Business Facts

Nisan is working on having car interiors that feel like human skin!

Creepy or awesome? Nisan is reportedly trying to create a new material for car interiors that would feel like the skin on a human finger. What they've concluded is that the feeling of a hand touching you is one the most pleasant sensory experiences, so they're trying to replicate it.

No word on when it's going to happen, but apparently they're trying to replicate the feel down to warmth, texture and even moistness. How would you feel about sitting in a car that felt like thousands of little fingers touching you?

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The Big Mac had 2 failed names before a secretary coined its famous name!

The Big Mac was invented by Jim Delligatti, one of the earliest McDonald's franchisees, who operated in the Pittsburgh area. Delligatti's McDonald's kitchen in the Ross Township of suburban Pittsburg was the birthplace of the Big Mac in 1967.

The sandwich had 2 names before McDonald's settled on Big Mac. First, it was called 'Aristocrat,' which apparently was too difficult for costumers to pronounce. The second name was 'Blue Ribbon Burger,' but that failed to spark any meaningful sales.

Finally, Esther Glickstein Rose, a 21-year-old Advertising Secretary at MacDonald's Corporate HQ in the suburbs of Chicago coined the term Big Mac. That name stuck and it became the world's most famous fast food sandwich.

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An Italian bank takes Parmesan cheese as collateral!

If you're in the market for a bank loan in Italy, you can use cheese as your collateral. There's a special cheese bank that has state of the art security features to protect the 300,000 wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese stored in there.

Here's how this business works: Parmigiano-Reggiano takes a long time to properly age. Farmers have a hard time getting through tough times due to the long time between production and sale. This is where the bank comes in.

In exchange for a cheap loan, the bank will keep the farmers' wheels of cheese during the period where the wheel are just supposed to sit and age. This let's farmers run the rest of their business, make future sales, pay wages, while the cheese ages.

Read more about this interesting business model at the source.

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If you turn in a tax cheat, the IRS will give you at least 15% of what they collect!

Being a tattle-tale pays if we're talking about turning in tax cheaters to the IRS. It's no secret that the US tax system is complicated and messed up in more ways than one. The large amount of rules, regulations, exemptions and loopholes makes it easy for people to cheat by paying less than what they owe.

That's why, since 2006, the IRS instituted a new whistle-blower program to strengthen then one that has existed for years. If you are an informant in a tax cheating case, they will give you a minimum of 15%, and a maximum of 30% of the amount they collect!

There are some stipulations: The total amount disputed has to be at least $2 million, and if it's an individual, their income must exceed $200,000. Either way, it's a great incentive to keep people honest.

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Fiat trolled Volkswagen using Google Maps!

This is a great example of good corporate sense of humor (or dickery, depending on your point of view). Here's what happened: Google sent one of it's trademark Street View cars to take pictures in Sweden. When Fiat realized this, they decided to have some fun with it.

They sent a brand new Fiat 500 to trail the Google Street View car. It drove about 30 miles from Stockholm to park the car right in front of the Volkswagen headquarters in Sodertalje, Sweden.

If you search " Volkswagen Group Sverige AB, Sodertalje, Sweden," in Google Maps, you'll see the little Fiat car parked right under the Volkswagen sign.

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