Apple's blockbuster quarter puts iPhone ahead of Google smartphones in the U.S.

Brinker International expands value strategy at Chili's.

Christian Louboutin makes the IP case for its red-soled shoes.

Davos kicks off with worries about eurozone crisis.

Del Frisco's Restaurant plans IPO.

Fiat launches ad for new Panda into Italian austerity zeitgeist.Continue reading...

Airbus raises prices of A320neo plane amid strong demand, as Boeing threatens to compete better in 2012 .

AirTran must reinstate whistleblower pilot.

American Express invests $125 million in China mobile payments startup.

Apple eases into corporate market with Macs, while textbook push draws interest.

BankUnited draws bids from TD Bank and others.

Beyonce and Jay-Z challenged by Blue Ivy trademark applicant.

Burberry sales surge on international demand.Continue reading...

A&P prepares to emerge from bankruptcy.

ABC plans to screen new TV show in theaters.

Amazon backs Hollywood film-streaming format.

Apple's Tim Cook is America's highest-paid CEO.

Daimler still trying to fix Smart brand.

Fiat will begin to emphasize product marketing over brand in U.S.

Ford cites Thai flood impact on bottom line, while U.S. car-buyers are lukewarm to hybrids.

Fox Sports settles legal dispute with Los Angeles Dodgers.

Friendly Ice Cream exits Chapter 11.Continue reading...

ABC dismisses rumors of Pan Am's demise.

Amazon continues being coy about Kindle sales.

Apple's Siri can handle Viagra but not abortions.

AT&T disturbed by FCC report.

Audi finds success with youthful marketing.

BBC web redesign goes live in the UK.

Carlsberg acquires Vietnamese brewer.

Google and Facebook ordered to de-index counterfeit domains.

Jack Daniel's holiday campaign celebrates brand's Lynchburg, Tenn. roots.

Janet Jackson teams up with Blackglama to design luxury fur line.

Microsoft Office is reportedly coming to the iPad as Windows tablet hopes fade.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...

It sure sounded like Walmart wanted to dominate yet another part of the U.S. economy when it sent out an RFI, or request for information — as NPR reported last week — laying out its plan to become "the largest provider of primary health-care services in the nation."

But it turns out that the country's largest retailer only wants to make more money by expanding its in-store consumer health-care offering — not dominate the industry.

Rebutting NPR's report, Dr. John Agwunobi, SVP & President of Walmart U.S. Health & Wellness, issued this denial: "The RFI statement of intent is overwritten and incorrect. We are not building a national, integrated, low-cost primary care health care platform."

Al Norman calls it a corporate "Oops." Maybe it was just a case of muscle memory underlying Walmart's ambitions, which always tend toward being the world's biggest (or perceived as such). Just recently came word, for instance, that Walmart is expanding its financial services such as check-cashing to "unbanked" Americans.Continue reading...

Best Buy stores to close in the U.K. as Carphone Warehouse sells its stake for $1.3 billion. In the U.S., BB will join post-Thanksgiving "Black Midnight" frenzy.

IAG, owner of British Airways & Iberia, pursues Portugal's TAP airline after agreeing to buy bmi (British Midland International) from Lufthansa.

Barnes & Noble expects to prod Amazon's Kindle with new Nook Color.

All Nippon Airways probes glitch in Dreamliner landing as Airbus tries to exploit longer-than-expected training time for the new Boeing plane.

Apple hit by piracy claim by leading computer scientist as brand rewards top executives to try to retain them for the post-Jobs era and threatens Google with new Siri "personal-assistant" search technology.Continue reading...

Released last week, The Revenge of the Electric Car "presents the recent resurgence of electric vehicles as seen through the eyes of four pioneers of the EV revolution." The film focuses on General Motors, Nissan, and Tesla Motors as all three "race each other to create the first, best, and most publicly accepted electric cars for the new car market."

But is the film an endeavor in academics, as the electric car market for which these brands are racing is crumbling.Continue reading...