How do you keep nearly 8 million workers in constant fear of losing their jobs without actually threatening to lay off any of them? Just assure them that if they're accused of stealing at your store, they'll never work in retail again -- ever.

 

Note the wording of that last sentence and let that sink in a second: Accused of stealing. As The New York Times reports, an employee doesn't have to take a dime while working in stores like Target (TGT), Rite Aid (RAD), CVS (CVS), Family Dollar (FDO) and others in First Advantage Corp.'s Esteem database. Just a vague hint on the employee's electronic record showing that he or she had merchandise go missing during a shift or a poorly phrased written statement submitted after a sit-down with store security officers could permanently tar an employee's record.

 

Finally, something has gone right for NBC.

The Comcast (CMCSA)-owned network has finally reached late-night nirvana. As The New York Times' Bill Carter predicted on March 21, Jimmy Fallon will replace Jay Leno as the host of the long-running "Tonight" show in 2014. It is the exact scenario that NBC "categorically denied" was in the works when it was suggested by the Hollywood Reporter in early March.

If you read Carter's story posted online Wednesday, it's as if the last few weeks never happened. Leno is quoted saying he wasn't shoved aside, unlike the 2010 coup, and that "the main difference between this and the other time is I’m part of the process." Fallon added, “I have nothing but respect for Jay. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have a show to be taking over."

 

Updated 8:05 p.m. ET

Gun control votes and packed gun stores are pretty predictable pairings these days. Nowhere was that more evident this week than in Connecticut, where state lawmakers approved a sweeping bill Wednesday.

One gun store told NBC News that business jumped five-fold ahead of the vote. One shopper said people were snapping up "anything semi-automatic." 

The auto industry would love more months like March. It was the best month for auto sales in the U.S. since 2007 -- thanks in part to a pickup in the sale of pickup trucks. General Motors (GM), Ford (F) and Chrysler sold nearly 155,000 pickups in the month, a jump of 14% from March 2012, the Associated Press reported.

The New York Times quoted industry statistics that say overall, 1.45 million vehicles were sold in March, a 3.4% rise over the same time last year.

"Even though consumer confidence has been up and down this year, there are 'wealth effects' that are making Americans feel comfortable finally buying new cars they've been waiting for," Lacey Plache, an economist with Edmunds.com, told the newspaper.

Sales were good for all of the Detroit Three carmakers.

 

Know that health care plan you just signed up for? Don't get too attached.

 

The Affordable Care Act mandate most commonly known as Obamacare has some tight stipulations that, CNN says, are forcing health care companies to rip up most of their current plans and draft new ones that comply. According to a University of Chicago study, just about half of the individual health care plans currently on the market won't cut it once key provisions of the Affordable Care Act kick in next year.

 

A handful of existing plans will be grandfathered in if members have been enrolled in the plan since before the ACA passed in 2010, and the plan has maintained steady co-pay, deductible and coverage rates. But plans that don't match that description are just going to flat-out disappear in 2014 when rules requiring enhanced coverage go into effect.

 

Bitcoin, an alternative currency that doesn't exist physically, has become the talk of the financial world recently as people lose faith in the euro and other traditional currencies.

The idea of Bitcoin is tough to grasp. Bloomberg Businessweek calls it an "anarchist crypto-currency." Essentially, Bitcoins are virtual money you can use to buy things online.

You can create a Bitcoin by "mining" it online. It takes some fairly advanced algorithmic computations on your computer to do it, so most people don't get Bitcoins that way anymore. It's much easier to buy them on sites like Mt.Gox.

You can spend Bitcoins on sites like PizzaForCoins, which will take your Bitcoin payment and then place your pizza order with Domino's Pizza (DPZ) or Yum Brands' (YUM) Pizza Hut. A large, hand-tossed pizza from Pizza Hut costs about 0.1227 Bitcoins. 

Apple (AAPL) has two new iPhones set to debut this year as it tries to win back lost ground from Google's (GOOG) Android operating system.

According to The Wall Street Journal, production on one of the iPhones is set to start in the second quarter, leaving open the possibility of a summer launch. It's being described as a "refreshed" iPhone similar in size and shape to existing models. Apple also is trying to build a cheaper, smaller iPhone that may be launched in the second half, according to the newspaper.

For Apple investors, who have seen their shares tumble almost 19% this year, these devices don't sound like anything to get excited about. If they have some feature that would knock the socks off the Apple fan base, someone at the Cupertino, Calif., company would have made sure The Journal knew about it.  

Some Americans take their bacon very seriously. 

That's a lesson Procter & Gamble (PG) learned the hard way after an April Fool's prank went awry. The gist of the joke was that the consumer-products giant was planning a new product called "Scope Bacon," a mouthwash boasting smoked-meat flavor.

On its Facebook page, Scope even included mock-ups of an advertising campaign, including taglines such as "Taste breakfast while washing it away" and "Indulge your meat tooth."

But Procter & Gamble made two big missteps with its gag. 

First, it started the joke on March 28, not exactly the most obvious day for an April Fool's Day prank, given that the tradition is, well, always observed on April 1.