Apple launches Mountain Lion OS and fires pre-trial salvo including $2.5 billion damage claim at Samsung while reporting cooling iPhone sales soft earnings report.

New York Yankees look to leverage Ichiro Suzuki's personal brand.

Skype founders break up as eavesdropping concerns arise.

American Airlines ready to evaluate merger possibilities.

Ann Taylor brings back Kate Hudson for fall campaign.

Canon cuts full-year outlook.

Caterpillar begins to wear down some unionists in strike.Continue reading...

Barbie, Mattel’s iconic model of curvaceous, blonde female beauty will very soon be bald. Next year, Barbie's world of dream houses, beauty salons and fancy cars will include chemotherapy.

A Facebook campaign titled "Beautiful and Bald Barbie" initiated by Jane Bingham, a young survivor of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, asked Mattel to create a doll for kids who have lost their hair due to cancer or other medical reasons.

"One of the major reasons was to reduce the stigma for women and children who have hair loss — being not accepted to be able to go out in public without something covering their head, whether it be a wig or a scarf or that sort of thing," Bingham says. "Their beauty and their self-worth is not dependent upon their hair."

Mattel's initial response was cool: “Mattel doesn’t accept ideas from outside sources.” But after the campaign drew 158,000 likes and fans on social media recalled other Mattel initiatives like Tattoo Barbie, the toymaker relented, announcing the creation of the new (Friend of) Barbie doll by 2013. The toy comes accessorized with wigs, hats and scarves "to provide girls with a traditional fashion play experience" said Mattel spokesman Alan Hilowitz. Continue reading...

Brooklyn artist and photographer Bernard Belair has been creating images of “physically distorted women” since the 1990s, Boing Boing reports, and he registered his design late in that decade after his big-headed female characters were used in a Steven Madden ad in Seventeen magazine. 

That particular ad went on to inspire sculptor Margaret Leahy to create what we all now know as the Bratz dolls, a line of dolls that has created much controversy for wearing such things as fishnet stockings, feather boas, and miniskirts while also sporting absolutely impossible body proportions while being marketed to girls between the ages of 4-8.

The success of the MGA Entertainment Inc.-owned Bratz brand through the sale of the dolls and all of the many extensions it has inspired (videos, clothing, makeup, babies) has left Belair steaming, so he filed suit in October 2009 because, after all, it was his original artistic vision that had inspired (and unleashed) the Bratz phenom to begin with.

However, a New York federal court has disagreed with Belair and chucked the case, Boing Boing reports.Continue reading...

Breaking: There is a new Microsoft Excel champion, British teen Rebecca Rickwood. And yes, there is a Microsoft Excel "championship."

TV product placement-spotting: Betty White hypes Skype for iPad in TVLand's Hot in Cleveland; while over on NBC, Chuck product places Bing in... Chuck.Continue reading...

After years of litigation between MGA and Mattel, with Barbie-maker Mattel charging copyright violation over the latter's Bratz line of dolls with a former employee, a court has finally found Mattel to be in the wrong.

The corporate espionage case has been brutal, with Mattel winning itself no sympathies with ad hominem attacks, referring to MGA as a "mediocre toy company."

On the (high) heels of news that it will be slammed by a $88 million court decision against it, Mattel is looking to positive areas, including playing nice with the environment with a new green initiative that was announced for Earth Day.Continue reading...

Airbus says Mideast unrest could wipe out up to 40% of orders.

Alfa Romeo delays planned return to US.

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion plots a rebound.

BP flounders in Russia.

CBS prepares to part ways with Katie Couric, as Couric and Matt Lauer explore reteaming for a daytime syndicated talk show.

Charlie Sheen gets two standing ovations in NYC Sunday after bombing Friday.

Christian Louboutin sues Yves Saint Laurent for allegedly violating trademark red sole.Continue reading...

Al Jazeera plays 'galvanizing' role in Middle East, as Egypt blocks web and messaging as unrest escalates, and WikiLeaks releases US/Egyptian cables.

Amazon grows at the cost of profits; announces winners of first script contest.

Borders seeks possible bankruptcy financing.

BP spill claims in the thousands challenged as fraudulent.

Caterpillar beats analyst estimates on China sales.

Bratz/Mattel trial is underway in Los Angeles.Continue reading...

AIG agrees to $2.2B sale of Taiwan unit.

AMD’s ouster of CEO Dirk Meyer attributed to mobile strategy.

Airbus lines up biggest order ever, boosting A320 upgrade.

Ann Taylor selects actress Katie Holmes as its new “face.”

Apple and Verizon deal (which "took years" to reach) sparks iPhone users to mull switching from AT&T.

BYD rises as Warren Buffett’s pick in the Chinese auto derby.Continue reading...