iCatching: Air travel trends and...

- Don't think that engine's falling off planes is restricted to domestic South African flights only. Turns out a Southwest engine managed to 'blow-up' mid-flight in the US on November the 17th - just 10 days after the Cape Town incident. [Cue Twilight-zone theme tune]. See: Consumerist

- The anti-consumerism drive is hitting Christmas hard. Like Hummers and battery chicken eggs, traditional, lavish gift giving is developing into a big no-no. Enter Changing the Present - a clever site which allows you to give the gift of donation this festive season. Hell Oprah's endorsed the thing so it's way past being fringe. See: Changingthepresent.org

- Dubai gets it. Instead of just building more structures - they're creating massive drawcards disguised as new apartment blocks. Check at this thing, called The Pad. It's being hailed as "the first cybertecture apartment building in the world." It has:

...real-time projection feeds [let you] change your outside view...projecting the Caribbean or New York skyline onto your windows....

Bathrooms fitted with equipment that [monitors] your temperature, weight and blood pressure....

...have dinner with loved ones from across the globe via a video conferencing link projected into your dining room...

Rotating living and dining rooms giving you 360-degree views of Dubai...

...reactive lighting that responds to incoming phone calls and the residents' moods...

The Pad is scheduled to be finished in late 2009. [via Core77]