If you were looking for a bounce-back in the PC market after the first quarter, don't. Both Gartner and IDC estimate that shipments fell about 11% percent year-over-year in the second quarter. The two analyst groups blame the decline on sluggish uptake in a few regions, most notably China and Europe, as well as a market that favors tablets over low-end computers.

If you want to get a feeling for the new Morgan Stanley campaign, go to Rockefeller Center and look at the ceiling art by Jose Maria Sert. A veritable Sistine Chapel to the gods of American progress and can-do. The Martin Agency's creative for Morgan Stanley uses the motif, with art mirroring New Deal-era murals by artists like Thomas Hart Benton and Diego Rivera to illustrate, with a contemporary edge, Morgan Stanley's approach to money.

Retailer Williams-Sonoma has poached David Jimenez from Hallmark to be SVP of visual and store experience and has given three of its existing senior vice presidents new roles. Peter Sassi, VP of inventory management, will be moved up to SVP of stores for the Williams-Sonoma brand. Jeff Howie, formerly SVP of inventory management for the Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen brands, was tapped to fill Sassi's place. John Trifoso will expand his current role as SVP of Pottery Barn's inventory management to lead the inventory management teams for the Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen brands.

Much maligned, low class beer cans are trying to get some respect versus bottles. After all, cans hold the suds and keep out light. The new cans keep beer taste without mucking it up with metallic tones. They are also vented containers with "extended lips" for drinkability. Sam Adams plans to introduce its "Sam can" with an extended lip and hourglass ridge at the top to enhance aromatics and expel carbonation, for example. The big brewers are working on it, and then there's the retro church key can movement.

If you're focused on the revival of the U.S. car market and the profitability of automotive manufacturers, then the recent surge in sales of full-size pickups is great news. If your focus is fuel economy, well, the headlines might come as a disappointment. That's because the upturn in the truck market is driving down the fuel economy of the typical vehicle sold in the U.S., according to the latest report from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, or UMTRI.

The day, 7/11 is Free Slurpee Day. The company is giving away free 12-ounce Slurpee drinks at participating 7-Eleven stores in the United States and Canada. There's aother stuff: Nathan Barnatt, YouTube dancer posted his version of the Slurpee dance, along with how to do it: www.7-eleven.com/slurpeedance. There are social media elements to that. At retail there's branded merchandise. The company's also holding a party in Malibu.

Coca-Cola is launching a music distribution hub to promote emerging global talent as part of a wider push with Spotify to boost its reach with teens. The soft drinks giant is working with music licensing agency Music Dealers to raise the profile of 52 artists through its digital network. It follows an audition process that saw over 20,000 unsigned artists submit tracks that incorporated the brand's "five note" motif.

As national chains look to go local and regional chains look to expand their borders, cities like Baltimore are primed for turf wars. Royal Farms has 151 c-stores in four states, with Baltimore at the center. But the company faces inundation from Wawa Inc. stores and 7-Eleven Inc. locations. Royal Farms opened 12 new locations and rebuilt six last year, mostly in Baltimore and its suburbs, plus six others.

He's the first British male in 77 years to win Wimbledon, and now brands are all over Andy Murray. Head, who supply his rackets, has boosted digital to drive awareness around its tennis equipment range. The sports brand is running Facebook ads, YouTube virals and Twitter promotions across Europe as well as buying ads in the UK's only tennis magazine Tennis Head.

Despite signs of a slowdown in the Chinese economy, General Motors posted record sales in China - where GM sales now have surpassed the total number of vehicles the company is selling in its home market, the United States. GM and its Chinese joint venture partners saw sales surge by 10.6% during the first half of 2013, to nearly 1.6 million, an all-time record that positions it as the booming Asian nation's second-largest automotive manufacturer.