Acura is under fire for casting of Super Bowl commercial starring Jerry Seinfeld.

American Airlines parent AMR outlines non-union cutbacks.

California Pizza Kitchen plans new prototype and brand renewal.

Citigroup faces executive-pay dilemma after shareholder vote.

Dick Clark's career celebrated as entertainment legend dies at 82.

eBay continues comeback, citing PayPal.Continue reading...

American Airlines cuts flights, says not related to bankrupcy filing.

Avon looks to a new CEO to reinvigorate culture.

Chevron and Transocean encounter government suit over oil spill in Brazil.

Clint Eastwood signs on for E! reality show with his family.

Facebook tests coupon ads; embraces clean power following Greenpeace pressure.

First Solar scales back as demand for solar panels slumps.

Ford promises its new hybrids will leap ahead of Prius in fuel efficiency.

Groupon gets faint IPO support from its underwriters.Continue reading...

German brand Siemens is in a spot of trouble in China.

Well-known blogger Luo Yonghao is leading a crusade against the brand. Luo built his personal fury over a malfunctioning Siemens refrigerator into a avalanche of consumer outpouring. The outrage culminated with a number of consumers smashing Siemens products outside the brand's Beijing headquarters.

Their complaint? The doors "are difficult to close."Continue reading...

Alibaba takes on Baidu for dominance in China.

Android rises to #2 smartphone platform in Europe.

Apple ponders disposition of its cash horde.

California Pizza Kitchen plans brand revival.

Cochlear recalls line of ear implants.

Deutsche Bank launches Autobahn App Market.

Ford unveils new three-cylinder EcoBoost engine at Frankfurt auto show.

GameStop to sell branded gaming tablet.Continue reading...

"Big City Farmer," above, tells the story of a Chinese farmer named Gao, whose garden is near a coal-fired power plant in Shanghai — but the air and soil are clean enough that his crops flourish, thanks to innovative technology from Siemens, as revealed only at the very end.

Siemens A.G., a global power in electronics, electrical engineering, energy and healthcare has built a reputation since its founding in 1847 for innovation and service, and Peter Löscher, the 12th C.E.O. in the company’s history, sent a clear message to his 405,000 employees in 190 countries when he took over the reins.

“The culture of the company was actually formed over a long period of time, through longevity of leadership. So for me the important thing was to come in and say Siemens doesn’t need a revolution. We will go for an evolution but with speed, speed, speed,” said Löscher, in an extensive profile in The New York Times.

The brand is also going for an evolution with heart, heart, heart — via small stories of real people, relaying the impact of the brand on everyday lives.Continue reading...

The solar-powered car is getting closer to reality, but that’s not why General Motors just parceled out $7.5 million to a solar-panel company.

The Detroit Free Press reports that GM Ventures, the venture capital arm of GM, passed along the money to California’s Sunlogics, a manufacturer of solar panels and solar-power generation systems. As a result, Sunlogics will move to Michigan and hire 200 employees.

"Today's commitment by Sunlogics ... fits in perfectly with the overall approach we've taken to try to bring in high-tech companies ... to give us good-quality high-paying jobs," commented Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson to the Free Press.

What GM will get out of the deal are the design and installation of solar-charging canopies that will provide power at Chevy dealerships and GM plants, along with good karma (carma?) for further its green efforts.Continue reading...

Ford pulls ads from News of the World (along with Vauxhall, Lloyd's and Virgin) over hacking controversy, as UK parliament holds an emergency debate in black eye for Rupert Murdoch's News International.

Amazon and Apple lead US retail-growth charts.

Apple reportedly launching next iPhone in the third quarter.

Anheuser-Busch InBev goes virtual in new campaign for Beck’s.

Caterpillar trails Komatsu in crucial China market.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg test-drives Google+.

Google rumored to plan ITA flight search feature.Continue reading...

How green are cities today and what can they do to improve their environmental footprint? The Green City Index, a research project by the Economist Intelligence Unit with sponsorship by Siemens, has named San Francisco the world's greenest city in 2011.