Coke

Coca-Cola Co. vowed Friday to stop making quarterly profit forecasts, calling Wall Street's preoccupation with near-term results a distraction from long-term planning. Giving short-term guidance to analysts "prevents a more meaningful focus on the strategic initiatives," said Douglas Daft, chief executive of the Atlanta-based soft drink giant. Dozens of other corporations already have ceased making earnings projections.

Space shuttle astronauts will soon carry Coca-Cola into orbit for the first time thanks to a new high-tech "space can" that cost the soft-drink company more than $250,000 to develop, company officials said. The new can is the first container capable of dispensing carbonated beverages in the weightlessness of space, they added. Liquids now taken into space are non-carbonated and are carried in small plastic serving pouches and sipped through straws.

PepsiCo, by caving in to the coercive demands of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, alienated a great many more Americans who despise this misogynous, street-thug-glorifying noise ("Pepsi to Give $3 Million After 'Dissing' Rapper," Feb. 14). Pepsi has once again exhibited bad taste. I will reconsider Coke's appeal. Alan V. Weinberg Woodland Hills

Hundreds of ugly yellow banners recently have been draped from city lamp poles hawking ABC television. It is bad enough when these public fixtures are used to bombard us with advertisements for museums, the Dodgers and the Hollywood Bowl. But at least these sponsors pretend to have some civic connection. What's next? Painting City Hall to look like a Coke bottle? VICTOR GOLD Los Angeles

A woman who reported finding sewing needles in a can of Coca-Cola at the height of a hoax over foreign objects in soft drink cans pleaded guilty Friday to tampering. Deborah Sue McGuire told police in June that she opened a can of Coke and found nine sewing needles. She pleaded guilty to a federal charge of making a false statement about product tampering.

A pharmacist has uncovered what is believed to be the first sign advertising Coca-Cola, one which set the stage for one of the most successful advertising efforts in the country, historians said. Dean Cox, owner of Young Brothers Pharmacy in Cartersville, said the 95-year-old Coca-Cola logo painted on the side of his century-old building was uncovered by restoration experts who chipped off 25 layers of paint. Old timers had told him the sign was there and a photo in an old hometown newspaper confirmed its existence.

Could lack of interest in the Olympics be caused partly by the TV scheduling? Note the normal schedule in prime time: 8-8:05 p.m.: Figure skating. 8:05-8:15: Commercials: Coke, McDonald's, Chevy, Nike, Canon, Budweiser, Infiniti. 8:15-8:20: Ice dancing. 8:20-8:30: Commercials: McDonald's, Canon, Chevy, Nike, Infiniti, Coke, Budweiser. 8:30-8:35: Figure skating. 8:35-8:45: Commercials: Nike, Infiniti, Coke, Budweiser, Canon, McDonald's, Chevy. 8:45-8:50: Ice dancing.

Spotify has closed a new round of funding for $100 million that would give the streaming music service a valuation of about $3 billion. The popular Swedish music service, which launched in the United States in 2011, has attracted investment from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Fidelity Investments, a person familiar with the situation confirmed. Coca-Cola Co. also took a small stake, the person said. The investments were first reported in the New York Times . Coke and Spotify formed a partnership last April that gave the burgeoning music-streaming service access to Coca-Cola's global marketing engine to help it grow internationally.

With all the hoopla, secrecy and patriotic bunting hanging around, this could have been the unveiling of the stealth bomber. A red carpet, bound with red plastic tape, led the way to the speakers' dais. A marching band strutted about. Red and white banners draped fences topped with barbed wire. An American flag marked the backdrop. Pin-stripe-suited men watched nervously as the crowd grew.

Now that Richard (Goose) Gossage and Ballard Smith have more than proven to be on equal footing in terms of being a couple of jerks, what do you say we defuse the situation, guys? Let's put the Goose in a McDonald's TV commercial. We could show him powerin' down a couple Big Macs with an order of fries and a coke on the side, and once and for all, lay to rest this vicious rumor that McDonald's poisons the world! JIM MOLNAR San Diego