Apple tightens reins with iTunes store.

Dow Chemical profit nearly triples on rising economic tides. 

Estee Lauder hails the return of the aspirational shopper. 

Mastercard profits from uptick in consumer spending and e-payments.

News Corp. unveils healthy profits despite MySpace woes.

Google opens Android web store.

Groupon snags last-minute Super Bowl ad time as big game ad slots shift players. (Don't miss our sneak peek at this year's ads.)Continue reading...

The emotional strings evoked in the film's title may not be attached. But there are certainly a lot of products attached to No Strings Attached. Booze. Cars. And of course, Apple. Bushels of Apple.

No Strings Attached is filled with products — nearly 30 by our count. It shouldn't come as a surprise.Continue reading...

In the hours before the 127th Harvard-Yale football game on Saturday, it behooves us to point out that at least one school has the advantage going into the game — at least on the playing field of public opinion.

Yale students and alum can hold their heads (if not vuvuzelas) high this weekend thanks to Harvard's depiction as a breeding ground of self-absorbed jerks and a**holes in this year's hit The Social Network. And the good news is, it no longer costs an arm and a leg to look like a Yalie!Continue reading...

Rivaling Facebook for brand exposure in new film The Social Network is Harvard University. As the backdrop for where it all goes down, the storied Ivy League school comes across as a hive of grist erudition, and maybe even greater elitism. This is by no means Harvard's first onscreen role. The university boasts a robust filmography, with its appearance generally fitting one of three (strereo)types:

1) Harvard Fish-out-of-water - a tale of an outsider who doesn't fit into the "Harvard" character

2) Harvard Genius - The school is a background setting for a disturbed or rebellious genius, struggling to find his own way; and

3) Harvard Love - The school a background setting to a contentious Romeo and Juliet tale of love.

In pop culture, all of this onscreen attention reinforces the Harvard brand as both a place of high intelligence, and a place unwelcoming of outsiders. The result makes it hard for Harvard to communicate how it is today, not how it's portrayed in popular culture. After the jump, we rate some of Harvard's most memorable cameos and leading roles. Continue reading...

The media is convinced that the film opening this weekend, The Social Network, will be nothing but bad for Facebook, and that Mark Zuckerberg's unflattering portrayal in the film is driving the Facebook founding CEO to desperate image crisis management. USA Today said the film is "a coming attraction that Facebook could do without."

If what's been said about Zuckerberg's social awkwardness is true, then it's reasonable to believe he's personally threatened by the film. But aren't those qualities exactly what led him to create Facebook in the first place? As for the film damaging Facebook, nothing could be more preposterous.Continue reading...

Ford reports surprise profit of $997 million. [NY Times]

Comcast close to final deal for NBC Universal. [NY Times]

Shanghai to unveil plans for $3.6 billion Disney amusement park. [Forbes]

Kraft expected to make hostile bid for Cadbury in a week. [Times of London]

Tata may allow assemblers to brand the Nano. [Business Standard]

Critics blast Kellogg's for suggesting its cereals boost resistance to H1N1 flu. [USA Today]

UK will purchase more Lloyds TSB, Northern Rock and RBS shares, may split banks into three new brands [NY Times, Brand Republic]. Santander and Virgin may bid for RBS shares [FT]. And RBS faces EU pressure to sell insurance brands Direct Line and Churchill [NY Times].

(More headlines: Bridgestone quits Formula One, Nestle, Bob Marley.)Continue reading...

Obama attempts to rebrand health care reform proposals. [WSJ]

Switzerland ousts US as the world's most competitive economy in the annual World Economic Forum global survey of business leaders. [AP]

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom to combine their struggling T-Mobile and Orange UK operations, creating the country's largest wireless provider. [NYT]

Google defends its Books Registry plans to digitize copyrighted but out-of-print books at a European Commission hearing. [NYT]

Kraft fights to take over Cadbury. [FT]

Unilever's China plans target growth rather than profits. [WSJ]

Jaeger chief Tillman's purchase of Aquascutum from Japanese giant Renown restores British ownership of the 158-year-old fashion brand. [Guardian]

Oof! In China, two Wal-Mart employees are fired after beating a suspected shoplifter to death. [AP]

(More headlines: Pret A Manger, Pearson, Harvard University.) Continue reading...