When Google realized that most folks like to actually check out a laptop computer in person before laying down their hard-earned cash for it, the California-based company started thinking about opening its own retail outlets.

Well, the wait is over and the company has opened its first store (called, appropriately the Chrome Zone), but it is quite a few miles from the store’s Bay Area headquarters. It is, instead, a “store within a store” in central London — a pop-up boutique, if you will — according to the London Evening Standard.

The 285 sq. ft. pop-up store within the Currys and PC World superstore on Tottenham Court Road  “only sells Google’s (Samsung) Chromebook laptop and a few accessories such as headphones” and “will run for three months up to Christmas,” the Standard notes.

A second Chrome Zone location will open this week (Oct. 6th) at a PC World superstore in Essex. “We’ve put a lot of effort into making it feel welcoming, homely and, dare I say it, Googley,” said a company spokesperson in a statement. "It is our first foray into physical retail,” said Arvind Desikan, head of consumer marketing at Google UK. “This is a new channel for us and it's still very, very early days. It's something Google is going to play with and see where it leads."

The San Francisco Chronicle compares these retail efforts to those being put forth by Microsoft, which currently has about a dozen stores and plans to have about 75 across the globe by 2014.

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Now that New York Fashion Week is a wrap, the spotlight turns today to London, where British designers are showcasing at their Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Up and comers including the designing duo behind Preen, above, whose spring 2012 collection features high-tech lace and pixelated pastels inspired by Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury set.

Burberry will once again live-stream its show (taking place Monday) at Burberry.com, where anyone can buy fashions directly from the runway. Not hitting the runway, however: Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen, along with some models who feel LFW doesn't pay well enough to merit their time. (Click here for the full LFW schedule.)

There's hope that McQueen and McCartney will return to London Fashion Week in the spring, ahead of the London 2012 pre-Olympics buzz. The British Fashion Council, meanwhile, this week announced that Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen will participate in an arts-based collaboration, Britain Creates, part of the London 2012 cultural program.Continue reading...

With the spring/summer 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week shows getting rolling in New York, here's a viral video that's timely and trending on YouTube.

To promote the grand opening of Westfield Stratford, a behemoth of a retail shopping center in London, The Viral Factory created this promo to showcase "100 years of East London style in 100 seconds."

The video delivers just that - decades of fashion in a zippy 100 seconds that's a delight to watch. Check out the photos below for stills of each decade's fashion.Continue reading...

If you do a search on the web for anything U.K.-riot related, you'll most likely find troubling images of looters and fires throughout the city. But there are optimists out there, and they're using social media to spread the good word, clean up after the riots, and help restore Brand Britain's image to boot.

Trending in social media this week are the grassroots clean-up efforts of the good citizens of Great Britain. Garnering global attention, @riotcleanup now has over 87,000 followers on Twitter, posting information on how people can help clean up areas devastated by looting, and help businesses and residents affected by the riots with information on where to donate, items to donate, and how else to lend a helping hand.

It's one part of an inspiring social media-based response to an otherwise depressing week of violence, as Britons share morale-boosting pictures of local cleanup efforts, such as gyms filled with supplies and videos of people in the streets with brooms and other cleaning supplies.Continue reading...

Goldman, Citigroup bond sale spiked by S&P while JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon and other Wall Street CEOs pressure politicians to stopstalling on a debt ceiling deal.

Amazon cuts movie streaming deal with NBCUniversal's Universal Studios.

Facebook sues 25 online "typosquatters."

Google challenged on AdMeld acquisition by DOJ, while Senate schedules antitrust hearing.

Google Maps heads to the London Underground.

H&M signs David Beckham to create underwear "bodywear" collection.

Marvel wins suit brought by artist Jack Kirby's heirs.

Motorola Mobility beats Wall Street estimates.

Twitter pushes promoted tweets to top of users' timelines.

Yelp hires IPO-savvy CFO.

New York's Grand Central Terminal is about to become a whole lot busier, and branded.

In a final vote today, New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority gave the go-ahead to Apple to a 23,000 square feet store in Grand Central. The retail deal will create of the largest stores to ever be built in the iconic station’s main concourse, and the largest in the Apple brand’s retail footprint, bumping its current largest retail location, in London's Convent Garden, to second spot.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola isn't the only big brand to erect a green billboard. 

Richoh, known for its "managed document services" (based on its copiers and fax machines business), isn’t the first company you’d think of when you think of who is going green, but it's pulling out the stops to show the world that it is serious about lowering the company’s environmental impact by one-eighth of its 2000 levels by 2050.

Last year, Ricoh put up the first solar-powered billboard in New York's Times Square. And now EarthTechling.com notes that Ricoh has installed “the very first 100% eco-powered billboard in London.”Continue reading...

On one weekend this November, sleepy and cash-strapped Londoners will have their lucky day: An attempt is going to be made to set a new world record by giving out 1 million free coffees in 48 hours. 

A world record with free coffees? Seems like a good time to offer brand exposure, don’t you think? Well, event organizer and native Australian James McDonald certainly thinks so.

“This kind of event is one of a new breed of unconventional guerrilla marketing that captures the imagination of the consumers it touches,” Journalism.co.uk reports.

While it seems like the kind of stunt that, say, Starbucks or McDonald's could do on their own (and share the proceeds with charity), McDonald has other plans.

On the event’s site — 1 Weekend, 1 Million Free Coffees — the plan is laid out for businesses to gain brand exposure. With each pound a business puts into the project, their brand’s logo will be on one coffee-cup sleeve that will be given out in central London.

Also, “businesses can promote their products and services with an incentive printed (on) the sleeve around every cup,” the press release notes. “The sleeves can be removed and presented or have unique codes to redeem the special offer.”Continue reading...