Oprah Winfrey devoted two hours last Sunday night on her OWN cable network to Favorite Things, with the items given to ‘deserving military spouses.’ The franchise, an annual brandstravaganza on her former daytime talkshow, this year reverted to the talk show host's personal picks, with one in particular causing a kerfuffle. 

"The Surface, Microsoft's first tablet, feels like a Mercedes-Benz to me, people!" Oprah wrote on her website. "The full-size keyboard built right into the cover makes work easy, the very smart kickstand makes watching a movie or Skyping a friend a delight, the less than a pound-and-a-half weight makes a great alternative to a laptop, and the many other features make it fun for work and play. Now, that's a wowser!"

Unfortunately, it was a follow-up tweet professing her love for the Surface tablet to her 14.8 million followers on Twitter that got her in trouble, as she wrote "Gotta say love that SURFACE! Have bought 12 already for Christmas gifts. #FavoriteThings" from an iPad.

We can only hope that Gandalf won't tout his love for the new Windows Phone from an iPhone. Microsoft is partnering with Warner Bros, the studio behind the highly-anticipated The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first installment of a trilogy to be released (in the UK) on December 13, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman as Gandalf and Bilbo respectively.Continue reading...

Microsoft announces the departure of Windows chief (and Ballmer's heir apparent) in wake of Windows 8 launch.

LG breaks through with new smartphone.

Hostess Brands starts closing plants as workers strike.

Acura brings Dr. Phil and Suze Orman into its Christmas promo campaign.

Apple finally gives in on employee perks.

Bojangles recruits American Idol winner Scotty McCreery for campaign.

Cadillac shows design chops in China.

Callaway Golf drives buzz on Twitter for new high-tech driver.Continue reading...

Chrysler exec tweets a rebuff about Donald Trump comment on Jeep jobs, as UAW leads ethics complaint vs Romney over auto rescue remarks.

Apple's iPad Mini launches globally to shorter than expected lines; secures Lion trademark.

Barclays facing a $470 million fine for alleged energy market manipulation, and a corruption probe.

Australian court rejects free range trademark move.

BlackBerry 10 is on schedule for early next year, RIM says.

Bloomberg Businessweek pins Sandy on global warming in cover story.Continue reading...

You know the launch of the Windows 8 operating system, Windows Phone 8 and the Surface tablet is a big deal for Microsoft when it pulls out the big guns — chairman Bill Gates — to talk about why this week, with Friday's launch of Windows 8 globally and these new devices, represents a game-changer for the company and the brand. 

Microsoft is spending hundreds of millions of dollars and is the brand’s largest sustained global marketing activity in its 37-year history, including opening pop-up stores around the world in the brand's biggest retail activation to date. 

The Times Square holiday store in New York, for example, will give the first 100 people a year’s Xbox Music Pass (value $99.90) with purchase. The Big Apple will also be home to Microsoft's Microtropolis, a major interactive installation at Pier 57 on the Hudson River. Opening Friday, it's described as:

a stylized one hundred and sixty foot version of NYC in an art installation we are calling Microtropolis. Microtropolis is Manhattan experienced through Windows. It creates the ultimate hands-on demonstration of Windows 8, with the city of NYC as the backdrop. As you walk into the installation, you are literally walking through the avenues and streets with skyscrapers towering above. This interactive experience has hundreds of devices placed on rooftops within the city, customized to the neighborhoods in which they are placed.Continue reading...

Microsoft is teasing the Oct. 26th release of Windows 8 with this catchy countdown commercial. Will the release live up to the hype?

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is an excitable guy and if there is one thing that excites more than anything else (as far as we know), it is his employer. Ballmer threw his energy behind a letter to stockholders that was released on Monday, informing the investment community that Microsoft was in the midst of a changing world and now considers itself a devices and services company.

In other words, Microsoft is following in the footsteps of Apple. Don’t worry, Microsoft, as the master brand, will still be producing great software, but the company wants to push its device products, such as the soon-to-be-released Surface tablet. But, as Ballmer says in his letter, the company will be putting extra emphasis on "new form factors that have increasingly natural ways to use them including touch, gestures and speech."Continue reading...

Nokia once ruled the handset market but, in handset years, it’s been eons since those days and Nokia has fallen well behind Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android software. Last week, the Finnish company took another step backward, sliding behind Samsung.

That wasn’t good news for CEO Stephen Elop, who is coming up on his two-year anniversary in the post, a time frame that has found Nokia’s shares dropping down to sell at 70% less than the price it was at when Elop took over, the Wall Street Journal reports. Elop’s future with the company may hang on today’s announcement of the Nokia's Windows 8 Lumia Smartphone, which the company has been teasing for days in an attempt to steal even just a little of Apple's iPhone 5 thunder.

The new Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 range boasts "the best pictures and video ever seen on a smartphone," a touchscreen said to work with gloves and fingernails, wireless charging (also coming to Virgin Atlantic business lounges and the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf), NFC and Nokia Maps integration and “access to more than 150 playlists that span all major genres as part of an all-you-can-eat pro bono offering,” Engadget reports.

And, of course, consumers can create their own playlists, while US customers are getting a free streaming music service as an added sweetener. Along with all that, Bloomberg notes, consumers will also be able to browse an expanded app library incuding content from, yes, Bloomberg, plus Michelin, Angry Birds and other digital brands.Continue reading...

Nokia faces key test under new CEO, launches mobile streaming music in US and expanded app library as part of today's reveal of Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices. HTC's Windows Phone series will also be branded under 8 series following Samsung's mobile rebranding move.

Audi to build plant in Mexico as automaker markets S series with NFL tie-in.

Method sold to European green-cleaning rival Ecover.

3M drops planned acquisition of Avery Dennison under U.S. antitrust threat.

Amazon adds movies to streaming service in new challenge to Netflix.

American Airlines can reject pacts with pilots, judge says.

Apple is embarrassed by data leak ahead of iPhone 5 reveal on Sept. 12.

AT&T and Texas to test text-to-911 safety initiative.

Best Buy's new CEO hits the store floor in first week.

BP dinged as U.S. reiterates gross negligence charge in oil spill.Continue reading...