American Airlines defends $20-million severance pay to CEO.

Deutsche Bank forced to restate 2012 profits due to U.S. lawsuits.

Google will package and brand chat services as Babble.

T-Mobile readies "Uncarrier" no-contract pricing plan and proposed board structure, while AT&T introduces no-contract wireless phone service and Sprintlaunches de-branded Android smartphones.

7-Eleven sues 7-SEVEN chain for trademark infringement.

Apple brand found to be less "inspiring" than it was three years ago in new consumer survey.Continue reading...

Interbrand announces the 2013 Best Retail Brands report.

Coca-Cola honored with first Clio brand icon award.

Starbucks names new global CMO in former Sephora marketer Sharon Rothstein, as McDonald's passes Starbucks as most social brand.

Apple rumored to pull out the stops for the next iPhone to take on Samsung, which has replaced Nokia as top smartphone brand in China and confirmed it's developing a smartwatch to take on Apple's rumored wearable computer.

BlackBerry prepares to bring million-selling Z10 smartphone to U.S. on Friday with 100,000 apps.

Burger King hopes folks gobble up new turkey burger.

Carl's Jr. and Hardee's introduce Jim Beam bourbon burger.

Clorox introduces smart tube technology to packaging design.Continue reading...

T-Mobile has been trying to find a dancing partner for some time now. Back in 2011, it came close to finding the perfect mate when it flirted with being bought by AT&T for $39 million only to have the whole thing shot down.

But things went their way Tuesday when the U.S. Department of Justice and the FCC approved a merger between Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile and MetroPCS, making the twosome into the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the States and ready to do battle with AT&T and Verizon Wireless, Nasdaq.com reports.

Fourth largest may sound pretty big, but its 42 million subscribers are about half of what each of the Big Two have, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.Continue reading...

"Whenever Stark hangs up his suit, the technically-adept billionaire can be seen in the film behind the wheel of the all-electric R8 e-tron sports car prototype," reads the Audi press release announcing the brand's partnership with the upcoming Iron Man 3.

Iron Man's alter ego, Tony Stark, was last seen driving an Acura NSX roadster in 2012's The Avengers. In Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), Stark drove Audi R8s. A spokesman at Acura's parent company, Honda, told Bloomberg that its role as the official vehicle of SHIELD (and the brand's relationship with Marvel) remain "unchanged."

"This is a strategic collaboration for us," said Loren Angelo, a marketing executive with Audi of America. "Similar to the position of the R8 as an innovation leader, Iron Man's character consistently evolved throughout the trilogy as he masterminds new trends."

In addition to swapping Stark's Acura for an Audi S7 in the third installment, Audi's Iron Man 3 deal will go beyond the R8 e-tron.Continue reading...

It may seem counter-intuitive, but MasterCard and Visa are in the midst of a technology war that may some day eliminate plastic credit cards.

At the recent Mobile World Congress, MasterCard introduced a mobile payments system called MasterPass, while Visa announced mobile payment partnerships with Samsung and Roam, a maker of point-of-sale systems. Both MasterCard and Visa, as well as others including Square, PayPal and Affirm, newly launched by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, are going after the same golden ring: the emerging mobile payments market.

MasterCard's MasterPass is a good example of where mobile payments technology is headed. According to Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer for MasterCard, "MasterPass brings together all of the ways we pay for things, from traditional plastic cards to digital wallets, and gives consumers the ability to make a payment from wherever they are and with one simple experience." MasterPass will offer checkout services that support anything from tags, mobile devices and QR codes used at point-of-sale to a simplified checkout process for online retailers. It will also provide "digital wallets" that banks, merchants and partners can adapt for their own use, featuring an open system that even MasterCard competitors can use. Continue reading...

Nike quickly backs away from Oscar Pistorius.

Volkswagen putting plug-in hybrid into production.

Google unveils touch-screen laptop.

Apple sees hedge-fund manager press his case against it.

Avon weighs exits from more countries.

Billabong posts record loss.

Boeing CEO stays in background to work on Dreamliner problem.

Citigroup toughens rules for executive bonuses.

Facebook COO bombs glass ceiling with new book.Continue reading...

Yahoo! teams up with Facebook for social site revamp as Marissa Mayer puts her stamp on the homepage.

GE sues Whirlpool over alleged price fixing in Europe.

New York Times puts Boston Globe on the block.

AB InBev updates Modela discussions with DOJ.

Alamo targets broader audience.

Apple files patent for slap version of rumored iWatch.

AT&T expands partnership with BMW.

Boeing plans to propose package of fixes for Dreamliner.

Burger King unveils new ads with a human element.Continue reading...

In late January, executives at telecom companies AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Intel and Qualcomm signed a letter asking the Federal Communications Commission to not go through with eventually handing out a good chunk of unlicensed airwaves to the public — a move that would provide free WiFi for many Americans and allow tech innovators to create new products, according to The Washington Post.

Perhaps these companies would like to remind the debt-ridden federal government that it could make a lot of money by selling off those airwaves instead. 

However, companies like Google and Microsoft would like WiFi to open up, the Post notes — a move that would not only spur innovation, they contend, and also allow their web-enabled businesses to likely expand along with the technology.

The last time the FCC opened up some unlicensed airwaves was in 1985. As a result, consumers gained garage-door openers, baby monitors, wireless stage microphones, and the current WiFi network.Continue reading...