This Sunday's "New York Times Magazine" cover story, "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food," stirs up the debate over just how sincere some major food and beverage companies are about being part of the solution to the obesity crisis. Online since Wednesday, it is excerpted from "Salt, Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us," which will be released by Random House Tuesday.

Sony revealed a lot about the state of the videogame industry yesterday without actually showing its forthcoming PlayStation 4, which it seems to expect to be ready for this holiday season at a price as yet undisclosed.

In a world where a company that runs private prisons puts its name on a college football stadium, we shouldn't be surprised to see an automobile company offer solar panels for homeowners as an incentive to buy its vehicles. Should we?

Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who died yesterday at 80 after a long fight against cancer, didn't really reinvent basketball, as the "Wall Street Journal" headline suggests. Points are still scored by tossing an inflated orb through a "basket," after all. But he did overhaul the way professional basketball is packaged and sold -- currently making his team the most valuable in the NBA, according to "Forbes," after years of trailing the New York Knicks --and he transformed the exploding profession of "sports marketing" along the way.

None of the listed antonyms for triumphant -- defeated, failing, losing, unsuccessful -- seem to adequately convey what headlines and news anchors everywhere were calling a "Carnival public relations fiasco" late last week as its Triumph was towed to port. Every scatological joke, and picture imaginable got posted in social media along with passengers' harrowing tales in the mainstream outlets.

Warren Buffet tossed another haloed brand into his shopping cart yesterday, adding 50% of Heinz to all the other All-American staples he's backed or owns outright. Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway and private equity partner 3G Capital, which will be in control of operations at Heinz, will pay a record $23 in billion at checkout and will assume another $5 billion in debt. Berkshire itself is shelling out $12 billion - more than $4 billion in cash -- for its 50% stake.

American Airlines and US Airways will announce the details of their merger this morning after more than a year of to and fro, creating the world's largest carrier with the muscle mass to compete more effectively with United and Delta, who have themselves bulked up in recent years. The boards of both airlines approved the deal yesterday, according to a release issued early this morning on the US Airways website.

"USA Today"'s Chris Woodyard reminds us that Dustin Hoffman was a squeaky-faced kid in "The Graduate" when an Alfa Romeo last took a memorable spin in the consciousness of the Consumer Republic. Fiat, the parent of Chrysler Group, yesterday took the wraps off its return of the brand to the U.S. by introducing the "sexy new Alfa Romeo 4C." This is "after years of failed promises and delayed introductions," the "Los Angeles Times"'s David Undercoffler points out.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has not only wielded a big stick but also walked with a swagger in pushing through "we-know-what's-good-for-you" initiatives that have roused the ire of folks around the country who, for example, like to smoke where they please, tote the armament of their choice and drink large doses of soda pop without government say-so.

"They're here again," write the jaded technology writers. No, they're not talking about another zombie offering from Hollywood. Rather, it's informed speculation in the mainstream press about Apple developing a wrist device that inevitably evokes the image of Dick Tracy, the cartoon cop who sported a "2-way wrist radio" back in the day when city editors wore green celluloid eyeshades and computers filled a room.