BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion saw its shares slump today after warning Wall Street that it's forecasting an operating loss for the first quarter. With the company hiring bankers at JPMorgan and RBC to explore a sale, investors worried and layoffs looming, the Canadian government dismissed rumors of a possible takeover.

Other brand news:

Best Buy store closures spur Walmart ads.

NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg bans sale of large sodas and sugary drinks.

GM is shifting Chevrolet ad budget from Super Bowl to sponsoring the popular Manchester United soccer team.

Disney Channel joins the TV Everywhere brigade.

Exxon Mobil shareholders approve executive pay.Continue reading...

Wikileaks spoofed Mastercard's "Priceless" campaign this week. Watch the spot below, along with new perfume commercials featuring Scarlett Johansson and Christina Aguilera, plus place branding with a twist and more.Continue reading...

A protest is scheduled today, 5PM Pacific Time, at the Civic Center BART Station in San Francisco. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) finds itself in an escalating conflict with online "hacktivist" group Anonymous, in a newly minted digital challenge over First Amendment rights (see video above).

The protest began in retaliation for shutdown of cell phone service by BART Thursday night at several stations, a measure taken to disrupt planned demonstrations over a BART police shooting July 3 of a homeless man whom police said wielded a knife.

"We are Anonymous, we are your citizens, we are the people, we do not tolerate oppression from any government agency. BART has proved multiple times that they have no problem exploiting and abusing the people," said the hackers' website.Continue reading...

Apple's iPad 2 smart cover also comes in (RED).

BSkyB/News Corp. deal is set to close next week.

Cablevision brings on demand cable TV programming to the iPad.

Charlie Sheen's Twitter intro was fast-tracked with Ad.ly.

Discovery Channel introduces free iPad app.

Ford recalls an additional 35,000 vehicles in North America.

Lady Gaga previews new song as walks the runway for Mugler, invites fans to apply to blog for Virgin Mobile.

Morgan Spurlock's EMC-sponsored TED talk sells out.

PayPal and MasterCard reinstate payments to WikiLeaks — this time for Julian Assange's legal defense fund.

Whole Foods launches baby photo contest on Facebook.

From the "Bad Things (to Say, Let Alone Think) Happen in Threes" Dept. of Personal Branding today:

Natalie Portman hadn't even accepted her first Academy Award on Sunday, when news broke that Christian Dior designer John Galliano had reportedly made anti-Semitic remarks in public that were videotaped and published on the website of The Sun, a British tabloid. The new face of the brand's Miss Dior Cherie perfume, whose first language is Hebrew and was born in Israel, decliend to comment at the Oscars, where she wore a dress by Black Swan costume designers Rodarte. On Monday, however, she issued a statement expressing her shock; and today LVMH, which owns Dior, moved to fire the designer, who also maintains a namesake fashion label.

Also facing charges of anti-Semitism this week: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — who's also facing rape charges in Sweden, wants to trademark his name and today saw his whistleblowing organization nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize — is (naturally) being defended by his supporters staffers.

And the third passenger on this crazy train: Charlie Sheen told Piers Morgan in an interview that aired Monday night on CNN that he regretted making remarks about Chuck Lorre, the producer of Two and a Half Men, that were interpreted as anti-Semitic.

To many WikiLeaks supporters, the organization's greatest threat is clear: the hostile governments and nefarious corporate entities dead set on keeping secrets secret. But there is another threat to WikiLeaks and it's much more mundane: an increasing lack of brand focus.Continue reading...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was freed on bail today in London, prompting the loose association of "Operation Payback" hackers gathered under the Anonymous banner to release this video techno-gloat featuring its mascot: the Guy Fawkes-masked character from V for Vendetta. 

The hackers are still plaguing Amazon, Mastercard, eBay and other sites that have withdrawn support for WikiLeaks, while Assange was a runner-up (and reader's choice) for TIME's person of the year — a popular vote that TIME editor Richard Stengel overruled in favor of Mark Zuckerberg.

After threatening to take down Amazon today, the WikiLeaks-defending cyberwarriors admitted defeat while continuing to go after PayPal. Amazon also caught flack for selling the WikiLeaks classified cables from the US State Department as a Kindle e-book.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is concerned that "people have unjustly accused WikiLeaks of inspiring cyber attacks" on corporations, his lawyer stated to the Guardian.