General Motors' Buick division is going after Audi and Lexus with the new Verano compact luxury car, which the automaker revealed Monday morning at the North American International Auto Show on Monday morning. John Schwegman, VP of Buick marketing said the new car is evidence of the division's "Moving quickly from niche player to full line premium brand in all core luxury segments. With Verano we are poised to play hard in one of the the largest segments of the luxury markets." He said the compact luxury region of the market comprises sales of 2 million vehicles per year …

Ford has an app ecosystem too, and they're inviting developers to dive in. Again, how many app stores do I want to manage? Apple, Android, Blackberry, etc. And now Ford? I think consumers want to buy the apps once and the content once. Then let's use them across devices.

Let me be clear.  I don’t look forward to CES with much joy.  I’m not particularly fond of Las Vegas, or crowds.  My favorite “tablet” is still yellow, legal sized with lines on it.  But I put all the personal angst aside because what’s going on at CES has a direct and profound effect on the future of communication.  I’m here to learn how my clients are going to connect with people in the coming days and years. With that being said, I am at CES once again with sore feet.   Some of my worst fears were immediately …

Invitations to a Verizon Wireless event in New York City on Jan. 11 that went out to members of the media today have touched off speculation the carrier will announce the long-awaited launch of the Verizon iPhone. Earlier today, BGR reported Verizon could rollout the Apple device as soon as Feb. 3, based on Apple blacking out employee vacation requests between Feb. 3 and Feb. 6. You mean Steve Jobs isn't going to handle this one himself?

Best Buy says comparable-store sales fell 5% in December, with declines in entertainment software and TVs offsetting growth in mobile phones and appliances. And while the Minneapolis-based chain says the results were within the range of its expectations, the disappointing results are more evidence that tech sales weren't the Christmas present many retailers were hoping for. In fact, the NPD Group reports that tech sales weakened across all channels. The Port Washington, N.Y. based market research company says that despite the heavily-promoted specials that started early in November, it estimates the nine-week holiday period will come in with some …

Taking first jaunt through one of the CES floors reminded me how at least 25-40% of CES booths are comprised of the ecosystem surrounding consumer electronics. After market, accessories, cases, keyboards, etc. But really, how many iPad case manufacturers could there be? Seems like hundreds. Most unexpected booth so far? Trojan.

Reports are circulating that the technology giant will include incumbent Universal McCann in the review, according to a story posted at AdAge.com.

Despite inroads made by Android on its turf last year, the iPhone was the top social brand in 2010 for the third consecutive year, according to ViTrue's annual ranking of brands based on their prevalance in online conversations. Rounding out the top five were BlackBerry, Disney, and yes, Android, followed by the iPad. With "Apple" at No. 7, the tech giant had three brands in the top ten. Consumer electronics brands as a whole made up nearly a third (30%) of the The ViTrue 100, followed by fashion and retail, with 20%, transportation (17%) and media and broadcast (12%), …

These days, it seems fair to ask where Facebook hasn't extended its reach. Certainly not gadgets, as The Wall Street Journal reports from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "Companies are showing products from cameras to video-game consoles that integrate Facebook into their core functions," writes The Journal. "They allow people to log in to the service from the gadgets and bring in and send out information about themselves and their friends, as well as their photos." Getting into gadgets is part of Facebook's broader open platform strategy, which the top social network has been building since 2007, …

Thanks to Goldman Sachs' $450 million investment in Facebook, the social network continues to reveal additional financial details. During the first nine months of 2010, Facebook earned $355 million in net income, according to Reuters citing documents distributed by Goldman. According to the document, Facebook generated $1.2 billion in revenue in the first nine months of 2010. “That valuation is high, but not outrageous based on the glimpse into the company's financial performance and the growth that it implies,” writes Reuters based on analysis from said Ryan Jacob, of the Jacob Internet Fund. "It just shows you that these …