According to SEC filings, 74-year-old Carl Icahn is toying with video games -- specifically shares of Take Two Interactive (TTWO), the stock most closely associated with the ultra violent Grand Theft Auto video game series. As of April 1, Icahn now owns nearly 12 million shares though his investment funds and partnerships. That puts him about neck-and-neck with Oppenheimer funds for the primary shareholder in TTWO.

There was a time when video game stock Electronic Arts (ERTS) was racking up the profits as easily as Pac-Man chomping those little yellow dots. ERTS made former football great John Madden into "that video game guy." It helped wannabe musicians fake it like rock start with Rock Band. Electronic Arts made video games cool to investors. Now, with video game sales slumping, Electronic Arts needs Tiger Woods more than ever.

Merger talks in the ailing airline industry are nothing new, but what is new is today's news of renewed merger talks between United Airlines parent company, UAL Corporation (UAUA), and US Airways Group (LCC). These renewed talks mark the third time in the past 10 years that the two airlines have contemplated a union, so it remains to be seen whether the third time will be a charm.

Chinese jewelry company Fuqi International (FUQI) has been on a turbulent rollercoaster ride over the past three weeks. The stock plummeted nearly 30% on March 17, after the company reported that accounting errors "exaggerated" earnings in the first nine months of last year. The company also warned that fourth-quarter earnings would only be about half of what it had previously projected.

Beginning in January 2011, Oprah will host a new TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network OWN, which she owns in a 50-50 joint venture with Discovery Communications, Inc. (DISCA). The program will be called 'Oprah's Next Chapter' and will be a regular one-hour series in prime time. OWN reaches approximately 80 million US homes. The actual time slot was not announced.

Following on the Tiger Woods-scale media frenzy surrounding the launch of the Apple (APPL) iPad, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has provided some details about its tablet device, which is to be called Slate. The venerable Silicon Valley company has said that Slate "delivers a holistic mobile experience", whatever that is.

A look at crude oil prices, retail sales, unemployment, the housing market, dividends and stock buybacks prove the market is on the mend.

A top Japanese newspaper is reporting that Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) will be cutting its dividend. The world's biggest carmaker has hit a snag recently as brake problems and recalls have hurt Toyota's image. But if rumors about the dividend cut prove true, investors will be scratching their heads since TM has plenty of cash on hand.

Stock buybacks are back in fashion. That's because as the economic recovery takes hold and earnings improve across the broader market, U.S. stocks are sitting on a record pile of cash. And repurchases are one way they're spending it. Across the S&P 500 index, stock buybacks totaled $137.6 billion last year. But this year U.S. firms have scheduled buybacks or are planning repurchases that will almost double last year's total -- to the tune of $235 billion in 2010, according to Mizuho Financial Group Inc.

On Wednesday morning, Family Dollar Stores (FDO) came out with a most impressive fiscal second-quarter financial report. The company said earnings jumped 33% over the same period a year ago, but that wasn't the only good news. The discount retailer also lifted its full-year earnings outlook to $2.48 to $2.58 a share from $2.15 to $2.35, citing strong sales momentum in the quarter as the primary reason. That sales momentum is indeed strong, as the company saw an 11% rise in same-store sales in March, the first month of its fiscal third quarter.

When Google (GOOG) offered to buy privately-held mobile advertising network provider AdMob for $750 million, the California-based start-up took the money. That was last November, not long after AdMob had turned down a rumored offer from Apple (AAPL). Now the FTC may be mounting a lawsuit to sue Google.

The Chinese government has ordered the closure by the end of 2011 of steel mills with blast furnace capacities of less than 400 cubic meters. China's 2009 steel production capacity was listed as 700 million tons, and the country's mills produced less than 568 million tons in that year. Closing the mills is intended to improve both steel pricing and margins. China buys iron ore from BHP Billiton (BHP), Rio Tinto (RTP), and Vale (VALE), and all of these stocks have been affected by the move.

When a company's flagship product hits the skids, almost nothing good can come of it. Monsanto Corp. (MON) reported second quarter 2010 earnings this morning, and its glyphosate-based products, including best-selling Roundup weed killer, showed a negative gross profit of -$1 million. That's a change of -$438 million in one quarter in just one segment of the company's business. Competitor Mosaic Co. (MOS) missed estimates last week and shares fell 4%. Potash Corp. (POT) and Syngenta (SYT) share prices have remained essentially flat for the past 3 months.

Celgene Corporation (CELG) is about to get a name above and beyond its Revlimid at its first R&D analyst and investor day in several years. The company plans to show its start beyond the single key identifier of Revlimid, its multiple myeloma drug, as well as Thalomid. Celgene is not a one-hit wonder with no pipeline, but the company and the drug Revlimid are almost synonymous. The company hopes to change that Thursday.

Ronald McDonald debuted in 1963 with TV personality Willard Scott donning the clown costume for the first time in an ad spot for McDonald's (MCD). But if some health advocates have their way, the fiery-haired clown's days are numbered.

Recent reports out of investor conferences and management updates make it look as if the first-quarter earnings reports will rock. Here are a few news items from Honeywell (HON), Ball Corp. (BALL) and Applied Materials (AMAT) in the past week that have already caught investors' imaginations: