Google yesterday took the wraps off the Moto X, a smartphone that is intended to answer a question on the minds of a lot of analysts, journalists and freelance pundits: why in the world did it shell out $12.5 billion to acquire a hardware brand that has been fading faster than a call on a 2G network. One thing for sure you can say about the new device: it's listening to its consumers, not the naysayers.

Retailers say consumers will be the true beneficiaries of a federal court decision yesterday that ruled that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System had been far too generous to banks in the amount it had allowed them to take as its rake from each swipe of a debit card. Well, ironically, maybe not the denizens of the Elmore Store in Elmore, Vt., where, the "Wall Street Journal" reports, proprietor Kathy Miller "has given away cups of coffee to customers because it is better for her bottom line than swiping their debit cards."