Because there isn't already enough Angry Birds-themed merchandise in the world, Hasbro and Rovio's Angry Birds have signed a new expanded licensing agreement that will find new Birds gear hitting the market before year’s end.

Since the original Angry Birds mobile game launched in 2009, more than 12 million copies have been sold through Apple’s app store alone. That has led to Angry Birds-branded T-shirts, pillowcases, cake toppers, pet toys, skateboards, and, of course, Duck tape.

Rovio, the creator of the brand, began distributing a weekly animated cartoon series, Angry Birds Toons, in March and a full-length animated Angry Birds movie is expected to hit screens in the summer of 2016, according to a release.Continue reading...

Bangladesh plans to raise pay for garment workers and allow unions.

ABC veteran Barbara Walters announces 2014 retirement as Disney plans to live-stream ABC programming via app and cloud.

Yum! sales in China fall 29 percent in April.

ABB says CEO plans to resign.

Audi outsells BMW brand globally — again.

Bloomberg admits use of its terminals for data snooping.

CBS chief touts TV over digital engagement.

Cisco tries reinvention in tough time.

Danone sets deal to acquire Happy Family brand.Continue reading...

AT&T has landed at top spot on CR Magazine's 14th annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List, beating out other top Russell 1000 large-capitalization companies on merits including human rights and corporate governance.

Rounding out the top 10 on the new list: Mattel, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eaton Corp, Intel, Gap, Hasbro, Merck & Co., Campbell Soup Co. and Coca-Cola. 

The ranking crunches 298 data points of disclosure and performance measures across seven categories: environment, climate change, employee relations, human rights, governance, finance and philanthropy. 

Notably, 26 companies on the 2013 list were not on the 2012 list, while 11 companies have appeared on the list every year since 2007. For those that were bestowed the honor, many were quick to highlight the significance of employee participation to the success of the company's initiatives.Continue reading...

AOL plans to distribute Discovery channels as its Huffington Post flip flops on Goldman Sachs.

Animal Planet finds room for Geico and other advertisers in annual Super Bowl "Puppy Bowl."

Ann Taylor brings back actress Kate Hudson as ambassador and designer.

Apple plans to offer broader guidance on earnings as it must fight to maintain dominance of iPhone.

Audi releases Super Bowl commercial with alternate endings for YouTube voting.

Boeing faces of extended inquiry by authorities into Dreamliner fires.

Bristol settles Hepatitis C claims.

Burger King drops firm that supplied horse meat in UK.Continue reading...

Hasbro's iconic game of Monopoly has taken on a bit of the feeling of Clue these days. Before the year is out, Monopoly players will need to say goodbye to one of their beloved playing pieces. Will it be the wheelbarrow, the thimble, or the shoe? Surely, nobody would willingly toss the dog, top hat, or racecar. Do the clothes iron and battleship have what it takes to stick around?

Like Clue, this mystery will be solved by those playing the game. Hasbro is fans consumers to weigh in on the Monopoly Facebook page and decide not only which playing piece isn’t even good enough to set itself on the lowly Mediterranean Avenue, but which one should replace it. The choices vary from diamond ring, guitar, toy robot, cat, or helicopter. Fans worldwide (the game is available in 111 countries and 43 languages) can vote once a day through Feb. 5.Continue reading...

NYSE Euronext is in merger talks with the IntercontinentalExchange. (Update: Sold!)

Foursquare starts using Facebook data for recommendations.

General Mills announces more than 100 new products for 2013.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos among retail leaders honored by NRF.

Apple feels heat in Brazil over iPhone brand and sees "pinch to zoom" patent rejected.

Barack Obama pledges to take action on gun control.

Best Buy digital chief resigns.

Darden takes new tack to spur U.S. restraurant brands.

Deutsche Bank image remake suffers.

Disney raises bar on customer experience with new Fantasy Land.

eBay stops advertising inside mobile apps.Continue reading...

What do girls want? For one big sister this holiday season, the right for her brother to have the same toys in a non-stereotypical design. Almost 45,000 signatures and a slew of international headlines later, McKenna Pope, the 13-year-old who started the online petition at Change.org to convince Hasbro to consider boys in their marketing and design scope for the Easy-Bake Oven, has scored a big win for gender equality.

McKenna and her family met with execs at Hasbro on Monday and came out all smiles. Execs at the Pawtucket, R.I., HQ of the toy manufacturer, as AP reports, were deighted to show her design prototypes for Easy-Bake ovens colored black, silver, or blue — ready for her brother and other boys eager to get Easy-Baking.

Pope’s quest had started when she wanted to get her four-year-old brother, Gavyn Boscio, an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas. After all, he had shown a love for food prep by attempting to “cook on top of a lamp's light bulb” at their New Jersey home. Pope only found ovens in pink or purple and the boxes only featured girls in its marketing images.

So Pope went out and scored more than 40,000 signatures on a Change.org petition, the support of a slew of male celebrity chefs such as Bobby Flay, and a meeting with Hasbro, which now says it is going to unveil the new oven at the annual Toy Fair in New York this coming February. Consumers who are looking to purchase Easy-Bake ovens that aren’t pink and purple will be able to snag them next summer. Plus, the new ovens will come with a boy or two pictured on the box as well.Continue reading...

Most of America’s top-rated restaurants are run by male chefs, yet cooking is still conventionally considered to be something that women are more interested in than men. So where do these guys come from, anyway? Where did they keep themselves out of sight all their lives before getting their Michelin stars?

Well, one young fella who likely hopes to be on that list someday isn’t hiding himself away anymore. Four-year-old Gavyn Boscio of New Jersey has been thrown into the limelight this holiday season thanks to a hue and cry raised by his sister, 13-year-old McKenna Pope.

Gavyn would like to have an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas but he told his family that knows that “only girls” cook. So Pope is lobbying Easy-Bake’s manufacturer, Hasbro, to not market the product exclusively to girls.

The least they could do, she says on her Change.org petition that has been signed by more than 40,000 people, is to put a boy or two on the packaging and offer it in a color other than pink or purple.Continue reading...