers to retain unlimited PIP coverage "and see what happens" to the marketplace and new accident claims.
"I can't recommend anyone taking a lower limit," Green said. "But if you want to, OK, here's the signoff to opt out."
"I'm keeping my unlimited PIP for a couple of years until I see how this shakes out," the veteran insurance agent added.
Insurance agents say they're already seeing potential problems with the new law that the Legislature may want to reconsider.
Plisko said the verbiage in some of the consumer forms approved by the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services is confusing for motorists unfamiliar with the machinations of different types of insurance coverages.
"The next year is definitely the most treacherous," said Plisko, who trains Farmers Insurance agents in metro Detroit.
The new auto no-fault law changes the so-called "order of priority" in which an insurance carrier pays for medical treatment from injuries sustained in an accident.
Under the old law, there were six different payees that could be responsible for those costs, starting with the individual driver's insurer and moving down the line to their spouse's insurer, a relative they live with, the other vehicle owner's insurer, the operator of the other vehicle and the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, the state's insurer of last resort.
The new law cuts that order down to four potential payees: Your policy, your spouse's policy, the insurer of a relative who lives with you or the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, a safety-net entity that assigns uninsured claims to carriers.
Green noted there's a wrinkle in the law for families with teenage or young adult children on their multi-vehicle auto insurance plan.
If the child does not live at home — such as living at college or on their own in an apartment — the family's insurance plan won't cover their medical expenses, Green said.
They would have to fall back to the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, which has a new $250,000 cap for personal injury expenses, he said.
"If a kid moves out with a vehicle titled to the parent, they don't have PIP coverage," Green said. "That's the most dangerous one in there and I don't know why it was done."
A parent providing their adult child auto insurance will have to buy a separate policy, losing one of their discounts for bundling multiple vehicles under one policy, Green said.
"Once those kids moved out, they're going to have to get their own policy now," he said.
Hulverson, the veteran AAA agent, said one "excessive" requirement in the new law is that motorists re-affirm in writing every six months that they're choosing not to purchase unlimited PIP coverage.
Each renewal will require motorists to sign the opt-out form the state insurance department created, Hulverson said.
"That's probably going to be determined to be a little excessive over time," he said. "We'll make it work, though. It's just going to be an interesting run."
Workforce automation is about to cost dozens of news contractors their jobs. The Seattle Times and The Guardian report that Microsoft is letting go of dozens of news contractors (about 50 in the US, 27 in the UK) after June 30th due to a shift to AI news production on MSN. The workers were responsible for choosing, editing and curating stories. People employed full-time by Microsoft will stay at the company.
In a statement to the Times, Microsoft said it “evaluate[s] our business on a regular basis” like most companies and that this could involve “re-deployment.” It stressed that the contractor job cuts were “not the result of the current pandemic.”
The concept of AI choosing and even writing news isn’t new. However, this is a real-world case where jobs at a major site have been affected. The question is whether or not the heavier automation will be effective. One affected person talking to The Guardian was concerned the AI might inadvertently violate “strict editorial guidelines,” such as keeping violent material out of immediate view. This is as much an expanded test of AI as it is a practical measure to cut costs.
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OnePlus initially claimed that the color filter camera and associated Photochrom color mode for the OnePlus 8 Pro, accused of allowing people to see through clothing, would only be disabled in China pending an undefined fix. However, an Oxygen OS update disabling the feature globally was "inadvertently" rolled out. OnePlus has since pulled the update, according to the folks at Oxygen Updater, and a subsequent OTA will re-enable the feature.
If you're out of the loop, you can click through above to our prior coverage for more details, but the short version is that one of the cameras included with the OnePlus 8 Pro can see at least partly into the infrared spectrum, though it was only used for a single thing: a Photochrom color filter mode. After the phone was released, some folks found that color filter mode was able to see through certain types of plastic and fabric in some cases. Following that news cycle, OnePlus said it would disable the feature in Hydrogen OS (the Chinese version of its ROM). However, the company explicitly told customers it wouldn't disable it in other markets, saying "we do not plan to disable this filter on OxygenOS, our global operating system, so we can focus on bringing the OTA to you as quickly as possible."
Changelog for the update. Image via u/mmy3rs0876. Note that the OTA is much smaller (~125MB) if you aren't rooted.
This accidental update, Oxygen OS 10.5.9, has but a single item in its changelog: the disabled Photochrom mode (for some reason spelled with an extra "e"). The changelog also provides a timeline for a fix, with the camera mode expected to return as soon as June.
We downloaded the update for ourselves before it was pulled via Oxygen Updater, and can confirm that the color filter camera's Photochrom mode has been disabled and is no longer present at the end of the list of color filter modes in OnePlus' camera app.
Left: OnePlux 8 Pro running Oxygen OS 10.5.8. Right: The same running 10.5.9.
This change contradicts the company's previous stance in its product forums, though a representative speaking on behalf of OnePlus tells us this wasn't supposed to happen, providing us with the following statement:
"This OTA inadvertently went out to a limited number of devices. We will re-enable that filter in the next OTA."
Though OnePlus didn't respond to further questions, the Oxygen Updater developers have confirmed to us that the update has since been pulled.
In the meantime, if you liked the feature, or simply want to retain full quad-camera functionality, you might want to skip this update if your phone still sees it as available.
Update pulled
OnePlus has pulled this update, and the Oxygen Updater developers have confirmed that a rollout for this version has halted. Our coverage has been updated.
