Facebook (FB) didn't announce its own phone Thursday. It didn't make a new operating system. Instead, the company has created essentially an app on steroids that gives Facebook prime real estate on Android devices.

Facebook messages and chats are right there on your home screen. You won't have to go into a Facebook app anymore to see them. The platform works on top of the Android mobile operating system from Google (GOOG) and will start showing up pre-installed on devices from HTC and Samsung.

Oh, and there will be ads, too.

Art and money often go hand-in-hand, especially in the high-priced realm of auction houses. But that marriage of art and commerce can get controversial when the artwork in question is of a religious nature -- and the faith involved takes issue with what it considers its sacred, priceless objects being put up for sale.

That's the international scenario unfolding as the Hopis of Arizona and their supporters call on the U.S. government to stop a planned auction in Paris next week. Reports say the auction of 70 Hopi artifacts at the Néret-Minet Tessier & Sarrou auction house, one of the largest-ever auctions of its kind, could bring in up to $1 million.

Hopis view the objects known as katsinas, or “friends,” as being imbued with living, divine spirits -- for use in many of their rituals and ceremonies.

Bitcoins are taking a step into the real world, with an entrepreneur planning to introduce ATMs for the digital currency in Los Angeles and Cyprus. 

But there's a catch: Rather than dispensing cash, the Bitcoin ATMs will transform your hard-earned real money into the digital currency. On top of that, the ATMs will charge fees of about 3%, which is slightly more than what regular ATMs charge, according to CNN.

The ATMs will convert cash into Bitcoins stored in a Bitcoin wallet, or else will transform the cash stored in a personal Bitcoin account into the digital currency, according to the report. 

What's expensive, aims to revolutionize entertainment and wants to put a ring on it? It's Apple's (AAPL) so-called iTV, which a report says will be on the market later this year with a price tag as high as $2,500. 

But the most unusual aspect of the report, which comes from a research analyst who met with suppliers in China and Taiwan, is an add-on device called the iRing, according to Apple Insider.

The iRing is a ring-shaped accessory that, yes, one wears on a finger. It's a new concept for the television industry, allowing viewers to use their hand as a navigation pointer for the TV set. It will give the TV set the ability to detect motion and replace some aspects of the traditional remote control.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs (GS) have begun to see a trend that should worry Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG): It doesn't seem as cool anymore.

When asked whether they would recommend Chipotle, consumers increasingly answer no. The falloff in that likely-to-recommend score means Chipotle "may be losing some of its 'cool factor,'" Goldman analyst Michael Kelter said, according to StreetInsider.com.

Even worse: This falloff coincides with a decline in interest in Chipotle among younger adults.

Goldman has been seeing this for a while. Last November, analysts saw a fallback in Chipotle's brand score, Barron's reports. At the time, analysts thought it was a statistical anomaly, and they may have been right. Chipotle's brand score did indeed come back up for the first quarter of this year.

Carnival (CCL), the world's largest cruise operator, has rejected a request from a powerful U.S. senator that it reimburse the U.S. government for the costs it incurs for rescuing the company's ships when they become disabled.

According to Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., the U.S. Coast Guard has responded to 90 "serious events" involving Carnival ships over the past five years, including the rescue of the Carnival Triumph (pictured) in February and the 2010 operation to assist the Carnival Splendor. The Coast Guard and Navy spent $4.2  million to assist the Triumph and Splendor, which were both hit with power failures, according to a report in Skift.com quoting Rockefeller.

In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings, officials in five states passed seven laws that make it tougher for residents to purchase weapons. But as The Wall Street Journal noted today, 10 states have weakened such laws.

This trend, described by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in The Journal, underscores the tough road advocates face in the wake of the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that left 20 children and 6 adult staff members dead. That spurred President Obama to make gun control one of his top priorities.

However, that's going to be difficult, given that Republicans control 30 governorships and that most state legislatures are sympathetic to the arguments of the National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates.

After Wal-Mart (WMT) got into the grocery business two decades ago, the company wooed consumers with low prices on dry goods and produce.

But its fresh foods -- such as produce, meat, and bakery and deli items -- are now becoming a headache as dwindling staffing leads to not-so-fresh items lingering on shelves, according to The New York Times. 

That was backed up by a Reddit user, who on Tuesday posted a photo of a dozen glazed yeast donuts he bought at a Wal-Mart in Kentucky. The packaging had three "best by" stickers on it, with the older, expired stickers covered by those with more recent dates.

That's not going to help Wal-Mart's image, which is already hurting after a Bloomberg report said the retailer lacked enough workers to keep its shelves properly stocked.