Surprising analysts, consumers, and tech heads everywhere, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced this morning that they are making the application building process for the iPhone and every iOS powered device a whole lot easier.

It may only be September, but for Toys R Us, it is never too early to start thinking about holiday shopping. The nationally-known toy chain plans to open 600 “express” stores, which will be open on a temporary basis.

Continuing a trend in China's online gaming business, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: SNDA) and its game unit Shanda Games Ltd. (NASDAQ: GAME) have produced a lackluster report on second quarter earnings. Shanda Interactive said its net profit fell -60%, while Shanda Games saw net profits fall -16%.

Today’s investing 101 lesson is on the pitfalls of similar stock performance. It’s tempting to think that all companies in a certain industry group behave the same way. The reason why is that in the short term, they often do.

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), parent of KFC, took some heat from shortening “Kentucky Fried Chicken” to a three letter moniker. But now YUM appears to be backtracking, putting some faith in marketing KFC founder Col. Sanders to young fast food diners.

Two weeks ago, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) launched its bid to change the phone industry. It wasn’t the announcement of yet another smartphone using the company’s Android operating system. For that matter, Google’s new offering wasn’t even technology new to the telecom market.

Gold prices may be hitting record levels, but there may be a better place to put your money: coffee beans

If you didn’t make it out to any concerts this summer, you weren’t the only one. Across the country, concerts have shown poor attendance causing some artists to cancel tours. No one has felt the heat like concert promoter and ticket provider Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) wants it all. They want you to pop open your Web browser rather than go to the strip mall. They want you to buy the new James Patterson novel on your Kindle, and download your MP3s from their homepage instead of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes.

Today Apple’s new line of iPods hit retailers. Reviews of both the new iPod Nano and iPod Touch have been very positive. iTunes users shopping AAPL’s online music store on these machines will have to settle for 30-second previews of songs before they buy, though -- longer song samples on iTunes have been delayed by the National Music Publishers Association.

In a move that is either a strictly financial decision or a bid to lesson customer confusion while speeding up the wait time, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) has erased the “tall” coffee choice from its drive-thru menu.

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) is No. 1 on the worst-tasting burgers list, according to a new Consumer Reports ranking. But for a company whose stock is at an all-time high – with new deals and menu items that keep customers coming back – is that even a problem?

In 2000, British mobile phone company Vodafone Group plc (NASDAQ: VOD) bought a stake of slightly more than 2% in China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL), China's largest mobile network. Vodafone upped its stake to about 3.2% in 2002, and said that it might ultimately acquire as much as 15%-20% of China Mobile, depending on what regulators allowed them to do.

Remember, though tax day is in April your investments are considered on a calendar year basis so that means you only have until the end of December to get your portfolio in order and make the best investment decisions to reduce your tax load.