The system today works in much the same way as it did when Cecil Rhodes first hatched his plans for a diamond empire a century ago.

ECONOMIST: THE DIAMOND BUSINESS

But one of those banks plans to issue a new credit card next week called Diamond.

NPR: Foreign Bank To Issue Diamond-Inlaid Credit Card

Diamond Multimedia, a consumer-electronics firm, has already announced plans to build tablet-like web-browsing devices using Crusoe chips.

ECONOMIST: Transmetamorphosis

He plans to cut a series of concentric circles into the surface of a piece of diamond, a material with one of the highest refractive indices known.

ECONOMIST: A way to detect Earth-sized planets around other stars