Linda Stern

Here's a bright new idea FOR textiles: fabric that displays glowing, moving color images and text. Dutch tech firm Philips Research has developed Lumalive fabric, which is embedded with light-emitting diodes powered by a battery pack the size of a deck of cards and weighing 110 grams.

Bank certificates of deposit may never be cool or exciting, but they have a new appeal now that the Federal Reserve is holding the line on interest rates.

Here's a bright new idea for textiles: fabric that displays glowing, moving color images and text. Dutch tech firm Philips Research has developed Lumalive fabric, which is embedded with light-emitting diodes powered by a battery pack the size of a deck of cards and weighing 3.5 ounces.

What's big-ger than an ATM kiosk but smaller than a bank branch? A bank "neighborhood store." Umpqua Bank, a regional bank based in Portland, Ore., is peppering the Sacramento-to-Seattle landscape with dozens of tiny banking boutiques that look more like coffee shops.They offer free coffee and Wi-Fi, as well as sell T shirts, hats, customized indie-music CDs--and, oh yeah, have a "teller bar" where customers can conduct financial business.

Here's a bright new idea for textiles: fabric that displays glowing, moving color images and text. Dutch tech firm Philips Research has developed Lumalive fabric, which is embedded with light-emitting diodes powered by a battery pack the size of a deck of cards and weighing 3.5 ounces.

What's big-ger than an ATM kiosk but smaller than a bank branch? A bank "neighborhood store." Umpqua Bank, a regional bank based in Portland, Ore., is peppering the Sacramento-to-Seattle landscape with dozens of tiny banking boutiques that look more like coffee shops.They offer free coffee and Wi-Fi, as well as sell T shirts, hats, customized indie-music CDs--and, oh yeah, have a "teller bar" where customers can conduct financial business.

Pedicures have been popularized, so why not facials? A new franchise dedicated to that idea is spreading faster than untreated crow's feet.Facelogic International, of Carlsbad, Calif., is following the affordable-luxury concept that put nail salons into almost every strip mall and city block.

Who's majorly affected by your mental state? The boss. Depressed workers can cost employers big bucks due to lost productivity. In 2002, for example, workers suffering from depression cost Lockheed Martin $786,000 in lost work hours, according to calculations by Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston.Now researchers have new ideas about managing employee moods, and they begin with touches like fresh air, full-spectrum lighting, quiet offices, guided meditations, yoga breaks and cognitive...

Cross a hotel room with an apartment and you get a popular concept in business travel: the extended-stay hotel. Aimed at workers who spend more than four days in one location, extended-stay hotels offer more room, kitchens--and lower bills to bring back to travel managers. "We save anywhere from 15 to 20 percent on hotel travel," says Kevin Maguire, travel director for Applied Materials in Austin, Texas.As a result, demand for extended-stay lodging is growing faster than demand for the...

Project manager Wren Withers wanted a raise at a time when her Silicon Valley software company was freezing salaries. What to do? She held an informal talk with her boss, where she learned that colleagues one rung up on the ladder were earning 7 percent to 15 percent more than she was.

Copier security isn't just about making sure you take your résumé off the machine before your boss gets there. As copiers, printers and other office tools become more sophisticated, they become more hackable.Attendees at August's Black Hat USA security conference in Las Vegas heard from a hacker-security expert who said he'd been able to install his own software on a printer, compromise its network and access confidential documents stored in it. "There's an inherent trust in these types of...

At the University of North Carolina, English majors can minor in entrepreneurship, non-business-school freshmen take seminars in starting companies and faculty members can get money to create new business classes.

Susan C. Keating, CEO of the National Foundation For Credit Counseling, spoke to Linda Stern about the current credit crunch.Seniors, many of whom are on fixed incomes, are carrying an average of over $4,000 in credit-card debt.

Still using the same online broker you had when Cisco was the hot new stock? It's time to take another look. Firms are chopping fees to grab new clients; they've even made it easier to get out.

Bargain-hunting bloggers are calling it the perfect storm: the combination of rising interest rates, variable-rate mortgages and a soft housing market is resulting in a wave of foreclosures that could turn tidal.

Can't afford a resort getaway this summer? Maybe you should just stay home and buy some hotel stock instead. Lodging companies have been providing big returns to their investors; since 2003 the Dow Jones Hotel Index has gone up 30 percent a year.

Oh, sure, your dog may seem like a member of the family, but does she have her own credit card? Bank of America has released a new card that comes close. It's aimed at pet lovers, not their animals, but it includes benefits that Fido will enjoy.

If your kids have summer jobs, there are better places for them to drop their money than the local arcade or department store. One of the best bets is a Roth IRA.

In an emergency, you can't charge your way to safety--at least not with a credit card. Experts recommend you stash some cash in case a disaster knocks out the ATMs in your area.

File this under "what's old is new again." A German company is introducing sails it says may help propel ships across the sea cheaper and faster than modern engines.SkySails' system consists of an enormous towing kite and navigation software that can map the best route between two points for maximum wind efficiency.

Interest on home-equity lines of credit is now pushing 8 percent. But several credit cards are offering "zero percent interest for a year." So why not take that debt and stick it on a credit card?

The Fed seems to be near the end of its rate-raising binge, and long-term rates have finally started heading up. Does that mean it's time to invest in long bonds again?

Think "ski in and ski out"--just wetter. At El Dorado Royale in Punta Brava, Mexico, thirsty guests can step out of their rooms into a "lazy river," float past a few other rooms to the Caribbean beachside pool and then swim over to the bar for their next piña coladas.

E-mail marketers should decide if they care more about clicks or looks, according to a new study by ExactTarget of Indianapolis.The study measured response rates for 2.7 billion messages sent by 4,000 organizations.

Forget about lanyards. Summer camps, a $17 billion industry, have gone upscale and gotten competitive. Land is more expensive than ever: older camps are regularly sold to resort developers when owners exit the business.

Sell in May and go away? That bit of Wall Street doggerel reinforces the notion that summer is a bad season for stocks, and this year the Street might be taking it seriously.

Hmmm. that new tax bill allows anyone earning more than $100,000 to convert her traditional IRA into a tax-free Roth IRA ... in 2010! What to do? If you're a $100,000-plus earner, contribute as much as possible to a regular IRA now, with the intention of moving it to a Roth in 2010.

Ah, the good old days--like last year, when mortgage rates were so low you couldn't get a broker to take your calls--they were all too busy processing piles of refis.

Melissa GannonVice President, Weiss Ratings, Inc., a Florida insurance and financial-research firm.May 15 is the last day to enroll in Medicare's Plan B. Tip Sheet's Linda Stern asked Gannon for advice.Should all Medicare recipients choose a drug-coverage plan?All recipients that are not already in a plan at least as good as the new program should choose one by May 15.What if they don't?When they finally sign up for a plan they will forever be charged a 1 percent penalty for each month they go...

There's a good chance someone has tried to talk you into buying gold recently. The arguments go like this: it's an inflation hedge, a safe haven, its value has doubled in less than two years!