At a time when the U.S. Postal Service is fighting to survive, along comes news of the latest disruptive model: BareDeal.com, which calls itself "Groupon meets Netflix."

Founded by two recent Northwestern University grads, Justin Shapiro and Glen Andrianov, the model merges old-school direct mail with new school online deals. The service delivers scratch cards directly to consumers' mailboxes.Continue reading...

Anheuser-Busch plans to slim down Super Bowl advertising and feature Stella Artois brand.

Bank of America posts loss.

British Airways name replaced on London Stock Exchange with IAG ticker with Iberia merger.

GE CEO Jeff Immelt will lead President Obama’s council on jobs and competitiveness, replacing Paul Volcker. Meanwhile, GE’s  earnings jump, indicating “momentum.”

Google co-founder Larry Page re-takes the reins, indicating an effort to restore the company’s start-up spark.

Guinness becomes first official bear of Six Nations rugby tournament.Continue reading...

Amazon's one-day deal with LivingSocial blows Gap's Groupon deal out of the water.

AOL (whose content strategy is profiled in this week's New Yorker) launches iPad-exclusive Editions digital magazine.

Esquire promotion with struggling Barnes & Noble brings model Brooklyn Decker virtually (via an iPhone app) to stores.

Goldman Sachs quarterly profit drops 53%.

Jimmy Choo to launch men's line (online only) in July.

McDonald's signs on as lead sponsor of the NHL.

Michael Jackson to be immortalized as French perfume.Continue reading...

Super Bowl ads start to rev up as Audi sets the stage, CareerBuilder returns with monkey theme, PepsiCo boosts spots to seven, Skechers taps Kim Kardashian, and CarMax signs up for first national Super Bowl TV spot.

Adobe boosts privacy in Flash.

Borders closes in on refinancing.

Chrysler bailout is criticized by federal watchdog panel.

Delta takes “bumping” online.

Groupon discusses an IPO.Continue reading...

American Airlines wins court order barring Sabre from hiding flight and fare information.

Barneys rumors pan out, as creative director Simon Doonan steps down to become 'ambassador.'

Campbell's soup returns to UK after two-year break.

CNN simplifies on-air look.

Facebook rolls out new profile design to all users.

Groupon raises record-breaking $950 million in venture capital.Continue reading...

Abbott backs effort to end childhood malnutrition.

AMC renews Mad Men for a fifth season.

Best Buy sales hurt by holiday tech slide.

BlackBerry to be censored in Indonesia.

BP back in the hot seat with oil leak in Alaska.

Clarins new global campaign not "overly retouched."Continue reading...

AT&T jumps into 4G.

Barnes & Noble launches Nook kids iPad app.

Chanel names actress Blake Lively as its global ambassador.

Chrysler Town & Country leads the way as the top-selling minivan in 2010 in the United States.

E! gives Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom their own show.

eBay rang up $2 billion in mobile sales last year.Continue reading...

Apple stock soars as Wall Street predicts what’s next for its iDarling (and iPhone alarms continue failing).

Angry Birds is coming to PlayStation 3 and PSP.

Blistex acquires Odor-Eaters brand.

Dunkin' Donuts launches ad campaign to celebrate the passion of real fans: 'I'm Drinkin' Dunkin'!'

Facebook, the top search term of 2010, hires game executive to direct partnerships.

Google hires crowdsourcing guru to manage Africa policy.Continue reading...