Yahoo's former CEO Carol Bartz reportedly receives $10M severance package as issues that led to her firing emerge.

Weight Watchers outperforms rivals (and medically supervised diets) in new study.

Target takes New York Fashion Week by storm with 25-foot doll to promote Missoni collaboration.

Amazon cuts deal on California taxes, plans to bring click and collect service to UK.

AOL severs ties with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington.

Apple cries foul on Chinese logo (when it should be LG); gets nod for clean, green store design; and may need a third campus in Cupertino by 2015.Continue reading...

Rio was the top movie at the box office this weekend, and parents were probably happy to find that the film contained but a couple of passing brand mentions. This despite a host of brands, including Mercedes, TMD Friction and Mintex, being listed as official film "partners."

The most successful tie-in to the film's release has to be the Rio-branded edition of Angry Birds. A natural partnership, the version allows users to play a Rio-ized version of the runaway hit game.

The weekend's bigger product placement story was all about Scream 4, just the latest production from Hollywood to be overflowing with Apple product placement.Continue reading...

It’s like “orbiting the earth’s atmosphere sort of feeling…a lovely moment,” said Colin Firth on being nominated for Best Actor for The King’s Speech. Now that he's a winner and a (literal) star in Hollywood, his value in Hollywood is projected to skyrocket.Continue reading...

It’s like “orbiting the earth’s atmosphere sort of feeling…a lovely moment,” says Colin Firth, above, of his best actor nomination for The King’s Speech.

And a lovely moment for Harvey and Max Weinstein as well, with a dozen Oscar nominations for The King’s Speech and another for Blue Valentine, which strengthens their standing as one of the few independent movie studios left. 

As for an Oscar nom's worth to Messrs. Firth and Weinstein, not to mention the distributors, studios and others with a stake in each nomination?Continue reading...

In year-end sales figures released today, US automakers post gains (first since the recession) as Toyota lags and Ford moves to second place behind GM. Lexus held off Mercedes-Benz and BMW to hang onto the top US luxury auto brand.

Apple's iPad is being embraced by the educational market for in-school use.

BitTorrent has more users than Netflix and Hulu combined.

BMW's electric hybrid sets $200K price point.

Consumer Reports sees packaging shrinking on US grocers' shelves.

GE unloads $6B worth of debt.Continue reading...