The importance of China and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries can be read in Apple's Q3 earnings report. iPhone sales are up 55% year over year in the BRIC nations, and Chinese iPhone sales are up 48%, with the iPad sales in that country rising 51% year over year despite falling slightly globally. While revenue was up single digits or nearly flat in the Americas, Europe, Japan and the rest of Asia-Pacific, in China it rose 28% year over year.

YouTube has blocked Greenpeace’s "LEGO: Everything is not Awesome" video which depicts a LEGO Arctic being destroyed by an oil spill to highlight LEGO’s promotion of the Shell oil brand on its toys. YouTube ostensibly suspended the clip following a copyright claim from Warner Bros. Greenpeace says the video uses satire and parody, is in the public interest, and therefore protected under the right to free speech. The film racked up over 3 million views in less than three days on YouTube.

Mercedes-Benz is using LinkedIn to promote its 2015 C-Class line via a program called “Driven to Perform.” The car maker is asking LinkedIn users to nominate colleagues by highlighting their professional accomplishments and attributes in short recommendations. The winner of the social media promotion gets a two-year lease of a Mercedes C300. The brand also will weigh how popular and active nominees are on social networks. The contest closes on Aug. 18, and the winner will be announced in September.

If you drive a convertible, chances are you’re both more educated and more affluent than the typical American motorist, or so shows a new study from Experian Automotive. You’re also lot more likely to live in one of the sunshine states, especially California, Texas or Florida -- though ragtops also have plenty of fans in more northern climes, including coastal communities in New York, as well as that heartland state, Illinois.

Bitcoin processing firm BitPay has inked partnerships with the NBA's Sacramento Kings and the athletic department in Georgia Tech. It also handles the account for rapper 50 Cent's new album and a naming rights deal with ESPN for the post-season Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. BitPay vp-marketing Stephanie Wargo explains that getting people to understand bitcoin and how to use it is as hard as explaining in the early days of the the Internet just what it was and how to use it.

Employees who were fired Sunday encouraged store workers to further efforts to “shut down” stores. Several stores are reporting diminishing supplies, especially of perishable items, as the company’s warehouse workers and drivers began efforts to halt deliveries to stores in order to pressure management.

Today’s vehicles are better than they have ever been, mostly because of the intense focus on design and technology, including fuel economy. But all that's boring. How about the worst cars and trucks? Among vehicles on Detroit Bureau's list are Pontiac’s famed rolling vacuum cleaner, the Aztek; the nurse shark on wheels, Honda’s CrossTour; the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, perhaps the only convertible SUV ever; the Hummer H3; Chevrolet SSR (kind of a sports car pickup); the Subaru Tribeca; and, of course the Lincoln Blackwood pickup truck.     

"Buick" and "sports sedan" can now officially live in the same sentence. The Buick Regal, refreshed with a revamped powertrain for 2014, now ranks among the top upscale sports sedans tested by Consumer Reports, just behind the BMW 328i but high enough to easily top the magazine’s road test scores for the Cadillac ATS and CTS sedans. The magazine, in its September issue, also gives Volvo S60 top marks.

To commemorate its involvement in developing the boots Aldrin and Armstrong wore on the moon, GE has partnered with men’s clothing retailer JackThreads and luxury footwear designer Android Homme. The result: The Missions, hipster high-tops meant to capture some of innovative ideas that GE put into the moon walkers. They are made of advanced materials that provide some hardcore functionality.

Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes will play in the new $1.2 billion Levi's Stadium before the San Francisco 49ers get to. That means big media attention, which is why BMW Northern California has signed on as presenting sponsor of the ribbon-cutting game as well as the official auto partner of the club, to include ads, signage, promotional events and consumer activation around the inaugural contest and throughout the soccer season.