Gas prices rose again today. Today’s national average for unleaded regular is $3.60 per gallon, an increase of over 5 cents from last week, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.
Alaska gas prices reached $4.06 and Hawaii is at $4.25. New Jersey has the lowest price in the continental U.S. at $3.40 a gallon and California the highest at $4.04 a gallon.
The current average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in the US is $3.595, the highest ever for this time of year. Prices have risen over 2 cents since last week and are up over 22 cents from 30 days ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. The biggest increase was on the West Coast, where gas prices were up six cents and remained the most expensive of the major regions at $3.92 per gallon.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA):
The recent rapid increase in spot crude and gasoline prices has led to a significant rise in retail product prices. Motorists currently experiencing a jump in pump prices will likely see further increases from now through the spring since the recent increase in crude oil prices has not yet been fully passed through to gasoline prices.
EIA expects the retail price of regular-grade motor gasoline to average $3.56 per gallon in 2011, 77 cents per gallon higher than the 2010 average and about 40 cents above the projected price in the previous Outlook. EIA projects gasoline prices to average about $3.70 per gallon during the peak driving season (April through September) with considerable regional and local variation.
Reduce Operating Costs. By monitoring activities like speeding or excessive idling you can not only save fuel, but reduce damage done to the engine, brakes and tires. An added bonus is you can also reduce vehicle green house gas emissions. Reduce Fuel and Vehicle Maintenance Costs. The average operating cost per vehicle is about $1.50 […]
Today the US average for a gallon of unleaded gas is $3.584, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. Gas prices have risen 4 cents in the past week. Gas prices are up 74 cents from one year ago. Prices are at their highest level since 2008, in part because of the Japan earthquake and turmoil in the oil-producing Middle East. Gas price reached the highest price ever recorded during the month of March, according to ABC News. The state averages for a gallon of gas topped $4 in California, Alaska and Hawaii.
Oil futures settled today at $103.98 after reaching a high of $105.76 earlier in trading. On Friday, oil futures settled at $105.40 a barrel, the third consecutive day above $105, according to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group.
Continuing unrest in Libya as well as other North African and Middle Eastern countries has led to the highest crude oil prices since 2008. As a result, the US Energy Administration has raised its forecast for the average cost of crude oil to refiners to $105 per barrel in 2011, $14 higher than its previous price estimate.
Over 200 trucking companies were named as defendants last week in a lawsuit filed over patent infringement for GPS-based vehicle tracking technology by PJC Logistics. According to recent legal documents filed in 8 federal court districts across the US, PJC Logistics LLC is claiming to be the sole owner of the GPS vehicle tracking technology patent, and that other users of the GPS vehicle tracking technology are doing so without legal permission. PJC Logistics is claiming that each of the carriers they are suing either “uses or directs others to use its electronic location-based fleet management and tracking system in its fleet of vehicles.”
211 trucking companies are named as defendants in the lawsuit, but many more companies are reported to actually be using the fleet management technology. No one knows why certain companies are being targeted, while others are not. The legal documents do not disclose the basis for selecting carriers.
Would you like to improve customer service, reduce your operating costs, have more control of your employees and assets, and “go green” by reducing your vehicle emissions? There are a number of cost-effective solutions available to help fleets increase productivity, improve driver safety, and ensure fleet operations run as efficiently as possible.
A telematics-based GPS fleet management system can increase the profitability and productivity of any company with mobile employees, vehicles or other mobile assets. A growing number of fleets are turning to GPS tracking systems as the most cost-effective tool to curb excessive idling and other fuel-inefficient driver behaviors.
Verizon Inc. successfully reduced fuel costs by curbing unnecessary engine idling, according to Automotive Fleet. Verizon estimates unnecessary idling costs the telecommunications company about $20 million annually. Verizon uses a combination of GPS tracking and employee education to curb unnecessary engine idling.
Gas prices have continued to rise all week. On Friday March 25, 2011, the current average for a gallon of unleaded fuel in the US is $3.561. The average for a gallon of diesel is $3.946, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. One week ago gas was slightly less, averaging $3.54 a gallon. One month ago the average was $3.19 a gallon, an increase of over 37 cents.
Gas prices topped $4 a gallon this month all over Southern California – from Los Angeles to Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and many, many more cities. The current average for gas in California is $3.993 a gallon. In San Diego, many drivers cannot find gas for less than $4/gallon. In downtown San Diego, gas is going for $4.20 per gallon of unleaded regular.
Some experts have said that gas prices in California may have peaked. Others do not agree.
GPS jammers are illegal in the United States and restricted in Europe. However, laws in some other countries are less clear.
2) Jamming devices can easily be ordered online. GPS jammers are marketed and sold online as gadgets to protect personal privacy and prevent someone from tracking your movements. On the internet there are GPS jammers being sold for as low as $33.00 at the Jammer World .
3) Some say that GPS jammers are dangerous to society. “The worry is that factories in China are starting to churn these things out,” says Peter Large, vice president at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Trimble, which develops advanced positioning systems. “If they did start to proliferate, it could have devastating consequences.”
4) Some people believe the devices can be useful and people should have the right to buy them. FOrt example, Michael Kharkovoy, CEO of Jammer-Store, told Fox News that GPS jammers can be stowed easily in a car or a bag and can help avoid spy detection — say, from a spouse who suspects infidelity and plants a GPS tracking device like the Zoombak in a car.
GPS jammers work by disrupting frequencies in one of the often used GPS bands. GPS system signals are pretty weak, so it’s fairly simple for a jammer to interrupt or interfere with receivers such as portable navigation devices.
A recent report by the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Engineering on the vulnerability of the GPS system said that jammers are a threat that could affect both individual GPS devices and the GPS system’s basic infrastructure. Although the threat of someone using GPS jammers in a major terrorist attack is quite low, it is possible, and the military is certainly keeping that in mind as it has been trying to protect the GPS system from these types of weaknesses.
But the jammers ability to interfere with individual navigation devices is a much more likely scenario. GPS jammers can wreak havoc when they get into the wrong hands. Criminals and car thieves can use GPS jammers to get away with bad behavior
According to a recent report by the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Engineering on the vulnerability of the GPS system, GPS technology has become a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives. We are all dependent on the GPS system whether we know it or not. Although the report pointed out weaknesses in the GPS system, most people agree the chances of a successful terrorist attack or interference with the GPS system is quite low.
Professor Peter Sommer from the Information Systems and Innovation Group, London School of Economics, welcomed the report findings but stressed the GPS systemic risk was relatively low. “It is not so unimportant that we should not be doing anything about it,” he said, “but the suggestion that it is going to be easy for terrorists to cause any long term, large scale disruption is entirely fanciful.”
March 24, 2011 – Gas prices this week remain high this week. According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, the national average for a gallon of unleaded gas is hovering around $3.55. Diesel gas prices have steadily been increasing, and the US average is $3.94 a gallon. In California, regular gas is at $3.98 average and diesel is at $4.33.
The Chicago Department of Fleet Management is benefiting from forward contracts because the forward contracts set the city’s purchase price for unleaded and diesel fuel before the price of oil and gas shot through the roof. Gas prices have shot up roughly 37 cents in the last two weeks alone.
Forward gas purchase contracts are part of the City’s fleet management efforts to protect their budgets against rising gas prices. The higher the gas prices go, the better the decision to lock in prices looks.
China is planning to launch its own GPS system – one that will rival the GPS system in the US.
At a news conference yesterday in Beijing, a world renowned GPS technology specialist said that China will start to offer a GPS service aimed at drivers in 2012. The new GPS navigation service for drivers will use own China’s own GPS satellite system named, aka Beidou.
Gas prices in San Diego have been very high lately. The current average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in the US, according to AAA, is $3.547. In California, the average is $3.969. It’s going to be hard to find a gallon of unleaded regular gas for less than $4 a gallon this Spring in California.
The Utility Consumers’ Action Network (UCAN) tracks gas prices at hundreds of gas stations in San Diego. Charles Langley of UCAN said he was uncertain about where gas prices are heading, but it wouldn’t surprise him if the price topped $5.00 a gallon this summer, according to KPBS.
Gas prices are high and are expected to stay that way for the next few months. A gallon of regular gas in the averaged $3.549 on Monday March 21, 2011, almost 38 cents more than one month ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.
Gas prices have steadily been on the rise. One month ago, gas prices were at $3.163. One year ago gas prices were at $2.820, which is 73 cents less than today.
One week ago, gas prices were at $3.558 so prices have eased up a bit over the last few days
A lawsuit was filed last week against the FBI and US Dept. of Justice by Yasir Afifi for secretly hiding a GPS tracking device under his car without a warrant. The lawsuit says this was a violation of his civil rights. The lawsuit was filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Afifi’s behalf. They are seeking compensation, an injunction, and a decision saying that any use of GPS tracking devices without a warrant in the US is unconstitutional.
Afifi is a 20 year old college student who lives in Santa Clara, CA. He claims he has not been involved in any suspicious activity, and there is no way the FBI would have a valid reason for placing an inconspicuous GPS tracking device on his vehicle. He is now suing the FBI for secretly placing the GPS tracking device on his car.
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is the most searched business by Americans with a GPS navigation device. More people search for Walmart on their GPS than any other business in the USA, according to a recent survey by TeleNav, one of the nation’s biggest wireless location-based services providers. As a matter of fact, the GPS system searches for Walmart were more than double the number of searches conducted for second place, retailer Target.
According the the TeleNav GPS System Study, the most searched businesses in the US are:
1. Walmart
2. Target
3. Starbucks
4. Best Buy
5. Chase Bank
