BlackBerry reports surprise profit after cutting expenses.

Twitter ad revenue projected to approach $1 billion next year as report says it agreed to allow censorship in Russia.

Chevron cuts executive compensation after string of accidents.

Belgium looks to EU for copyright protection of Belgian chocolate brand.

Best Western opens luxury hotel in Haiti, the first U.S. brand to break ground there. 

CBS could make TV Guide Network an "ESPN of celebrity gossip."

Comcast scores court victory in Philadelphia.

New Dentyne Ice campaign gets its message across with icy alphabet.

EADS gets backing of makeover plan by shareholders.Continue reading...

Disney acquires Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, plans to restart Star Wars franchise.

Apple sees executive refuse to apologize for mapping flaw, so he and retail chief are to depart as design head Jony Ive takes on bigger role and Apple shares slip post-shakeup.BP returns to profitability and raises dividend.

BP returns to profitability and raises dividend.

Activision goes big for CoD: Black Ops 2.

Aldi revamps as German consumers reject austerity.

Bayer acquires Schiff for $1.2 billion.

Burger King boosts marketing and makes demographic inroads.

Ford profits reflect North American gains and European woes.Continue reading...

Twitter releases Google-inspired transparency report, showing US in the lead for user data requests, as site loses NYC legal battle over privacy of user data.

Microsoft writes off $6.2 billion spent on aQuantive, "slows" Internet hopes.

AMC Networks stock rises on AT&T settlement.

Anderson Cooper, CNN's biggest star (finally, bullied?), comes out of the closet.

Apple loses bid to block HTC smartphones from the U.S.

Barclays scandal that cost chairman his title may spread as CEO remains "defiant."

Best Buy considers in-store competitor price-streaming.Continue reading...

It's tough being CNN. The brand that invented the 24-hour news cycle and which made its name covering the Iraq war and other crises has always had to find a way to drive tune-in when there isn't an OJ Simpson-on-the-lam or other breaking news story.

So if you're a CNN executive these or most other days, you're hoping — to yourself, at least — for another "drop everything and watch this" story to unfold somewhere in the world. Nothing really nasty, mind you; just something that will rivet viewers' attention on CNN the way they always do when something goes bad somewhere around the globe.

"The world still knows to turn to CNN whenever a crisis erupts," David Bohrman, the Current TV president who served as CNN's Washington bureau chief, commented to the Wall Street Journal. "That is the brand." And therein likes the rub.Continue reading...

While nowhere near as shocking as News Corp.'s surprise closure of News of the World, across the Atlantic CNN delivered its own shocker this week. Eliot Spitzer is out as CNN replaces his nine-month old In the Arena roundtable program that followed the demise of Parker Spitzer, and faithful Anderson Cooper regains his flagship positioning with Anderson Cooper 360 moving to 8 p.m. ET starting August 8th.

Spitzer's ouster isn't the only news. Additional changes to the CNN schedule include the shifting, in late September, for The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer from 5-7 p.m. to a late afternoon 4-6 p.m. slot; John King’s show will move to 6 p.m.; while Erin Burnett, recently hired from CNBC, will assume the 7 p.m. slot as the lead-in to Cooper.

The only prime-time show unaffected is Piers Morgan Tonight, the 9 p.m. interview show introduced six months ago to replace Larry King.Continue reading...

No yolk. Lady Gaga's arrival at the Grammy Awards in a plastic resin egg — themed to her new "Born This Way" single, which is already a best-seller and poised to put her on top this year — is destined to be the most memorable moment from the 2011 Grammys.

She was also profiled tonight on 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper. Watch her on-stage eggsit after the jump, with yet another new look in evidence — shoulder and forehead horns.Continue reading...

That whooshing sound you hear? It's the sound of the web wobbling as Lady Gaga's new single, Born This Way, spreads online today. The Vogue cover girl will be featured on 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper on Sunday — tied to her appearance at the Grammy Awards that night.

Apple iPhone pre-sales prompts Verizon to curtail users' bandwidth for video.

CNN ratings rise on Egypt coverage and attack on Anderson Cooper — one of numerous attacks on the press in Cairo.

Conde Nast-owned Reddit passes one billion pageviews (and rival Digg).

Facebook used to rally Syrians to Egyptian-like 'revolution.'

JPMorgan sued for allegedly warning UK officials about Madoff Ponzi scheme.

LinkedIn enables sorting members by skill and expertise.

LivingSocial looks to counter Groupon with pre-Super Bowl ad buy.Continue reading...