Twitter, the popular micro-blogging platform, is loaded with pointless messages rather than vital information, according to a new study. Pear Analytics, a San Antonio-based marketing firm, began its study based on the hypothesis that Twitter is "used predominantly for self-promotion." While the site reaches an estimated 27 million people per month in the United States, data shows only 27% of users are on regularly. In fact, Quantcast.com research claims only 1% of users contribute to over 35% of all traffic.

Looking at the kinds of data being created, Pear Analytics grouped messages, or "tweets" into several categories including news (from sources like AHN), spam (from adult websites and other marketing scams), self-promotion, conversation and "pointless babble" (these are the "I am eating a sandwich now" tweets).

Gisele's baby bump was airbrushed out of her latest advertising campaign. The Brazilian supermodel has so far refused to confirm reports she and her American footballer husband Tom Brady are expecting their first child together but coat company London Fog say they digitally flattened her stomach to "respect her privacy" during her pregnancy.

London Fog's Chief Marketing Officer Dari Marder said: "Although Gisele was photographed while pregnant, most of the shots have been retouched to respect her privacy during this wonderful and personal time in her life."

A Colorado company is selling caskets made from banana sheaves, bamboo or pandanus that decomposes together with the body as a way of promoting ecologically-friendly burials.

The so-called Ecoffin, short for eco-friendly coffins, of Ecoffins USA takes six months to two years to biodegrade. The company's marketing director, Joanna Passarelli, said the Ecoffins is better for the environment than cremating bodies, according to Foxnews.com.

Jon Lech Johansen, known more widely as DVD Jon, has pulled off a real-life hack on Apple as he bought a huge advertisement space on the wall outside the Apple Store in San Francisco.

The marketing banner placed directly next to the main entrance to Apple's flagship store is about doubleTwist that gives "The Cure for iPhone Envy". The company aims to become a default application for all hardware devices.

After stores in London pulled Red Bull from its shelves and Taiwanese authorities confiscated close to 18,000 cases of the popular energy drink, Hong Kong officials say they found traces of cocaine in samples of "Red Bull Cola," "Red Bull Sugar-free" and "Red Bull Energy Drink."

Officials at the Center for Food Safety said a laboratory analysis found tiny amounts, between 0.1 and 0.3 micrograms of the illegal drug per liter, and as a result the drink has now been taken off the shelves of major supermarkets.