Trending this week

NOSTALGIA APPS

WITH so many technological advantages at our fingertips, it's easy to forget the simpler pleasures of an analogue age. No wonder some of us are beginning to feel a little sentimental. Nostalgic apps are helping to remind us what we loved so much about the good old days: iZotope adds the crackle and hiss of old vinyl to MP3s, and Hipstamatic puts a lo-fi filter over digital photos, so they look as though they've been taken with a pre-digital camera. Finally, apps for traditionalists.

MIND MINIBAR

IMAGINE a hotel stay that would quench your thirst for knowledge, providing the guest with inspiration and ideas. This will soon be a reality through Morgans Hotel Group, after the luxury UK chain joined forces with the School of Life, which runs programmes aimed at increasing personal fulfilment. The first products of the collaboration will be a box of 250 cards featuring questions, quotations and provocations and reading prescriptions to aid "relaxation or seduction".

www.morganshotelgroup.com

SCENT OF MONEY

EVEN if you aren't a millionaire, you can at least smell like one. A new fragrance by perfumier Patrick McCarthy, entitled simply Money, has been created to smell just like the real thing. The scent was inspired by a Japanese study that found the smell of bank notes made us work more efficiently. It is already a sell-out in the US and will soon be coming to our shores. It's one way to make money out of the economic crisis.

20, www.liquidmoney.com

CUSTOMISED SHOPPING

MOST of us have been stumped for gift ideas at one point or another. But shopping for our nearest and dearest just got a whole lot easier with the launch of 15gifts.com, which takes the guesswork – and the legwork – out of giving. The search engine grows to understand personality traits, likes and dislikes and applies that thinking technology to ensure we find the best gifts for even the most fussy friends and family. Simply indicate whether the gift is for a man, a woman or a couple, then select their age range and relationship to the giver, among other details. Once they've settled on a winning idea, 15gifts links the user to its seller for purchase.

www.15gifts.com

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 27 February, 2011