Microsoft takes the stage at E3 to talk up Xbox.

Marvel starts production on Iron Man 3.

Vita Coco unveils new campaign with Rihanna (right).

Aon Hewitt finds positive shift in internal brand engagement.

Black & Decker coffee machines recalled following 1,300 complaints.

BlackBerry parent RIM shares drop below $10.

Celsius mobile phone with embedded Swiss timepiece retails for $312K.

Coca-Cola and McDonald's hit back at Mike Bloomberg's NYC big soda ban.

Corning expands on Gorilla Glass with thinner Willow Glass.

Facebook shares tumble to new low on Sanford Bernstein questions.

Ford crowdsources Focus ST commercial.

Google's Project Glass codename? Wingman.

Got Milk? and California Dairy Council partner for consumer education campaign.Continue reading...

Airbus parent accuses China of blocking jet sales over emissions scheme.

American Airlines parent retreats on pension-plan termination.

Apple lifts lid on new iPad and faces U.S. warning, along with other publishers, about collusion on e-book pricing.

BMW reports profits surge amid global luxury-car boom.

Continental appeals "absurd" verdict in Concorde crash.

Cracker Barrel uses country-music roots to build Twitter.

Dairy Queen expands in China.

Delta launches in-flight shopping with Amazon.

Facebook beefs up roster of IPO underwriters.Continue reading...

Many argue that Coca-Cola overpaid substantially for a better-for-you beverage line when it bought Glaceau, and its Vitaminwater brand, for $4 billion in 2007. Yet the share of the bottled-water market enjoyed by Vitaminwater and its siblling Smartwater brand continues to grow in a category that has flattened out.

Coke would probably settle for a similar outcome as it moves to exercise its option to acquire a majority stake in Zico, the no. 2 brand of coconut water in the United States by sales, after purchasing a minority holding in the start-up for less than $15 million in 2009. Coke won't disclose the price of the option, but it probably isn't $4 billion.

Coconut water is emerging as another important front in the "cola wars" between PepsiCo and Coke, because just as Coke is moving in on Zico, PepsiCo is rolling out nationwide distribution of the No. 3 brand, O.N.E., after taking a majority stake in the brand in 2010.

Vita Coco, the No. 1-selling U.S. coconut water brand, has attracted celebrity endorsements by Rihanna, Madonna and the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez. It's controlled by founder Michael Kirban and Verlinvest, a Belgian investment firm, and more than doubled its revenue last year to nearly $100 million. That figure indicates a continued acceleration in growth of coconut-water sales because near the middle of that high-growth year, for the 52 weeks ended September 3rd, sales for the entire coconut-water segment in the U.S. were about $110 million — more than double the year-earlier figure of $54 million — according to SPINS, which provides sales data on nutritional and better-for-you foods.Continue reading...

When a person invests heavily in something, they generally are expecting to make their money back — and then some. But New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez seems to be working some new business angle that hasn’t been discovered before: investing in one product while endorsing its competitor.

Coconut water has been "the next big thing" for a while now, with ABC News and other trend-watchers picking up on the trend more than a year ago, as consumers started ditching their sports drinks and vitamin-infused water for a more "natural" thirst-quencher.

Rodriguez has been a longtime investor in coconut-water maker Zico. But Zico’s main competitor for the top spot in what CNBC calls a $200 million industry, Vita Coco, just announced that Rodriguez was endorsing their product, which brought in $0 million in 2010.Continue reading...

Virgin and Qantas say they're open to offers as airline industry consolidates and J.D. Power says customer satisfaction is highest in three years.

AOL says it's in a start-around phase.

Gucci packaging is going green.

Honda's CR-Z is getting a European push, including an online interactive aimed at Facebookers.Continue reading...

Honda takes 646,000 Fit, City, and Jazz models off the market. [CNN Money]

Toyota finds a solution for its millions of recalled vehicles. [NY Times]

Beauty.com runs out of free samples, Facebook revolt insues. [Consumerist]

Hearst, Meredith Corp attempt reverse web-to-print publishing. [Mediaweek]

Clydesdales may return to Budweiser's Super Bowl ads. [CNN Money]

PepsiCo skips Super Bowl ad opportunity for a larger Facebook presence. [FT]Continue reading...