The strangest moment of the British parliamentary hearing into the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal today had to be Wendi Murdoch — that's her in pink, above — swinging at a protester (activist Jonathan May Bowles) who hurled a (shaving?) cream pie at her husband Rupert before he was hauled away.

The second strangest moment: CNN host Piers Morgan's virtual testimony on Twitter, where he defended Wendi and then himself, responding (on Twitter and then on-air) to allegations that he was involved in phone-hacking while running the now-shuttered News of the World.Continue reading...

The reaction to the latest twists and turns in News Corp.'s phone hacking scandal — which yesterday compelled Rupert Murdoch to withdraw his BSkyB bid, and today led him (and son James) to decline to testify? (Update: they've agreed to testify.)

Naturally, it runs the gamut from mocking (such as the eBay UK listing above), the cultural (musician Billy Bragg expressed his feelings about Murdoch's tabloids in song), to social media outrage (one prominent tweeter: former deputy Labour leader John Prescott). 

The story is also making waves in Murdoch's adopted homeland of America. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is calling for a US inquiry, while Hugo Dixon, Editor of Reuters Breaking Views, told the BBC that "politicians in America are starting to beat the drum."

Update: this afternoon comes word that the FBI is investigating News Corp. following allegations that 9/11 victims were targeted.Continue reading...

While nowhere near as shocking as News Corp.'s surprise closure of News of the World, across the Atlantic CNN delivered its own shocker this week. Eliot Spitzer is out as CNN replaces his nine-month old In the Arena roundtable program that followed the demise of Parker Spitzer, and faithful Anderson Cooper regains his flagship positioning with Anderson Cooper 360 moving to 8 p.m. ET starting August 8th.

Spitzer's ouster isn't the only news. Additional changes to the CNN schedule include the shifting, in late September, for The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer from 5-7 p.m. to a late afternoon 4-6 p.m. slot; John King’s show will move to 6 p.m.; while Erin Burnett, recently hired from CNBC, will assume the 7 p.m. slot as the lead-in to Cooper.

The only prime-time show unaffected is Piers Morgan Tonight, the 9 p.m. interview show introduced six months ago to replace Larry King.Continue reading...

Beyond the fashion, the car, the kiss and the pomp and ceremony, the Royal Wedding is as much about revitalizing the brand of the British monarchy as it is about the marriage of the couple now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

CNN's Piers Morgan argues that the record-breaking popularity of the event is a sign that "the British monarchy is back," while the New York Times' London bureau chief, John Burns — whose daughter went to school with Kate Middleton — gave a more detailed analysis on PBS.Continue reading...

Amazon misses Q1 earnings estimate. 

American Apparel gets $15M investment.

Apple's white iPhone 4 hits Best Buy on Wednesday.

Arizona Sun Devils ditch logo in rebranding.

AT&T CTO John Donovan talks up its cloud services.

CBS News anchor Katie Couric confirms to People she's stepping down.Continue reading...

Twitter celebrated turning five today with a segment on ABC's Good Morning America and a video, above, that highlights the reasons why a cross-section of users (including Richard Branson, Snoop Dogg, Hillary Clinton, Martha Stewart, Serena Williams) are fans of the micromessaging social service.

Watching Charlie Sheen join Twitter today — at the rate of 500 followers added per second, by one estimate — has been a fascinating demonstration of personal branding in the age of social media.

His first tweet included two made-up hashtags (#winning and #chooseyourvice), a twitpic showing two beverage brands to make a visual pun.

Girlfriend/porn star Bree Olson holds a Naked Juice while Sheen holds a childlike innocent drink (chocolate milk) from a family-run California dairy that's so teeny it doesn't appear to have a website: Broguiere's Farm Fresh Dairy, whose beverages are beloved by gourmands and earned Sheen praise from those in the know.

His first bio description, "Unemployed Winner," riffs on his "Winning" mantra about his self-described rockstar lifestyle and choices. The first batch of people that he's following includes Howard Stern and CNN's Piers Morgan, both of whom interviewed him this week; live-in "goddess" Olson; and actress Alyssa Milano.

As he prepares to respond on Twitter tonight to a 20/20 special on ABC, round one goes to ... @charliesheen.

From the "Bad Things (to Say, Let Alone Think) Happen in Threes" Dept. of Personal Branding today:

Natalie Portman hadn't even accepted her first Academy Award on Sunday, when news broke that Christian Dior designer John Galliano had reportedly made anti-Semitic remarks in public that were videotaped and published on the website of The Sun, a British tabloid. The new face of the brand's Miss Dior Cherie perfume, whose first language is Hebrew and was born in Israel, decliend to comment at the Oscars, where she wore a dress by Black Swan costume designers Rodarte. On Monday, however, she issued a statement expressing her shock; and today LVMH, which owns Dior, moved to fire the designer, who also maintains a namesake fashion label.

Also facing charges of anti-Semitism this week: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — who's also facing rape charges in Sweden, wants to trademark his name and today saw his whistleblowing organization nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize — is (naturally) being defended by his supporters staffers.

And the third passenger on this crazy train: Charlie Sheen told Piers Morgan in an interview that aired Monday night on CNN that he regretted making remarks about Chuck Lorre, the producer of Two and a Half Men, that were interpreted as anti-Semitic.