In a bid to redefine the financial journey, ING U.S. has announced that it will be rebranding as Voya Financial. 

While the announcement was made Thursday, ING U.S. does not plan on incorporating the new name or logo until 2014, as it awaits the completion of its IPO. 

ING Group, the company's Dutch parent, announced last year that it was planning to spin off its US arm through an initial public offering—where Voya will register as the company's stock ticker. The divestiture of the US part of the business along with a ING Direct and a Dutch mortgage lender had to take place in order to get approval for a 2008 bailout.Continue reading...

Everywhere a consumer looks, digital is ready to attack. Whether it is on mobile screens or in-store iPad kiosks, interactivity and engagement are the words of the day. 

But there was a time when those terms weren’t subconsciously attached to digital efforts. Once, people actually used paper and writing implements to engage and interact. Moleskine, the Italian notebook manufacturer, has been counterintuitively turning out its paper products since 1995 and it has paid off so handsomely that the company is now planning an IPO on the Italian Stock Exchange, according to The Atlantic. In this digital age, is that subversive? Rebellious? Dumb?Continue reading...

In June 2011, the Dutch financial services giant ING Group agreed to sell ING DIRECT USA to Capital One as part of a restructuring agreement with the European Commission. As part of the deal, ING Group permitted the use of "ING DIRECT" only until February, 2013, so the companies adopted Capital One 360 as its new brand name.

As a result, the distinctive ING Direct orange ball is rolling into the archives, to be replaced by Capital One's red-and-blue logo with the addition of a red ball enclosing the number “360” with a sideways chevron. But not all current ING Direct US "Savers," as they like to call their Facebook followers, are convinced. Some fans just can't let go of the ball.

ING Direct customer David Mejias started a “save the orange ball” petition on Change.org, while another brand loyalist, Maria Elena Villegas, posted on Facebook: “So, Capital One bought the rights to the orange ball only to destroy any brand recognition and customer loyalty amongst ING customers? If anything, they should have rolled everything over to look and feel and work as ING Direct works. This is an absolute waste of branding, customer loyalty, and potential goodwill or at least neutrality from current ING customers by Capital One.”Continue reading...

Back in 2008 it made sense for Zynga to piggyback with Facebook and offer a games portal for the social newcomer on the desktop. But as gaming machines got more powerful and home consoles proliferated, simple click-click games gave way to those more complicated, more easily replicable by other game developers, and clicks got more costly.

Now games like Farmville and Cityville, once Zynga’s bread and butter, are being left in the digital dust as droves of players spend more time on smartphones than on social gaming and paying gamers now comprise less than 5% of Zynga’s user base. 

The billion-lapping Facebook garnered 14% of its revenue in the first six months of 2012 from Zynga, but according to CNBC, analysts are warning that “social gaming on mobile devices is growing at the expense of desktop, which is where FB derives the majority of its payments revenue.”

Its stock price has fallen more than 70 percent this year from its December IPO price of $10, and it's seeing executives such as its head of poker games, CMO, COO and Chief Creative Officer exiting for greener pastures. Is it Game Over for Zynga?Continue reading...

The stock woes of Facebook, Zynga and other can't-miss investment darlings of the internet have distracted people from Groupon's travails. But as the daily-deals website nears the November anniversary of its IPO, Groupon appears to have many long-term challenges on its plate.

Groupon has run into stiff competition for signing up the local merchants across the country that provide the deals to fuel Groupon's discount machine. At the same time, some analysts assert, it's been difficult for Groupon to engender brand loyalty among consumers because, after all, ultimately what discount-seeking consumers want is the biggest discount — whoever provides it to them.

As a result, Groupon's growth has been slowing. And even as the Chicago-based company has tried to counter that by hiring more salespeople to sign up local merchants to provide discounts, other digital companies are trying to poach Groupon's best talent because they see weakness in the company.Continue reading...

When Facebook went public in May at the cost of $38/share, but it has since struggled to get anywhere close to that amount, falling at one point below $18. Analysts and investors have been down on the social-networking site, saying the new more-mobile world is going to make it less relevant. Mark Zuckerberg admitted that mobile needs to be more of a focus during his first post-IPO public remarks, at TechCrunch Disrupt. The stock price has made its way back into the low twenties, partially due to its founder/CEO's remarks over marketing missteps — and also due to some much-needed good news for the company.

According to partners using Facebook’s ad network, the company is doing better than Google in getting its users to click on advertising based on browsing.

“Facebook Exchange, or FBX, generates as much as four times the return on ad dollars than other real-time bidding systems, said Triggit Inc., which makes software tools to help Facebook deliver the ads,” Bloomberg reports. “Another partner, AdRoll, said advertisers used to getting $10 for every $1 they spend are making $16 for every dollar spent on FBX.”

The official launch of Facebook Exchange on Sept. 13 sent its share price soaring. The ads come up based on what a consumer has been looking for on the web. So if someone has been searching for shoes online, when he or she goes onto Facebook, shoe advertisements will be served up.Continue reading...

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a rare appearance today, speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt in a "fireside chat," marking his first public remarks since his company's disappointing IPO in May. In a bid for transparency and humility, Zuckerberg said he's "ready to double down" on the company's future. He also admitted making mistakes, including betting too much on HTML5, and talked up his focus on mobile and advertising as a way to bolster revenue and FB's stock price. He also denied rumors of a Facebook phone being in the works while confirming new product development including a search engine. He even gave a shout-out to other tech brands he thinks are "killing it" right now: Spotify, Airbnbn, Nike+ and Runkeeper. Read more on TechCrunch.

BlackBerry-maker RIM plans to slash staff.

P&G will change candy-resembling Tide Pods on child safety concerns.

Formula One wins court challenge overturning 'F1' trademark‎.

Amazon will sell pre-paid wireless service in Japan.

Apple applies for patents on advanced stylus.

Two years after BP oil spill, tourists return to US Gulf.

Cisco pulls the plug on its Cius tablet.

ExxonMobil to vote on gay protections.

Facebook is reportedly developing a smartphone (with ex-Apple engineers).Continue reading...