As it surpasses 250 million mobile users, Facebook has revamped its mobile presence so the same site can be accessed by feature and smartphones. Previously, the touchscreen version of Facebook available to smartphone users offered more features than the version for regular phones. Providing a more consistent experience across devices and operating systems is one of the company's goals on the mobile side. "A lot of people don't know that we have to maintain multiple code bases to maintain all of our mobile apps and websites. It was a giant pain." Erick Tseng, the company's head of mobile products, told …

Regional grocer Big Y is unleashing what it says is a big idea: A new loyalty card system that will charge members a $20 annual fee, in order to qualify for deeper discounts than offered by its long-standing loyalty programs. "We were intrigued by a premium card and the whole Costco notion of paying for membership," Harry Kimball, director of database marketing for the Springfield, Mass.-based chain, tells Marketing Daily. "So we thought, 'what would happen if we found a way to expand our employee-only rewards-program to customers?'" The "Silver Savings Club" concept did so well in initial testing …

Stephanie Prager, formerly VP-digital director at MediaVest USA, has joined MEC Interaction as managing partner.

Forbes media/marketing reporter Elaine Wong has joined direct response and digital media agency ID Media as director of corporate communications.

And here's a street-level view of LinkedIn Today's free coffee truck, which parked outside MediaPost's New York headquarters this morning on the next-to-last day of its week-long mission to promote the recently launched news aggregation service to working folks.   Another truck is somewhere in San Francisco.

Promoting its feature that aggregates news, LinkedIn happen to set up shop across the street from the MediaPost's Manhattan World Headquarters, corporate campus, at 32nd and Madison. The truck offers a free cup of coffee to passersby.  Good morning!

Lexus is teaming with six top chefs for a new program called "Lexus Culinary Masters." The effort comprises a number of initiatives such as Lexus customer appreciation programs, charitable outreach, and multimedia productions. Chefs Daniel Boulud, Michael Chiarello, Dean Fearing, Christopher Kostow, Masaharu Morimoto and Michael Symon David Nordstrom, VP marketing at Lexus points out that Lexus has promoted the brand over the years with lifestyle and epicurean events. "We know epicurean pursuits are a passion point for our customers, and we have a well-established history of aligning with premier food and wine events, auctions, associations and institutions," …

As part of its new "Future Friendly" environmental campaign, Procter & Gamble is launching a new app for the iPhone, iPad or Droid device that lets users "create their own personal planet" by answering various multiple-choice questions, like what the gas mileage of their car is. Through the "My Carbon Footprint" app, people will also be able to use the  receive tips on eco-friendly living and post them to their Facebook walls. The app will be released April 22--Earth Day. Kicking off this week, P&G's Future Friendly effort aims to educate consumers about how to its products in …

Google has agreed to settle charges with the Federal Trade Commission stemming fro the search company's launch of Buzz. In its complaint, made public today, the FTC alleged that Google violated its own privacy policy and used deceptive tactics when it launched its social network Buzz. The settlement calls for Google to implement a privacy program, and submit to independent privacy audits for the next 20 years. When Google debuted Buzz, the service created social networks from people's Gmail contacts. But Google designed the feature so that it initially revealed information about the names of users' email …

Amazon.com on Tuesday launched Amazon Cloud Player, which allows consumers to store their music (and other digital documents) on Amazon’s data centers and retrieve it from any computer connected to the web or an Android smartphone. “Combined these services allow you to store your music worry free in the cloud and enjoy it anywhere, “ wrote the company in a letter to customers on its website. “When you buy any of the 15 million songs in the Amazon MP3 store, you’ll now see a new option to put your purchase directly on the Cloud Drive.” The news, …