Allstate sues Citi, Deutsche Bank over mortgages.

BP execs feel oil spill victims are receiving too much.

BSkyB and MTV protest British House of Lords move to limit commercial time.

Facebook's new status options applauded by gay community.

IBM claims in suit it was overbilled by Ogilvy. 

US military sponsorship of NASCAR challenged.

Toyota's new campaign introduces "#1 for a Reason" tagline.

Bing lets advertisers place ads in brand-name searches.

Borders bankruptcy shakes up book industry.

Captain Morgan searches for "Ultimate Morganette."

Chobani Greek yogurt lets fans tell its story.

eBay tops branded social media engagement leaderboard.

Ferrari 458 Italia chosen as car of the year by The Robb Report.

Google beats Apple and Sony in TNS corporate reputation ranking.Continue reading...

With (spoiler alert!) Watson winning the final showdown against Jeopardy! champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, IBM has big post-TV plans to put him — er, it — to work. The exercise has been a marketing coup for IBM, as "Watson" and "IBM" have dominated search this week, along with Twitter — as the Twitter Dots tweet-tracker above illustrates.

Some real-world applications for the supercomputer, which is still being promoted on Twitter and Facebook, are in the works, including its first commercial deal.Continue reading...

Apple is #1 on Fast Company's list of 50 most innovative companies.

Apple's new iPad subscription policy begins signing up magazine titles, with Elle, Nylon and Popular Science agreeing to terms.

Archie Comics go digital with Graphic.ly.

CBS revenue is up, while CBS College Sports channel to be renamed CBS Sports Network.

Cisco will help city of Barcelona with '2020 Vision' for sustainable urban and economic growth.Continue reading...

Apple's new app store subscription policy gets pushback from Rhapsody.

Bauer and Conde Nast seek new UK revenue opportunities.

Bernie Madoff's first prison interview claims banks "must have known."

Borders files for bankruptcy.

Coca-Cola disputes NPR's secret recipe claim.

Costco squabbles with Coca-Cola over pricing.Continue reading...

Tonight is the kick-off to Jeopardy!'s three-night run of IBM's Watson supercomputer vs. Jeopardy! champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter — the first man vs. machine competition in the show's history.

After seven years of research and planning, thousands of hours of testing and over 50 champion-level sparring matches, Watson — which was designed to compete on Jeopardy! — faces the two greatest champions in the show's history.

The grand prize for the competition will be $1 million with second place earning $300,000 and third place $200,000. Rutter and Jennings will donate 50% of their winnings to charity and IBM will donate 100% of its winnings to charity.Continue reading...

"Our future prosperity in part depends on whether or not we are creating an environment in which folks can test new ideas, bring new products to market, and generate new businesses." So said President Obama at the signing the Small Business Jobs act in September.

Rising to help meet that challenge, some of nation's leading tech brands — Intel, HP, IBM, Google and Facebook — today helped kick off President Obama’s Startup America initiative. The national campaign, which aims to spur startups and innovation in the US, will be led by AOL co-founder Steve Case.

Helping manage the program for the White House: National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, Council of Economics Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee, and SBA (Small Business Administration) head Karen Mills.

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams broadcasts live from Cairo today, as Egyptian military vows no firing on protesters. Oil and gas industry observers are watching closely; and Wael Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for EMEA is missing in Egypt. YouTube is also streaming Al Jazeera's English feed, while Google has teamed up with Twitter to enable speak-to-tweet service in Egypt.

NFL commissioner and players' union head meet for latest round of contract negotiations.

US federal judge tosses out President Obama's healthcare reform legislation (aka Obamacare) as unconstitutional.

US airlines brace for monster snowstorm.

Boeing said to have received improper subsidies, in WTO ruling.Continue reading...