Nike and Oakley drop paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorious following steroid allegations during girlfriend's murder investigation.

Costco CEO addresses Tiffany suit for alleged trademark infringement in all-company email (exclusive).

Starbucks expands India footprint to seven stores as company tests video chat drive-through ordering and expands Starbucks Evenings concept to Washington's Dulles airport.

Carnival cruiseship fire blamed on fuel line leak.

China vows to crack down on "malicious" trademark registrations.

Disney's Hong Kong Disneyland theme park finally turns a profit thanks to Toy Story attraction.

Amway quietly builds brands and racks up sales.

BP prepares to go to court over Gulf spill.Continue reading...

Telstra promotes its launch of 4G in Australia with a new TV commercial that brings to life its colorful new visual identity (by Interbrand Sydney).

Telstra celebrated the launch of 4G LTE services in Australia (the country's first taste of 4G, with Optus and Vodafone to follow next year) with a campaign called "The Fun Has Just Begun."

The communications giant brought some fun to Sydney's central business district. The public was treated to musical pop-up events including free performances by Friday phenom Rebecca Black in her first big endorsement deal.

Other free performances included a mariachi band and breakdancers around the Sydney CBD, while a flash mob removed their colored t-shirts in unison to reflect Telstra's bright new look. Watch more of the launch event marketing below.Continue reading...

Next time you are in Australia and a multicolored truck rolls by, don’t worry. It’s probably just the phone company.

Telstra, the nation’s largest telco and provider of voice, mobile, video (pay TV) and broadband Internet services (via its BigPond ISP), is in the midst of a major branding initiative with a new tagline that announces “Welcome to Life in Full Colour” and an advertising push whose song includes the line, "Get out your rainbow colors."

According to Telstra's press release, the company is wrapping itself in six colors (orange, green, turquoise, blue, purple and magenta) to symbolize "the diversity" of its customers and services.Continue reading...

Apple "iPhone 5 in October" rumors heat up and cases appear, while Samsung sues to pre-emptively block the device in Korea.

Netflix's Qwikster spin-off proves a turn-off to observers, subscribers and Wall Street.

Tyson Foods releases social campaign for Feeding America, and settles 12-year legal battle with employees with $32M settlement.

AT&T faces tough battle with seven states backing DoJ suit.

Facebook and Time Warner's CNN and Cartoon Network team up on anti-bullying pledge app.

Jarritos Mexican soda appeals to non-Hispanic young men with new campaign.

Kenshoo expands relationship with Omnicom's Annalect.

Lego enhances augmented reality packaging.Continue reading...

Ford Fiesta and Chevy Cruze help fuel Detroit's comeback. 

Hangover 2, despite lousy reviews, is on track to be most lucrative comedy ever.  

Heineken extends UEFA Champions League sponsorship.  

Oscar Mayer, Ball Park hotdog wars heat up.

Hulu plans to add commercials.

Lockheed Martin falls prey to cyberattack.Continue reading...

ABC News receives unusual grant from Gates Foundation for covering international health.

American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia Airlines launch a transatlantic joint venture.

Apple readies an iPhone for Verizon; separately, Motorola sues Apple over mobile patents.

Cisco and Logitech separately introduce gear to improve computer interfaces with home televisions. 

Facebook launches groups to address the social network's "biggest problem."

Gap's new logo draws widespread criticism (and fake Twitter feed).

GE plans to buy oilfield-equipment firm Dresser as part of an acxquisition binge.Continue reading...

Japan's leading mobile broadband operator, EMobile, is rolling out a blazing fast wireless network using Ericsson's HSPA Evolution technology. Just how fast? Try peak data rates of an impressive 42 Mbps.

"Japanese mobile users are among the most advanced in the world when it comes to consuming digital content over mobile networks and now they will be able to enjoy a new dimension in the broadband experience, with significantly faster internet browsing and file downloads,” said Fredrik Alatalo, President of Ericsson Japan.

This upgrade will make its network not only faster, but equipped to manage the country's surge in smartphone usage and sophisticated mobile apps for banking, video, e-commerce, health and security services – all major bandwidth hogs.Continue reading...