The pancake chain that sued a church for using its nickname without permission appears to have flipped its legal strategy.
The International House of Pancakes restaurant chain, known as IHOP, has ended its trademark infringement lawsuit against the International House of Prayer, citing “on-going mediation discussions” with the church. Get the full story »
Maybe it’s all those Justin Bieber fans: Canadians log more time on the Web and social media, including Facebook and YouTube, than any other nation.
The measurement company comScore reported Canada has the highest penetration of Internet access, with around 68 percent of Canadians routinely surfing online, against 62 percent in France and Britain. Close behind is 60 percent of Germans going online and, south of the border, 59 percent of Americans.
The laggards are Italians, where only 36 percent of the population goes online, according to comScore. Get the full story »
Lincolnshire-based BioSante Pharmaceuticals has signed a $18 million deal with several investors to sell 10.6 million shares of its common stock. Get the full story »
Business activity in the U.S. Midwest rose unexpectedly in December, with help from a gain in employment and new orders, a report showed Thursday. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago business barometer jumped to 68.6 in December from 62.5 in November. Get the full story »
A 2004 Ford F-150. (Handout)
Ford Motor Co. is recalling 14,737 new vehicles including its biggest seller, the F-series pickup truck, due to the chance than an electrical short could cause a fire, U.S. federal regulators said on Thursday.
Ford will inform owners of its F-series pickups, small sports utility vehicles Edge and Lincoln MKX of the potential problem by Jan. 10, according to a filing with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
There was no mention in the filing of injuries, crashes or fires resulting from the issue. Get the full story »
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits dropped more than expected last week to touch their lowest level in more than two years, suggesting the labor market recovery was gaining strength. Get the full story »
The Web may seem like the land of something for nothing. Free video. Free news. Even free tools such as word processing and spreadsheets.
But almost two-thirds of adult Internet users in the U.S. have paid for access to at least one of these intangible items online, according to a new survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Get the full story »
Nintendo Co. has issued a warning that children under the age of six shouldn’t play 3-D games on its soon-to-be-released handheld game machine, as looking at 3-D images for a long period of time can have a harmful effect on the growth of young children’s eyes.
The company posted the disclaimer at the bottom of its Japanese-language Web site promoting a three-day event in Japan where people can try its new Nintendo 3DS, due to launch Feb. 26 in Japan. It asks that 6-year-olds and those younger play games on the 3DS in 2-D mode. Get the full story »
The Vatican on Thursday created a financial watchdog agency and issued new laws to try to comply with international rules to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.
The decrees, which go into effect April 1, were passed as Vatican’s own bank remains implicated in a money-laundering investigation that resulted in $31 million being seized and its top two officials placed under investigation.
A new version of the free iPhone app for Skype SA will let users make and receive video calls. Users of the Internet calling and messaging service will be able to use both Wi-Fi and AT&T Inc.’s 3G cellular network. FaceTime software, which comes with iPhones, works only with Wi-Fi. Get the full story »
Reports: Weekly jobless claims, 7:30 a.m.; Pending home sales index, 9 a.m.; Weekly mortgage rates, 9 a.m.
Skype SA says a software glitch caused the Internet calling and messaging service’s major outage last week.
In a blog post Wednesday, chief information officer Lars Rabbe said the 24-hour outage that cut service for millions of users stemmed from a problem in a version of Skype’s software for computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. Get the full story »
Six banks have repurchased investments the government made under its taxpayer-funded financial rescue program, paying a total of $626 million including dividends, the Treasury Department said Wednesday. Get the full story »
American Airlines said on Wednesday that it has no plans to sell tickets only through its own website, as its dispute with Orbitz and Expedia entered a second week.
The airline said December ticket volumes before the dispute began were rising compared to the same time last year. It said the increase has continued since then. The improving economy has boosted ticket sales at most airlines.
