Money makes the world go round, and as such, people will do anything to get it, even if it means degrading themselves to the point where they’re on a VH1 reality show. If you’re one of those who’d make a deal with Mephistopheles for the promise of a few extra bucks, then the new site GreedyPeople.com is for you. The daring for dollars website prompts users to declare what they’ll do for major (and not so major) loot. Challenge others to complete feats of strength and/or stupidity all in the name of cold hard cash. Once a task has been completed and evidence is displayed, that sweet, sweet, scratch reward goes to the greedmonger who may have gone to Tajikistan to build a treehouse or ran onto the football field and mooned a crowd during the national anthem. How much would you pay us to do either of those things?

via Thrillist

I’ve had a mild obsession over piggy banks lately. Being without a car, I don’t have an unused cigarette tray to throw in my extra change, and my coins usually wind up on the dinner table or stuck to my leg when I get up from the floor. Enter Imaginarium’s Kidult designer toy-inspired coin banks (type in “Kidult” in the “Busca” box). They’re on the cute side, as befits the genre, but I’m drawn to their practicality: round like a fat pig belly to hold a lot of coins, large so there will be a guaranteed payoff at the end, and it looks good on my shelf next to my other toys and porcelain containers. As a successful businessman once told me, you gotta spend money to earn money.

Wallets have a habit of getting filled up with a year’s worth of receipts that make your pants look as though you’re attempting to “compensate for something down there.” If being conspicuous about the location of your funds has more appeal than giving a false impression about your groin to the ladies, perhaps the Money Band is for you. We know it’s a rubber band, but this is not your everyday office supply. The Money Band is sized half-an-inch shorter and a little wider than your average band to fit perfectly around cards and bills, proving when it comes to where you keep your cash, size matters.

[ED NOTE: We want to hear from you. Is this true design innovation or just clever marketing?]

Once upon a time, Barry and Levon had $240, and that bought…a lot of puddin’. But, what if they had $600? That would just be too ridiculous to comprehend. How I Spent My Stimulus takes a look at what Americans are blowing Bush’s $152 billion economic stimulus package on (note to our international readers: click here to learn more). From carabiners to train tickets, an extra few hundred dollars in the average taxpayer’s pocket opens up a whole new world of conspicuous consumption. So send in your pic or video of 600 lbs of dog food, three nights at a Westin Hotel, or, gasp, 150 gallons of gasoline. When the money is free, there’s no wrong answer.

There’s some venture capitalists who’re ready, willing and able to throw their money at whatever crackpot idea that comes their way. Then, there’s the kids with the crackpot ideas who think it’s okay to pitch anyone, anywhere, anytime for their money. As a result, you have a giant freakin’ mess of bad manners, products and attitudes. Nobody is more aware of this than entrepreneurs Andrew Hyde of StartupWeekend and Matt Emmi from OneButtonTouch. Hearing one too many bad pitches (and a rather unfortunate incident in a bar) at the StartupWeekend in Bloomington, Hyde and Emmi figured they could develop, in entirety, a company from start to finish on a single plane ride. After a game of rock, paper, scissors, the two to fleshed out the idea, built it on WordPress and voila, VC Wear was born. Each shirt comes at a price that only a venture capitalist could afford love — $100 a piece — and the option’s open to whomever’s ready to buy the company for a sweet $100K. Ladies and Gentlemen, Get your Amex Black cards ready!

Despite our past mixed feelings on the success of the (red) campaign, we've remained supportive of its effect on the proliferation awesome artistic collaborations and solo efforts as a means of raising money for a good cause. This time around we're positively psyched for their latest undertaking. The (red) campaign has called upon some of the art world's most preeminent persons to conjure up some of their best creations for a charity auction aptly named (Auction) Red. Luminaries like Damien Hirst, Banksy, and Jeff Koons are amongst the big names involved in this event that will donate proceeds to the United Nations Foundation to Support HIV/Aids Relief Programs in Africa. If you want to catch a sneak peak of these picturesque pieces before they wind up in the home of someone who can afford them, we recommend heading down to New York's Gagosian Galleryfrom February 4th through 13th. If you find that you fancy one of these fine whether or not you can afford on, the auction will be held at Sotheby's in New York, on the (red)dest day of all, Valentine's Day.

If your New Year's resolution involves saving money, but the prospect of opening a savings account doesn't sound at all appealing; perhaps you just need to start small. May we suggest a piggy bank? Ah yes, remember when you were a child putting away all of your pennies for a rainy day so that one day you could purchase that yo-yo you had your eye on? Well, now you can relive those days and channel your inner child with Urban TrendHK's Hungry Bank. This adorable oinker has a motion sensor that activates the mouth to chew any size coin until it is swallowed. It even makes piggy noises as it puts away your pesos into its potbelly — so go ahead quarantine your quarters for the next bout of inclement weather or whenever your rent is due.

Among my contemporaries, there seems to reside a belief that it is hard to make a good thing happen; good ideas exist by the bucketful, but the initiative to turn those ideas into something graspable exists in far smaller quantities. This is why most people hover over coffee tables with good friends and talk about doing good things… then promptly forget about it. The ideas are there, the passion is there, but the initiative…well, the initiative takes a little bit of its own initiative.

Assuming the initiative is found, the next step calls for action, which then calls, more often than not, for money — which there isn't very much of, it seems (and which, incidentally enough, may be very root of the initial lack of initiative). Here's where CrowdFunder comes in. Currently in beta, CrowdFunder is the creation of Dave Rogers and Joe Pezzillo, two Colorado entrepreneurs who wanted to help people help themselves and their communities. Read on to see how one little site may soon be re-writing the rules for big changes.

Joshspear.com: What are your personal backgrounds?

Joe Pezzillo: Dave was a publisher of The Onion in Colorado for a decade until Onion, Inc. bought them out. I worked at the secret Apple lab here in Boulder back in the 90's, and started one of the first and most popular Internet radio companies during Web 1.0. We both spent most of the last year with IV bags of espresso plugged into our arms as we worked on another startup that never made it over the verge of greatness… READ MORE…

Micro-lending has been in the news a lot lately, since Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in the field and wrote a book about it, called Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. I’m no expert, but the idea seems simple: people below poverty lines don’t just need more food rations dropped from helicopters; they need a way to produce and buy food for themselves. Micro-loans are small amounts of money given to burgeoning entrepreneurs in developing countries to help them start or expand successful businesses. A successful business — in theory at least — being the end of that individual’s poverty and the start of a viable economy in his or her area. It’s a way to circumvent the often bureaucratic and ineffective foreign aid packages that most developed nations favor and to help poor people directly.

Now here’s where Kiva.org comes in. Kiva takes the micro-lending idea and combines it with the democratizing power of the internet to allow you (or me, or the guy reading this over your shoulder) to connect with entrepreneurs in the third world and give them a loan. You can search Kiva’s website to find a businessman or woman that you want to support, and, as time goes by, you can see the impact that your loan has made on your business partner’s life. Your $25 might do more than buy food for a week. It could supply someone with a lifelong profession. Learn more about Kiva in the New York Times, Newsweek (last item) and NPR.

–Dan Steckenberg

A few years ago when Discover introduced their mini credit card that was meant to be attached to your key chain and flipped out at the register, I yawned. When American Express recently unveiled their Butterfly card, I was mildly interested. What really has me excited though, is the new card designed by Roger Arquer. It combined a money clip with a credit card so you can carry your cash and plastic in one simple package. A year ago, I moved away from the bulky, carry-it-all wallet, and on to a minimalistic approach (mostly with the help of M-A-K-R). Just a concept at this point, I hope this card makes it into production soon!

Via SciFi.com

I believe that everyone is an expert in at least one subject. The common problem is that it’s not always easy to leverage your knowledge in the form of advice and make money from it. Well that problem is all but extinct now thanks to this brand new service called Ether, which makes it easy to sell what you say. When you sign up for Ether, you get a free Ether Phone Number that you configure to forward calls to your actual home or cell phone. You then set your rate, which can be on an hourly basis or flat fee. Next, you set the hours that you are willing to take calls, so you don’t get a call in the middle of the night. The great thing about Ether is that you can put your Ether Phone Number anywhere – on your website, business card, blog, whatever! Ether’s commission for Beta sign-ups is currently 10% and there are no setup, connection, or monthly fees. Sign up now and start makin that money.

I know this made the circuit a while ago, but the incredible “Concierge Service Club”: quintessentially, has recently opened an L.A. office, and now hosts a weekly party at Hollywood Roosevelt’s Tropicana Bar for members only. They seem to be heading towards serious domination in the concierge scene– which I know is very competitive.. You’ll never hear the words “Sold Out”, again. Quintessentially is a service that can arrange anything for it’s members; whether it be a private jet, a flock of ostriches for a last minute party, or front row tickets to a sold out U2 Concert. It’s a card for “people who have a lot of money, and not a lot of time”. Or simply, people who have a lot of money, and like the turn key feel of not needing to work. $1500 a year will get you a general concierge, $3500 and you get your personal staff member, from 9-5. Finally, $40,000 a year and you get a 24/7/365 assistant who boasts they can find you quintessentially, anything, anytime.