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.

There aren't coupons for prescription drugs, but Costco (COST) is probably wishing it could print up some "$749 off" inserts right about now.

Consumer Reports went shopping at 200 pharmacies across the country for a month's supply of five prescription drugs that just went generic: Actos for diabetes, Lexapro for depression, Singulair for asthma, Plavix for blood thinning, and Lipitor for high cholesterol.

What they found was a $749 difference -- that's 447% -- between the $916 price tag at CVS (CVS) and the $167 that Costco charged for the same five drugs. For generic Lipitor alone CVS charged $150 to Costco's $17. The generic Lexapro found at CVS for $126 could be had at Costco for $7.

Guinea pigs: lovable starter pets, the next hipster food trend or a sustainable and cost-effective protein source? If you find that sentence confusing, you're not alone.

NPR recently reported that guinea pigs, also known as caveys or cuyes in Spanish, are turning up on the menu in a growing number of U.S. restaurants. As anyone who's watched one of those exotic cooking shows on cable TV will tell you, the rodents have a long history as a food source in South America. But adventurous U.S. diners are now apparently pushing the demand for guinea pigs to new proportions.

According to NPR, federal regulatory agencies apparently don't track the import of guinea pig meat into the U.S. -- but one company that deals with the animals says its imports have nearly doubled since 2008.

How do you keep nearly 8 million workers in constant fear of losing their jobs without actually threatening to lay off any of them? Just assure them that if they're accused of stealing at your store, they'll never work in retail again -- ever.

Note the wording of that last sentence and let that sink in a second: Accused of stealing. As The New York Times reports, an employee doesn't have to take a dime while working in stores like Target (TGT), Rite Aid (RAD), CVS (CVS), Family Dollar (FDO) and others in First Advantage Corp.'s Esteem database. Just a vague hint on the employee's electronic record showing that he or she had merchandise go missing during a shift or a poorly phrased written statement submitted after a sit-down with store security officers could permanently tar an employee's record.