AB InBev trying to make Budweiser the "Coke of beers."

Apple plays offense and defense in patent fights as it rejects e-book collusion charge.

Beef Products struggles to survive "pink slime" furor.

Best Buy probes ex-CEO relationship with female subordinate.

BrightSource Energy action highlights difficulties of solar market.

Carrefour lowers prices to aid sales.

Google preserves cash and control with two-for-one stock spit. Continue reading...

Spotify, the free music sharing service that has gone viral over Facebook, just launched an embeddable Play Button so that any Spotify music can live on any website.

"Today we’re giving every blogger and web editor the ability to light up the internet with music. Adding a personalized soundtrack to your website or blog has never been this easy,” wrote chief product officer Gustav Söderström. “You want to give your fans access to any song, album or playlist of your choosing and in its entirety, while ensuring people stay glued to your site. The Spotify Play Button does all of this for free, while making sure artists get paid for every play."

In a strategy similar to what they did on Facebook, moving from mobile to stereo to social, jockeying for position as "the operating system for music" on all digital platforms, Spotify has now pushed its client web-ubiquitous.

“In many ways, the Spotify Play Button is akin to Facebook’s 'Like' button. It’s a way of integrating service across the greater web, while also offering users additional value," writes Mashable's Christina Warren. "This all brings Spotify one step closer to becoming the online hub for music.” Continue reading...

Alleghany to buy Transatlantic.

American Apparel acting president quits.

Apple leapfrogs Argos to become 2nd biggest online retailer in the U.K., as textbooks and photography tops its new product priorities and Grand Central NYC store prepares to open and iPhone 4S heads to China.

Berkshire Hathaway to invite Wall Street analysts to annual meeting for once as Warren Buffett, excited about Japan, says company could spend $10 billion on its next acquisition.

Best Buy sees shoppers in Florida camping out since last week for Black Friday.

Chevron accepts responsibility for oil spill off Brazil.Continue reading...

Today at Facebook’s f8 developers conference, an upbeat Andy Samberg Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Timeline, demonstrated in the video above. He described it as “the heart of your Facebook experience, completely rethought from the ground up. Timeline is the story of your life.”

Timelines’ three key features — "all your stories, all your apps, and a new way to express who you are" — expand the user profile all the way back to ... well, as far as you want it to go back.

Get ready to curate your life stream and engage with friends in “real-time serendipity in a friction-less experience.” It also make the site a lot more visual — photos are now bigger, with the timeline optimized for tablets and connected devices, and it can embed apps to incorporate music and other rich media elements.

Below, watch a video demo and find out more about the changes coming to Facebook, and why.Continue reading...

Hurricane Irene seems to be aiming for the Northeastern U.S. megalopolis.

ABC refuses to air ad for Our Idiot Brother flick.

Apple prepares for life after Steve Jobs' leadership as new chief e-mails the troops.

Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett invest $5 billion in Bank of America, shoring up the stock, as the financier prepares to host a fund-raiser for Presidnet Obama, and Charles Schwab sues the bank and others over a financial-markets intricacy.

Burger King finds the King listed at one of Time magazine's "creepiest" brand mascots.Continue reading...

As Dow closes down 634 points, the S&P downgrade of U.S. probed by Congress.

AIG sues Bank of America and its subsidiaries, Merrill Lynch and Countrywide.

BlackBerry cringes at association with U.K. riots, as violence continues to escalate.

Spotify reportedly has 1.4 million U.S. users, and now valued at $1.1 billion.

BMW leads global luxury auto brand sales through July, followed by Audi.

CenturyLink brand launches in former Qwest markets.Continue reading...

Airbnb crime victim claims company tried to silence her.

Apple iPhone ousts Nokia as world's best-selling smartphone, has more money than the US government.

AT&T plans to throttle data-hogs.

Bloomberg reportedly plans Arabic-language TV channel.

BMW i sub-brand starts to take shape with new concept cars.

Bulgari sales rise 23%.

Delta partners with LivingSocial to offer local deals.Continue reading...

NPR's Planet Money team has produced a story for sister public radio program This American Life that simply must be listened to.

Titled "When Patents Attack," the segment is a searing look at the world of "patent trolling," the practice of leveraging patents to sue one's way to profits against start-ups and huge companies alike.

The show singled out one patent "troll" in particular, Intellectual Ventures. Not surprisingly, Intellectual Ventures has fired back.Continue reading...