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On Monday, a 43-year-old Navy nuclear engineer pleaded guilty to espionage-related crimes. Jonathan Toebbe was caught trying to provide design data for nuclear-powered warships to a foreign national.  Toebbe was arrested in October 2021 after he left an SD card at a "dead drop" in West Virginia. But more on that in a minute.  Toebbe worked for the Department of the Navy as a nuclear engi...

Automotive News is calling it a “talent drain,” as it revealed this week that more executives have left the EV startup, Canoo. Canoo gained an early foothold in the EV startup race with its unique designs including “lifestyle vehicles.” These electric options, described by Canoo as a “ loft on wheels ” pair 250 miles of range with configurable interiors that feature wraparound backseats, better-th...

The DeLorean has certainly had an interesting life. What was once the epitome of futuristic car design ultimately became a piece of nostalgia following the DMC DeLorean’s key supporting role in the Back to the Future films. The company itself saw even more jarring ups and downs, including troubled production and a lukewarm public reception, followed by a rapid corporate demise and founder John DeL...

On Feb. 9, the American Transportation Research Institute released its annual list of America’s 100 most congested bottlenecks for trucks, and it makes the biggest instigator even more infamous. Using GPS data from over 1 million freight trucks to analyze congestion, ATRI found that the intersection of I-95 and SR 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey topped the list for a fourth straight year as the worst tr...

Early last year, Wisconsin defense contractor Oshkosh Defense secured a multi-billion dollar contract to build the next generation of mail trucks for the U.S. Postal Service. The program aims to begin replacing the Post Office’s crumbling, 30-year-old vehicle fleet beginning next year , but the Oshkosh effort has come under fire for everything from a relative lack of electrified mail trucks to the...

While hackers have been described in numerous ways, they’re not always terrorists, thieves, criminals or heartless bastards, as one colleague refers to them. For example, there’s Ryan Pickren. He’s a cybersecurity Ph. D. student at Georgia Tech who was recently paid over $100,000 by Apple after discovering and reporting a vulnerability that allows unauthorized users to gain access to cameras and w...

While nearly every automaker has struggled to maintain production after the pandemic-initiated chip shortage, there was one who stood out for having withstood the challenges more than effectively: Tesla. Breaking from the trend of languishing production, Tesla announced in January that its 2021 deliveries were up by about 87 percent . And according to CNBC , Tesla had a secret solution that it was...

A relatively new building used by technology giant Foxconn is soon to be used for the food industry and create over 100 jobs in southeast Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Feb. 4 that natural food coloring maker Oterra has reached development deals with local municipal authorities to take over the former Foxconn Opus building in Mount Pleasant. The building was built there in 2016...

It's always good policy to make sure that before you buy a new couch, double-check that it can fit in your doorway, or to measure to see if that new pickup can fit in your garage. Well, those sorts of problems don’t appear to matter if you’re one of the world’s richest people. If you, say, order a new yacht that’s too big to get out of the harbor, the locals will apparently just remove sectio...

The average price of a new vehicle in the U.S. continues to rise as automakers add more bells and whistles and – for many models – a larger, heavier footprint. Add to that a supply shortage that’s caused demand to exceed supply, and it’s harder than ever to find an affordable option if you’re in need of some wheels. With that in mind, recent news revealed by CarsDirect almost feels like kicking au...

In another example illustrating just how prevalent the threat of wire fraud is to manufacturing companies, a newly-reported case in Ohio involved a former Verizon employee duping a major industrial distributor out of nearly $1 million in fraudulent purchases. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio reported February 2nd that a 44-year-old Newark, Ohio man was been indicted by...

It’s a brand new plant, and it stinks. That’s the problem Stellantis has been facing, after more than 50 odor complaints have been submitted in reference to the automaker’s one-year-old Jeep plant in Detroit. What’s that smell? According to Automotive News , the company released the results of a recently completed “odor investigation” and says that they have a solution for the stench that neighbor...

This past year could be charitably described as “mixed” for the automotive industry. After what turned out to be a relatively brief blip due to the outbreak of COVID-19 the previous year, consumer demand returned with a vengeance in 2021. But although factories were back up and running, another virus-related hiccup — a shortage of semiconductors — forced most of the world’s top automakers to cut p...

Let’s all take a moment to thank Amazon, and their Ring doorbell division, for looking at ways to keep us and the packages we purchase from them safe … by profiling people via their eye color, fingerprints, skin texture, gait and possibly odor.  After all, something this well-intentioned could never go wrong, right? According to a recent report by Business Insider , Ring has filed nearly 20 patent...

For the first time in nearly a century, General Motors won’t be able to claim the title of “America’s top automaker.” Instead, that designation — for this year, anyway — will belong to a Japanese company. Automakers are reporting their December and full-year sales totals for the U.S. market, and General Motors’ more than 2.2 million vehicles sold in 2021 trailed the more than 2.3 million reported...

An unlikely candidate has immersed itself in the electric vehicle industry. Two years ago, Sony, the company known for electronics such as cameras, televisions and headphones, announced its Vision-S concept electric vehicle design at the CES tech show in Las Vegas.  It’s still not out, but Sony recently announced at CES it will launch a new company called Sony Mobility Inc. A press release on Sony...

Apple took issue with how one of its iPhone factories in southern India was being run and placed the Foxconn plant “on probation.” BBC News reports Apple’s action came after the protesting of food poisoning and living conditions began.  A spokesperson for Apple said the company dispatched independent auditors to the factory following concerns surrounding food safety and accommodation conditions. T...

Cadillac enjoyed decades as the nation’s leading luxury auto brand — so much so that its name is still synonymous with the finest in pretty much any field you care to mention. But in recent decades, amid changing consumer tastes and growing competition from overseas rivals, GM’s luxury nameplate saw its U.S. market share gradually erode — although a surge in demand from China helped cushion its sl...

For that highly nuanced person who wants to combine executive level business savvy with down-and-dirty racing tricks, Dodge just might have the job for you. The maker of the Challenger Hellcat and other notable muscle cars has a role to fill within its organization, announcing recently that it is on the hunt for a C-level brand ambassador to promote its new marketing strategy, dubbed “Never Lift.”...

The World Health Organization announced the possibility of a global shortage of syringes in 2022 for the COVID-19 vaccine in the 1 billion to 2 billion range. UN News reported a WHO senior adviser, Lisa Hedman, warned many may find themselves missing routine vaccinations unless manufacturing picks up. Hedman also said over 6.8 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines are currently administered globally...

An independent, court-appointed monitor of the United Autoworkers Union says the UAW has “fallen short” on the many reform efforts laid out in a settlement with prosecutors last year. The union had been under pressure to reform after more than two dozen former leaders were convicted of crimes, including embezzlement, after being accused of lavishing spending for their own personal benefit. After a...

Employees of a Refresco bottling factory in Wharton, New Jersey are voicing their displeasure.  Yahoo! News reports the workers filed federal complaints with OSHA to report unsafe conditions. The employees also gathered outside the facility, where they held signs bringing attention to their cause.  An immigrant rights group, Wind of the Spirit, and community residents accompanied the disgruntled e...

Amid rising food costs nearly across the board, the typical Thanksgiving feast will be considerably more expensive than a year ago. The American Farm Bureau Federation’s 36th annual Thanksgiving Items Cost Survey found that the average cost of this year’s holiday dinner for a party of 10 is up 14 percent from 2020. At a cost of $53.31, it equates to less than $6.00 per person. The shopping list fo...

Consumers in the market for a new car have faced a unique challenge this year: because of shortages of critical components, scarcity on dealer lots has resulted in less choice. But before you concede to simply taking what you can get, Consumer Reports wants to remind you that not all makes and models are created equal when it comes to their reliability. The independent agency has unveiled its annu...

The owner of a civil engineering firm has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from an explosion at his company’s facility more than three years ago. The case began after the Aug. 2018 incident at KCCS Inc., an Idaho tanker testing and repair company owned by Loren Kim Jacobson. Prosecutors said a KCCS employee was welding during a cargo tanker repair procedure when t...