COMPANIES

Glassdoor, a jobs and career community where employees can anonymously rate companies and chief executive officers, has released its fourth annual Employees' Choice Awards, which lists the 50 best places to work, based on surveys collected from U.S. employees through 2011.

The iconic blue hedgehog of the early 90's is all set for a comeback, following video game developers SEGA's announcement that Sonic CD - a critically acclaimed platform game - would venture into mobile and console territory.

Into just his fourth month as head of Sony's videogames unit, Welshman Andrew House has to plot a much-needed success story for the new PlayStation Vita handheld games device, negotiating a minefield of consumer gloom and competition from smartphones and tablet PCs such as Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad.

The whistleblower in Japan's Olympus Corp scandal, ex-CEO Michael Woodford, blasted Japanese shareholders Thursday for failing to stand up for him, amid signs that domestic and foreign investors are split over his campaign to be reinstated.

Apple will open a research and development center in Israel that will focus on semiconductors, the Globes business daily reported on Thursday.

Sony Corp said it was keeping to its target to sell 15 million PlayStation 3 game machines in the year to end-March, even as a long-running debt crisis grips Europe, one of the Japanese electronics group's most important markets.

Nokia is back with a bang in the smartphone market. The Finnish cellphone manufacturer and T-Mobile announced Wednesday that the Lumia 710 will be retailed at $49.99 on a two-year contract, starting Jan. 11.

Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp said Thursday it would consider reinstating its sacked CEO, Michael Woodford, but the gesture failed to erase doubts that it would ever rehire the foreigner who blew the whistle on its crooked accounts.

Fifty-five-million and counting. That's the number of people looking for love, and they're doing so through Are You Interested?, the second-most popular Facebook app, made by the development team at Snap Interactive. Are You Interested? has been one of the most popular apps on Facebook Platform since 2007, when Facebook first released their application platform to developers, and the dating service is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Some call the winter 2011 Jameson Whiskey commercial rear and great. Others don't share the same view, as they are a bit concerned that the commercial showcases a company whose heir, James Jameson, reportedly bought an 11-year old girl whom he offered to to cannibals to be killed, cooked and eaten so that he could sketch it.

Regus specializes in short-term, flexible office leasing. The company has expanded to over 92 countries with 1,200 locations, and with the soft economy, it is poised to continue growth.

Ford is using a smartphone and tablet app to draw interest to its new Ford Fusion that it will unveil in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Starting April 1, oil and gas companies in Colorado will be required to disclose the chemicals they use when hydraulically fracturing rock formations in the state, joining the ranks of Texas who earlier this year passed a similar disclosure law.

The five banks downgraded included French bancassurer Crédit Agricole, Danish giant Danske Bank, Finnish banking cooperative OP Pohjola Group and Dutch financial services provider Rabobank Group.

Apple's 2012 line-up of MacBook Pros will reportedly feature Retina Display, and will feature a high-resolution display density of 2800 x 1800.

Ford will begin production of the 2012 Focus Electric, the first five-passenger electric car to average more than 100 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) on the fuel efficiency scale.

Another new book about late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is hitting bookshelves next month, this one a graphic narrative exploring the innovator's spiritual development, the publishers announced on Wednesday.

Two reports released today show two groups, retail investors and professional asset managers, have been moving in markedly different directions in the past two weeks. The armchair stock pickers are getting out of U.S. equities while the pros are claiming they are dumping more cash into the American stock market.

Chipmaker Intel is combining four divisions under a new mobile and communications unit in a bid to catch up in smartphones and tablets, where it has so far failed to gain traction.

Morgan Stanley has returned $700 million to investors after its main real estate fund performed weaker than expected, reported the Wall Street Journal.

It seems like Avon Products, Inc., (NYSE:AVP), waited too long to oust Andrea Jung from the CEO position, as stocks have risen since news of her departure broke.

Universal Pictures has acquired the worldwide rights to the young adult-fantasy novel Daughter of Smoke & Bone, the studio announced Wednesday.

Task outsourcing startup TaskRabbit has closed a new $17.8 million round of funding, the company announced today.

JumpTime, a Los-Angeles based technology company, has hired media veteran Elizabeth Osder as SVP of Strategy & Business Development.

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Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) is buying a stake in Saudi Arabia-based beverage company Aujan Industries for $980 million in what is seen as a bid to catch up with rival PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N) in the Middle East.

On a quiet stretch of the waterfront here, about a mile from Boston's main tourist sites, a Gillette factory hums along 24 hours a day making an unlikely commodity: top-of-the-line razors.

Canada's energy regulator has failed to make adequate checks to ensure pipeline operators fix safety problems uncovered at their facilities and keep emergency procedures up to date, the country's Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development said on Tuesday.

Avon Products Inc. is beginning its search for a new chief executive officer to replace Andrea Jung, who will remain with the company as a chairman at the beginning of the New Year.