The American Medical Association sent a somewhat mixed message regarding genetically engineered foods at its annual convention this week. On the one hand, it said "there is no scientific basis for special labeling" of crops that are created in laboratories to, for example, increase yield per acre or resist pesticides that are lethal to weeds." But it did pass a resolution that calls for mandatory pre-market safety assessments of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) -- which would be a new Food and Drug Administration requirement.

Bob McDonald no doubt feels Ann Curry's pain, and vice-versa. Both are personable achievers who stepped into the top spot at their respective franchises at a time when they were humming on autopilot only to find their jobs in jeopardy this morning as results have faltered.

If yesterday is any indication, investors aren't buying JC Penney's quick fix for its failure to get across its "everyday low pricing" strategy to consumers: the beheading of president Michael Francis in a terse press release dated this Sunday. Its share price plunged more than 8% even as CEO Ron Johnson and lead investor Bill Ackman sought to put a positive spin on the future.

In unveiling its first piece of computer hardware ever yesterday, Microsoft signaled that it was ready to strut its stuff against longtime rival Apple for the booming tablet market. The new device, dubbed Surface, is expected to be available at an unspecified-but-competitive price when the highly touted Windows 8 comes to market later this year, Microsoft announced at a press conference in Los Angeles that had a sense of mystery and buzz about it that's usually associated with the crowd from Cupertino.

If the lesson of Burger King's introduction of a 510-calories Bacon Sundae last week are any indication, the Consumer Republic can look forward to heaping spoonfuls of tasty-but-bad-for-you treats in the short term. The healthy-eating finger-waggers and naysayers have brought out the foodie-backlashers and free-market flagwavers in force and it's all free publicity in the bank for Burger King's marketing department.

Consumers may be in the last days of the Golden Age of Unlimited Data Downloading as other carriers follow Verizon's lead and reconfigure the way they charge users who are increasingly using smartphones -- and other devices such as tablets -- for activities other than simple phone conversations, which have fast become a quaint relic of other recent centuries. (Ever try to get a teenager to respond to a phone call?)

Home may still be where the hearth is but it's also where the wealth has been and gone -- at least for the middle class -- dispiriting figures released by the Federal Reserve yesterday indicate. Primarily due to plunging home values, the net worth of the median family in America from 2007 to 2009 fell to the level it was at in the early '90s -- a time when Mark Zuckerberg was being driven to play dates and several years before the word "McMansions" appeared in the New York Times for the first time in a piece Benjamin Cheever wrote …

Software developers may chafe at the iron-fisted rule Apple exerts over the apps it purveys in its App Store but they love the fact that Apple maintains strong control over the hardware and software that run its devices because it's far easier to produce and test an app for the iOS than it is for Android devices. That dichotomy is one compelling reason why Apple still commands the loyalty of developers even though Android hardware outsells Apple by 59% to 23% in the smartphone market, as Nick Wingfield and Brian X. Chen make clear in the New York Times this …

If you haven't yet figured out where you're going to get in line for your Air Yeezy 2s, which go on sale tomorrow, Complex.com's Brandon Edler has compiled a helpful list of which stores will be stocking the Kanye/Nike collaboration and how they'll be distributing them (lottery, first come-first served, bracelets, MMA cage match, etc.).

Shareholders in bedding companies are shell-shocked from the mattress wars this morning as Tempur-Pedic, citing increased competition, "aggressive" marketing campaigns and price-slashing, yesterday revised its outlook downward for the year while also projecting a falloff in same-quarter profits, which will be announced June 30. The company's stock price plunged 49%, dragging down competitors such as Select Comfort (down 21%) and Sealy (5%) in the process.