Consumers are tiptoeing back to earth-friendly footwear, with the Timberland Co. reporting that first-quarter sales climbed 6.9% to $317 million, while net income rose to $25.7 million, compared with $15.9 million. In North America, revenue gained 1.7% to $121.9 million. Comparable store sales rose 4.5% in its 220 specialty and outlet stores across North America, Europe, and Asia. "We are pleased to see that our product and brand initiatives are gaining traction,â€� Jeffrey B. Swartz, president/CEO says in its earnings results. “By re-asserting our heritage strength in the outdoor category and finding unique ways to link …

Visa Inc. is trying to protect consumer security in the payment system by prohibiting Web merchants from providing cardholder information to other companies without the consumer's knowledge or active consent. The misleading practice, called "data pass," usually involves a consumer shopping at a familiar retailer. At checkout, the consumer receives an offer for a discount or reward and does not realize it is from a different merchant and comes with unexpected monthly membership fees or recurring charges. Such potentially deceptive marketing can result in high levels of consumer disputes and degrades the efficiency, reliability and security of the payment …

Google has prevailed in a lawsuit brought by Rosetta Stone alleging trademark infringement on AdWords. U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Alexandria, Va. this morning entered an order dismissing all of Rosetta Stone's claims. Lee hasn't yet issued a written opinion.

If you are a NASCAR fan, and you have a few hours to kill before the race, and you happen to be at a track run by International Speedway Corp. (which owns that famous one down in Daytona) you won't get bored! The company is going to give the exterior midway area outside the stands a bit of an auto-show feel. It used to be that one automaker at a time sponsored races. General Motors, for instance, use to own Daytona Speedway for NASCAR races. But ISC's new deal gives Toyota, Ford, Dodge and GM equal opportunity at the races …

In just a week, some 50,000 Web sites have adopted Facebook’s “Likeâ€� button, along with its other new social plug-ins, the social network tells TechCrunch. Granted, 75 of those sites were Facebook’s launch partners -- including CNN and The New York Times -- but the numbers and the rate of adoption is still “pretty amazing,â€� according to the blog. “This growth is important, because as more sites integrate these social widgets, Facebook will increasingly own social interaction across the web,â€� TechCrunch writes. (TechCrunch says it added Facebook’s new “Open Graphâ€� features the day they launched last week.) Facebook also …

Industry blog ReadWriteWeb accuses Facebook of using “high pressure tacticsâ€� to promote its new “connectedâ€� features among users. “Facebook users who choose not to link their user accounts to Facebook’s public Pages are ending up with blank profiles containing no information at all,â€� it reports. Reads an FAQ from Facebook’s Help Center: “If you don’t want to connect to any Pages, the corresponding sections on your Profile will be empty … Connecting to Pages will now be the main way to express yourself on your profile.â€� According to the blog, this is “a good example of how Facebook is …

Thought Steve Jobs would eventually apologize to Adobe for not allowing its Flash media player in iPhones, iPods or iPads? Then you don’t know Steve. “Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content,â€� the Apple CEO writes in a new and inciting blog post. “New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too) … Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.â€� “Oh, snap,â€� writes The Wall Street …

The Board of Directors of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) announced the election of new officers Thursday. Jeffrey Pruitt, Tallwave chief executive officer, remains SEMPO chairman. Pruitt recently co-founded Tallwave, a business that provides venture management and support for search engine marketing companies. Chris Boggs, Rosetta SEO director, was elected president. Dave Fall, Clickable SVP product and operations, was elected vice president. Margaret Willette, Intuit search marketing manager, took the treasurer position; and Motoko Hunt, AJPR president, secretary. You can access bios on the site.

Apple plans to charge a cool $1 million to run ads through its new iAd platform and up to $10 million for companies to be part of a small group of advertisers at launch, according to a Wall Street Journalstory today. Agency executives said they're used to paying between $100,000 and $200,000 for similar deals through mobile ad networks. Apple would charge advertisers a penny for each banner ad impression and $2 when someone taps on the ad to expand the banner. Under buys like the $1 million package, costs would add up through the views and taps …

As every Target, Dunkin' and Pepsi knows, Facebook can be a vital part of reaching out and engaging with consumers. It can be an equally great place for shady spammers hawking erectile dysfunction drugs and ringtones to hijack a brand's fanbase by plastering with the wall with all sorts of sordid come-ons and clogging your feed. And while Facebook offers some moderation tolls for brand, some are frustrated with keeping up with jammers. LiveWorld, a social marketing agency specializing in community moderation, Wednesday is releasing what it says is a supercharged moderation system capable of scanning more than 500 …