The world is regaining its taste for new appliances, and Whirlpool Corp. says earnings for the first quarter jumped 141% to $164 million, compared with $68 million during the same period last year. Sales at the Benton Harbor, Mich.-based company shot up 20% to $4.3 billion, from $3.6 billion in the year-ago period. Factoring out currency exchange, worldwide sales gained 11%, with a 5% gain in North America. "We are pleased with the strong operational performance we reported in all of our regions," Jeff M. Fettig, chairman/CEO, says in a release. "We are encouraged with the 18% increase in our …

"After declining an estimated 17.1% in the first half of 2009, French media suppliers recaptured some lost ground in the second half to end the year at -11.2%.  Personal expenditures growth accelerated beginning in the latter part of 2009, and Industrial Production has similarly improved in recent periods in France," Magna global director of forecasting Brian Wieser wrote in a new global ad forecast revision. "As these two variables are among the key factors driving advertising globally, we are thus raising our 2010 growth estimate for total advertising revenues to 2.3% from our previously published expectation of …

The Federal Communications Commission has put together a task force to help carry out the agency’s proposals for spectrum, including the plan to use portions of the spectrum for wireless broadband. The task force will be co-chaired by Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering Technology, and Ruth Milkman, chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

ExxonMobil has signed a deal with Gardella Racing for the 2010 season that puts its Mobil 1 motor oil brand into drifting, a form of racing popular among a younger cohort in which drivers attempt to use their wheels to polish the asphalt. The Gardella team races a Mobil 1 Pontiac Solstice GXP festooned with Mobil 1 branding that will also appear on uniforms and all Gardella race cars. Mobil 1’s history in motorsports officially began in 1978 with a sponsorship of the Williams Formula One Racing Team.

Dodge is dangling a Challenger R/T car in its new “Challenger Chase To Win� sweeps meant to spotlight the muscle car’s debut in the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series. The giveaway version wears a black-and-orange paint scheme that mirrors Penske Racing’s No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge. Entry to the sweeps is at Dodgemotorsports.com and at Dodge’s display areas at several races this year at tracks like Daytona, Talladega, and Kansas Speedway. --Karl Greenberg

Here's a perfect example of what happens when the marketing department and the IT department within a large company do not work closely together, something I wrote about last week. JetBlue began offering a $9 flight promotion from Long Beach to San Francisco or Oakland Monday. The promotion, good through May 19, requires you to fly on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Perfect, I thought. I want to attend the Google I/O conference in San Francisco on May 19 in San Francisco and can fly out of Long Beach, Calif. But when I went online to purchase the tickets the …

Dodge is dangling a Challenger R/T car in its new “Challenger Chase To Win� sweeps meant to spotlight the muscle car’s debut in the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series. The giveaway version wears a black-and-orange paint scheme that mirrors Penske Racing’s No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge. Entry to the sweeps is at Dodgemotorsports.com or at Dodge’s display areas at several races this year at tracks like Daytona, Talladega, and Kansas Speedway.

The Smoothie King chain has launched “Fit n’ Crunchy Bowls,� a line of yogurt and sorbet bowls featuring “superfood� ingredients, intended as healthy meal replacement options. The line’s varieties include two acai versions, tart yogurt (blueberry or strawberry) and sorbet (raspberry or mango). All ingredients are all-natural, and the bowls are fortified with vitamins and minerals. New Orleans-based Smoothie King, founded in 1973, now has 600 worldwide locations offering smoothies, sports beverages and nutrition products, energy bars and other healthy snacks, as well as vitamin and herb/mineral supplements.--Karlene Lukovitz