The online micro-finance charity Web site Kiva rose to be a shining non-profit success story in the recession years. It marries the trendiness of social entrepreneurship with an almost perfect combination of online applications. If you haven't used the site before (and, full disclosure, I've been donating above-average amounts for about a year), try it.

It's hard not to be fascinated and compelled by the hundreds of people in mostly developing countries (U.S. candidates were added this year) telling their stories, asking for not much more of an investment in their business than we fat Americans spend on lunch at Subway. I've made loans to budding clothing sellers in Mongolia and Tajikistan; a struggling restaurateur in Cambodia; and a nascent women's' transportation cooperative in Pakistan. One borrower, a young man from Ukraine with a wife and child who wanted to expand his cab company, actually paid me back in full. I took the money and gave it to another entrepreneur. It's quite a feeling to personalize charity in this way. And from a non-profit perspective, it's a Holy Grail, a killer app, a nano-Nirvana: It makes the donor happy, and keeps dollars coming in.

Except I found out recently that's not how Kiva actually works. Not quite.

Bad news for people hoping to use their pricey, recently purchased ranges to roast turkeys or bake pies for Thanksgiving. High-end ranges sold under the Kenmore and Electrolux brands are being recalled after they were found to leak carbon monoxide gas when the oven is in use.

The Electrolux Icon and Kenmore Pro 30-inch gas ranges made in Canada by Electrolux Home Products have a part that allows delivery of more fuel than the oven burners can handle, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. The result of the incomplete combustion is the release of carbon monoxide.

Electrolux told the CPSC that about 900 of the ranges have the problem. They were sold from August 2008 through October 2009 for $2,500 to $3,500.

The company said it had received four reports of carbon monoxide leaks.

According to the CPSC, those who have the ranges can continue to use the stove and broiler, but should not use the oven.

The free-standing ranges being recalled are limited to the Electrolux Icon model E30GF74HPS and
Kenmore Pro 30" Gas Range models 790.76913800 and 790.76913801 with following number range: NF83000000 – NF93633000.

Consumers can find the Electrolux model and serial number in the back of the range. The Kenmore model and serial number can be found near the range's base beneath the bottom right part of the oven door -- as well as in the rear.

For more information, those with the Electrolux range should call Electrolux weekdays between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. ET at (888) 360-8557 and Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., or visit the Web site set up for the recall. Those who have the Kenmore model should cal Sears at (800) 733-2299 between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday.

Eating popcorn at the movies used to be fun. Now it's scary, thanks to the Center for Science in the Public Interest -- the advocacy group that also has given the beat-down to Chinese food, fast food and most other things Americans love to pig out on.

The group performed lab tests on popcorn purchased from the largest movie chains, AMC and Regal, and came up with this equation: That eating a medium popcorn with a soda at a Regal theater is equal to eating three McDonald's Quarter Pounders with 12 pats of butter.

That's 1,610 calories and 60 grams of saturated fat. And, just to rub it in, CSPI noted the high profits the chain must collect for selling the combo for $12 -- given how cheap popcorn and soda actually are.

Lowe's recalled 663,000 Perfect Flame SLG Series gas grills after nearly two dozen people reported injuries due to deteriorating burners, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. In some cases, the lids caught on fire.

Using these Chinese-made grills, imported by L G Sourcing, could put consumers at risk of being burned and should not be used until they are repaired, the CPSC said.

A California environmental health advocacy group commissioned testing on some 250 toys and found high lead levels in seven of them, including Barbie and Disney-branded products.

While the percentage that failed was low, the findings released by the Center for Environmental Health were disturbing nonetheless for just how high the levels were -- in some toys they were dozens of times above the legal limit.

Organic food advocates have turned against a once highly-embraced brand, Silk soy milk, after the company that owns it quietly altered the products' label from government-regulated "organic" to the practically meaningless "natural" without properly notifying customers.

The silence surrounding the label change has fueled a public battle between the farm policy research and advocacy group Cornucopia Institute and dairy giant Dean Foods, which owns White Wave, the maker of the Silk line of soy milk products. Organic devotees say products that are not organic can be grown with pesticides and other chemicals without running afoul of the virtually unregulated claim of being "natural."

Making matters worse, consumers have been doubly irked to find out that they were paying the same pumped up prices organic commands for the new, less-than-organic version.

"Hi. This is Rachel from Cardholder Services." It's safe to say that millions of Americans have received a call from Rachel or one of her robo-calling cohorts at some point. In fact, there have been so many complaints about calls from robo-dialers with pre-recorded announcements that the government has almost entirely banned them.

As of September 1, the Federal Trade Commission barred all prerecorded telemarketing calls unless a consumer gives their written permission to receive them furst. Robo-soliciting over cell phones was already prohibited by the Federal Communications Commission several years ago.

Just don't tell that to Rachel. She doesn't appear to be slowing down -- and, at least for the time being, no one can stop her because it's not clear where she comes from.

Internet telephone provider Vonage agreed to pay $3 million and change how it deals with its customers after reaching a settlement with 32 states.

Among the allegations against Vonage was consumers continuing to be charged after canceling, not clearly disclosing the terms of its "free trial," and not honoring a supposed "money back guarantee." One problem consumers ran into -- something that particularly affected senior citizens -- was the failure to disclose in Vonage's numerous advertisements that having high-speed internet was a requirement to use the service.

Extended warranties of all sorts have always been a dicey proposition, but when it comes to extended auto warranties many don't even appear to be warranties at all.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster took aim at the industry this week by suing six companies that market the so-called warranties and warning the public that what is being pitched isn't what you end up with. He said the industry is "rife with fraud."

Koster said what consumers are actually buying into are limited "service contracts" or "automotive additives" deals rather than a traditional warranty. That was done to avoid consumer protections otherwise afforded by law, he said in a news release.

The contracts are filled with catches. Among them:

• A 30 to 90 day (or 1,000 miles) timeframe when you can't make a claim.
• Promotion of a 7-year, 100,000 miles warranty extension that doesn't note coverage is limited to the declining value of the car. (In other words, Koster said, "The coverage may soon be less than the price paid by the consumer for the contact).
• Sending an additive to be put into your car immediately to activate coverage without noting that its use negates the ability to cancel.

BlueHippo.com, which markets itself as a way for the credit-challenged to buy a new computer and other electronics, has been ripping off its customers and should be ordered to stop, the Federal Trade Commission told a federal judge today.

"BlueHippo is a company with a business model based on deceit," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. The company is also allegedly operating in violation of a 2008 agreement to settle a previous case brought by the FTC.

Among its complaints, the FTC says BlueHippo took in $15 million under the guise of financing computer purchases for their customers, but it neither provided the financing nor the computers. Fewer than 1 percent of customers received what they signed up for, the FTC said.

A call to BlueHippo's designated phone number for the media rolls into a voice mail that doesn't accept messages. And a call to their spokesman at the Washington, D.C. offices of an international public relations firm was not returned.

Pharmacy giant CVS has agreed to pay $875,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of New York that alleged the chain routinely sold expired food, drugs and other outdated products, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.

California settled a similar case with CVS five months ago.

"New Yorkers should not have to worry that their neighborhood pharmacy is selling expired over-the-counter drugs that may be harmful to themselves or their families," Cuomo said in a written statement. "Today's settlement with CVS and our past settlement with Rite Aid - which total approximately $2 million --send the message that companies have a responsibility to put the safety of their customers ahead of boosting their profits."

The elusive Zhu Zhu Pets faux hamsters showed up at major retailers on Sunday and disappeared from most shelves before the morning ended. Such is the life of the hot toy of the year -- following the likes of Furby and Tickle Me Elmo in the annals of toys whose scarcity was part of their allure.

Zhu Zhu mania is bordering on the absurd -- creating a secondary market where the tantalizingly inexpensive toys ($8 at Walmart) become, well, expensive toys ($35.88 for one and $98 for a three-pack on Amazon.com).

Nokia is recalling an estimated 14 million cell phone chargers the company says might be defective and could cause users to get shocked.

The Finnish mobile telecommunications giant said it found the defect through its own quality control program and has not had any reports of any incidents involving the chargers. The problem with the chargers, Nokia said, is that the covers can come off and expose the internal components.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the normal conduit for recalls of this type, was not party to this announcement and a spokesman for the safety agency did not immediately have a comment on the recall. It is not immediately clear how many of the recalled chargers were sold in the U.S.

Nokia is offering anyone with the affected chargers a new charger in exchange for the recalled ones. Nokia has a web site dedicated to the exchange program.

The company blamed the problem with the chargers on a supplier, BYD Co. -- run by Wang Chuanfu, who Forbes says is the wealthiest man in China. All the chargers being recalled were made this year.

Nokia said the chargers subject to the recall are: AC-3E and AC-3U models, manufactured between June and Aug. 9, 2009; and the AC-4U model, manufactured between April 13 and Oct. 25.

Nokia's recall site shows customers how to identify their charger model and determine whether it needs to be replaced. If the charger is subject to the recall, Nokia urges consumers to stop using it until the new charger arrives.

A decade's worth of Maclaren strollers -- 1 million in all -- are being recalled following reports of a dozen childrens' fingertips being lopped off after getting caught in the hinges, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said today.

The injuries occurred when the strollers were being opened or closed. Maclaren strollers are among the most widely used in the country.

"Strollers are mechanical products not unlike bicycles or automobiles and have scissor or pinch points that cannot be eliminated," Maclaren writes on its FAQ about the recall. "Never use your hands to open or close the stroller – they are engineered to be operated by foot. Operators should always read the operating instructions before use - don't force the mechanisms - stop and check the instructions."