Amazon opens Black Friday deals site early, while Walmart offers sneak peak at Black Friday specials on Facebook and its Sams Club unit enhances the holiday-shopping experience.

Apple acknowledges iPhone battery problem.

Sony predicts $1-billion loss.

AOL posts loss despite ad gains.

Diamond Foods punished by investors for accounting delay in purchase of Pringle's from P&G.

Ford launches licensed-products website.

GlaxoSmithKline settles with U.S. over investigations.Continue reading...

Pizza Hut viral dance craze sweeps South Korea, wooing teens with with in Seoul. (above)

OkCupid dating site breaks down attractiveness of users based on camera and mobile phone brands: Panasonic > Canon > Nikon.

Denny's joins the ridiculous sandwich wars with a Cheese stick sandwich.

New York City transit authority relents and accepts ads referencing 9/11 (more background here).

McDonald's french fry ad crosses over, literally.

Playboy's iPad app disappoints with no-nudity policy (that's right: Hef's keeping the smoking jacket on).Continue reading...

We all strive to put our "best face forward" on social networking sites. On Facebook, to add another cliché, the right profile picture is worth a thousand words. (Or, for the lucky, a thousand dates.)

This reality has inspired the latest branding initiative from Esteé Lauder:  “Your Beauty. Your Style. Your Profile.” The beauty company will be holding events across the country where ladies (and, I’m sure, men who want to look pretty) can meet with a professional makeup artist to design a makeover tailored to the website you’re aiming to join or have recently joined.

For instance, you could stick to a conservative color palette for LinkedIn, and then add a bit of pizzazz for OKCupid or Nerve.Continue reading...