While it may not be getting as high-tech glam as the French prototype above, McDonald's is undergoing a billion-dollar makeover ($2.9 billion, to be exact) in a bid to boost sales.

McDonald's global same-store sales gains for nearly nine years have consistently gone up, including the 7.5 percent uptick during the fourth quarter of last year, but its executives would like to keep it going, thank you very much. Plus, it’s got some very aggressive fast-casual rivals, such as Panera and Chipotle, nipping at its market share.

That's why the executives setting the Golden Arches strategy announced a global overhaul of its stores last year, redesigning them to look more upscale and attract more business.Continue reading...

Apple likes to break new boundaries and one of its next retail establishments is attempting to appear as if there are no such thing as boundaries.

Apple is opening a store in Aix en Provence, a major tourist destination in the south of France, that will give off the image of being transparent. It will have “a nearly all-glass structure enabled by new technology developed by Apple’s glass suppliers,” according to IFOAppleStore.com's pick-up of Aix en Dialogue magazine .

The city has been revamping its central square and “the area to the west of the future store has been recently reconstructed with many upscale shops from international retailers.” The planned store will replace the current tourism office with a design that features all glass walls except for a back wall.Continue reading...

The Nokia Lumia 800 is sure doing everything it can to promote itself - even if it means projecting a free light show onto a huge skyscraper with musical guest deadmau5, or constructing a 32 foot version of the phone. (Not to mention the 55 foot Windows phone put up in New York's Herald Square.)

The towering Lumia 800 is currently on view in Paris, France, on the city's famed Avenue des Champs-Élysées (where residents and visitors can also check out Absolut's subtle outdoor advertising). This is the first Windows Phone that Nokia has produced, and it's hard to speculate how well it will do until Nokia releases their Q4 financial results.Continue reading...

Alleghany to buy Transatlantic.

American Apparel acting president quits.

Apple leapfrogs Argos to become 2nd biggest online retailer in the U.K., as textbooks and photography tops its new product priorities and Grand Central NYC store prepares to open and iPhone 4S heads to China.

Berkshire Hathaway to invite Wall Street analysts to annual meeting for once as Warren Buffett, excited about Japan, says company could spend $10 billion on its next acquisition.

Best Buy sees shoppers in Florida camping out since last week for Black Friday.

Chevron accepts responsibility for oil spill off Brazil.Continue reading...

France is the latest nation to impose a so-called fat tax on sugary beverages (except for zero-calorie diet drinks), while American campaigns to curb the consumption of non-diet sugary beverages continues.

Los Angeles county just launched a public awareness campaign, its first aimed at 'sugar-loaded' beverages.

LA's move follows a high-profile campaign earlier this year by New York City targeting soda consumption, citing statistics such as few sugary drinks a day adds up to 93 packets of sugar and leads to serious health issues and disease.

Sugary drinks are the number one source of calories in the average American diet and health advocates are still reeling from the recent rejection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of a pilot proposal banning soda from New York food stamp purchases proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Despite such efforts, more than 50% of Americans still drink too much soda with the highest consumption among minorities, the poor and the young, according to a recent study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.Continue reading...

Like pretty much everybody else in the world, France is having some financial troubles these days. So to help replenish the national coffers, the country is considering putting a tax on sugary beverages.

That tax, however, seems to be increasing the heart rate of execs at the Sugary Beverage World Leader, Coca-Cola. The company said earlier this month that “it has suspended plans for a euro17 million ($24 million) investment in France to protest” the tax, according to ABC News.

The decision on whether to make the investment or not will wait until parliament debates the issue. The company claims the tax would be “unfair,” ABC reports, because it is focused on beverages that are “not harmful to health.”Continue reading...

Dior invites viewers to play spot-the-dead-celeb in its latest commercial. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and filmed in the stunning Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, it broke Sunday night on French TV. (Versailles was the setting for Dior's 60th anniversary celebration in 2007, under ousted design head John Galliano.)

The new 90-second ode to Hollywood glamour for Dior J'Adore perfume features Charlize Theron — not to mention (spoiler alert!) digitally integrated footage of Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and Grace Kelly. Check out Theron's earlier spots for the perfume below.Continue reading...

Air New Zealand's Rico is back, this time with David Hasselhoff, who was down under last month to promote...Continue reading...