In the News: Seattle's Best to NYC + more

Brands in the news:

Starbucks' rebranded Seattle's Best Coffee brand arrives in Manhattan.

About.com launches new branding effort.

Amazon reports that e-books outsell hard cover books as Kindle sales triple.

Apple donates MacPaint source code to museum as rocky romance with AT&T unveiled in Wired.

Blekko enters the search engine fray.

Brightkite embraces badges.

CBID, a Hong Kong-based news outfit, aims to become China's top business news brand.

Diesel launches new fragrances.

Discovery gears up cross-network push for The Hub kids' network launch with Hasbro.

Facebook, on the cusp of 500 million users, will announce user #500,000,000 in a TV interview with Diane Sawyer.

Foursquare is in search talks with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Google pulls plug on Nexus One smartphone, promotes Tags with free trial.

Honda plans more green cars.

HP files patent for Palmpad tablet.

Ikea ramps up loyalty program in U.K.

J&J cuts 2010 outlook, citing financial impact of recalls.

Nationwide ends its sponsorship of England's national football team, along with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Netflix expands beyond U.S., with streaming-only service in Canada.

Nokia's next CEO will face challenges (and opportunity).

Opel/Vauxhall embrace social side of customer care.

Panasonic makes black the cornerstone of its new Australia campaign.

PepsiCo profits decline following bottler integration.

Playboy's Hefner dilemma doesn't stop it from launching SFW website, The Smoking Jacket.

Ryanair apologized for ads implying that rival UK carrier Easyjet lied about punctuality.

Starbucks urges Canadians to go green.

Tiger Woods' video game sales decline.

Toyota subpoenad by U.S. court on steering flaws (and working on an electric "supercar"?)

True Religion expands from jeans to footwear.

Virgin will launch a digital magazine for the iPad, Maverick, helmed by Richard Branson's daughter Holly.

Visa starts marketing prepaid card to consumers.

Vogue's September issue leads a rebound in fashion magazine ad pages.

Yahoo is looking at buying URL-shortener bit.ly.

China edges out U.S. to become the world's biggest consumer of energy.

And the Original Soupman, famed for being mocked on Seinfeld, reopens in NYC today.