Starbucks

Starbucks is renowned for its caffeinated drinks, but it isn't above spiking its beverage menu here and there. The coffee giant is adding wine and beer at up to a dozen cafes in the Southern California and Atlanta markets.

There's never a dull moment on Wall Street, especially now that 2012 is rolling into its first earnings season. Let's go over some of the items that will help shape this week, among them: railroad stocks, Apple, Netflix, the maker of infant formula Enfamil, Starbucks and McDonald's.

Retailers are spicing up their brick-and-mortar stores to keep you walking through the door. Their game plan? To design environments that are equal parts high-tech and homespun. But will the changes be enough to keep physical stores from being reduced to showrooms for e-commerce sites?

The complaint among those who don't dig Starbucks' coffee is that it tastes "burnt," or as java connoisseurs say, "bold." With those people in mind, it's trying something new. But can Starbucks' milder Blonde roast lure customers away from its budget-priced competition?

If your New Year's resolution was to pinch more pennies, Starbucks has some bad news. The coffee king is raising prices due to rising costs of coffee and milk. And they aren't the only restaurant chain getting ready to pass higher expenses on to their customers.

Earlier this year, Ethisphere published its fifth annual list of the World's Most Ethical Companies. You'll be interested in which ones made the top of the list, but what's more important is how -- and how well they do by doing good.

Starbucks has stopped tacking on a fee for bags of coffee beans that weigh less than a pound. The Seattle coffee company eliminated the fee at its stores nationwide this month after a Massachusetts consumer-protection agency fined the company over the practice.