TiVo customers will soon be able to download movies from Blockbuster as part of a deal the companies announced Tuesday night.

Executives at Tata Motors are expecting millions of orders for the new snub-nosed Nano, which goes on sale in July for 100,000 rupees (about $2,000). To deal with initial demand for the cheapest mass-produced car in the world, it says it will use a computer to randomly choose who in India gets the first 100,000 cars, Eric Bellman reports. In the weeks ahead, Tata will send hundreds of the minicars for customers to view and test-drive in Indian showrooms. "We are at the gates of offering a new form of transport to the people of India," says Tata Motors chairman …

Jean Halliday reports that BMW's Mini is launching its second-generation convertible globally this week, along with the John Cooper Works version of the soft-top and the Mini One, the more affordable version of the small car, which is available mostly in Europe. The R57 Cabrio convertible will be backed by a global ad blitz by Plantage, Berlin. Next year, Mini also plans to introduce its biggest model ever, a crossover that will be the brand's first vehicle to offer all-wheel-drive. Mini's biggest current model is the Clubman, at 13 feet long, or 9.45 inches longer than the Mini car. …

Palm has been winning over a lot of skeptical software developers lately to its forthcoming smart phone, the Pre, which will run WebOS. Many developers contacted by BW's Peter Burrows say that they would rather write for Pre than for other platforms such as Microsoft Windows and, in some cases, Google's Android, although Apple's iPhone remains the "it" device for most. But Palm still has everything to prove, Burrows points out. On March 20, it announced a 70% drop in smartphone sales from a year earlier, and a net loss of $90 million -- 30% larger than what Wall …

Joseph Coughlin created MIT's AgeLab nearly 10 years ago to help businesses tailor products and services to the world's older folks, Hiawatha Bray reports, and his vision is nothing like the youth-obsessed fantasies of TV and movies. In reality, tomorrow belongs to the old. "It's about designing the lifestyle of the future," says the 47-year-old Coughlin. Making products specifically for old people can be commercial suicide because "the young won't use it and the old will run away," Coughlin says. But features like more readable labels or packages that are easier to open are helpful to younger customers as …

McDonald's is testing the Snack Wrap Mac -- half a beef patty, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions -- wrapped in a flour tortilla in about 400 of the chain's 14,000 locations, Emily Bryson York reports. It costs $1.49. Results have been "great," says McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud, adding that "it is just a test, and no final decisions have been made." McDonald's introduced chicken snack wraps a few years ago and they've been a huge success, both as snacks and add-ons to full meals. One test market is Houston; another is Wisconsin, says Darren Tristano, executive vp …

Airlines are slashing fares to compete with low-budget carriers like Southwest but Tamara Keith reports that the deals aren't hurting airlines as much as you may think. Lower fuel prices are a big reason why.

New campaigns for Trojan and LifeStyles "try to add some life to limp sales," reads the subhed. "At least something is starting to rise in the recession," reads Laurie Burkitt's lede. Enough excerpted.

Apple was voted the "most inspiring" brand by the 4,310 readers who participated in Brandchannel's 2009 Brandjunkie awards voting. It was little wonder, as they seemed to finish in the top five of nearly every category, from "best retail environment" (#1) to being "green and eco-friendly" (#3) to "most controversial" (#4). But they were, by the way, also voted "best able to rebound from a crisis." Pepsi racked up a good amount of mentions, too, and was voted the "most effective rebrand." Wal-Mart was No. 2 in that category. General Motors predictably didn't fare so well. It was No. 1 …

Coke's Powerade is undertaking a bold and innovative print and outdoor effort that positions category leader Gatorade as only half the brand Powerade is, writes Natalie Zmuda. It plans to blitz the market with messaging that Pepsi's Gatorade is an inferior method of hydration, and it says it has the science to back it up. Powerade has been in the lab reformulating its trademark sports drink to include four electrolytes -- sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium -- lost during exercise. Gatorade's formula contains just two electrolytes, sodium and potassium. "There have been great advancements in a lot of …