What do actor Susan Sarandon, jazz musician Esperanza Spalding, Tumblr founder David Karp, Momofuku chef David Chang, and Gregg Breinberg, the music director of NYC's P.S. 22’s kids chorus, the Oscars-performing YouTube sensation, have in common?

They are all – along with Laura Linney, John Leguizamo, and Glee star Darren Criss, and 23 other big name (and should-be-known) New Yorkers – being featured in the latest Japan-based Uniqlo advertising campaign, “Voices of New York,” released in time for New York Fashion Week.Continue reading...

Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal is approved (with one FCC commissioner, Michael Copps, opposed). Conditions for the deal, expected to close by Feb. 1, include that Comcast must give up its management role at Hulu, and abide by anti-favoritism clause — a victory for Bloomberg TV and other networks that compete with Comcast and NBCU's channels. Comcast, separately, just invested $10M in Snagfilms, an ad-supported documentary site that owns INDIEwire, and led a $9M financing round in e-publishing consultancy Perfect Market.

Apple announces record quarterly earnings of $6B, with 7 million iPads sold during the Christmas quarter. The iPhone is now the UK's "most desirable" brand.

Citigroup "disappoints" despite quarterly profit of $1.3 billion.Continue reading...

If a pharmaceutical company appears in a film, it’s usually the bad guy, so it might be surprising that pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is financing a movie and ceding creative control to the filmmakers.

But GSK is apparently dissatisfied with its previous efforts to market its weight-loss drug, Alli -- a once-promising brand that hasn’t lived up to its high hopes -- and is trying a more indirect route to promote the product. The Times reports that GSK will announce on January 25, at the Sundance Film Festival, which “Academy Award-winning director” it hired for a documentary on obesity.Continue reading...