Technology

Across the country, and across a broad spectrum of industries, advertisements sporting mobile bar codes are becoming an increasingly familiar sight. QR codes — quick response codes — are the most common of a few types of bar codes that consumers can scan using a pre-downloaded smartphone app. The bar codes may appear on anything from posters to packaging to catalogs and, when scanned, lead consumers to a specific set of information, often through a mobile website.

An article in yesterday's Home Channel News Monday described an idea from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to turn government-owned foreclosures into rentals. The idea received a chilly reception from readers.

“In a word, Geithner’s idea is ‘stupid’.

Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool has announced a second-quarter net loss of $161 million, compared with net earnings of $205 million in the same period last year. 

Second-quarter results include the settlement of a Brazilian collection dispute for about $3.78 per share and increased accruals related to developments in the Embraco antitrust matters of $1.08 per share.

“The concept of consistent, incremental improvement applies to just about everything we do,” said Ron Beal, the CEO of Memphis, Tenn.-based distributor Orgill.


In that sentence, Beal captured the essence of the distributor’s spirit of improvement. There’s no single hero, no silver bullet and no rainmaker. Instead, Beal describes an environment of measuring, benchmarking and improving. And the results were impressive in 2010, a difficult year for home products. Orgill posted 2010 sales of $1.179 billion, up 9.3% over $1.079 billion in the prior year. 


Its nickname is "the Walmart of weed."

Described as the nation's only hydroponics franchise that openly talks about medical marijuana, weGrow opened a 21,000-sq.-ft. store in Phoenix earlier this month.