Yahoo Monday unveiled its first original travel show, promising to "uncover the most interesting, extraordinary and innovative attractions around the USA" each week. Called "Wanderlust," the series appearing on Yahoo News will feature a unique theme in each episode, the first looking at the top 5 non-ocean "beach" destinations. Others will include the Top 5 Places You Can't Take Your Car and the Top 5 Oddest Museums. Co-producing Wanderlust with Yahoo is travel video production company TurnHere, Chase Sapphire is the title sponsor of the series and will be featured in a branded "Chase Sapphire Travel Tip" segment …

David Pryor former VP marketing at Porsche left in March to join Jaguar North America as head of Marketing. Porsche's new North American VP Marketing Andre Oosthuizen starts next week, per a Porsche representative.

Esurance has selected Leo Burnett Chicago as its new agency of record following a review that included Deutsch LA, Duncan/Channon, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Venables Bell & Partners. The relationship will be managed from Leo Burnett's Chicago office, which will begin working immediately on a new advertising campaign. In May 2011, White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to sell Esurance and Answer Financial to The Allstate Corporation, the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary closing conditions, including review by antitrust …

Porsche has brought in Andre Oosthuizen as VP, Marketing for Atlanta-based Porsche Cars North America, Inc. Oosthuizen comes to the U.S. market from Porsche Middle East & Africa FZE, the fourth largest Porsche sales region globally comprising 20 markets, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Until recently, presumably, David Pryor had the VP Marketing job.

A new survey from Bankrate reports that 40% of Americans have trimmed their spending in the last 60 days, driven by headlines about a weaker economy. While Bankrate.com's September Financial Security Index rose a bit from its August trough, rising from 92.3 to 93.9, it's still at the third-lowest level since the monthly polls started in 2010. Spending pullbacks appeared in all income groups, with 37% of the highest-income households ($75,000+) cutting back and 43% of the lowest-income households (under $30,000) making adjustments.

Netflix is spinning off its DVD mail rental business into a new company called Qwikster, CEO Reed Hastings announced this morning in an email to subscribers. The streaming part of the business will continue to be called Netflix. One drawback to the split is the two websites will not be integrated. Customers who subscribe to both services -- both DVDs by mail and streaming -- will access the services separately. Searches will not work across both sites. If a user can't find a movie on Netflix, he or she will have to do another search for the film on …

Texting is the preferred mode of contact for nearly a third of text messaging users, according to the latest study from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. Thirty-one percent said they prefer a text to a phone call when someone is trying to reach them. The findings, which can be accessed here -- http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Cell-Phone-Texting-2011.aspx -- also indicate that text messaging has become a "ubiquitous part of mobile life:" Adult text messaging users exchange an average of 41.5 messages per day, with the median user sending or receiving ten text messages daily. Young adults are the …

Google Wallet, expected to launch Monday (according to reports) initially will have the support of about one million readers from Vivotech, which makes near field communication (NFC) payment software and point of sale (POS) terminal readers, according to Vivotech founder Mohammad Khan. Google licenses Vivotech's technology to enable transactions, he said, estimating his company holds 70% market share worldwide for NFC payment software and readers, which supports Google Wallet at POS terminals in retail stores. The software lets consumers download plastic credit cards into their NFC-enabled smartphone to support everything from Google Wallet to smart posters that let consumers download …

Attorneys generals from seven states are joining the Department of Justice's effort to scuttle AT&T's $39 billion merger with T-Mobile. The law enforcement officials generally said that the deal would hurt consumers by decreasing competition. The states joining the suit are California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Okay, this is Mediapost, so I'm taking extreme license to write a media story, which is really my take on the televised fistic opera called the pre-fight weigh-in. I am, specifically, watching the weigh-in between Floyd Mayweather, jr. and Victor Ortiz. The fight, which is being promoted by Golden Boy, which represents Ortiz, and Mayweather Promotions, has gotten tremendous hype, and not just from the 24/7 TV series on HBO, which televises the event Sept. 17. The promoters have included an unusual (for boxing) web campaign, TV, out of home and other elements. HBO, for its part, will also run …