The Intelligence Group found a great way for Americans and Canadians to kick off the holiday season. In their Trendcentral Newsletter, they mentioned the One Laptop Per Child's "Give One Get One" program, running through Monday, November 26 in the U.S. and Canada. For the first time, One Laptop Per Child has made their XO laptop available to the general public. When giving them a donation of $399, OLPC will send one laptop to a child in a developing nation and one laptop to the special child in your life. In addition, $200 of your donation is tax-deductible. To top it off, T-Mobile is offering one year of free HotSpot access to all U.S. donors.

By now, you've seen it on e-mails passed on from clients and vendors and maybe even have it in your own signature line. The message reads: "Save trees. Print only when necessary." This environmental trend began in March when the environmental website TreeHugger.com encouraged readers to add the plea to their e-mail signatures. Ever since, the statement has been integrated into e-mails in corporate America--even at media giant News Corp.

But not everyone agrees the "think before you print" message will make any difference. "I don't think clients need to be addressed in that manner during their workday," said Rob Guglielmetti, a lighting designer, blogger and environmentalist. "They don't need to hear a personal message about the environment. It has more of a place in a personal e-mail than a business e-mail." Michael Graham Richard of TreeHugger.com says the note isn't meant to offend anyone. "The intent is not to be preachy--just to offer a tip on how to save paper," he said.

High-end e-tailers like Blue Nile, Shoebuy and Zales are offering alternative payment options like PayPal, Google Checkout and Bill Me Later in place of a traditional credit card payment. By implementing these programs--and finding consumers who will use them--companies can lower their credit card processing costs. To help customers become more comfortable with these alternate methods, Blue Nile and other sites are offering special savings when customers choose to use them. PayPal, a subsidiary of eBay, says about 150 million people and hundreds of thousands of merchants use its service. One reason sites like eBay have the ability to charge less for processing fees than credit card companies is they spend less on marketing. "So we're a big supporter of these other payment methods," said Michael J. Wagner, chief executive of online toy retailer eToys, which offers PayPal. "Somebody has to keep the MasterCards and Visas honest."