The aroma of a mouth-watering dessert can make you splurge money on unnecessary purchases. A new study has
suggested that exposure to something that stimulates the appetite can make a person more impulsive with unrelated
purchases.

Gift card sales totaled $97 billion in 2007, up from $83 billion in 2006, according to data from The Tower Group cited in The New York Times.

Three out of 10 major online
retailers offered new payment methods as an alternative to credit cards
in December 2007, according to a study by Brulant.

The eerie smoldering glow of the world’s largest rare blue diamond has finally been explained — and it’s neither unique nor a mere oddity.

New-born babies in Japan who can’t make it round to visit all their relatives can now send them proxies instead – cuddly bags of rice.

One of the three Chinese pigs bred in 2006 has given birth to eleven piglets after mating with a normal boar. Two of the piglets inherited the gene for Green Fluorescent Protein from the mother.

How times have changed. Here is a copy of a fascinating 1965 ad that American Airlines ran in Chicago Magazine. They would probably end up lynched today for saying these things. (w/pic)

Cars that drive themselves — even parking at their destination — could
be ready for sale within a decade, General Motors Corp. executives say. This ties in closely with the DaVinci Institute predictions on the future of the automobile industry.

The Federal Communications Commission will investigate complaints that
Comcast Corp. actively interferes with Internet traffic as its
subscribers try to share files online, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said
Tuesday.

Mobile phones with built-in mini projectors
will launch later this year, according to 3M, which gave PC Pro a
hands-on demonstration of the technology at CES 2008. The projector has
a brightness of around 8-10 lumens, and is capable of displaying an
image of up to 50 inches.

People who drink moderately, exercise, quit smoking and eat five servings of
fruit and vegetables each day live on average 14 years longer than people who
adopt none of these behaviors, researchers said on
Tuesday.