The new design has a base that's more like a small cup, which is suitable for dipping , while also having a tear-off end for squeezing, plus it holds three times as much ketchup. It was a challenge for Heinz to find a design that lets diners dip or squeeze ketchup that could also be sold at a price acceptable to restaurant customers. The company even bought its design team a used minivan two years ago to test if their ideas really worked while eating on the road.

Great move by Heinz.

[USAtoday]

If the app is good and the price of the service is affordable, this should do well. Of course it depends on how secure this is as well. If you use your credit card often, this could be great. Would you use one of these?

[SB]

BK will unveil plans to sell beer and burgers at a Whopper Bar,  a new BK concept that will compete with casual dining restaurants in Miami Beach's South Beach.  The South Beach Whopper Bar is scheduled to open in mid-February.

Don't expect to find beer at conventional BKs, but more Whopper Bars could be headed to tourist hot spots like New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

[USAtoday]

Its part of the company's growth strategy to get the brand more firmly in Europe.

Burger King runs more than 12,000 outlets in all 50 U.S. states and in 73 countries and U.S. territories worldwide. Their ival and arch-burger-enemy McDonald's, opened their first outlet in the Soviet Union in 1990 and now operates 235 restaurants throughout Russia. So it's a great move by Burger King.

[USAtoday]

The app pulls data from nearly all the nation’s 933 Multiple Listing Services and has agreements to allow for rapid updates. So if you are out house searching this is a very good tool to have.

[CNN]

Full details of how the measure would work will be part of Obama's proposed 2011 budget, which will be released next month. The news comes as banks are getting ready to hand out huge bonuses. The treasury has already recovered the majority of the funds.

[CNN]

PETA has offered Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard $7,500 for advertising space on the vehicles, after KFC announced this week that it will pay for city fire extinguishers in exchange for advertising on them. It's also paying for smoke detectors the city will give away.

So what does PETAs proposed ad look like? It's a plucked and scalded chicken with the phrases "Chickens Are Burned To Death At KFC" and "Boycott Cruelty." Straight to the point, that's for sure. The group claims many KFC chickens are scalded to death during processing, something it has long criticized the restaurant's for.

[USAtoday]

The average digital cable customer pays almost $75 a month, with many subscribers paying more than $100 to have more content. Cable will continue to go up with no end in sight. Providers have to make up losses and consumers bear the brunt of it.

Networks are suffering as advertising dollars fall. Cable providers have competition from satellite providers and telecoms, as well as programming on demand, not to mention Hulu.

Nothing you can do really. Either ditch cable and watch it all online.(Which is easy and saves you all that money) or just go with the flow. Just realize that in five years you will be paying MUCH more for cable.

[CNN]

The move is seen as a significant shift in strategy for the beverage company, but maybe it has something to do with the economy as well. The weak economy has hurt advertising budgets for many companies that regularly advertise in the Super Bowl. Sales are from $2.5 and $3 million per spot this year. The company's snack unit Frito Lay will still advertise during the game this year however.

[CNN]

So that you will be sure to stick around, McDonalds has also restructured their menu, adding more coffee and desserts. We're curious, how many of you are likely to spend more time there?

[SB]