The new front-of-pack labeling system unveiled yesterday by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Food Marketing Institute, "Nutrition Keys," quickly drew criticism from consumer nutrition watchdogs and legislators.  Critics characterized the system as a self-serving attempt by the industry to pre-empt or influence a widely expected introduction by the FDA of a voluntary but agency-regulated labeling system in the months to come. Some maintain that Nutrition Keys' inclusion of the ability to highlight beneficial nutrients--rather than highlight only calories, fats and sodium as recommended by the Institute of Medicine--will confuse and even mislead consumers, by diverting focus from the nutrients that most contribute …

Lowell McAdam, Verizon's chief operating officer, confirmed today that the carrier will offer a $30 unlimited data plan with the iPhone 4. Verizon is hoping the unlimited plan will provide a marketing advantage over AT&T, which last year switched to tiered pricing for data plans. Separately, Verizon said Tuesday it added 872,000 customers in the fourth quarter, down from 1.1 million a year ago, but still more than analysts expected. The company's revenue fell 2.6% in the quarter due to its shrinking wireline. business. Read more here.

Board meetings are about to get more interesting at JC Penney. The Plano, Tex.-based retailer says it has agreed to appoint activist investor William Ackman and Steven Roth, chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, to its board. It also says it will close five underperforming stores, shut two call centers, and finally lower the curtain on its catalog business. Ackman, whose Pershing Square is now Penney's largest shareholder, is known for taking large stakes in underperforming retailers, which have included McDonald's, Target and Borders, and pressuring them to improve results. In press interviews, he has said that while Penney is …

Facebook's U.S. cost-per-click rates hit a high of $1.76 in mid-November before dropping down to about $1.20 by mid-January, according to data from Inside Facebook. Canadian rates hit $1.34. The ad rate peaks near year's reflected higher advertiser demand during the holiday season. Facebook had a total of 145 million North American users as of Jan 1, 2011. "With around half of the American and Canadian populations now on Facebook, it's still too early to tell if the site is nearing its saturation points in these markets, or if there is still room to capture the half that is …

Facebook this afternoon confirmed closing a $1.5 billion investment round at a valuation of $50 billion from Goldman Sachs and Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies. In a statement, the company said Goldman had completed an "oversubscribed offering" to its non-U.S. clients, bringing in $1 billion. The Wall Street firm and Digital Sky Technologies contributed another $500 million at the same valuation. Prior reports about the "special purpose vehicle" created by Goldman for the funding sparked controversy over whether Facebook had exceeded the 500-shareholder limit requiring a company to file public financial data. The company said today that even …

Don't expect consumers' love affair with private-label products--whether it's the premium Archer Farms from Target, the new Health Starts Here products from Whole Foods Market, or the soon-to-be-reformulated Great Value line from Walmart----to go away anytime soon. New research from Mintel says that concerted efforts retailers have made to improve store brands, including offering several tiers of "generics," has paid off, with 44% of grocery store customers saying they believe store brand products are better today than they were five years ago. And just 19% say it's worth paying more for name-brand products. Some 34% in the survey say …

Clear Channel Out of Home has big plans to expand programs that were largely experimental last year. The company year piloted programs featuring interactive digital displays in bus shelters in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. and bathroom mirrors and elevator banisters in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The company plans to expand these programs this year to other markets. The San Francisco program, which Clear Channel developed with Coca-Cola and Yahoo! involves twenty interactive digital transit shelters that work like giant tablet computers with 72-inch touch screens. The shelters, which are active through January with the Yahoo! program also …

Verizon said today it has asked the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to annul net neutrality rules recently passed by the Federal Communications Commission. "We are deeply concerned by the FCC's assertion of broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband networks and the Internet itself," Michael E. Glover, Verizon senior vice president and deputy general counsel, said in a statement. "We believe this assertion of authority goes well beyond any authority provided by Congress, and creates uncertainty for the communications industry, innovators, investors and consumers."

Google announced in its earnings release Thursday a major change to the executive staff. The company called it a way to streamline decision making and create clear lines of responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. Beginning April 4, co-founder Larry Page, becomes CEO and takes over day-to-day operations. Co-founder Sergey Brin puts the focus on strategic projects such as new products. Eric Schmidt becomes Executive Chairman and will focus on deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership.

A new study from iVillage suggests women trust women's online communities more than social networks and Web portals. More than half (51%) of women's community users said women's sites are places they trust for information about brands and products compared to only 14% who trust information on social networks. Nearly half (47%) said women's communities provide the right connections for advice on brands and products (versus 16% for social networks) and women's communities were also rated higher than social sites for relevance and value, according to the study conducted with Burke Research, based on a survey of 2,232 women online. …