Facebook plans to announce facelift of its News Feed.

Taco Bell officially releases its Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos today. 

Time Warner to spin off Time Inc. as CEO Laura Lang exits.

Adidas posts weaker earnings on Reebok.

Baskin-Robbins plans to triple franchise size in Australia with new partnership.

Birds Eye commended for healthy eating campaign.

Boeing needs to provide more answers on Dreamliner firest to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Costco backs minimum-wage increase.

Cracker Barrel adds lower-calorie items.

Dell sees buyout deal threatened by activist investor Carl Icahn.

DirecTV bemoans rising program costs.

Google expands Street View in Europe.

Jamba Juice looks to fresh juice to boost sales.

Lego eyes tie-up with "The Simpsons" on Fox.

Moe's Southwest Grill readies first national ad campaign. Continue reading...

Apple will introduce new iPhones next month, board member Al Gore confirms.

Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are hit by ratings downgrades by Moody's.

Bill Gates tops 2011 Forbes 400 wealth ranker.

Facebook is introducing a 'listen with your friends' music app but faces challenges in digital entertainment.

Full Tilt Poker fires back at Justice Department.

Hulu invests in content even as it's for sale.

Netflix teams with Discovery for two-year deal.

News Corp. nixes a "Simpsons" channel but has big hopes for FX.Continue reading...

Cheers to the Royal Honeymoon

The UK’s BrewDog (the geniuses behind the world’s strongest ale, packaged in taxidermied animal bottles) is jumping on the royal wedding beer bandwagon with a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the royal wedding night: Royal Virility Performance, an India Pale Ale that the brewer says contains herbal viagra (whatever that is; many outlets have breathlessly, and erroneously, reported that the beer contains the drug Viagra, which is not available without a prescription). Other ingredients include chocolate, horny goat weed and “a healthy dose of sarcasm.”Continue reading...

Doh! Now Belgian families who just can’t get enough of The Simpsons can take them with them on their daily drives.

Renault is releasing a limited edition “Simpsons”-branded version of its Kangoo model van in Belgium. The vehicle will include a Homer Simpson-voiced Tom Tom satellite navigation and a “Simpsons” badge on the rear featuring the whole family.

Hopefully Homer will give you directions to where you want to go and not arbitrarily direct you to Moe’s for a nice, cold Duff.Continue reading...

Australia's Gold Coast unveils new place branding campaign.

Brett Favre apologizes to Minnesota Vikings teammates for distraction of sexting inquiry.

Google competes with the Consumer Price Index by tracking inflation with its own Price Index.

Gymboree was sold today for $1.8 billion.

Hasbro transitions to a "branded play" company.

HBO lands all-star cast for Too Big to Fail movie.

IBM shares hit an all-time high today.Continue reading...

Banksy, the elusive British graffiti artist, followed up his late-summer BP spoof with another bit of media monkeywrenching last night — tweaking The Simpsons' opening sequence, which he storyboarded and supervised with the blessing of Fox and series creator Matt Groening.

Update: Apparently, Fox owner News Corp. wasn't in on the lovefest — the video has been removed from Banksy's YouTube channel due to a copyright claim by News Corp., but it is now available on Hulu ... if you live in the U.S.

For those who missed Diane Sawyer's awkward interview with Mark Zuckerberg on ABC News last night, here's what you missed: the youthful Facebook CEO is "quite sure" he didn't sign away 84% of the company (his lawyers aren't so sure); he dismissed the upcoming movie on the site's origins as "fiction," while noting that the cousin of the actor portraying him works at Facebook. Zuckerberg also talked to Facebook chronicler David Kirkpatrick about the lawsuit. Now that he's survived all that, Zuckerberg's next big media appearance: The Simpsons, in October. More of Zuckerberg's ABC profile after the jump.Continue reading...

In a “more is more” strategy designed to keep customers from cutting their cable service, Comcast Corp. announced this week that subscribers can now watch several cable TV shows and movies over the Internet – a defensive move into the online video industry.

As the first cable TV operator to offer cable content online at no additional charge, Comcast’s new service, Fancast Xfinity TV, is initially offered only to those who subscribe to both of the company’s TV and Internet services. Customers must also download a viewing program, available through Fancast.com, before watching any shows.

“It’s our goal to allow a customer who buys a package of content from Comcast to access that content on any screen at any time,” said Amy Banse, president of Comcast’s interactive-media unit, during a demonstration of the service to reporters. “We think this is yet another step in that direction."Continue reading...