Ikea will use an MIT project to set wages in its stores across the U.S.

In which Ikea reveals it knows way too much about us.

The Swedish furniture maker Ikea increasingly relies on CGI -- computer-generated imagery -- to "make" the items in its catalog. It's enough to raise the question of whether computer graphics could ever replace people in the fashion photography business.

IKEA says it regrets a decision to airbrush women out of its Saudi Arabian catalogs. The images included one of a mom in her p.j.s, standing at the bathroom sink with her young son.

There's no way IKEA furniture is this easy.

Despite the global downturn, and more recently, the European debt crisis, IKEA has continued to thrive as a global business.