The Mondavi family name is synonymous with fine wine from California's Napa Valley. Interestingly enough, however, a family feud resulted in the odd fact that, today, there are two Mondavi wineries (Robert Mondavi and CK Mondavi, which is owned by the Peter Mondavi family) in existence.

Robert had a falling out with brother Peter and ended up starting Robert Mondavi in 1966, breaking away from the original Mondavi winery founded in 1943, when Cesare and Rosa Mondavi purchased the Charles Krug Winery (hense "CK" Mondavi). (For more on the Mondavi family's reach in the wine world, check out the award-winning Mondovino documentary.)

It is CK Mondavi, though, that has apparently been struck by divine inspiration. The winery just announced its first new brand in over half a century, a collection of super premium wines called "Marc Mondavi's The Divining Rod," accompanied by the unusual tagline, "More than natural, supernatural."Continue reading...

Just when you thought there was not another possible way for Taco Bell to combine cheese, ground beef, beans and corn chips, the renascent chain has introduced the Beefy Nacho Burrito. Not only that, but they're doing it for 99 cents — and with a marketing tie-in with Major League Baseball.

Taco Bell is now rolling out its latest menu item nationwide, featuring "seasoned beef, warm nacho cheese, cool sour cream and [new] queso strips, all wrapped in a warm flour tortilla." For those of you who have lost count over the years of the many different ways in which Taco Bell can combine such basic ingredients, the innovation here, the company said in a release, is that the company "has found a way to put nachos into a burrito."Continue reading...

The social video sharing app Socialcam, just scored the NBA’s (and Jay-Z's) Brooklyn Nets, formerly known as the New Jersey Nets.

Their “Hello Brooklyn” campaign (watch below) is a pitch to the team’s community of fans, 35 million and growing, and takes users on a subway ride to their new home for the 2012-13 NBA season at the new Barclays Center.

The mobile app for shooting, editing, and sharing videos via smartphone is jousting for position in an increasingly competitive arena fueled by Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram.Continue reading...

American consumers have felt a crush of pressure in recent years to lay off consuming so many sugars and work on eating healthier. Smart businesspeople have been happy to jump on the new opportunity, of course. You can now add Kraft's Oscar Mayer to that list.

The 129-year-old deli-meat maker that taught a generation of North Americans how to spell "b-o-l-o-g-n-a" has introduced a new line of products that contain absolutely no artificial preservatives, flavor, or coloring.

"Listening to consumer needs and finding better ways is just the way we do business," stated Heather Buettner, Senior Director New Product Development at Oscar Mayer, in one of two press releases the company issued to promote the launch today. "Our goal is to have 20 percent of our portfolio made with no artificial preservatives by 2015.”Continue reading...

Google is in the smartphone business, why shouldn't China's leading search engine get in the game? Today it has: Baidu just unveiled its first partnership that gets it into China's booming low-cost mobile market.

Changhong's (长红) H5018 is powered by the Baidu Cloud Smart Terminal platform, offers a 3.5 inch touchscreen, 3G connectivity, and a 3 megapixel camera. The phone will also come with 100 gigabytes of free storage in Baidu's cloud.

The whole thing will cost less than 1,000 yuan ($160). Just what kind of dent is Baidu's low-cost high-feature phone about to make in China and should others (cough—Apple—cough) be worried?Continue reading...

Samsung today kicks off the first TV campaign for the Galaxy S III, its new smartphone that was revealed earlier this month at a press conference in London, ahead of its international launch on May 30th.

Samsung today released the "The Next Galaxy" — the Galaxy S III, which launches May 29 in Europe — at a press event in London.

The brand's PR team tweeted from the launch about the handset's "experiential features: 3 Hubs (Game, Video, Music), mobile payment & ‘S Health’ personal wellness app to name a few" and tied the launch to its Olympics sponsorship, also tweeting: "Samsung is the worldwide Olympic partner and the #GALAXYSIII will be the hero of the Olympic Games!"

"Outside of the next iPhone, the Galaxy S III is the most highly anticipated phone launch this year," CNET commented on its live-blog. "The Galaxy franchise is one of the main reasons Samsung has been so successful at selling Android phones, avoiding the pitfalls that have tripped up so many of its competitors."Continue reading...

In the running world, a trend of the past few years has been the marketing of shoes that gave runners the sense of having bare feet. It appears that a similar sensation is being sought for basketball players. Last year, Adidas cranked out the adizero Crazy Light basketball sneaks that were, um, crazy light. 

Now the company is doing itself one better. The brand just debuted adizero Crazy Light 2, which it claims is the lightest basketball shoe ever. Weighing in at 9.5 ounces, it’s hard to argue. Adidas claims that this Crazy Light is 10% lighter than its nearest competitor and is .3 ounces lighter than the previous version.Continue reading...