The streets of Caracas are crammed with three times as many cars as they can handle. And why not? Gas is cheaper in Venezuela than anywhere else on Earth. The consequence, of course, is nasty traffic, made only worse by potholes, police checkpoints and other impediments to smooth vehicular movement.

The situation is one that apparently has no solution on the drawing board. Yet, that doesn't mean drivers must suffer without any relief at all. Thanks to social media tools, according to a Bloomberg News report, smartphone-toting drivers have been participating in an emerging answer to Venezuela's gridlock nightmare.

Close to half of all solar panels manufactured this year will not be sold in 2009, iSuppli says, and it forecasts that the glut will continue until 2012. In August, the company pegged oversupply at 92% for 2009, but it recently revised the overage rate to 66%.

Venture into a supermarket late at night and you're likely to see an employee running a machine used to clean, strip and wax floors. Wander into your local deli and you'll see workers pouring disinfectant over the day's feast.

But ask these workers how they feel and many will confess to cases of headaches, sinus infections, and skin rashes. Which is why janitors and cleaners from the Service Employee International Union have been holding protests outside large grocery stores -- such as Lucky and Safeway (SWY) in Northern California -- to demand that the country's largest supermarket chains ditch toxic cleaning agents and go with greener alternatives.