The latest change I’m going to adopt is to save the corks from my wine bottles. Not like there are many, but keeping them out of the landfill sounds like a great idea.

Terracycle is a company that will recycle corks – or rather, upcycling them. They will be turning both natural and synthetic corks into other products, like doormats.

So, send your corks over to Terracycle. They’ll even tell you how much postage to put on your package of corks. They also upcycle other unusual product waste, like cookie wrappers, drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, and yogurt containers. Some of this recycling will give you cash back, which is a great incentive.

Image: kevinrosseel @morguefile ; Hat tip: drinks after dark, LA Times

A half an hour before the store opened, a crew of highly-energized Apple employees came out to cheer on the crowd. At 10am, the doors opened to applause and hundreds of eager people filed in for their free Apple shirts and a look at the new store. The store is deceptively large – it seems small, but is actually quite big. It’s filled with row upon row of Apple gadgets I’d love to buy!

Check out some other Apple Store experiences from John Biehler and Buzz Bishop, and watch Buzz’s video of the line below:

Tags: apple store, apple, mac, vancouver, pacific centre, opening, apple store opening

The new H&M holds two floors at Pacific Centre in the old Holt Renfrew space. The Vancouver store is the largest H&M in Canada. At 28,000 square feet, the mini department store is sure to be come a centre of activity in the downtown core. The downtown store will cater more towards the high fashion for adults, as opposed to simply clothes aimed at teens. The first floor is devoted to women’s clothing, while the second floor caters to men, children and babies.

Ianiv went down to H&M a half-hour before the store was set to open today at noon. He took some photos of the enormous line gathered around the block. They allowed him inside to grab some shots of the store prior to the madness that would soon envelop it.

Check out the rest of the Flickr set here.

Sources: metro Tags: h&m, h&m vancouver, vancouver, fashion, store, opening, pacific centre

This store has been a major pet peeve of ours. We moved to North Vancouver about a year and a half ago, and thought very little of the Sleepers store on 3rd & Lonsdale and it’s Store Closing signs. Sucks, but stores close all the time.

But that was a year and a half ago. And the signs are still there. Since they are not nice signs, even, and they are this glaring yellow, it’s beyond annoying. I would never will a store to close, but if they are not going to close, could they please take down those damn signs?

This incident is just about as bad as the store where we bought our sofa. It had a "sale" sign so big that it was one letter per window. And their "sale" was on for at least a year.

Some basic business lessons to learn from this:

• You are not on sale if the sale is on every day for more than a year
• You are not closing if you stay open for at least a year and a half past since when you put up the signs

Both practices are misleading and dishonest. And really really annoying.

Tags: sleepers, marketing, misleading marketing, business, business practices, sale, sales

The b5media Entertainment Channel, where I’m Editor, is alive with contests! Check out some of these great opportunities to win everything from DVDs to Books to Purses!

• Comedy Centric – Like Larry? Blue Collar Comedy Up for Grabs
• Disney Society – Win a High School Musical 1 and 2 DVD at Disney Society
• Film Gecko – DVD Giveaway: Sweeney Todd
• Film Gecko – DVD Giveaway: "Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection"
• Film Gecko – DVD Giveaway: "Gumby: The Movie"
• Film Gecko – DVD Giveaway: Cloverfield
• Gilmore Girls News – Gilmore Girls Glam: Win a Butler Bag, Sleepover Gear or Couture!
• Medium Dreams – Are You a Closet TV Producer? Win a Subscription to The Nerve
• MTV Reality World – Win “A Shot at Love” Season 1 On DVD
• Prison Break Buff – Win an Autographed Copy of “Slip and Fall”
• Showtime Fan – Showtimefan contest: Win Season 1 of Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union on DVD
• Superhero Profiles – "Smallville 6: The Official Companion" book giveaway

I also have four other contests running on my other b5media sites I wanted to share:

• Lohan Groupie – Win Diamonds, Couture or a DVD
• Cooking Gadgets – Win Yum Yum Dishes
• Mischa News – Win Couture, Learn to Dance or DVD
• Hilary News – Win Couture, a Purse or Sleepover Gear

Tags: contest, contests, entertainment, win, giveaway, giveaways, sweepstakes, b5media

I couldn’t resist posting these. Gijs Gieskes has taken the “gameboy looks like a brick” concept a lot further and created gamebox bricks. The same size as a standard brick (and as the gameboy), these bricks are made with a custom mould. They come in natural brick color, though you could paint it yourself.

Via interior design room Tags: gameboy bricks, bricks, gameboy, design, funny

Tree #1 – the world’s most expensive tree, at $1 million. Soo Kee Jewelry built this Christmas tree with 21,798 diamonds (913 carats), 3,762 crystal beads and 456 lights.

Tree #2 – the John Lewis upside down tree is actually smart (though odd) as it saves a good deal of space. You can place more gifts around the tree with no branches in the way.

I’ve seen a lot of ugly Christmas trees. Red ones and white ones and blue ones and tattered ugly ones. But these ones have a unique ‘charm’ all their own.

Via lussorian & swissmiss Tags: christmas, christmas tree, expensive, upside down tree, ornament, decoration, holidays

This tinsel tape is advertised for use on parcels – a little extra splash of festivity during the Holidays. But I say, why stop there? Use it on your gifts too in place of ribbon!

Via product dose Tags: tinsel tape, holidays, christmas, wrapping, tinsel, ribbon

What time is it? Time to not care! Whatever Wall Clock from Wrapables.

Tags: whatever, whatever clock, clock

The HomeDepot newsletter today had a great pet-lovers product feature. The Waterdog Automatic Outdoor Pet Drinking Fountain from Contech Electronics. Simply attach to an outdoor faucet and adjust to the height of your dog. WaterDog’s sonar proximity sensors will turn the water on when your dog is near, so there is always fresh cold water to drink.

Tags: pets, dogs, waterdog, waterdog fountain, dog, automatic drinking fountain, outdoor pets