A perfect iPhone? There’s no app for that. Apple Inc. will give free protective cases to buyers of its latest iPhone to prevent reception problems that occur when people cover a certain spot on the phone with a bare hand.

CEO Steve Jobs apologized Friday to people who are less than satisfied with the iPhone 4, even as he denied it has an antenna problem that needs fixing.

Toymaker Mattel Inc.’s second-quarter net income more than doubled, boosted by strong sales of Barbie, Hot Wheels and “Toy Story 3″ toys.

Bad News:

Shares fell as analysts had expected even stronger results.

You take the good with the bad.

A giant oil skimmer brought in from Portugal is too big to be used in the Gulf cleanup effort.

The Taiwanese vessel “A Whale” was deployed last week along the oil-slicked Gulf Coast. But it’s been determined the skimmer didn’t collect enough oil.

Pretty sad when this ship is turned away because it didn’t help “enough”.

Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said on Wednesday it is closing more than 600 Wells Fargo Financial offices and will no longer originate non-prime mortgages.

The bank said the Wells Fargo Financial offices are no longer necessary after its 2008 acquisition of Wachovia Corp and it will offer mortgage services through its other banking locations.

Translation: More layoffs.

Apple Inc. said Friday that it was “stunned” to find that its iPhones have for years been using a “totally wrong” formula to determine how many bars of signal strength they are getting.

Apple said that’s the reason behind widespread complaints from users that the latest model, iPhone 4, can show a sudden plunge in signal strength when they hold it in a way that covers a small black strip on one edge of the phone. Users have jokingly called this the “death grip” for the phone.

Nice try guys.

At the Carioto Produce and Seafood warehouse, shrimp from India and Vietnam stock the freezer, while a refrigerated aisle is stacked with bags of clams from Rhode Island, cockles from New Zealand, a fresh 5-pound fillet of lane snapper from Nicaragua and mahi-mahi from Ecuador.

The Gulf may be soiled with oil, but Al Hecker, Carioto’s seafood specialist, has had little trouble getting what he needs in a global market — even for Gulf staples like snapper and mahi-mahi.

“My supply hasn’t diminished, I’ve just stepped sideways,” says Hecker.

In other words, the disaster in the Gulf is probably saving him money. How much you want to bet he won’t buy Gulf seafood in the future, after it’s safe to eat seafood from the Gulf again?

BP Plc for the Libyan well and says it has prepared extensively for the operation.
“Just like with any deepwater exploration activity, we have undertaken extensive, rigorous and detailed preparations with our contractors and by ourselves for this drilling,” Nicholas said.

How deep will this one be? Deep enough to hit the bottom of the pocket?

New claims for US jobless benefits fell for the first time in three weeks, the government said Thursday amid persistent concerns that unemployment may dampen recovery.

Claims fell to 457,000 in the week ending June 19, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 476,000, the Labor Department said.

Most economists had expected claims to fall to 460,000.

Once again, another story with one missing fact. Congress has not extended unemployment benefits, so those people who are on unemployment cannot get it if they have reached the end of their existing tier. In other words, many people cannot get it so they stopped filing. Oops!

Mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest level on records dating to 1971, giving consumers added incentive to lock in low payments for home purchases and refinanced loans.

The average rate for 30-year fixed loans sank to 4.69 percent, from 4.75 percent last week, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Of course they fail to mention that home sales also dropped 33%. Oops.

Britain’s structural deficit should be eliminated in five years by cutting public spending and raising taxes, finance minister George Osborne said Tuesday in the new government’s first budget.

“We are on track to have debt falling and a balanced structural currentbudget by the end of this parliament” in 2014-15, said Osborne, who is a key member of Britain’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

The Conservative Party had made a key election pledge to eliminate the bulk of the structural deficit within five years.