Google releases new map app for Apple iPhone, shuts down shopping search in China, and makes porn harder to find, as CEO defends tax avoidance.

Apple settles European e-book price-fixing probe with publishers.

Applebee's interviews creator of #HireKevin campaign.

BMW and Boeing plan to collaborate on making carbon fiber.

Barclays joins industry cost-cutting wave, eliminating 2,000 jobs.

Berkshire Hathaway plans rare buyback of holder's stock.Continue reading...

More and more TV viewers are turning to the web for their audio-visual pleasures, streaming shows and movies from such places as Hulu, Netflix, and AppleTV, among a growing list of others. 

YouTube, of course, is the grandpa of the online video-entertainment biz and is refusing to take a backseat to all the Johnny-come-latelys that are making their moves now. In the past year, YouTube owner Google has invested more than $100 million in 100 original channels to invite brands and professional producers create original high-quality content for the site. Even though viewership numbers weren’t particularly high, the site is shelling out some big bucks again, but this time to only 30 or 40 of those content creators, according to AllThingsD.com.

The metric of most interest to YouTube (and parent Google) execs is “the total ‘watch time’ a channel has generated” as well as cost, AllThingsD reports. The site’s top 25 channels averaged more than a million views a week, Ad Age reports, and “the top 33 have more than 100,000 subscribers, a key indicator of repeat viewing.”Continue reading...

New Yorkers were girding for a showdown Wednesday between Mayor Bloomberg and the opponents to his proposed ban on 16-ounce or bigger soft drinks. A mid-afternoon public hearing was scheduled to debate the measure, which still needs approval by the city Board of Health — appointed by the mayor — to take effect.

The ban's opponents could always sue or appeal to the state legislature (or not, judging by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recent remarks), but the "hundreds" of people who gathered on the steps of City Hall on Monday to oppose the ban, organized by a American Beverage Association coalition called New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, would rather put a stop to Bloomberg's legislation before it goes into effect.Continue reading...

Frank Zappa once told his fans not to eat the yellow snow. Now a whole lot of folks are deciding not to eat another colorful item: pink slime.

It's a substance that many Americans (well, the few who watched) Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last April would have seen in the series' premiere episode on ABC. That's when the British chef, accompanied by a bovine companion, demonstrated what goes into the 70% of America's ground beef that contains leftover cow parts (a.k.a. "pink slime"), meaning meat that has been treated with ammonia to banish bacteria such as e.coli and salmonella. It's also used to convert the fatty beef offcuts into a beef filler for burgers.

Ammonia-treated meat can be found in virtually all U.S. grocery stores, fast food restaurants, many national restaurant chains, and school cafeterias, but a backlash has been forming over fears that it is unsafe — and now the company that produces 'pink slime beef' has suspended operations at three of its four plants.Continue reading...

British media and bloggers are claiming that British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has stared down McDonald's about its use of what he has called "pink slime" in its burgers sold in America.

Oliver, who has been taking on school boards, local officials and the British government over nutrition, has made a long-running campaign of stopping McDonald's USA from using ammonium hydroxide as an ingredient in a beef filler for hamburgers, calling it not fit for a dog, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail. 

Long a fixture of culinary entertainment, with his own magazine and media empire, Oliver made a big deal of his opposition to the stuff before ABC canceled his show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, last spring following its second season, after he also took a swing at McDonald's Chicken McNuggets in addition to its hamburger patty ingredients (watch below).

For its part, McDonald's U.S. denied that Oliver had forced its hand about pulling ammonium hydroxide. "At McDonald's, food safety has been and will continue to be a top priority," the company told brandchannel in a prepared statement, quoting Todd Bacon, the company's aptly-named senior director of quality systems for supply-chain management.Continue reading...

As announced in July, Sainsburys is ending its relationship with Jamie Oliver, with this BBDO-produced 2011 holiday campaign (see more below) its last featuring the British celebrity chef.

The 11-year endorsement deal between the UK supermarket chain and the cheeky chef hasn't been without controversy — including spats over battery hens and a fall-out after he stated “For any chef, supermarkets are like a factory. I buy from specialist growers, organic suppliers and farmers" — but also made a lasting impression on the nation's home cooks, as a spokesman for the grocer told Marketing Week UK.

Click here for Brand Republic's timeline of the 11-year partnership, which produced more than 100 commercials and initiatives such as promoting sustainable fish.Continue reading...

Wikileaks spoofed Mastercard's "Priceless" campaign this week. Watch the spot below, along with new perfume commercials featuring Scarlett Johansson and Christina Aguilera, plus place branding with a twist and more.Continue reading...

The United States Postal Service is on the brink of financial collapse, reports the New York Times.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz hosts political town hall on Tuesday.

Amazon.com tests a site redesign as founder Jeff Bezos sees spaceship misfire.

American Apparel is in talks to raise up to $160 million in financing.

Apple retains appeal without Steve Jobs, while iconic designer Jonathan Ive stays on.

Baidu launches app store.

China’s Bright Foods looks to Australia for growth.

Cisco is accused of abetting Chinese government in Falun Gong crackdown.

CW marketer Rick Haskins attracts attention with provocative campaigns.

Domino's Pizza wants to be the first fast food joint on the moon (offer only good in Japan).

Glee star Heather Morris criticized for domestic violence-themed photo shoot.

Google Doodle pays tribute to Queen's Freddy Mercury.Continue reading...