Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled a data storage and Web software system called Live Mesh that is intended to blur the distinction between software running on the Windows OS and an elaborate array of services that will be delivered to a growing collection of electronic gadgets. The announcement represents a significant strategic shift for Microsoft, whose operating system helped popularize personal computers. Bill Gates, the company's co-founder, chairman and chief architect, said in an interview on CNN a year ago: "We're making the PC the place where it all comes together." But a strategy document circulated to company employees …

Mattel's struggle to breathe life back into Barbie--more than a year after problems surfaced--shows the ongoing challenge the toy industry faces in attracting the fickle attention of young girls. In many of last year's Barbie lines, for example, the company sought to modernize the doll with more electronic features. But attempts to address the competition posed by iPods and other electronic items have only confused its young customers. The recent Magic of the Rainbow--a fantasy doll marketed under the Barbie brand--doubled as a remote control, came with a CD-ROM game and featured wings that fluttered at the push of a …

Walt Disney Co. is establishing a new production banner--called Disneynature--to deliver two nature films a year starting in 2009. By betting that multiplex audiences are hungry for lavish nature documentaries, Disney is revisiting its corporate retrenchment in 2006, when it reduced the number of movies it released each year to about 12 (from as many as 20), and started marketing them almost entirely under a single brand, Walt Disney Pictures. Disney CEO Robert A. Iger says the success of "March of the Penguins"--a 2005 documentary from Warner --helped spark the company's interest in the genre. He also says that …

Puma is opening a new office in Los Angeles next month dedicated to increasing corporate partnerships and product interaction with music and film celebrities. The new office is a move to go "fish where the fish are," says Barney Waters, Puma North America's VP/marketing. Puma has been making in-roads with celebrities over the past several years, working on design and advertising projects with rapper Ludacris and socialite-heiress Lydia Hearst, among others. This month, Puma unveiled its new TV campaign, featuring Scottish singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini. In May, the company will begin promotional tie-ins with the film "Speed Racer." Ryan …

Exclusivity is Roll-Royce's appeal. Even former stable mate Bentley, now owned by Volkswagen, offers cars at half its price. But while the rest of the auto industry struggles, Rolls--bought by BMW in 1998--is on pace to surpass the 322 cars that Autodata estimates it sold in the U.S. last year. For the first quarter, it sold 149 cars, up 67% over the period last year. For now, Rolls makes only variants on the Phantom: the convertible, a sedan and--just unveiled in February--a two-door hardtop. A new, slightly smaller Rolls is on the way by 2010, but it still will …

In 1996, filmmaker Spike Lee contacted Christopher Koch, the fourth-generation president of New Era Cap, about making a New York Yankees hat in red instead of the traditional navy. Producing a cap in anything but a team's original colors was considered sacrilege, but Koch recognized the potential marketing bonanza of his company's hats on the head of the trendsetting Lee. New Era made a small batch of red caps for Lee, who was later seen wearing them at the 1996 World Series. Almost immediately, the company, which has the official license to make hats for Major League Baseball, was …