Apple hopes to come up with more hits without Steve Jobs.

Boeing will begin delivering the 787 Dreamliner in Q3.

Chrysler boosts Jeep's marketing mileage.

Citigroup to name John Havens as president and COO. 

Coca-Cola, Danone and Nike rank high among consumers in emerging markets in Credit Suisse study.

Fox premieres revamped American Idol, featuring rocker Steven Tyler, tonight.Continue reading...

Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal is approved (with one FCC commissioner, Michael Copps, opposed). Conditions for the deal, expected to close by Feb. 1, include that Comcast must give up its management role at Hulu, and abide by anti-favoritism clause — a victory for Bloomberg TV and other networks that compete with Comcast and NBCU's channels. Comcast, separately, just invested $10M in Snagfilms, an ad-supported documentary site that owns INDIEwire, and led a $9M financing round in e-publishing consultancy Perfect Market.

Apple announces record quarterly earnings of $6B, with 7 million iPads sold during the Christmas quarter. The iPhone is now the UK's "most desirable" brand.

Citigroup "disappoints" despite quarterly profit of $1.3 billion.Continue reading...

IBM promotes Watson, the nickname for its supercomputer, in a new campaign that plays up its semantic savvy — and last week's star turn on a special episode of Jeopardy!, where it easily beat champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, that will air Feb. 14-16.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...

IBM is hoping to build what may be the world's fastest supercomputer: "a 3-petaflop machine called the SuperMUC that will run on 14,000 Intel Xeon processors and require a specially designed cooling system."

In the meantime, it's pitting its current supercomputer, affectionately known as Watson, against Jeopardy! all-stars Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. If Watson wins the first Jeopardy! IBM Challenge (airing Feb. 14-16), the $1 million prize money will go to charity.

Big Blue hopes Watson's TV debut will have a halo effect on the brand, and "reveal just how far IBM researchers have pushed the boundaries of these technologies." (Hopefully this one ends better than Kasparov vs. Deep Blue.) More on the showdown after the jump.Continue reading...

At the intersection of a flagging economy and the rapid growth of the virtual world, you'll find an emerging business venue — the online event. 

Business conferences and trade shows that used to attract thousands of attendees to a city hotel are increasingly being replaced by their virtual counterparts, reports the New York Times.

Market Research Media indicates that virtual events have doubled in occurrence from 2008 to 2009, and the market will likely grow to $18.6 billion per year in five years.Continue reading...

What do IBM, Verizon, Levi’s and Mattel have in common? Sponsorship of the newly founded Annenberg Innovation Lab, a digital incubator looking to nurture cutting-edge thinking around social technology and communication.

The Lab’s initiatives will focus on real-world applications as students and faculty from USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism tackle a range of issues related to technology and communications.Continue reading...

Allstate targets college-football road-trippers online.

Boston Market upgrades image.

Conan ratings level off but stay solid.

Dell refocuses brand, stops chasing Apple.

Delta flights suffer mishaps over weekend.

Fox moves American Idol to Wednesday-Thursday slots.

Gap launches in Italy.

GE and IBM lead green social-media efforts.

GM unveils Baojun brand in China.Continue reading...