A Toyota executive said the damage to the company's sales from its global recall for a gas pedal problem may be greater than previous recalls because of the unprecedented scale.

Toyota Motor Corp. Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki, who oversees quality control at the world's No. 1 automaker, acknowledged a perception the company was slow in responding to the problem of accelerators that could stick in the depressed position.

A few years ago, you took out a $300,000 loan for your business because you anticipated continued growth. But the economy soon fell apart, and so did your business. You can no longer pay back the loan, and the lender has filed a lawsuit against your company and you personally, threatening to seize your home, car, and cash in the bank.

I recently ran across an article in The San Francisco Chronicle titled “Big City Blues” in which the author described his struggle over whether to leave the Bay Area and move his family to a more affordable city. While I found myself nodding my head in agreement, I had to laugh at the way he put the process in terms of ending a long-term relationship.

At one eastern Pennsylvania restaurant, getting a cold one is no problem: Everything is on ice — and under it, and surrounded by it.

Damenti's Restaurant in Butler Township has set up a temporary free-standing bar with a pirate theme in its backyard that is almost completely made of 50 tons of ice.

To keep the ice from melting, air conditioning brings the mercury down to about 20 degrees.

Brian Caulfield is a senior editor in the Silicon Valley bureau of Forbes 

If you're an Apple fanboy life is like an acid trip, just more expensive. The rivers flow with Red Bull and iTunes gift certificates. Unicorns ridden by rock stars burp up rainbows and iPods. And around every corner is a magical tablet computer.

Reality, however, is a lot grittier, even in good times. Apple's quarterly earnings report Monday made it clear these are, in fact, good times for Apple. For every magical purple pony, however, there's always a bit of dirt under the saddle.

Business Travel News editors again proudly recognize the 25 business and government executives whose decisions held the greatest sway over the business travel industry in the previous year. Editors vetted nominations that were submitted by industry professionals, including members of the BTN editorial board and staff. The accomplishments and influence of these executives tells the story of the most significant changes in corporate travel last year.

Steve Jobs's tablet device looks to repackage TV, magazines, just as iPod changed music sales.

With the new tablet device that is debuting next week, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs is betting he can reshape businesses like textbooks, newspapers and television much the way his iPod revamped the music industry—and expand Apple's influence and revenue as a content middleman.
 

5:15 p.m. Update: U.S. stocks fell hard Friday as bank worries persisted. A delay in confirming Ben Bernanke for a second term as Fed chairman also weighed on sentiment.

The Nasdaq dived 2.7%, hurt by semiconductors and a number of high-profile issues. Citigroup downgraded seven chip gear makers. The Philadelphia semiconductor index swooned 5.3% and sliced its 50-day moving average.
 

Google Inc. co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are relinquishing some of their control over the Internet search leader with the sale of 10 million shares worth $5.5 billion at current prices.

Under a plan disclosed Friday, the longtime business partners will each sell 5 million Google shares during a five-year period that will commence with the first trade.

The sales will occur periodically to lessen the chances of hurting Google's stock price.
 

Britain's top share index closed sharply higher in thin pre-Christmas trading on Monday, buoyed by commodity stocks on firmer metals and crude prices and a rally in banking equities.

The FTSE 100 index .FTSE ended up 97.18 points, or 1.9 percent, at 5,293.99, posting its biggest one-day percentage gain since Dec. 1, with trading volumes just 74 percent of the 90-day average daily volume.