The good oil: Petrol-price glitch causes gleeful spree

A Petrol-price glitch in Los Angeles caused petrol to be sold at $1.40 a gallon. Photo / Clint Marston

Petrol-price glitch causes gleeful spree

Staff at a petrol station in Los Angeles couldn't figure out why they were unusually busy. Drivers had been queueing to fill up for hours and the line of traffic wasn't getting any shorter. Then they twigged: they were selling petrol at US$1.10 ($1.40) a gallon, a price not seen in the city since 1998. A computer glitch had set the price and word spread. The station owner reckons he lost US$21,000 in takings. He's hoping the motorists who took advantage will return to top up - at US$4.29 a gallon.

Weed'em and reap

Ford is looking at the potential of dandelions as a sustainable resource for rubber. The milky-white substance that seeps from the weed's roots could find its way into plastic parts in Ford vehicles: things like cupholders, floor mats and interior trim. Ford is already using sustainable materials for many of its interiors, including soybean-foam seat cushions, straw-filled plastic for interior trim and recycled cotton from jeans as sound-dampening material. "Synthetic rubber is not a sustainable resource," said Ford research engineer Angela Harris. "Dandelions have the potential to serve as a great natural alternative to synthetic rubber in our products."

Putin's false start

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin turned up at the Lada plant ready to plug its new Granta hatchback, launched as the cheapest car in Europe. Lada executives had planned the occasion: Putin would drive the first car off the production line and out on to the factory floor where photographers would be waiting. There would then be speeches praising the Granta as the new people's car. Putin jumped behind the wheel and turned the ignition key. Nothing. Five times he tried before the Lada spluttered into life. Despite the hiccup, Putin reckoned the car was "good". Granta is a ye olde English word meaning "slow river".


Saudi women in drive for change

Women in Saudi Arabia are defying the country's ban on female drivers that is routinely enforced by religious police. They are urging Saudi women with international driver's licences to get behind the wheel from June 17. The campaign, called "I will drive starting June 17", is on Facebook and Twitter. Saudi women aren't allowed to be educated without a man's permission, to travel without male permission or to mix with unrelated men in public places. In November 1990, a group of women who publicly defied the driving ban were arrested, publicly branded as loose women or prostitutes, and lost their right to travel and work.

Quite the novel feature, Mr. Bond ...

A new James Bond book isn't quite for your eyes only, but it is restricted to just 500 copies globally. Britain's Bentley has teamed up with publishers Hodder & Stoughton to produce a special version of the new 007 novel, Carte Blanche, written by Jeffery Deaver. Bentley's edition of the book is bound in white Nappa leather, concealed in a polished-aluminium case shaped in the form of the company's Continental GT coupe - used by Bond in Carte Blanche. A 9mm bullet, embossed with the book's limited-edition number, is embedded in the pages. The special edition can be ordered online at www.007carteblanchebentley.com for NZ$2100. More than 100 million James Bond books have been sold since Ian Fleming wrote Casino Royale in 1953.


Corolla - the stuff of dreams

Hatsune Miku is a Japanese pop star known for her floor-length, turquoise-coloured hair. She played to sold-out concerts across Japan in 2010 - but she has a problem that fame and fortune can't overcome - she doesn't exist. Miku is an anime character created by Cypton Future Media. For concerts, a three-dimensional image of Miku is projected on stage, and her million-dollar voice comes from a collection of real voices filtered through digital synthesiser software. Part of her appeal is that she encourages fans to dream big, something that Toyota wants Asian-Americans in the US to do. The carmaker is using Miku to push its Corolla, under the banner "big dreams in a compact package". A Toyota spokeswoman told the The Wall Street Journal: "Even if she is unfamiliar to some, the story of her character, her music and her dedicated fans are intriguing and in parallel with the storied history of the Toyota Corolla."