Delete That Fruitcake

published 1 February 2011

As you wrap up another year of gift returns and exchanges, contemplate a patent that was granted last November to Amazon, the online superstore. The invention? Technology that automatically trades gifts you've indicated that you don't want for gifts (or a gift certificate) that you do. You could block everything you receive from Aunt Mildred, say (she wouldn't have to know), or convert books about healthy living to something more decadent on your wish list. No word from Amazon if or when the gift converter is scheduled to go live.

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Anne Kates Smith brings Wall Street to Main Street, with decades of experience covering investments and personal finance for real people trying to navigate fast-changing markets, preserve financial security or plan for the future. She oversees the magazine's investing coverage, authors Kiplinger’s biannual stock-market outlooks and writes the "Your Mind and Your Money" column, a take on behavioral finance and how investors can get out of their own way. Smith began her journalism career as a writer and columnist for USA Today. Prior to joining Kiplinger, she was a senior editor at U.S. News & World Report and a contributing columnist for TheStreet. Smith is a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., the third-oldest college in America.