Yum! Brands third quarter earnings report is being closely watched.

Barclays to buy ING online assets.

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer urged to repurchase stock, profiled in New York magazine.

AT&T shares network with IBM to lure more customers to the cloud.

Amazon veers more into advertising.

American Airlines loses traffic over operational issues.

Apple asked by Taiwan to blur satellite image as Samsung spat dings brand perception.Continue reading...

Interbrand's 2012 Best Global Brands report sees Coca-Cola on top, Apple and Samsung make gains, Disney and HP decline, and BlackBerry lose 39 percent of brand value.

Samsung files to add iPhone 5 to Apple patent lawsuit as US court lifts injunction against Galaxy Tab sales and Galaxy S3 outsells iPhone 5 in UK.

Amazon plans to hire 10,000 British temp employees for the holidays.

American Airlines accuses pilots of sabotage as loose seats embarrass execs.

American Express ordered to refund $85 million to customers and pay $27.5 million in penalties.

Apple's iPad Mini rumored for Oct. 17 unveiling.

Cadbury wins exclusive right to its signature purple color in legal battle.

Disney unveils new homepage with entertainment focus.

Facebook sells more access to members as part of ad analytics push; Wall Street approves.

Google's stock market value passes Microsoft's for the first time.

Guinness launches "cloud TV" campaign.Continue reading...

Auto executives from around the world, car journalists, and thousands of other hangers-on are flocking to the French capital for the Paris Auto Show which is kicking off with an end-of-the-week preview of new models and concept vehicles for the media.

One automaker after another is primping itself for the Parisian catwalk — such as the renascent Volvo, which is unveiling new variants of its V40 at the exhibition, and the snazzy new Jaguar F-TYPE, which was feted at the Musee Rodin Thursday night with celebs on hand including American chanteuse Lana Del Rey, above.

But unfortunately, a pall is hanging over the hall and the show's participants: the growing distress of Europe's auto market, which seems to be worsening not only quantitatively but perceptually every week.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola announces Global Fund donation at Clinton Global Initiative meeting, teams up with Segway creator on clean water project and launches corporate blog.

GE's Jeff Immelt joins the few brave CEOs on Twitter.

IBM targets Amazon in the cloud.

AirAsia creates child-free quiet zones on flights.

Arby's sees gains under new owners.

Barnes & Noble plans to launch Nook video service.

Chase Bank tops customer-satisfaction study.Continue reading...

Apple iPhone 5 launch today could reheat European carriers' price war, as other tech companies weigh the implications.

Acer to introduce smartphone using operating system by Alibaba.

Amazon cuts shipping times by building more warehouses.

Chesapeake Energy sells $6.9 billion in assets.

Digital Domain, Hollywood's hologram maker, files for bankruptcy.

Dish Network returns Glenn Beck to US TV.

Ford seems likely to pick North American chief Mark Fields to succeed CEO Alan Mulally.Continue reading...

Volvo US is kicking off a social marketing campaign on Pinterest in partnership with Victoria Smith, a design-savvy social mediaite who has more than half a million followers on the social scrapbooking site. The San Francisco-based pinfluencer, better known in blogging and design circles as sfgirlbybay, boasts almost 25,000 Twitter followers, Instagram fans and made a name producing Keep Calm & Carry On posters on Etsy, among other activities.

The pitch: "Didn't take a trip this summer? Follow @VolvoCarsUS on Pinterest and pin your favorite Volvo adventure for a chance to win your ultimate #VolvoJoyride! Watch as Pinner & Lifestyle Blogger Victoria Smith takes a road trip to Lake Tahoe in the New 2013 Volvo S60 T5 AWD! To learn how to win your own #VolvoJoyride, visit http://volvojoyride.com"

Does anyone remember Linsanity? The media melee last spring engulfed NBA fans in NYC and beyond when an unknown player and Harvard grad of Taiwanese parents rocketed to stardom with the New York Knicks. The term "Linsanity" came to describe the Jeremy Lin phenomenon. Brands, sensing an opportunity to tap into the China market via the NBA's new Asian sensation, rushed to cash in on Lin. One of those brands was Volvo. 

Volvo? Yes, Volvo. Now, Lin's first Volvo commercial for the China market has finally been released. While Volvo is trying to appeal to well-heeled Chinese consumers about their aspirations versus the status quo, it's less than Linspiring.Continue reading...

A peak audience of 11.2 million watched Channel 4's broadcast of the rousing opening ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, titled “Enlightenment.” An average 7.7 million tuned in to see the four-hour show on August 29th. (Not coincidentally, the Queen entered the stadium at 8:45pm, when viewing peaked.)

The British broadcaster reported that it was its largest audience in more than 10 years. "Last night's opening ceremony was a spectacular start to the London 2012 Paralympic Games," said Channel 4's Jay Hunt. "I'm delighted that so many viewers enjoyed it with us." 

The ceremony, inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest and following on from the "pandemonium" of the London 2012 Games Opening Ceremony, focused on the story of scientific discovery and education.

Sir Ian McKellen danced to a stirring version of "I Am What I Am," as the stadium was transformed into a representation of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. Accompanied by narration from physicist Stephen Hawking, a new musical piece based on Newton’s Principia Mathematica underscored the theme of the Games: ability and achievement come in many forms.Continue reading...