Aside from producing and selling new ranges, most big global companies pay a lot attention to charity and social projects, proving that today business means not only making money but sharing it as well. Sometimes, to pursue these goals, companies create unpredicted alliances—one of them—Ford Motor Company plus General Mills—has been formed recently to support the school funding the Box Tops for Education (BTFE) initiative in the USA, running for the 15th straight year. Starting today, October 3, the automobile giant joins the food manufacturer in rolling out a two-month program to generate $1 million in support for schools across the country.

Cars, along with bottles and shoes, often become canvases for artistic experiments. The fleet of vehicles, transformed into vividly coloured pieces of art is now joined by Ford Focus, which got a graffiti makeover, executed by six artists in Glasgow on August 22. The car featuring one-of-a-kind imagery was created during 6-hour session and will be displayed for the next month at the city’s Independent Recoat Gallery, as part of the Ford Centenary Tour, the exhibit of 10 models, which represent the brand’s 100-year history in the UK.

Virtually everything in the world can be rated, being that success of leading global companies, creativity, Facebook popularity or support for LGBT community. YouGov BrandIndex has conducted a survey, asking U.S. citizens, who identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, to say which brands are best perceived by them. Google’s YouTube tops the list of twenty companies, which also includes Google, Disney, Ford, Apple and M&M’s. Surprisingly enough, the ranking doesn’t feature ABSOLUT, known for its long-standing commitment to help LGBT representatives feel better by launching a range of initiatives (Gay Theatre Festival is just one of them) as well as other vodka or beer drinks.

While an ITC support cane capable of measuring pulse and blood pressure that won the first prize of the Fujitsu Design Award 2011 is still a futuristic device that is unlikely to enter mass market in the near future, the latest enhancements to Ford’s Sync technology designed to report health-related information may become reality in a year or two, Ford assures. The automaker is currently in the process of development of mobile gadgets to allow measuring the health metrics that are vital for the drivers diagnosed with diabetes and other chronic diseases.