Image: Educate-yourself.org Seven US states are investigating market abuse by seed giant Monsanto. Attorneys general in Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Iowa, Illinois, and two more states are investigating Monsanto’s competitive practices. The US Justice Department is also investigating marketing at Monsanto. Bloomberg has more on Monsanto’s brewing storm: Monsanto rose to dominance via its genetically engineered Roundup Ready seed line,... 

Google opened the Google Apps Marketplace , where businesses can install and purchase a variety of apps, last night. The beauty of the Google Apps Marketplace (not to be confused with the Andriod store) is that all apps integrate with the Google’s sign-on and universal navigation. Lifehacker has more : …the Apps Marketplace brings an entirely new set of potentially useful tools to your Google Apps account—everything from accounting... 

Today is International Women’s Day , an annual day that honors women around the world. To celebrate International Women’s Day, we’re offering one reader a brand new HP iPAQ Glisten smartphone for leaving a comment. Here’s what the iPAQ Glisten has to offer : * The HP iPAQ Glisten is a stylish, 3G smartphone designed for on-the-go professionals who need to stay connected to the people and information they care about. *... 

José “Pepe” Fanjul, who co-owns the Flo-Sun and the Fanjul conglomerate , was robbed at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills hotel during their Oscar-week visit. A man posing as a hotel employee stole jewelry and other valuables from the billionaire and his wife. The New York Post has the story : The Cuban-born sugar baron — one of the world’s richest men — and his wife, Emilia, were robbed by a man posing as a hotel... 

The US Food and Drug Administration has told 17 food manufacturers to remove misleading labels from their products–or risk having those products pulled from shelves. ABC has more : The FDA said Wednesday that its commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, had sent letters to each company in question Feb. 22, along with an open letter to the food manufacturing industry demanding they take action against “false or misleading” labels.... 

TigerText , a new iPhone app , is the kind of thing that might have saved (well, helped) Tiger Woods if it had been out earlier. TigerText lets you put a timed delete on all your text messages and voicemails. If Tiger had it last October, sext messages like send me something very naughty and I will wear you out soon would never have made it to the New York Post . Messages deleted using TigerText disappear from the sender’s phone, the recipient’s... 

Nissan is recalling 540,000 cars , mostly in the US, for braking and fuel gauge problems. The brake pedals may come loose and limit braking force on Armada SUVs, Titan pickups, and Quest minivans made in 2008-2010. Armadas and Titans from 2005-09, as well as Frontiers, Xterras, and Pathfinders from from 2006 and 2008 may have gas gauges that show a quarter of a tank of gas when in fact the tank is empty. What gives with all these recalls? Ironically,... 

GM is recalling 1.3 million cars because of faulty power steering. MarketWatch has more : The recall covers 2005-2010 Chevrolet Cobalts and 2007-2010 Pontiac G5s sold in the U.S., as well as 2005-2006 Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada, and 2005-2006 Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico, reports said, citing a GM statement. The auto maker was cited as saying the power-steering assist in those models can sometimes fail, but added the cars are safe to drive... 

Toyota President Akio Toyoda voluntarily testified before a congressional committee yesterday. Toyoda´s intent was to rebuild American confidence in his company´s products. The Wall Street Journal has the story : (During the) three-hour session…Mr. Toyoda insisted there was nothing wrong with the company’s electronic throttles, promised to meet with a professor who claimed there was, apologized for accidents involving Toyota vehicles... 

Silicon Valley startup Bloom Energy unveiled the Bloom box yesterday. The Bloom box is a solid oxide fuel cell that can power multiple homes independently of the existing energy grid. Bloom Energy´s design is groundbreaking–until you look at its competitors, who are nearing market launch. The Guardian analyzes the situation : Other developers, such as Ceres Power in the UK and Ceramic Fuel Cells in Australia/Germany, have products close... 

If you were to go by Bloom Box founder K.R. Sridhar’s words, Bloom Box fuel cells will be a mainstream consumer produce within the next 5-10 years. That’s ambitious. It’s a game changer. Disruptive technology. For the power grid. Today was billed as the launch of Bloom Box, even though dozens of large corporations have been using Bloom Box fuel cell technology to power their stores, data centers, etc. In development for almost... 

This is a guest post by Wall St. Cheat Sheet’s Damien Hoffman. Earlier this month, Google announced a new broadband initiative. A few days earlier, they announced a rumored Twitter killer. Months ago, it was Google Wave. Is all this entrepreneurial zest a sign Google is a leader? Or, is the search/ad giant losing focus? Google is smart to attempt to enhance…  Read More →

Welcome to tax season. If you’re a small business owner, those words might induce a shudder. For many of us, tax season means scrambling to itemize, catching up on stray expenses, and rushing to send contractors and employees the right forms at the right time. Unless you’re a CPA or other tax expert, tax season can be one prolonged headache. The people behind Outright want to help. They founded the online bookkeeping software after…  Read More →

Dutch developers have created PleaseRobMe , a site that posts the locations of empty homes, based on information from real-time location site FourSquare. The BBC has the story : The Dutch developers told BBC News the site was designed to prove a point about the dangers of sharing precise location information on the internet. The site scrutinises players of online game Foursquare, which is based on a person’s location in the real world.... 

Mall owner Simon Properties has offered to buy out rival General Growth Properties for $10 billion. A buyout could create the largest high-end mall owner in the US: The nation’s largest shopping mall owner, Simon Property Group, made a $10 billion hostile bid Tuesday to acquire its ailing rival, General Growth Properties. The deal would allow General Growth, the No. 2 owner of shopping centers, to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection....