What a difference a year makes. Or 34 years. Take your pick. Either way, it's a loss for Detroit and the surrounding area.

The Pontiac Silverdome was sold this week at auction for $583,000, or about 1% of the $55.7 million it took to build it in 1975, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

The sale was halted Wednesday when a judge ordered an injunction to stop it after a complaint was filed by developer H. Wallace Parker, who claims he had an agreement with the city to buy it, according to Crain's Detroit Business.

In the world of advertising, the Tropicana disaster of 2008-09 is already legendary.

The orange juice container redesign by controversial brand guru Peter Arnell eliminated the familiar straw-in-an-orange image in favor of a photo of a glass of OJ. This killed the brand recognition developed over many years, resulting in a 20% drop in sales and the loss of millions of dollars within two months. Tropicana beat a hasty retreat to the old design.

Now, according to Advertising Age, Coca-Cola is taking a similar risky step, re-branding its Minute Maid line of juices. The company wants to eventually harmonize the images surrounding the brand and the others it owns, including Del Valle, Andina and Cappy.

The new orange juice design features whole oranges, slices, and leaves to suggest the groves from which it comes. As you'll see from the pictures above, the new packaging has more green, and the blue is gone. I like it.

Looking back at my childhood during the 1990s, I now realize that the Internet and I have a pretty good relationship – we grew up together.

As trite as this may sound, the Internet targeted everyone, but more specifically generation Y. I remember rushing home from school to plug the modem into the phone jack, creating a dead line that blocked all incoming phone calls, all to get connected to the Internet.

I lived for that free flow of information and connectivity to the world outside of my enclosed bedroom. That AOL voice that said 'Welcome' opened the doors to a central nucleus in which I was granted access to everyone from around the world at my fingertips.

The good thing was that it was all free. Even as a child, I understood that these "free" Web sites made money from those pop-up and banner ads that appeared everywhere. I knew that I was being targeted by outside companies, but I understood the value of the Internet, and continued to log on and participate.

The Federal Reserve this week proposed rules that would protect gift-card users from exorbitant fees and other restrictions. A move aimed at protecting the 95% of Americans the Fed says use them.

"Concerns have been raised regarding the amount of fees associated with gift cards, the expiration dates of gift cards and the adequacy of disclosures," the Fed said. "Consumers who do not use the value of the card within a short period of time may be surprised to find that the card has expired or that dormancy or service fees have reduced the value of the card."

We've heard of sticky advertising campaigns before -- those that try to get you to stay transfixed on an ad for just a little longer -- but Coca-Cola has taken the concept to a whole new level. To generate buzz for its new "grip bottle" packaging, the soft drink giant has unveiled giant posters made of Velcro in bus stations throughout Paris.

Designed to create an interactive experience with consumers, the Velcro ads are instead like a spider's web awaiting unsuspecting commuters.

Dodgeball: perhaps no grade school sport is infused with more cringing memories and dark humor.

And the story of 12-year-old Shane Reese surely has both elements, along with a little "what were they thinking?" and could spell doom for the activity's future in New York schools.

The boy's been offered $20,000 by the Bronx school district thanks to an accidental ball in the teeth. A judge will decide if that's enough.

Let's take you back to Dec. 22, 2008, at Intermediate School 219 in the Bronx, N.Y. It was a rainy day and really close to Christmas -- the Bronx school district doesn't let out for winter break until Dec. 24 -- so many teachers had already taken off for the holiday. What to do with 100 students cooped up and buzzing over the upcoming holidays? A friendly game of dodgeball, of course!

Off to the school gym they went, where it was extremely crowded and none of the traditional soft rubber balls were to be found. No matter: plenty of soccer balls were rolling around the equipment room. Those will work, right? (Ouch.)

When I rent movies, do I devour the DVD extras? Sure, lots of times the audio commentary is just a track of actors and directors waxing important and mostly ignoring the images on the screen, but they can still be dishy and insidery, and for my favorite movies, they can almost make purchasing the DVD worth the money.

Disney DVD knows there are lots of fans like me. For years, it has released its biggest titles in a variety of volumes. There's often a simple one-disc version for people who just want to see the movie without any extras, and maybe a two-disc version loaded up with more outtakes and mini-documentaries.

Travel may be down in this economy, but there's one area where business is booming: discount booking sites. With travel providers desperate to unload unused rooms and tickets, it seems like the only sectors of the travel industry that are exploding are the ones previously seen as a last resort by the industry.

Priceline.com reported that bookings through its site, which offers steep discounts on hotel rooms and other travel products, are at their best levels in nine years. Hotwire.com, which is owned by Expedia, reports a similar boost in revenue. The Hotwire Group's sales over 12 months have exceeded $250 million for the first time, and reps told WalletPop that compared to last year, hotel bookings in the biggest markets (meaning the most popular travelers' cities) are up between 20% and 30%.

These days it take a lot lot of business savvy to get noticed in the music world. But of course, ultimately you want to be able to focus on the craft of making music. In our ongoing look at how to make it in the music business today, WalletPop sat down with up-and-coming star Vicky Emerson to discuss how she created her own music business, and how important it is to balance creating music with managing your business.

Frustrated at the hardships indie artists face recording and promoting their own music, Emerson decided to try a different route. After being bombarded with fan e-mails and sometimes even letters offering financial assistance, the young Americana singer set up a series of CD Sponsorship Events around the country, raising $10,000 in four weeks to record and self-release her new album Long Ride. She continues to raise funds to promote her album through the intimate sponsorship parties. Emerson represents a growing trend in American music. If the desire for your product is strong enough, there's always a way to feed the public, especially if you're willing to take the jump.

In an October 2009 blog post, David Roodman, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development, had no idea he'd set a chain of events in motion that would rock the world of person-to-person lending. But that's exactly what happened when Roodman questioned how the popular non-profit charity, Kiva.org operates.

In the past, celebrities like Oprah Winfrey had extolled Kiva's virtues. But with one seemingly simple blog post, Roodman got donors and interested bystanders asking "where's all that money really going?"

When it comes to holidays, Veterans' Day really gets the short end of the stick. Wedged between the sugar shock of Halloween and the tryptophan coma of Thanksgiving, celebration of the eleventh day of the eleventh month usually involves department store sales and the occasional wreath at the local soldiers' monument. Needless to say, this is poor recompense for the men who, in the words of Allan Massie, "[make] it possible for civilized folk to despise war."

This year, however, Maid Brigade, an Atlanta-based cleaning company, decided to show its appreciation for America's fighting men with the Veterans Franchise Giveaway, a contest that is designed to help soldiers make the transition from military life to the civilian world. The program, which I reported on in August, rewards its grand prize winner with a full Maid Brigade cleaning franchise, valued at $45,000. Second and third prize winners get similar packages, worth $27,500 and $17,000. Additionally, Maid Brigade waived its franchise fee for any qualified veterans who were interested in going into business with the company.

If you're a fan of the purse-leasing site Bag, Borrow or Steal (now called Avelle), you'll be thrilled to hear that two Harvard business school grads have just launched a company that extends high-end renting to your wardrobe, according to the New York Times. The service, called Rent the Runway, offers red-carpet brands like Catherine Malandrino and Lela Rose -- for fees that are as low as 1/10 of the retail price.

If the idea sounds fabulous to you, don't get too excited yet. The best you can do right now is join RTR's membership waiting list. Until you're accepted, you can't even browse the inventory -- and membership is far from guaranteed. RTR is working with a limited inventory and probably won't be able to accommodate, say, 10,000 members right off the bat -- especially hundreds of them are likely to clamor over the same latest Alexander Wang frock or Peter Som cardigan.

Sleepy in the morning but too rushed for a cup of coffee? How about caffeinating yourself as you shower? Here's our take on Shower Shock, the caffeine soap from thinkgeek.com.

Recently nearly $2 million in grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation were awarded to nine research teams working on strengthening the evidence that playing games - video games that is - is good for your health.

The awards, which come from the Foundation's Health Games Research national program based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will be used to research how gaming supports the development and use of digital interactive games to improve players' health.