Toyota Motor is recalling 1.7 million or so vehicles worldwide to check fuel-pressure sensors. Most are in Japan, but it includes 245,000 Lexus cars sold in the U.S.

Ford Motor may report its most profitable year since 2000 tomorrow, when the Dearborn, Mich., automaker releases its annual report.

Google's yearly challenge asks college undergraduate and graduate students to create marketing programs with Google's AdWords. Except, this year, participants can use the competition to help smaller not-for-profit organizations. Separately, Google is reportedly also planning to hire 6,200 new workers this year.

Vehicles from different brands may soon talk to each other, though they probably won't reveal company secrets. Ford, GM, Toyota, and VW are among a group of eight automakers that is collaborating on technology that will let vehicles communicate across the asphalt ether to prevent crashes. Ford demonstrated the technology in Washington, D.C., in an event timed with that city's auto show this week.

It's been this way for years, and if Edmunds.com is right, it hasn't changed much in spite of new sedans from Detroit companies: U.S. consumers like domestic-made trucks and Japanese cars. Also not too surprising given the lower cost of gasoline in 2010: hybrid sales slipped. Ford's F-150 pickup truck, which has been the best-selling vehicle of any kind in the U.S., was back on top last year, per Edmunds. Ford sold 391,219 F-150's, a 38% increase from 2009. Chevrolet's Silverado 1500 was in second place.

Yahoo's Q4 sales fell 4% as the company continues losing audience and advertising income. Letting users use other services without leaving Yahoo has been the operating strategy at the portal: Microsoft handles search and Yahoo also has linking to newer, popular startups like Facebook, Zynga and Twitter.

Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. has hired Carol Massoni as president of consumer direct. Most recently she was SVP of merchandising at Li & Fung, USA. Before that she was president of Jones Retail Corp., a division of Nine West Group. She succeeds Jeff Cohen, who is leaving the company.

A queue of advertisers for the racy MTV show "Skins" has taken the nearest exit. But Tinsel Town advertisers are staying with the show: Sony's "Just Go With It"; Screen Gem's "The Roommate"; and Warner's "The Rite" were all there on Tuesday night's broadcast of the show. The films all carry a PG-13 or R rating. And movies aren't exactly enduring brands.

Limited-assortment grocers like Aldi, Grocery Outlet and Save-A-Lot are pulling in customers looking for the kinds of savings they can't get from big retail chains. Prices are driving consumers to more diverse retailers, and Jim Hertel, a partner at Illinois-based food retailing consultancy Willard Bishop, says those small stores are expanding their reach. Batavia, Ill.-based Aldi, a division of Germany-based Aldi Group, has over 1,135 stores in over 30 states and intends to open 80 to 100 more this year.

Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and a few more coins on a sesame-seed bun. It seems McDonald's is readying a plan to pass the buck down the line because of higher prices of upstream commodities. The Oak Brook, Ill.-based chain said increases won't be across the board but on selected menu items. Major packaged-food companies, including Kraft Foods and Sara Lee, have said they will do likewise.