Business Story of the Day

Following the lead of cities like San Francisco and Washington, D.C., New York wants to permit passengers to use smartphone apps to find a yellow cab. But the prospect of change has prompted a lawsuit from private car services, whose passengers already use smartphones to hail drivers.

Carefully developed breeds are overpowering Eastern filbert blight, which had threatened to crush the U.S. hazelnut industry.

In fashion's first hackathon, developers had just 24 hours to build an app for the industry — the finalists will be presented on the runway at New York's Fashion Week. "Right now the industry could really use some innovation," says Decoded Fashion founder Liz Bacelar.

Jack Lew is known as a smart, unassuming budget wonk who has spent most of his career in government policy-making jobs. Lew, President Obama's nominee to be Treasury secretary, is expected to face questions about his management years at Citigroup before the government bailed out the banking giant.

It's the entrepreneurs' dream: tapping into China's market of 1.3 billion people. That dream fueled the efforts of two Chinese-American MBAs to take the soft-pretzel franchise — a staple of U.S. shopping malls — to China. Cultural and financial barriers, however, led to a far more challenging reality.

The sweeping fire sale is a requirement for multibillion-euro bailouts. And the Chinese, Russian and Arab companies lining up to take advantage of the steep discounts are making Greeks and other Europeans nervous.

With no government ties, Bitcoin is used to buy everything from blogging services to Brooklyn-made cupcakes. Theoretically, millions of dollars are being kept in the digital currency. And it's increasingly being used by specialized websites to offer online gambling. But is Bitcoin gambling legal?

When postal rates went up this week, labels who ship CDs and LPs saw rates jump. They say the costs will make their way to music fans.

A fresh fall of snow can mean more skiers and riders getting lost in the woods. Who should pay to rescue them can become a tricky issue, but some states can bill riders who have gone astray.

AeroVironment has an unusual combination of products — military drones and electric vehicle chargers. The company's president acknowledges that some workers are uncomfortable with the company's dual interests, but he doesn't see a conflict.