If you are looking for a reliable car, don't assume that certain brands are always the best. Each manufacturer has models that offer a range of reliability, as identified in Consumer Reports' Annual Auto Survey.

When shopping for a new car, it's best to look at individual models and not make assumptions based on brand perceptions. Certainly some brands tend to be more reliable than others, but within each product range, results may and do vary. And just because a vehicle scored well in our reliability survey doesn't mean it's recommended by Consumer Reports or a good vehicle to buy.

Some models are reliable, but don't do well in our testing. One example is the Toyota Prius C, which had a high reliability rating in our latest survey, but it scores too low in our testing to be recommended. Alternatively, the sporty and fun-to-drive Subaru BRZ is a favorite among our staff and scores very high in our tests, but its reliability is now below average, so we cannot recommend it.

There are also disparities within brands. Some manufacturers have at least average reliability within all their models across the board. That is the case with seven Japanese brands. Others such as BMW and Nissan have some that score very high and others that are well below average.

Below is a list of the best and worst vehicles by brand based on predicted reliability. The predictions for cars with an asterisk ("*") are based on data for one model year only.

As these results show, don't judge a book by its cover and don't assume that a vehicle is now reliable based on past history or recommendations from friends. Instead, do your research before you buy your next vehicle. Check out our model overview pages to find road test scores, reliability, safety, and more.

For more details on our 2014 Annual Car Survey, see our new car reliability report. Also, check out our guide to car reliability for more details on new and used car reliability and owner satisfaction.

—Jeff Bartlett

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

The words “tech” and “grandparents” aren’t often used in the same sentence. But we think there are a number of gadgets that the seniors in your life would really appreciate.

When you're shopping for older folks, though, keep in mind their tolerance level for new technology—or your thoughtful gift may wind up on a closet shelf or back in the store.

Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight e-book reader ($120)

If grandma and grandpa are avid readers but have trouble sometimes seeing the print in books, an e-reader could be a godsend: They can change the font size to suit. The 6-inch Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight has a crisp monochrome Pearl E-ink display and a handy built-in light (the screen is not backlighted, as a tablet screen is). The Glowlight has 4GB of memory and touch-screen navigation, and it uses Wi-Fi for downloading new e-books.

Google Chromecast streaming media player ($35)

If the grandfolks are open to new entertainment options, this is an inexpensive and effective product to get them started on video-streaming. Just plug the Chromecast into their TV’s HDMI port and get the device’s app loaded on their Android or iOS smart phone or tablet, which serves as a remote control. The Chromecast now supports Hulu Plus, Netflix, Google Play (Google Video, Google Music), HBO Go, YouTube, WatchESPN, and Pandora music.

Find more ideas with the help of our Holiday Gift Ideas page. 

Canon EOS Rebel SL1 camera ($600)

This very versatile entry-level SLR is one of the smallest and lightest SLRs we've tested. Despite its size, it's packed with most of the same features and manual controls found on the larger Rebel T5i, such as a very good through-the-lens viewfinder (which is the same type you'd find on a film SLR of yesteryear!). And because it's small and lightweight, it makes a great advanced camera to take with you traveling.

Sony HDR-PJ810 camcorder ($1,100)

Although you'll be impressed with this model's ability to capture excellent quality video and very good quality video in low light, there's one feature you'll find very appealing: Like most Sony PJ-series camcorders, this model not only lets you project images and video on a screen or a wall via a built-in projector, but you can also attach other devices and project their content, too. It's also excellent at autofocusing, has a wide angle zoom lens, and ships with 32GB of built-in memory.

VTech SN6197 cordless phone ($110)

Lots of grandparents are still using landlines. And this phone can make life easier for loved ones. Its large, easy-to-see buttons include four speed-dial buttons into which you can place photos of the actual contacts for quick identification. The base unit's LCD shows info clearly, and even tilts up to adjust the viewing angle. The most intriguing feature is a small oval-shaped pendant that's actually a speakerphone with two buttons that can be programmed to dial out to an emergency responder or family member. Voice quality is excellent and the answerer has ample message capacity.

—Carol Mangis

Visit our Holiday Gift Ideas page throughout the season to find the best deals, time-saving advice, and much more.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

Chances are, you'll indulge in some high-calorie, special foods on Thanksgiving. But you probably don’t think of the coffee you sip at the end of your meal as one of them. Maybe you should. While coffee can be good for you, there can be quite a few calories in coffee. Two cups with two ounces of cream and two teaspoons of sugar each will give you about 300 calories and 24 grams of fat—about the same calories and twice the fat as in a slice of pumpkin pie.

And for most of us, coffee is a daily habit. Simply adding cream to two cups a day adds up to 87,600 calories and 8,760 grams of fat in a year. Add sugar, and you tack on another 23,360 calories. Whole milk is a little better; pour it in two cups of coffee a day and you’ll add 27,740 calories and 1,460 grams of fat to your diet over the course of a year. Realize that the usual rule of thumb is that 3,500 calories equals about a pound of body fat. 

Discover more ways to stay healthy over the holidays, along with great gift and money saving ideas, in our holiday guide.

Does all this mean you have to drink your coffee black? Not at all. But a few simple adjustments, such as switching to 2 percent or nonfat milk or weaning yourself off sugar, can make a big difference. To figure out exactly how many extra calories and grams of fat you’re pouring into your coffee mug, keep these numbers in mind.       

—Adam Kaplan 

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

In trying times, you just can’t get enough self-rescue. And the auto aftermarket is here to help. We saw two new devices at the SEMA show in Las Vegas this week, both aimed at helping motorists help themselves when the going gets tough.

Should an on-road emergency come up, the Swiss+Tech Body Guard Elite 9-in-1 and Zeeray 5-in-1 Tire gauge both include a seat belt cutter, window breaking tool, digital tire gauge, and flashlight. The Body Guard Elite adds a tire wear depth gauge, key ring, and emergency flasher, and it will read the tire pressure aloud – which can be handy if darkness is added to your list of troubles.

Both compact devices were introduced this week, and will be available online later this year. The Body Guard Elite will be priced at about $35-$40, while the Zeeray is expected to be just under $20.

—Jim Travers

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

However you look at it, the new Amazon Echo wireless speaker is something of a revelation, an always-listening virtual personal assistant that can perform a wide variety of tasks, whether it's playing your favorite tunes, offering wake-up calls, prompting you with reminders, or searching the cloud for answers to questions. And not surprising, it's happy to help you put together a shopping list, presumably to buy more stuff from Amazon.

But since the smart Wi-Fi/Bluetooth speaker is pretty much always on, it also raises the question: What else is it listening to, and what is it doing with all that data?

Standing just over 9 inches tall, Echo has seven built-in far-field microphones embedded in the top of the unit, which are supposed to allow the built-in voice recognition technology to hear you—even if music is playing—no matter where you place the speaker in a room. When on, the Echo's two downfiring speakers—a separate woofer and tweeter—radiate sound in 360 degrees. 

Echo comes with a remote control with a built-in mic, but there's also a dedicated Echo app for use with Fire OS- or Android-based phones and tablets, plus Web-based apps for Macs and PCs. A mobile iOS app is reportedly in the works. The unit will priced at $199 when it becomes available in the next several weeks, although Amazon Prime members can get it for $99. (Oh, yeah, you have to e-mail Amazon and request an invitation to buy one.)

To find the right wireless speakers, check out our Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Speaker Ratings.

When it's not in use, the speaker is apparently in some kind of sleep mode; to wake it up, you simply say "Alexa," though it appears that at some point, you'll be able to rename it. Once awake, Alexa is ready to respond to questions and commands. Echo connects to a home network via Wi-Fi, and to portable devices, such as a smart phone or tablet, using Bluetooth. The more you use Echo, the more it adapts to your speech patterns, vocabulary, and personal preferences, Amazon says.

Want to know what the weather will be like, or the top news stories of the day? Echo will tap into a local news stations or NPR. It can also set timers and alerts, create to-do and shopping lists, or tap into Wikipedia to answer questions. And when you want to hear music, it can access songs from several services, including your Amazon Music Library or Prime Music, plus TuneIn and iHeartRadio. We've seen cylindrical Bluetooth speakers before: The JBL Charge and Charge 2, plus the Logitech UE Boom are currently in our wireless speaker Ratings (available to subscribers), and we'll be interested in testing this new contender's sound quality.

Amazon says Echo will be able to automatically receive new features and services via cloud-based updates. Since Echo's "brains" actually reside in the cloud—aka Amazon Web Services—Amazon says it will continually learn and add more functionality over time. The more you use Echo, the more it will be able to determine, and perhaps eventually predict, your preferences. Basically, Amazon will gradually know more and more about you.

And that's a source of concern. What, exactly, will Amazon be listening to once it has a set of microphones in your living room? How much of the daily conversation within your home will being captured, and what exactly will Amazon be doing with all that data? Will the Echo prove to simply be a smart speaker designed to make your life a bit easier, or is it a Trojan horse that's really engineered to help Amazon to sell you more stuff?

These are questions that we'll be asking once we're able to get our hands on an Echo unit and test it in our labs and homes. We'll also be closely reviewing the Echo's terms of service language to see exactly what Amazon is asking you to agree to when you place an Echo in your home. Keep checking back and we'll let you know what we find.

—James K. Willcox

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

Free office-productivity suites have been the norm since the early days of mobile apps. But Microsoft resisted the trend—until today. The company just announced that iPhone, iPad, and Android tablet users can now get the suite free. Previously, mobile Office users had to fork over $99 a year for a subscription to Office 365 if they wanted to edit or create files, although a version allowing read-only access was free.

There’s a new Office for iPhone, an updated version of Office for iPad, and a preview of the Android tablet version; the full Android suite will be available in early 2015. The Office suite includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and One Note. You still have to pay for non-mobile versions of Office, with prices starting at $140 for the home and student version. Other options are the $99 annual subscription or a monthly plan that costs $7 to $10, depending on how many computers you install it on.

Microsoft is also working with Dropbox, launching a new program that lets users edit and share Office files from right within Dropbox, sync files across devices from Dropbox, and access Dropbox from within Office.

We'll check out the new versions of the software. Meanwhile, we took a look at the earlier version of Office for iPad, and liked it. Our biggest gripe was the payment scheme. That’s no longer an issue, and that’s great news for consumers.

—Donna Tapellini

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

Last year was a big one for Michael Dell: More than 36 million PCs with Dell's last name stamped on them were sold, and in a record-setting $25 billion deal, Dell bought back the company that he'd taken public 25 years earlier, at the age of 23.

Now is your chance to find out what's happening behind the scenes at the world's fourth-largest PC manufacturer. Or, if you have an issue with your laptop or comments about Dell's customer service, share them with us.

We’ll send your questions on to Dell and print answers in a coming issue of Consumer Reports magazine and on ConsumerReports.org in CEO Q&A. This feature gives you a direct line to the world’s top brass. (Read our CEO Q&As with Mary Barra of General Motors and W. Craig Jelinek of Costco.

Submit your questions by Nov. 21 to q-and-a@cro.consumer.org or via our Facebook page.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

Users of Apple's iOS who are eager to get their hands on CarPlay but are not ready to upgrade either their car or phone in order to get it might want to have a look at Mobile Home.

An aftermarket solution showed at SEMA, Mobile Home offers an easy way to access Siri in the car, providing a lot of the benefits of CarPlay at a fraction of the cost.

Compatible with any Bluetooth-equipped vehicle and Siri-equipped iPhone, Mobile Home is basically a small one button remote that clips to your sun visor or attaches anywhere else using self-adhesive Velcro strips. It wirelessly enables access to Siri voice controls while the phone is safely tucked away, and uses the car’s speakers for access to navigation, phone calls and text messages, music, and whatever else you’d like Siri to help with.

The system doesn’t enable touch screen controls or visuals, but it does provide an easy means of legal voice control use without handling your phone. And we think that’s a good, and distraction reducing option.

Available now through Amazon or at Mobile Home, it retails for $79, including shipping within the continental U.S.

Check out the latest from our SEMA coverage.

—Jim Travers

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

Here’s a little something for those of you who have ever found yourselves sitting at a traffic light, bent over and craning your neck to see when it turns green.

The View Right Windshield Traffic Light Viewer is a simple little PVC strip that sticks to the inside of your windshield without any adhesive. Thanks to the prism effect, it then lets you see what’s directly overhead. Invented by a tall guy with a Mini Cooper, it’s one of those things that kind of makes you smack your forehead and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

But wait, as they say, there’s more. The Traffic Light Viewer comes packaged with a disc for each side mirror that works the same way, to broaden the view around you. And there’s another one for the inside mirror to help keep an eye on the kids in back.

The whole thing is priced at $16.95. Look for it online within the next couple of months. Readers north of the border can also find it at Canadian Tire, with stateside retailers coming soon.

Check out all of our SEMA show coverage.

—Jim Travers

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

About once a month in the United States, a child between 7 months and 10 years old is strangled in the cords of window blinds and shades.

Typically, the child wraps the cord around his neck or pulls on cords—which are not clearly visible but are accessible—then gets tangled up in the loops. Strangulation deaths and injuries can happen quickly and silently, and they occur no matter how vigilant parents are. More than 180 kids were strangled in the cords from 1996 to 2012, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The CPSC has recalled (PDF) millions of window coverings with cords in recent years. Manufacturers operate under voluntary safety standards, a situation that does not adequately address the problems. The rate of injuries and death has not significantly declined over the years that Consumer Reports has covered the hazards of cords on window coverings.

Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, has pressed companies to make window coverings safer, and we’re part of a coalition that has petitioned the CPSC to develop formal rules. The group includes the Consumer Federation of America, Independent Safety Consulting, Kids In Danger, Parents for Window Blind Safety, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG. In a unanimous vote last month, the CPSC agreed to move forward on our petition and begin the process of rulemaking.

The coalition has pointed to the fact that safer window coverings are already on the market and that such designs can be used on the vast majority of blinds and shades. Since the industry has resisted calls to eliminate dangerous cords even though those safer options exist, we believe a mandatory standard is necessary to ensure unsafe products will no longer be sold.

Consumers Union and other groups will continue to work to get a strong rule established as soon as possible.

Follow this advice from the CPSC.

• Examine all shades and blinds in your home. The CPSC recommends cordless window coverings in all homes where children live or visit.

• Make sure there are no accessible cords on the front, side, or back of the window covering.

• Keep cribs, beds, and other furniture away from windows with shades or blinds. Children can climb on the furniture and gain access to the cords.

• Make loose cords inaccessible.

• If the window shade has looped bead chains or nylon cords, install tension devices to keep the cords taut.

To learn more about what you can do to avoid a tragedy in your home, visit the CPSC’s window covering information center.

This feature is part of a regular series by Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. The nonprofit organization advocates for product safety, financial reform, safer food, health reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.

Read other installments of our Policy & Action feature.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

How do you ask the hard questions of the people who have the greatest impact on your financial well-being? A good financial adviser, for instance, can help you gain the edge you may need to make your savings grow and last. But you need to know what to ask. Below are three queries to start with, and to continue asking periodically throughout your relationship with your adviser.

Fees can erode your portfolio’s return faster than snow melting in July. The typical annual fee charged by a fee-only investment adviser is 1 percent on the first million dollars of assets under management. It seems straightforward, but adviser compensation can be just one of many charges. Is there a charge for buying and selling assets? If so, it may make sense to negotiate a lower annual advisory fee. Are there management fees and/or loads—an additional cost to buy and sell—on recommended products? If so, can the adviser recommend similar no-load funds, exchange-traded funds, or index funds? The average managed equity mutual fund charges 1.3 to 1.5 percent, with some international and specialty funds soaring to 2 percent, so it’s a good idea to inquire about switching to lower-cost exchange-traded funds and index funds.

Most financial websites have online calculators that plug in your current savings, your income, and the time before you’d like to yank the escape cord; mix it up with a hypothetical inflation rate and rate of return; then spit out a number estimating the size of your portfolio at that date. But a good financial adviser can do more. She can help calculate your post-work budget and whether it’s realistic based on your assets and income. She can assess the impact of worst-case events: a stock market slump, for example, or soaring medical costs. Most important, she can format a tax-efficient strategy for withdrawing your savings so that your nest egg lasts even longer.

For no-nonsense, unbiased investment advice and answers, check out Consumer Reports' Investing Center.

One of the biggest dangers in investing is picking investments that you can’t comfortably live with. If the risk is more than you can tolerate in a down market, then you’ll panic and sell when you shouldn’t. The flip side is avoiding risk to the degree that your returns can’t match inflation. A financial adviser should be able to work with you to decide a level of risk that’s acceptable and appropriate for your stage in life, your financial situation, and your emotional well-being.

This article also appeared in the October 2014 issue of Consumer Reports Money Adviser.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

With the disastrous rollout of the nearly inoperable HealthCare.gov marketplace site, the Affordable Care Act seemed destined to be a train wreck. But on the eve of Obamacare's second open-enrollment period, which starts on Saturday, Nov. 15, evidence shows that the ACA had some level of success in year one.

Did health reform reduce the number of uninsured Americans?

Without a doubt. As of October 2014, only 13.4 percent of American adults were uninsured, according to Gallup’s tracking poll. While in other advanced democracies with universal coverage this would be considered a catastrophe, in this country it’s the lowest rate of uninsurance since Gallup began keeping track in 2008.

The previous low point was 14.4 percent uninsured in the fall of 2008, just before the recession hit. By last fall, just before Obamacare’s first open enrollment period began, 18 percent of American adults were without insurance.

The uninsurance rate would have gone even lower if all 50 states had expanded Medicaid to cover all low-income households, the way the original health reform law intended. The Supreme Court, however, stepped in and said the coverage was optional, and about half the states decided it was just fine with them if their neediest residents continued to be uninsured. (Find out whether your state has expanded Medicaid or not on our interactive map.)

In the end, about 5.3 million low-income people got new Medicaid coverage in states that accepted the expansion, but 6.3 million in the non-expansion states went without.

Were the newly insured older and sicker than the general population?

Older, not particularly. Sicker, yes. The Gallup survey found that more people in all ages groups had insurance except for the elderly, because they already had universal coverage through Medicare.

However, another survey, this one by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that people who bought insurance through state Health Insurance Marketplaces were more likely to say their health was fair or poor. This makes sense, given that these are the people who, before health reform, probably couldn’t get insurance at all because of pre-existing conditions.

Was this new insurance truly “affordable” the way the law promised?

Well, Medicaid is free or nearly so, thus affordable by definition.

As for people who bought insurance through the marketplace, 85 percent ended up qualifying for some degree of financial help. But was it enough?

For people with low and moderate incomes—up to about $29,000 for an individual and about $59,000 for a family of four—the answer is yes, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey of people who bought insurance on their state’s marketplace. Twenty percent of them reported they paid nothing for their plan, and only 23 percent said their premium was more than $125 a month.

But people with higher incomes reported higher premium costs and more difficulty affording coverage. People in this income bracket get lower subsidies. Also, unlike the lower-income shoppers, they can't buy special moderately priced plans with lower copays and deductibles.

The bottom line is that for the neediest Americans, the law was a godsend, but there’s work to be done to make marketplace coverage affordable for higher-income families.

Did HealthCare.gov finally work right?

Yes, at least the part of it that consumers used to sign up for plans. By the time the first open enrollment period ended, more than 8 million people had bought insurance through the marketplaces, including the federal HealthCare.gov site, which serviced 36 states, and 15 marketplaces run by individual states and the District of Columbia.

But it turns out that building a marketplace is hard. The “back end” of HealthCare.gov, the part that connects the marketplace with individual insurance companies, is still not fully automated.

The state-run sites were all over the map, both literally and figuratively. Oregon’s was such a disaster—it literally failed to enroll a single person, forcing the state to process all applications by hand—that it’s routing enrollments through HealthCare.gov this year. Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, and Vermont are in the midst of major repairs on their sites. But the marketplaces in California, Connecticut, D.C., Kentucky, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington worked fine all along in Obamacare's first year.

—Nancy Metcalf

Submit a question Consumer Reports' health insurance expert. Be sure to include the state you live in so we can provide a more-detailed answer.

More health insurance information

To find out how to apply for, select, and use health insurance, including Medicare, visit our main health insurance page.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

In the increasingly crowded streaming media player market, companies are looking for ways to distinguish their players from the pack. Case in point: Favi's new MiraStick TV Cast, a stick-style player whose main feature is its ability to mirror content on a phone or tablet and send it wirelessly to your TV. It supports Miracast (Android) and Airplay (Apple), something no other device we’ve tested can do.

Unfortunately, that’s where its appeal ends. Perhaps the biggest liability is that you can't stream directly from services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix. You can view those and other services only by playing them on a mobile device, then mirroring the service on your TV. This results in lower-quality video since it's being formatted for the portable device’s screen, not your TV.

The MiraStick is priced at $80 on the Favi website, but you should be able to buy one, as we did, for about $35, the same price as Chromecast.

Like other stick-styled players we've reviewed, including Chromecast and the Roku Streaming Stick, the MiraStick is about the size of a pack of gum and plugs directly into your TV’s HDMI port. (We'll be reviewing the new Amazon Fire TV Stick as soon as it's available.) Power comes from a TV's USB port. Unlike those other players, though, there's no option to use an AC adapter if your TV lacks a free—or any—USB input.

Setting up the player is pretty easy. The MiraStick automatically powers up with the TV, and offers visual prompts from the first screen that appears. You'll also need to download the EZCast app on your mobile device, either from the Apple App store or Google Play store. There are also versions for Windows phones (8.1 or above), Mac computers (OS 10.9 or above), or PCs.

First, you connect your mobile device to the MiraStick using the SSID and password that's displayed on the home screen, as shown in the above photo. Then, once the app is downloaded, you connect the MiraStick to your Wi-Fi network using the app. There's no separate remote control, so everything is done through the EZCast app on your phone, tablet, or laptop computer; you can mirror your device’s screen via the MiraStick by directly using Miracast or AirPlay.

Check out our streaming media player buying guide and Ratings.

Using the app, you can easily display your device’s photos, videos, and music on the TV—you can even draw on the images to make annotations. (I drew funny mustaches on a few coworkers' photos.) You can even bring up the device’s camera and pause the live stream to annotate and save that image.

The MiraStick has its own Web browser, and though it claims to support DLNA, it actually uses your device's DLNA app. Because the device connects directly to the MiraStick, you won't find other DLNA compatible devices, such as a hard drive connected to your router, that are on your Wi-Fi network and display that content on the TV. But it does support Dropbox and other cloud storage services, so you can view media stored in the cloud. Also, as its name suggests, you can mirror whatever is on your device's screen. This is MiraStick's most useful feature because it supports Miracast (Android) and Airplay (Apple).

As far as streaming video is concerned, the MiraStick only has direct support for YouTube. All other services—Amazon, Netflix, Vudu, etc.—can be viewed only by playing them on your device, then mirroring the service on your TV. Unfortunately, this results in lower-quality video because it's being formatted for the portable device’s screen, not your TV. Also, in our tests the video was choppier than we've generally experienced with streaming media players that connect directly to the video services, with annoying motion artifacts that can sometimes make videos unwatchable. In our opinion, that makes the MiraStick a poor choice for those looking for a media streamer primarily to watch movies and TV shows from services such as Amazon Prime or Netflix.

While we commend MiraStick's support for Miracast and AirPlay screen-mirroring protocols, that's really its only advantage. If screen mirroring is your highest priority, then you might want to consider Favi's new player, especially if you can get it for $35. But for most of us that use a streaming media player to watch TV shows and movies from a streaming service, either the $35 Chromecast or the $50 Roku Streaming Stick is a better, more versatile alternative.

—Chris Andrade

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

About 7.8 million vehicles, made by 10 different automakers, have been recalled to replace frontal air bags on the driver’s side or passenger’s side, or both. The air bags, made by a major parts supplier, Takata, were installed in cars from model year 2002 through 2008. Some of those air bags could deploy explosively, injuring or even killing car occupants.

The different automakers’ notices to their customers have varied, depending on how many Takata air bags they installed and how long they believe it will take them to acquire replacements if they don’t have enough on hand. To provide guidance to car owners, we spoke with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Takata, and most carmakers.

Nissan’s explanation of the issue was one of the clearest: “The propellant could potentially deteriorate over time due to environmental factors [due to many years in high humidity conditions], which could lead to over-aggressive combustion in the event of an air bag deployment. This could create excessive internal pressure within the inflator and could cause the inflator housing to rupture.”

If the air bag housing ruptures in a crash, metal shards from the air bag can be sprayed throughout the passenger cabin—a potentially disastrous outcome from a supposedly life-saving device.

Putting the dangers in perspective

Four fatalities and more than 100 injuries have been linked to the Takata air bags, and in some cases the incidents were horrific, with metal shards penetrating a driver’s face and neck. As awful as they are, such incidents are very rare, and it doesn’t mean that air bags in general are a danger. The Department of Transportation estimates that between 1987 and 2012, frontal air bags have saved 37,000 lives.

Based on information provided by Takata and acting under a special campaign by NHTSA, the involved automakers are responding to this safety risk by recalling all vehicles that have these specific air bags. While the automakers are prioritizing resources by focusing on high-humidity areas, they shouldn’t stop there. We encourage a national approach to the risks, as vehicles tend to travel across state borders, especially in the secondary market.

Update: According to a Nov. 7 New York Times report, Takata was aware of dangerous defects with its air bags years before the company filed paperwork with federal regulators. Based on interviews with two unnamed Takata employees, the Times stated that Takata began secretly testing for air bag defects in 2004—four years before the company claims it started testing for flaws. The Takata sources also told the Times that, after three months of testing in 2004, Takata's internal research was halted and research materials were destroyed.

Visit our guide to car safety.

How do I know whether my car is affected by the recall?

There are several ways to check whether your car is affected. For most methods, you’ll need your vehicle identification number. You'll find the VIN in the lower driver-side corner of the windshield (observable from outside the vehicle), as well as on your registration and insurance documents. Punch that number into NHTSA’s online VIN-lookup tool. If your vehicle is affected, the site will tell you so. NHTSA also has a list of vehicles available for a quick review, and the manufacturers have ownership sections of their websites for such information.

How important is that I respond to the recall?

All recalls, by definition, are concerned with safety and should be treated seriously. As with all recalls, we recommend having the work performed as soon as parts are available and the service can be scheduled.

Does it matter where I live?

According to NHTSA, yes. The Takata inflators seem to be vulnerable to persistent high humidity and high temperature conditions, such as in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, the Gulf Coast states, Hawaii, and island territories.

How are repairs being prioritized?

Automakers are getting the replacement parts as fast as they can, and most are sending them to the high-humidity areas first. Northern and less-humid areas might need to wait longer for parts availability, depending on the brand. Contact your dealership to learn how soon the work can be performed.

What if I spend only a certain part of the year in a humid climate?  

People who travel to the higher-risk areas in times of low humidity (such as snowbirds) are not at the same level of risk as those who live in those areas year-round, according to NHTSA.

Are the air bags in my car definitely defective?

It is by no means certain that the air bags in every recalled vehicle are defective. Since 2002 only a very small number of nearly 8 million cars have been involved in these incidents. Still, Takata has told the automakers that a range of manufacturing dates could potentially be defective, and the automakers have recalled certain vehicles and model years out of caution. At this point it looks like there’s no way to be sure whether the potential defects are confined to small batches that weren’t assembled right or to large numbers. Since sustained high humidity is thought to exacerbate the problem, regions of high humidity are the primary focus for recalls right now.  

I’m worried about driving, what should I do until the fix is made?

If the recall on your car involves only the front passenger-side air bag, then don’t let anyone sit in that seat. But if you use the VIN-lookup tool and it says that the problem involves the driver’s side, you should do what you can to minimize your risk. If possible, consider:

• Minimizing your driving.
• Carpooling with someone whose vehicle is not affected by the recall.
• Utilizing public transportation.
• Renting a car.

Renting a car until yours is repaired can prove expensive and ultimately might not be the ideal solution. Asking your dealer whether they will provide one, or a loaner vehicle might be worth a try if it accomplishes nothing else than putting some pressure on the manufacturer. If you do get a rental car, as with any new vehicle or rental, take some time to familiarize yourself with its operation before driving.

What about shutting off air bags until the replacement parts arrive?

Right now only Toyota is recommending this course of action. Each brand is handling the recall in a slightly different manner. Consumer Reports has concerns about the recommendation from a safety standpoint.

Why can’t my dealer just use another supplier’s air bag if the Takata replacement is available?

The recalled air bags were designed specifically for your car, including being sized for the specific packaging, calibrated for the automaker’s performance parameters, and engineered to mate with the car’s sensors and software. There is no handy, off-the-shelf alternative. Besides that, we are told by supply-chain experts that there is very little excess factory capacity and tooling anywhere that could be pressed into service quickly to make these specific parts.

Affected owners in Florida, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico have been prioritized in this recall and will receive parts first. If you live in these regions, make sure to contact your local BMW dealer immediately to schedule an appointment to have your front passenger air bag replaced. The driver’s air bag is not included in the BMW recall. BMW recommends that no one sit in the front passenger seat until that air bag is replaced.

Chrysler is going to replace the air bag in cars based in Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is currently working on accumulating a supply of replacement parts, and is contacting customers as they become available.

Chrysler stresses that its vehicles are equipped with inflators that differ from other vehicles. The American automaker is saying that these inflators are not faulty.

Contact your local Ford dealer to schedule an appointment to have the air bag replaced in affected vehicles. Ford states that it has not seen any issues in its vehicles, but under advisement from NHTSA, and with information from Takata, the company is recalling specific vehicles, including the 2004 Ford Ranger and 2005-2007 Mustang.

Double check that your vehicle is actually involved. It was first announced that many Buicks, Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles were affected by the recall. It turns out that was an error in reporting by NHTSA. Most of those vehicles were part of an unrelated recall years ago.

Interestingly, the two remaining vehicles were actually produced by other automakers and rebranded under former GM makes: the 2003-2005 Pontiac Vibe (built alongside the Toyota Matrix) and the 2005 Saab 9-2x (a Subaru-built vehicle rebranded as a Saab).

Honda has the most affected vehicles, with more than five million cars being recalled. If you haven’t already, go to Honda’s recall site and enter your VIN. If your vehicle is included in this recall, the site will provide a description of the problem and instructions on how to proceed.

If you have a vehicle that was first sold in, or is registered in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands—take immediate action. If you haven’t already received notice in the mail, print out the results of your VIN search and contact your nearest Honda dealer. They have allocated the replacement parts to these high humidity areas and will replace the part once you’ve made an appointment. Honda will be sending notices to other areas on a rolling basis as the parts become available.  

Mazda has focused its recall on vehicles sold or registered in Florida, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The automaker will replace the front and/or passenger air bag inflators.

If you see that your car as part of this recall, Mitsubishi advises owners to act immediately in scheduling an appointment to replace it. If the dealer does not have the part yet, they will provide instructions on how best to proceed until the part is available.

Nissan has notified owners of affected vehicles to bring their vehicle in for inspection and potential parts replacement. Extra attention is being paid to “some areas” of Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Nissan says they have a sufficient supply of air bags to keep up with demand.

Call your local Subaru dealer and schedule an appointment to have the air bag replaced. There is no wait for parts to arrive and no special emphasis on localized climates or regions. Because second owners may not know where the previous owner of their vehicle lived/drove, Subaru does not want to focus on any particular region.

Immediate action is recommended if your vehicle registered in the coastal areas around the Gulf of Mexico, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Or if the car is in Florida, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and Hawaii.

Toyota will replace the front passenger air bag. If the part is not available, the dealership can disable the front passenger air bag until a replacement part is available, and then recommends that the front passenger seat not be occupied.

Toyota also says that if you do not follow the instructions in the owner letter to have the work performed, then you should not drive your vehicle.

If you must use the seat after air bag deactivation, we advise that extra care should be taken to ensure passengers wear a seatbelt.

Owners outside those areas can likewise contact your Toyota dealer to have them disable the front passenger air bag.

When the parts become available, owners will be notified by mail to bring their vehicle in for the proper fix.

Finally, if you are uncomfortable driving your vehicle to the dealership to have the work performed, contact your local Toyota dealer, and they will arrange to have the vehicle picked up.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

A version of this article appeared in the October 2014 Consumer Reports Money Adviser.

If you want to save money on the income taxes you pay next tax season, set up an appointment before year-end with your accountant or enrolled agent. These professionals are gearing up for next year's tax season, but they have time now in their schedules to really focus on your current and future tax situation. Below are three queries to get the conversation started.

When it comes to filing taxes, the most important date isn’t April 15; it’s Dec. 31, because the government measures how much profit you made over the course of a calendar year. When the calendar year is over, there’s not much you can do other than funding an IRA (which you can do until April 15 of the following year). The key to reducing tax liability is the steps you take during the calendar year. If you’re an employee, you should review the pretax benefits that your company offers, such as paying for child-care costs with pretax dollars. And, of course, fully fund your 401(k) or 403(b), says John Vento, a certified public accountant based in Staten Island, N.Y., and author of “Financial Independence (Getting to Point X): An Advisor’s Guide to Comprehensive Wealth Management” (Wiley, 2013). “Every pretax dollar you put away is a tax savings because you’re not paying the government up front and are getting the benefits of tax deferral,” he says. 

Not all investment gains are treated equally. Short-term capital gains from stocks that you’ve held for one year or less are taxed at the same rate as ordinary income—up to 39.6 percent, depending on your total taxable income. Hang on to those stocks for at least a year, though, and any profits will be taxed at a long-term capital gains rate: 15 percent in federal taxes for most taxpayers. (State taxes take an additional bite.) If, however, you’re in an income tax bracket of 15 percent or less, as is the case for many retirees, you pay zero in long-term capital gains. “You want your income to be qualified dividends (i.e., those subject to capital gains taxes) and capital gains,” says Jeffrey Baum, a certified public accountant in New York City. “There’s no tax downside for that.”

Learn how to save time and money in tax planning and preparation with the Consumer Reports Tax Center.

First, project the amount you might have in your IRA when you reach 70½ and calculate the Required Minimum Distribution. (Bankrate.com has a good tool.) One way to reduce your RMD—and associated taxes—is to delay taking Social Security benefits until age 70 and withdraw from your IRA instead. Every year you delay taking Social Security, your benefits increase 8 percent—possibly more than the returns in your IRA portfolio. In any case, there may be no need to fear getting hit with higher tax rates. The tax brackets are wider than many people realize. For married couples filing jointly, the 15 percent tax bracket is between $18,150 and $73,800; the 25 percent bracket applies to income between $73,800 and $148,850. When you move into a higher tax bracket, only the additional income is taxed at a higher rate.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

Consumer Reports has discovered a potential problem with certain Britax ClickTight child car seats that raises a safety concern.

We bought one sample of each of the Britax Boulevard ClickTight and Britax Marathon ClickTight convertible car seats, and found that—with both seats—one or both sides of the harness strap had not been fully secured to its lower anchor hook. That raised concerns that the harness, although attached securely to the car seat at three or even four other points, could still come loose in a crash, rendering the restraint potentially less effective.

Fortunately, this should be easy for customers to remedy. In fact, the five-point harness design allows for repositioning the straps on their anchors to adjust for different-sized children. Our car seat installation experts found that if they followed Britax's online instructions for adjusting the harness length, they were able to properly re-secure the harness strap themselves, paying particular attention to engage the straps inside the hook.

Watch Britax’s video that shows how to adjust the harness.

On the Britax seats, like many other models available, the harness straps end with a sewn loop, which slides over and then into a steel hook. With the seats we bought, the loop had been pulled over the anchor but not engaged fully around the hook. If the hook is not engaged, the harness loop could pull completely off the anchor during normal use. To a consumer, the lack of attachment may not be obvious without examining the lower anchor closely.

Even though these are brand-new models on the market, we discovered that we weren’t alone in noting the harness issue. We found four complaints on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s complaints database and another listed in an online owner forum.

When Consumer Reports queried Britax, the company sent a written statement saying, "Prior to using the seat, ensure that the harness straps are securely connected to the anchors inside the hook."

We have not yet crash-tested these seats, and therefore have no judgment about their performance in a collision. It's also important to note that we are not aware of any injury reports related to this issue or these seats.

Britax convertible seats have performed well in Consumer Reports' car seat tests in the past. We were impressed with the performance of the ClickTight feature for securing a harness when we tested it on toddler/booster models.

If you or someone you know has bought a Britax Marathon ClickTight or Britax Boulevard ClickTight convertible seat, we urge you to check the lower harness anchor points to make sure the harness straps are fully engaged.

—Gordon Hard 

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

Q. Do light boxes for seasonal affective disorder (the "winter blues") actually work?

A. Research suggests that bright-light therapy helps about 50 percent of people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the temporary depression that develops in autumn and winter. The most common biological cause stems from the declining hours of sunlight that come with winter.

Some symptoms are similar to those associated with other types of depression: sadness, fatigue, excessive sleepiness, withdrawing socially, and trouble concentrating. But SAD sufferers also tend to move slowly, crave carbohydrates, and gain weight. Wonder if you have it? The nonprofit Center for Environmental Therapeutics has an online questionnaire to help assess your symptoms.

If you have SAD and it’s relatively mild, relief might be as simple as a good long walk to start your day. Experts say that doing 60 minutes of outdoor exercise in the morning can be a big boost for people with SAD. Otherwise, consider trying bright-light therapy, which involves sitting in front of a special lamp that produces up to 10,000 lux of light for about a half-hour every day during the darkest months of the year.

For those not helped by a light box, research suggests that cognitive be­havior therapy also lifts SAD symptoms and might prevent them from recurring the next year.

If none of those approaches are helping, talk to your doctor about medication. The antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin and generic) is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat seasonal affective disorder and to prevent winter depression. To learn more about bupropion and other antidepressants, see our Best Buy Drugs report on those medications.

A version of this article also appeared in the December 2014 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

Mom was right. It's good manners to bring a host/hostess gift when you are invited to a in-home party—especially at holiday time. The list here includes our picks for food and beverage gifts. (Tip: Our recommendations for host/hostess gifts are equally suitable for your mail carrier, hairdresser, landscaper, and other service providers.)

We've also assembled a list of best gifts under $200, under $100, under $50, and even under $25.

Remember to visit our Holiday Gift Ideas & Guide over the coming weeks. You'll find all of our gift recommendations and shopping advice, including tips on ways to save.

Find the best gift ideas for mom, dad, grandparents, kids, and teenagers.

Bottle of wine

We recommend three great wines below—at three great prices. Even if you didn’t spend a bundle on a bottle of wine, you can dress it up in a clever wine bag or tote and turn it into a special gift. Or gift it in a basket with one of our top rated boxed chocolates (below) to make it extra special.

Note if you don’t find any of these recommended wines in the 2012 vintage, try another year. You can find out where to buy these wines by searching the website wine-searcher.com.

Bila-Haut 2012 ($13)
Complex, rich, full-flavored wine with lots of ripe fruit, a sweet oak impression and a solid acid/tannin structure. It is drinking well now but will likely improve with time. More complex and fuller body than most.

Ca Montini Trentino 2012  Pinot Grigio ($15)
Classic Pinot Grigio character with subtle fruit notes that become more intense on the palate. More complex and better balanced than most, but sulfites detract a bit.

14 Hands Hot To Trot White 2012  ($10)
Delicious and diverse array of fruit on the nose, and ripe peachy flavors arise on the palate with enough acidity to balance it all.

Get a taste of our wine buying guide.

Gift-Boxed chocolates

A special treat, boxed chocolate makes a perfect gift for your host/hostess or service provider. 

Norman Love Confections 25 pc Signature Chocolate Gift Box ($48.50)
These exotic candies have unusual fillings—key lime, passion fruit, peanut butter and jelly—which are the hallmark of these smooth chocolates with a decorative look. Some white chocolate pieces. Includes truffles, creams, nut bits and butters, and fruit purées.

Christopher Elbow 21-Piece Collection ($42)
Not for the faint of heart. Bold combos, such as buttery caramel with rosemary or balsamic vinegar. Artistic-looking and ultra-smooth. Definitely not typical, mainstream chocolates. 

Dip in to our chocolate buying guide. 

Coffee-lover’s combo

Arrange them in a basket or decorative gift bag. Throw in a nice coffee mug for good measure.

Blue Bottle Three Africans ($19, 12oz.)
Bright cup with big flavor. Complex with citrus, floral, and berry notes, but a bit grassy. Tangy. Medium body.

Intelligentsia House Blend ($14, 12oz)
Bright cup with big flavor. Complex with citrus and a trace honey but a trace green/underripe and grassy. Medium body.

Allegro Organic Continental Blend whole bean (Whole Foods) ($9, 12 oz.)
Fairly complex, darker roast with fruit, specifically berry and citrus tones. Slight woody (old) and ashy. Medium to full body.

Before you buy, filter through all the options in our coffee buying guide.

Spiral ham                

Sprial ham is all the rage. It's pre-cooked and presliced by spiral cutting in order to make it convenient for serving the ham slices. 

HoneyBaked Half ($63.95-$83.95)
This spiral ham is flavorful and complex with balanced tastes of clove, fruit, and brown sugar that complement ham’s natural flavors. Consistently moist and tender. In our tests, it reheated well and didn’t dry out.

Read about the best spiral hams for the holidays.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

It can cost you several hundred dollars these days for a new smart phone, even if you sign up for a multiyear plan. But you can recoup that cost—and save even more—if you use it to comparison shop and take advantage of discounts this holiday season.

About 40 percent of the 2,180 subscribers surveyed by the Consumer Reports National Research Center said they used their phone to see whether a product was being sold elsewhere for less. Or they checked promotions and coupon codes. Fifteen percent said they used reward cards from an app to make a purchase. Men and women differed, however, in the ways they used their phones while shopping.

We think that more shoppers should take advantage of the deals just a touch-screen tap away. The free apps listed below can help. Many share similar functions, but enough features differ that you’ll want to see which apps suit your needs best. Can't find a deal on one of the gifts on your list, even with these apps? Check out the deals at outlet malls. The discounts will be deeper around the holidays, and outlet mall websites often have coupons you can use to save even more. For more holiday shopping tips, see our holiday gift guide. 

––Mandy Walker

Clutch

Store all your loyalty and gift-card data with this app, then use it to flash the appropriate information at checkout to get your discount or have your purchase credited. The app also searches for daily deals and coupons that can be scanned at checkout. Clutch has its own loyalty perks, too; when you use them, you build up points that you can redeem for gift cards.

Works on: Android and Apple.

Favado

Slash your bills by comparing real-time sale data from more than 65,000 supermarket and drug stores nationwide. If you don’t want to drive across five ZIP codes to get the best deal on hamburger patties, Favado lets you zero in on local stores with the best deals, so you can save money and gas. (And see our additional ways to save at the supermarket and drug store.)

Works on: Android and Apple.

Goodzer

Calling itself the “local shopper’s best friend,” Goodzer compares prices on products ranging from deodorant to little black dresses carried by stores in your neighborhood.

Just type in what you’re looking for and Goodzer will troll nearby stores large and small to find out who has it and how much they’re charging.

Works on: Apple.

Poachit

If you're an online shopper, you can save time and cut costs with this app, which lets you flag an item you want and sends you a text when it goes on sale or when a coupon becomes available.

PoachIt also sends coupon codes for discounted items. Its “Deals” section lists lots of marked-down products.

Works on: Android and Apple.

Pounce

See a must-have product advertised in a circular or catalog? Snap a photo of it with your iPhone and this tool lets you buy it directly from the retailer in two clicks. (Shipping fees are disclosed before your second click.) The app saves credit-card data, contact info, and shipping addresses, so you only need to input them once. Participating retailers include Ace Hardware, Babies “R” Us, Best Buy, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, Staples, Target, and Toys “R” Us.

Works on: Apple.

PriceGrabber

This app lets you scan products while shopping to see whether other retailers offer lower prices.  

You can also set up a price alert, which tells you when an item you want has been marked down to your desired price at your preferred store.

Works on: Android and Apple.  

RedLaser

RedLaser scans an item’s bar code to compare prices at thousands of online retailers and local walk-in stores.

And you can track favorite products, receive notifications of special deals, manage loyalty cards, and make purchases.

Works on: Apple, Android, and Windows.  

RetailMeNot

This app collects coupon codes and sale information from a range of retailers and lets you bookmark your favorite stores so that you can check for discounts while you’re shopping.

Instead of printing out coupons, just show the code on your phone to a cashier to get the deal.

Works on: Android and Apple. 

TheFind

This app scans bar codes to find the best deals locally and online on over 500 million products from 500,000 stores.

It also lets you know if Best Buy, Target, Toys “R” Us, and Walmart can match the lowest-priced result.

Works on: Android and Apple (where it's called Shopping Search by TheFind).

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.

In a survey of Consumer Reports subscribers, a third of chain-pharmacy and big-box store shoppers said they were reluctant to discuss medical issues with pharmacists because they seemed too busy. To counter that perception, some Walgreens stores have moved a pharmacist to a desk up front; other pharmacies have created consultation areas that are separate from the pickup counter.

See the 12 surprising new drugstore perks and how to find the best pharmacy for you

Costco, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart have apps that let you shop for, manage, and transfer your prescriptions. Costco’s app is also good for checking and comparing drug prices.

Sam’s Club, Walmart, and some independent drugstores will dispense your pills into individualized daily packets rather than vials, so you can tell at a glance that a dose has been taken. Many independents also offer “com­pounding”—that is, customizing a drug by omitting a dye for an allergic patient, creating a liquid version for a patient who has trouble swallowing pills, or adding a flavor to a child’s medicine to make it more palatable.

If you forget to take your pills or think you might be having a non-urgent reaction to them, Rite­Aid and Walgreens provide 24-hour online chats. Con­fidential and free to registered users, the chats connect patients with pharmacists to discuss medication-related concerns, such as drug interactions and side effects.

At Walgreens you can skip the line by picking up refills at one of its self-service kiosks. Most chain drugstores let you order refills online or by mobile app and will text or phone when the refill is ready. Kroger, RiteAid, Walgreens, and other pharmacies will put your refills on autopilot, readying them for pickup automatically a few days before your supply runs out. And a growing number of pharmacies provide refill synchronization: The pharmacist coordinates all of your refills so that they happen at the same time, thus eliminating multiple trips to the drugstore.

In 2015, RiteAid will roll out 4,100 digital kiosks, where customers can take their vital signs, including blood pressure, height, and weight, and set up an account to track their data, link the data to a health record that pings their doctor and pharmacist, and work toward wellness goals.

Many big-box stores and pharmacies will accept and dispose of unused and expired medications, to keep them from ending up in the wrong hands or being disposed of in a way that pollutes water systems. Target, for instance, provides return bags for mailing unused medications directly to a location for safe disposal. The online service DisposeMyMeds.org has a pharmacy locator that can help you find nearby pharmacies that accept leftover medications.

How can I safely dispose of my medication?

This article originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of the Consumer Reports On Health newsletter. These materials were made possible by a grant from the state Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program, which is funded by a multistate settlement of consumer fraud claims regarding the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin (gabapentin).

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.