Gas prices aren’t as bad now as they have been in the past, but they’re certainly not good.  And as usual, search trends have mirrored real-life events, and queries for “cheap gas” and the like have skyrocketed.

Today is a big day for my brother-in-law David. Today is the day that he officially becomes a Google expert.

Drivers who are lost will soon be able to turn to Google. The company will begin offering driving directions at 3,500 gasoline pumps across the United States next month.

One might think the rise in US gas prices would spur people to race to the Web for pricing information and hybrid car details. One would be wrong to think these things.

At our quarterly all-hands meeting a little while ago, Yahoo co-founders David and Jerry announced that Yahoo is going carbon neutral this year.

Research firms and think tanks are constantly looking for new ways to process oil in order to increase gasoline production, given the world’s dependence on the valuable commodity. Analyzing chemical bonds and refining techniques, however, many not be the only solution when it comes to achieving optimum efficiency.

Online driving direction and map finder MapQuest has added tools to help people find per-gallon prices that do the least damage to one’s bank account.

Gas prices reaching $2.90-$3.00 per gallon appear are the boiling point that pushes consumers onto the Internet to research some peace of mind, according Hitwise. Searches for [gas prices] and [hybrid] soar at those prices, as does traffic to energy sites.

TechWeb writes that the winner of Microsoft’s 2006 OEM Embedded Patner of the Year at their Mobile & Embedded DevCon is gas pump that runs Windows CE.

I was just talking with Buzz. We’re both exhausted. I didn’t do much of anything until late in the afternoon today.

For anyone who thinks blogs are a load of hot air, the next potential Internet connectivity option could make that a more realistic point of view; natural gas pipes will be the latest way to carry broadband signals.

During the holiday season, more online retailers are offering free shipping to attract customers by way of offsetting gas prices. Though free shopping may squeeze profit margins a bit, four out of five shoppers say free shipping can be the deciding factor on where to buy their stocking stuffers.

Companies and individuals alike are now concerned that the federal mileage deduction or their company’s gas mileage reimbursement will no longer cover the costs of operating a vehicle for business purposes.

A study conducted by comScore Media Metrix indicates search engine queries seeking lower gas prices has increased by 156 percent.

Toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy, Australian scientists make a really big astronomical discovery.

Ahding.com has created a timely hack for everyone weary of paying high gas prices. His hack is called Cheap Gas and utilizes Google Maps and GasBuddy to create a display of gas prices and map locations for an area.

Some parts of the country see prices at the pump below two dollars a gallon for the first time in months.

While Toyota and Nissan reported their “best month ever,” General Motors and Ford reported more than dismal sales for April.

President Bush and Prince Abdullah shook on it. Oil prices have been cliff diving like lemmings on angel dust. We are all systems go now for off-roading this summer, right? Not quite.

According to the Commerce Department, the economy’s growth fell to its slowest rate in two years at 3.1% in the first quarter.

With U.S. stockpiles declining and oil prices rising, prices at the pump seem to be in further trouble. Light sweet crude prices closed at $52.50 after dropping below $50 a share earlier in the week. Brent crude also closed higher, up 80 cents for the day.

Oil prices fell more than $1 a barrel with inventories in the U.S. increasing and gasoline futures falling.