Angry Birds beats Samsung in viral marketing as mobile interest surged in 2012

This past year has shown us how effective leading smartphone and mobile app companies have become at leveraging viral videos. In Ad Age’s top-10 viral videos list for 2012, Samsung (005930) and Rovio each hog two spots. The Angry Birds Space video racked up 109 million views and the Angry Birds Star Wars hit the 41 million view mark. Meanwhile, Samsung managed to get 79 million views for its...

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One Direction named MTV's 2012 Artist of the Year

NEW YORK (AP) — They're platinum. They're fascinating. And now One Direction is MTV's 2012 Artist of the Year.MTV says the fivesome is "the clear choice for the top spot" after a year that included two No. 1 albums, hits such as "What Makes You Beautiful" and a sold-out world tour.One Direction's Louis (LOO'-ee) Tomlinson calls Thursday's honor "the icing on the cake."MTV's team of music staffers...

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Another Look at a Drink Ingredient, Brominated Vegetable Oil

James Edward Bates for The New York TimesSarah Kavanagh, 15, of Hattiesburg, Miss., started an online petition asking PepsiCo to change Gatorade’s formula. Sarah Kavanagh and her little brother were looking forward to the bottles of Gatorade they had put in the refrigerator after playing outdoors one hot, humid afternoon last month in Hattiesburg, Miss. But before she took a sip, Sarah, a...

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Retailers scramble to woo shoppers in final days before Christmas

The holiday crunch is on at the mall, and Toys R Us is opening all its stores for 88 straight hours until Christmas Eve. And,...

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Oregon mall shooting suspect showed no known sign of trouble

Jacob Roberts planned big life changes before this week's shooting at a suburban mall in Oregon that left two people dead and...

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‘Dishonored’ tops a diverse year in video games

The video game universe in 2012 is a study in extremes.At one end, you have the old guard striving to produce mass-appeal blockbusters. At the other end, you have a thriving community of independent game developers scrambling to find an audience for their idiosyncratic visions. Can’t we all just get along?Turns out, we can. For while some industry leaders are worried (and not without cause) about...

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Music royalty rocks NYC in Sandy benefit concert

NEW YORK (AP) — New Jersey shore hero Bruce Springsteen opened a benefit concert for victims of Superstorm Sandy on Wednesday by making a plea that what made his boyhood home special not be forgotten when it is rebuilt.Music royalty from the Rolling Stones to Kanye West, including several artists with direct ties to the New York metropolitan area, gathered at Madison Square Garden for a concert being...

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Junk bonds drawing more investors despite the risks

NEW YORK — Low interest rates pushed down by the Federal Reserve have opened a spigot of easy money to companies with less than...

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North Korea launches its second rocket this year

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LA prosecutors seek to violate Lohan's probation

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to revoke Lindsay Lohan's probation and schedule a hearing that could lead to the actress' return to jail.The filing came one day before Lohan is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on three misdemeanor charges filed last month related to a June car crash.Lohan will not need to be present for Wednesday's arraignment on charges she...

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