When you’re a 6-10 pro basketball player, you are used to getting things your way. But Los Angeles Clippers power forward Lamar Odom, husband to Khloe Kardashian, may not win the current battle he’s thrust himself into.

Odom and designer Jonathan Garcia launched a clothing line, Rich Soil, back in 2009 and one of its T-shirts caused so much of a stir that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo actually sent him a letter to tell him to stop selling it, the Associated Press reports. Cuomo expected Odom and his pal to stop sales within five days.

The problem? The shirt looks an awful lot like a logo for a New York State farming program. The Rich Soil shirt features a very similar Statue of Liberty that sits behind familiar-looking crop rows, encircled in a similar font reading "Rich Soil New York" as opposed to the program's "Pride of New York." Check out a side-by-side here.Continue reading...

The nanosecond a so-called student athlete in college takes money of any kind related to his or her sport, they are suddenly considered professionals and cannot play in college anymore, so says the NCAA, who laid out the rules that lets the organization instead profit from things such as jersey sales with player names.  

The NCAA’s coffers have also been lined by its relationship with Electronic Arts, which has been making video games based on college teams and athletes for years. However, a few former players aren't happy about being duped out of revenues from those sales, and one of them, former Rutgers University quarterback Ryan Hart, has now made some legal headway.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia on Tuesday ruled that Hart can try to cash in on some of the money EA made from the 2004, 2005 and 2006 versions of its college football game. The 2-1 decision overturned a decision by a lower court that said that it was OK for EA to use Hart’s likeness without him getting any kind of royalties due to First Amendment rights.Continue reading...

Businesses dream of phones ringing off the hook and website traffic spiking thousands of percent. But such activity can also be bittersweet and a tightrope of ethical messaging and decision making. Just ask Tornado Alley Armor, the Oklahoma-based seller and installer of high-end storm shelters, about the bittersweet truth of how disasters can mean good business.Continue reading...

German software company SAP is looking to break out of the mold and hire hundreds of people with Autism, recognizing their unique talent for information technology. By 2020, the company plans to have 1 percent of its global workforce of 65,000 employees be individuals with autism.

SAP executive Luisa Delgado told the BBC that the company believes that "innovation comes from the edges." While it is a developmental disorder, Autism has a very broad spectrum, and many people afflicted with the disorder demonstrate an impressive attention to detail and are highly focused and intelligent. "Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to handle the challenges of the 21st Century."Continue reading...

New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art is taking its collection of more than 19,000 items for a ride downtown in two years as it moves from its current location to a new Renzo Piano-designed building right at the southern end of the High Line. With the move, museum execs saw the opportunity to also change up the museum's 13-year-old blocky logo.

Maybe to avoid too much change at once (or so it can be sure to have all the new stationery in place before the new building’s opening), the Whitney unveiled its new logo and visual identity system this week. It consists of a very simple W that Amerstam-based design firm Experimental Jetset apparently sees a lot of symbolism in.Continue reading...

When you're stuck in neutral as McDonald's has been lately, you begin to try a little bit of everything. Expanding the menu. Focusing on value options. Sacking your chief of US operations. And, now—reducing the menu.

On the heels of its elimination of the Angus Burger, Fruit & Walnut Salad and Chicken Selects, there are reports that other McDonald's menu items are on the chopping block too as the chain scrambles for ways to maximize traffic and revenues while minimizing costs to deal with stubbornly reluctant consumers.

Caesar Salad, McSkillet Burrito and the Southern Style biscuit also could end up following the same path, according to a franchisee e-mail obtained by Bloomberg. These would be further cutbacks in McDonald's core menu at a time when the company increasingly has been emphasizing the traffic-building value instead of "limited-time" items such as popcorn chicken and McRib sandwiches.Continue reading...

ESPN begins hundreds of layoffs.

H&M says that some clothes were produced in collapsed factory in Cambodia.

Target misses earnings expectations and cuts outlook.

Cable networks are rebranding, and pay-TV brands aren't happy about it. 

Dairy Queen to debut new ad campaign that promotes its burgers and fries.

Dodge enjoys star turn for its Challenger at premiere of Fast and Furious 6.

EA lawsuit over players' videogame-likeness issue threatens NCAA policies.

Facebook becoming less popular among teens, Pew study finds. 

Ferrero backs off attack on World Nutella Day.

Fisker Automotive reportedly sees bid by boutique firm led by former GM exec Bob Lutz and Chinese supplier.Continue reading...

After 8 years, Microsoft's Xbox announced it’s newest gaming console—Xbox One. The new console has taken the initiative to bring gaming back to the living room—a feat that faces some steep challenges in the name of smartphones and tablets. 

However, the most significant reveal ties into a top-of-mind trend that is impacting television broadcasters and mobile carriers across the board: second-screen. At the reveal, General Manager, Phil Spencer stated, “We believe that the television screen remains the most relevant screen in the home.” Microsoft understands that users are sitting in front of the television with tablets and mobile phones and has used this fact to bring back the focus to the television screen, allowing users to seamlessly toggle between surfing the web, watching television and playing a game in a feature called 'instant switching' on the Xbox One.Continue reading...