Lance Armstrong is stripped of titles and banned from cycling for life by international body.

Nissan joins hybrid parade.

Virgin's four-star hotels are coming to NYC.

AIG CEO defends company's "free lunch" to New York mag.

American Idol sees ad rates fall.

Ancestry.com agrees to $1.6-billion takeover deal.

Apple creates buzz with plans for smaller iPad as school sales buoy its tablet lead.

BP sells entire Russian stake to Rosneft.

Banana Republic plans to bring back Mad Men collection.Continue reading...

Academy Awards aims to capture TV/Twitter audience.

Adidas invites fans to name matchball at London 2012 Olympics.

Aldi takes a bite out of the Big Apple. 

Apple may bring out new Macbook Pro line this week.

BBC scraps BBC America newscast, looks to expand US distribution for BBC World  News channel.

BMW to unveil new model.Continue reading...

Films with brands in their names are a curious group. Some use the brand to tell the audience a little about what the movie is about. Other titles use brand names because those names are iconic. Others still seem to do it just for the hell of it. Above, a trailer for the latest such film, Electra Luxx — a play, of course, on Electrolux.

Below, a two decades old movie with a brand name that Electra Luxx most reminds us of. Plus, a collection of some of the greatest "name brand" movies of all time.Continue reading...

Electrolux is hoisting itself on its own petard. A leader in the manufacture of plastic appliances is leading a charge to green up and clean up our oceans in an initiative dubbed "Vac from the Sea."

The preeminent vacuum cleaner brand is pulling out all the bottle stops to draw attention to the global need for recycled plastics to spur sustainable appliances. That's why they're now making vacuum cleaners from plastic litter on global ocean floors.Continue reading...

Adidas 2010 FIFA World Cup giant live-in Jabulani soccer ball stunt in Australia assailed for not being green enough. Watch Adam Santarossa, aka the man in the ball, above.

GE sends giant wind turbine blade to Washington, D.C. to rally support for clean energy and smart grid technology. GE also allocated an additional $10 billion for its Ecomagination initiative.

Does Tesla's successful IPO today bode well for green cars' growth?Continue reading...