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Scammers Taking Advantage of Rising Gas Prices

Online Gas Pump ScamsThere's nothing like a crisis to get the scammers out in full force. Sure, taking advantage of weary drivers isn't nearly as nauseating as cashing in on death and human tragedy, but there is still plenty of shame to be had in taking advantage of those whose wallets are strained.

As gas prices speed towards $5 a gallon, scammers, phishers, and thieves have flocked to the Web with various ploys to make a quick buck off of careless and desperate motorists. E-mail inboxes have been flooded with offers for $2.49 a gallon gas cards, free fuel, and even kits to run your car on water. The trick to avoid being taken in by scams like these is to simply understand that if it involves your gas tank and sounds too good to be true, it's probably a scam.

Cards that offer pre-paid, locked in gas prices seem like a good deal, but many companies offering such cards (like MyGallons.com) don't actually have any deals in place with gas companies. Kits that claim to extend your gas milage with water are pure fantasy. The mason jar-like contraptions claim to pull hydrogen from water and feed it into your air intake. While engineers say the concept might actually work (if properly isolated in a laboratory), you would would only see very modest increases in fuel efficiency.

Avoiding being taken in by these scams is as easy as accepting that high gases prices are a painful fact of modern life. Europeans have been paying these prices for years. Besides, there is plenty to like about high gas prices. [Source: PC World]
Engadget

Scientists Create Mutant Bugs that Produce Crude Oil

Like the beginning of every great science fiction movie, experts claim that they've discovered a cure for our fuel-dependency woes that only requires an army of genetically modified bacteria... that eats wheat straw and excretes crude oil.

You read that right: Scientists have created bugs that are able to snack on woodchips or sugar cane and produce waste in the form of easily malleable oil. Not only are the buggers capable of creating a by-product that can quickly be refined into fuel for vehicles, but scientists say the process is carbon-negative -- it outputs less carbon than is required to produce it. Director of the project -- dubbed LS9 -- Greg Pal says that barrel prices could run as low as $50, and that the company plans to have a commercial facility producing the crude in 2011.

And as for the potential threat of world-destroying attack from the mutant bugs? Says Pal, "We're putting these bacteria in a very isolated container: Their entire universe is in that tank. When we're done with them, they're destroyed." Sure buddy -- but we're going to re-watch 'Them!' just in case. [Source: Times Online]

Mousetrap Gases Rodents, Texts You When It's Done

Mousey Gas Chamber Texts You To Say the Deed is DoneWhy settle for your run-of-the-mill mousetrap when you can use a teched-out and unnecessarily intricate contraption that you might find in the lair of an old James Bond or Batman villain? Developed by U.K. pest-control pros, Rentokil, the RADAR mouse extermination system is touted as the "smartest and most humane mousetrap ever" -- this from a company that opted to put the word "kill" in its name.

The RADAR (that's "Rodent Activated Detention and Riddance Unit") is triggered by infrared sensors. When a little furry mouse wanders into the trap, the sensors shut the door then release a "measured dose" of carbon dioxide, which Rentokil says ends the rodent's life "quickly and humanely." The fun part, though, is that after the deed is done the trap fires off a text message to inform you that you've got a mouse corpse to clean up when you return home.

The RADAR is available now in the U.K., but requires a consultation from a technician for installation and pricing.

Maybe we're missing something here, but wouldn't the "most humane mousetrap ever" simply keep the mouse prisoner long enough for you to let it loose in the neighbor's yard?

From Engadget Mobile

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