Hold that penne—Olive Garden is rebooting the brand-upgrading efforts that have been underway for a few years. The Darden Restaurants-owned chain intends to go more modern in future restaurant restylings than in the 350 or so Olive Gardens that have been made over in a Tuscan Farmhouse theme in the last few years.

Two years ago, Olive Garden executives seemed to be taking all of their inspiration from Tuscany, including sending their chefs to Tuscany, citing Tuscan-inspired dishes in its TV ads and implementing Tuscan architectural and decorating touches in a new style that the chain called Tuscan Farmhouse. It began remodeling about half of its more than 730 locations in that style, which includes a brick arch and newly planted cypress trees as well as Tuscan stone. Continue reading...

Apple joins Google in $500M+ bid for Kodak patents; smacked by USPTO as 'Steve Jobs Patent' for iPhones and iPads deemed invalid and Siri secrets revealed.

Diageo seen as unlikely to bid for Beam following UK report that drinks giant talked to Suntory about joint bid.

Barnes & Noble cuts Nook price from $99 to $79.

Michael Bloomberg weighs making bid for The Financial Times, which includes the paper and a half-interest in The Economist. 

Caribou Coffee celebrates 20th anniversary.

Carlos Slim brings Telcel brand to U.S. for Mexico calls.

CVS Caremark reportedly aims to acquire drug-store chain in Brazil.

Chili's begins soft rollout of new menu items.

Darden Restaurants looks to retool value proposition for its Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants.Continue reading...

Apple is poised to sell 10 million iPhones in smash debut but sparks backlash by unseating Google maps from its platform.

Adidas cuts Reebok revenue forecast.

Walmart drops Kindle in slap at Amazon, as Amazon Fresh makes grocers nervous.

BASF buys U.S. seed-technology company Becker Underwood.

BlackBerry hit by service outage across much of world in another setback for RIM smartphone brand.

BSkyB deemed fit to hold license by U.K.

CKE delays IPO of parent of Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands.Continue reading...

BP sells Gulf of Mexico oil fields for $5.5 billion to help pay for spill settlement while Petrobras seeks partner for development of its Gulf sites.

HP expands workforce reduction to 29,000 positions.

AIG will see U.S. slash its stake to become minority shareholder with $18 billion sell-off.

Apple cuts reliance on Samsung for iPhone chips as iPhone 5 mania and rumor mill heat up.

Audi threatens BMW's seven-year luxury auto crown.

Google charges retailers in growing competition with Amazon, as Google Fiber launch site takes off and Google Glasses hit the runway at New York Fashion Week.

NBC faces Paralympic TV deal scrutiny while the UK celebrates the end of the summer of the Olympics with London 2012 parade.Continue reading...

JPMorgan Chase reaches nearly $6 billion in losses on "whale trades" but posts multi-billion-dollar quarterly profit.

Digg, a social-media pioneer, sells for pittance and gains new CEO.

Richard Branson takes on Stephen Fry in new Virgin UK campaign.

Axe replaces bikini-clad women with Kiefer Sutherland in new spot.

Coca-Cola launches Hispanic campaign for Olympics and reintroduces controversial drink colors in Freestyle dispensing machines at UK Burger Kings.

Olive Garden owner Darden to buy Yard House for $585 million.

Facebook starts automating home-page ad buying and monitoring chats for criminal activity.Continue reading...