NewtonsLaw - Slashdot User

Submission + - Fighting scammers and spammers using YouTube (youtube.com)

Submitted by

NewtonsLaw

on Monday June 30, 2008 @10:18PM

NewtonsLaw writes: "I've been trying to get "the great unwashed" out there to wise-up to these HHO "run your car on water" scams for quite some time now and noticed that affiliates of these schemes are absolutely flooding YouTube with their dross.

Just do search for run car water and look at the same names, same spam and bogus titles popping up, all trying to get people to buy lame ebooks and kits that allegedly offer them a 40% improvement in fuel economy or to even "double" their mileage.

Well I decided I'd try to fight fire with fire and created my own YouTube video to counter the spam.

Apparently it *is* having an effect on the sales of this scam, as witnessed by the comments on this discussion forum.

It's also fun to note how illiterate and ignorant many of those who purport to be getting those "40% fuel savings" are, if their comments on my video are anything to go by.

When their science is challenged, they inevitably fall back to a conspiracy theory — ha!

So is this the best way to deal with scammers/spammers who pollute YouTube's already murky waters with their dross? Or do Slashdotters have a better idea?"

Submission + - Why the world's hackers are partying today (aardvark.co.nz)

Submitted by

NewtonsLaw

on Tuesday June 03, 2008 @06:36PM

NewtonsLaw writes: "The USA has just announced that as of January 2009, all those traveling to (or through) its borders under the widely used "visa waiver" program must register their details on a website at least 72 hours prior to arrival.

But in light of a long string of security breaches in respect to US government-operated websites, isn't the online database of personal information (including passport numbers etc) that this creates going to be a huge drawcard for hackers?

What would a breach of security on such a database mean to those who would just love to use that data for spamming, phishing and identity theft?

What would it mean to those whose information was stolen from such a database?

I've editorialized on this in my daily blog and I ask some important questions.

In light of the fact that I slipped in and out of the USA unnoticed back in 2003 to work on an episode of JunkYard Wars, when the US administration was busy condemning me for building a DIY cruise missile (hosted through Planet so may be a bit flakey right now), seems to indicate that US border control could certainly do with some extra effort."

Submission + - Those "run your car on water" scams (aardvark.co.nz)

Submitted by

NewtonsLaw

on Monday June 02, 2008 @08:26PM

NewtonsLaw writes: "If you enter the search term "water powered car" into YouTube or Google you'll come up with an endless stream of videos and webpages that claim you can run your car on water. (an example)

Inevitably these systems involve the electrolysis of water (using power from your car's electrical system) and the injection of that "magic" HHO gas into your car's air-intake.

A huge number of people are claiming improvements of fuel-economy of 40% or more — but suspiciously, many of them are also pitching books (through affiliate schemes) or kits to install in your vehicle.

I wrote an article in which I have attempted to alert the "great unwashed" as to the scamminess of these schemes and the lack of sound science behind them, but there are still legions of people who swear they work.

From the perspective of energy conservation, the math clearly doesn't stack up for those claiming the hydrogen releases more energy than was required to create it, so now the HHO fan-boys are now claiming that the benefits come from the way the monatomic (yeah, right) hydrogen generated by their "fuel cells" improves the efficiency of gasoline combustion and that's where the 40%+ improvement in mileage comes from.

I still think this is a case of faith versus fact. There is some evidence from credible scientific papers that hydrogen *can* improve the combustion efficiencies of hydrocarbons but this effect is nowhere near enough to account for the massive results that the HHO fanboys are claiming.

This whole area of Browns gas and HHO seems to be littered with ill-informed zealots and psuedo-science.

Perhaps someone with a stronger grounding in the physics and chemistry involved can shed some light on all this. Do these schemes work? If so, why aren't they now standard-equipment in every car that's sold in these days of skyrocketing oil prices? Or is it all just snake-oil and unscrupulous scammers looking to dupe a naive public into wasting their money?"

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