One of the things Johnson changed was the J.C. Penney logo. The new logo was a red, white, and blue squared symbol that only contained the company’s initials – jcp. It was meant to symbolize the department store’s new commitment to treat its customers “fair and square.” Now, the J.C. Penney logo may be changing again, the third time in as many years such a change has occurred.

As pointed out over at Business Insider, the company’s latest ad features a brand new J.C. Penney logo at the end. The ad is a “thank you” of sorts for customers who have returned now that prices are higher and sales are back. It’s a follow up from an earlier commercial in which J.C. Penney apologized for the changes customers saw over the past year. Both ads feature a clean, lowercase “jcpenney” logo at the end.

Though the logo change can also be seen on recent J.C. Penny coupon mailers, the “jcp” logo can still be seen all over the company’s website and social media account. J.C. Penney has not formally announced a logo change.

The Register reports that Apple has filed a trademark request in the Europe for a leaf. Not just any leaf, however, as the company is attempting to protect the leaf in its logo. Check out the trademark application, courtesy of The Register, in all its ridiculousness below:

In the application, the leaf trademark covers 10 product classes. It’s expected that computers, educational material and film streaming services would show up, but it’s a little strange that Apple is also covering its bases in jewelry and footwear. Perhaps Apple will start to sell jewelry that features only the leaf of the Apple logo as some kind of minimalist design statement.

Apple’s zealous overprotection of its trademarks and patents should be expected at this point. Earlier this year, the company sued a European grocery store because its logo was an apple. The two logos looked nothing alike, but Apple still sued anyway.

It should be noted that this is only an application at this point. The trademark may not be granted to the company, but there’s always a chance that it will. At that point, we can look forward to Apple pursuing even more litigation against companies that dare feature any kind of similarly shaped leaf in its logo.

Continuing the trend of making me feel uneasy, Microsoft has decided to update their classic logo to draw upon “the heritage of [their] brand values, fonts and colors.” What does that mean? Just take a look for yourself:

Compare the new logo to the old logo that we’ve grown accustomed to over the last 25 years:

Objectively speaking, the new logo does look nicer. It’s cleaner and finally associates Microsoft with Windows even if the squares are meant to represent the company’s entire product portfolio. It’s far better than the Windows 8 logo and its four monotone blue screens of death.

Subjectively speaking, the new logo signals the end of an era. I’ve been using Windows 8 for a while now and everything about it just feels wrong. I’m sure it’s fantastic on a tablet, but it just feels like Microsoft is abandoning the desktop market that they helped create. The new Microsoft logo just feels like further abandonment as they go chasing the far more lucrative, but ultimately unstable, tablet market.

Either way, the new logo is here to stay. Microsoft says that the new logo will start appearing at Microsoft stores across the country today and continuing into the rest of the month. It will be used to sign off all their new TV ads for Windows 8 and other Microsoft products. It will even appear on new Xbox 360 consoles from now on.

Once again, I don’t like change. A lot of Windows users would back me up as they’re still using Windows XP. It’s probably about time that we moved on, but at what expense? Microsoft can fling themselves into what they see as the future of computing, but do they have to sacrifice their still loyal and quite large desktop user base to do it?

Twitter was abuzz with speculation after the logo appeared. The logo looked like a version of the signage displayed on the outside of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco where Apple’s media event took place on Wednesday afternoon. The signage showed the apple trademark reversed out of a colorful, throwback, rainbow splash. Many are wondering if these new images are reminiscent of the classic Apple rainbow logo designed by Rob Janoff and used by the company from the seventies until nearly the end of the nineties.

Others think it may just be a special one-time version, designed to celebrate the launch of Apple’s latest version of the iPad and possibly to emphasize the new Retina display featured on the new iPad3. If it is confirmed by Apple that they have changed their mark, it will be the first time the logo has been changed in the last ten years. Apple changed from the rainbow colored logo in 1998 and adopted a monochromatic image of their apple. In 2003, the Cupertino based company added a chrome colored finish to the unforgettable, iconic apple.

Jason James, vice president of interactive marketing for DC Entertainment, said this of the new design, “The new sites are a true representation of DC Entertainment, and the depth and scope of our characters and brands across all media”, he continues, “Our goal is to be the one-stop destination for all fans looking for the latest news on comics, TV, games and movies, and a place where fans can engage with us and each other about all things DC Entertainment. Fans should visit DCComics.com daily – we have a lot of surprises in store for them over the next week and beyond.”

Along with new visual updates, the site touts more in-depth character experiences. So if you want to see where Batman and Krypto (Superman’s dog) have gotten together in the past, you can find those issues easier.

DC Comic’s announcement also mentioned that the site will now feature more exclusive content, and sparing no expense, their first example was this Lee Bermejo ‘Before Watchmen’ image which is a site exclusive.

PC Mag published a report that had technology journalists weighing in on the new design. The results are somewhat surprising.

Since we have to get the hatred out of the way first, there are quite a few people who absolutely loathe the new design.

E.D. Kain, writer for Forbes, said that the new logo is reminiscent of “what you might get if you were to fire up PhotoShop, drag in a picture of the Finnish or Shetland Islands’ flag, and invert the colors.”

A commenter on Kain’s piece added some needed humor to the hate fest:

“I think it’s very appropriate to have four Blue Screens of Death coming right toward you. Pretty much captures my Windows experience, anyway.”

There are other explosions of hatred towards the new design from one journalist comparing it to a window that he wants to jump out of to a graphic designer going into the technical details as to why it’s a bad design.

Some writers out there absolutely love the design though.

The supporters love Microsoft’s minimalistic approach to the design with some even comparing it to Apple’s iconic logo.

Time Magazine’s Harry McCracken makes the best case for the new logo and a new Microsoft it represents:

“The old Microsoft consistently went overboard selling Windows, with splashy logos and overly exuberant slogans such as ‘The Wow Starts Now.’ But I don’t want to be wowed by my operating system–I want it to get out of my face, and not break, and generally be a platform for useful applications that make my life better rather than a glorious experience unto itself.”

What does yours truly think about the design? I’m a hardcore Windows nut who has used the OS since Windows 95. I loved the multicolored Windows logo. I understand why Microsoft is changing the logo, but my dislike of the logo stems from a dislike of Windows 8. Simplicity is good for the overall market, but what about us power users who want an OS that gives us the tools to make the OS ours instead of what the company dictates? Microsoft is moving towards an Apple approach of a closed operating system and it’s frightening.

We’ll know for sure if this new logo correlates to a new Windows once the consumer preview launches later this month.

Do you love the new design? Or absolutely hate it? Let us know in the comments.

What do you think of the redesign? Tell us what you think in the comments.

People are creatures of habit, enjoy repetition with few welcoming change. With that philosophy in mind, some “Negative Nancy’s” are sharing their feelings, in 140 characters or less… most notably being Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg.

Rose isn’t standing alone as Chris Sacca, famed venture investor, was a little more comical critical of the new look.

The criticism isn’t just limited to people with Internet fame, as thousands of everyday TC readers are jumping on the “we hate the new look / logo” bandwagon.

Too be fair, there are those who actually like the TC redesign, and welcome the modifications to the blog.

We’re sure that TC knew what they were getting themselves into, as they have a blog post titled “Redesigning TechCrunch: We Picked This Logo Just to Piss You Off“. Well congrats, as this seems to be the exact sentiment being shared on Twitter.

In the post Feldman talks in depth about the controversial logo:

“I love it, though that’s no accident: we went through many, many options with Code & Theory before finding one we liked. It’s bold, simple, and versatile. It works in any context — from a tiny monochrome icon to a mosaic on a poster. It fits the TechCrunch brand perfectly. And no, we didn’t build it in Minecraft. We used AOL Paint, which comes free on the AOL CD and has this sweet UltraLogoMatic2000 feature.”

Personally, the logo is the only part of the re-do I don’t like. Actually, for the most part it just feels like an everyday WordPress site, nothing more, nothing less.

Do you like TechCrunch’s new logo? Tell us your thoughts in the comments

That means subscribers now have access to episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba, more episodes of Spongebob SquarePants, True Jackson VP, iCarly, and Dora the Explorer from Nickelodeon, so the children have more things to watch on Netflix.

The content expansion also includes new episodes of MTV’s Jersey Shore and The Hills, as well as episodes of The Buried Life and The City. It also has new shows from BET like American Gangster, and more Comedy Central content like episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program. There is also some amount of unspecified content form VH1, Logo, and Spike.

“We’re pleased to be able to offer programs to suit different ages and tastes and, as always, remain committed to bringing you more great TV shows and movies to watch instantly when and where you prefer,” wrote Netflix VP Content Acquisition Cindy Holland on the Netflix Blog.

Netflix is rapidly expanding its streaming on-demand offerings. Last week, the company announced a multi-year deal with Miramax, which will see the addition of a whole bunch of movies, which when combined, account for 284 Academy Award nominations.

In addition to expanding upon its content offerings, Netflix has also continued to expand upon the number of devices it supports. Recently, the company announced a new Android app that works for some Android devices, and said that they were developing for additional Android devices. As Google’s mobile platform continues to gain market share of its own, compatibility here will be key for continued Netflix growth, especially considering that Google is now renting movies directly from the Android Market and YouTube.

Keeping with the look and feel of the original Android logo, while incorporating a theme that matches the Honeycomb name, the new logo is a mix between the current green guy and a blue-and-black bee, giving us this:

Image courtesy

As you can see, the results are pretty impressive, provided going wild for new logos and graphics is important to you. Over at the Android Developers page, they have some details about the newest update, including some information about being the first Android OS to be developed with tablet PCs in mind.

While the new logo is a neat combination, and considering it was developed for the Honeycomb update, what happens if the update is a failure?  Wouldn’t Google have to consider changing the name from “Honeycomb” to “Beeswax?”

That way, they can keep using the new logo even if the updated OS doesn’t impress Android users.  However, considering the open source nature of Android, users can just fool around with the source code until they’re satisfied with what they have.

First came:

Then a shift to blue:

Slogans like "A Please For Friends" and "A Place For Music" have come and gone and come again.

Sometimes the logo went from a rectangle to round:

Just a few weeks ago, with much fanfare, "space" was replaced by a… space

But yesterday, perhaps to make sure the media didn’t get confused, a press release announcing a new MySpace Mobile site was headlined with the space inserted back into the logo:

Now, just in case they need a few more logos, MySpace has created Logo a Gogo, where users can create their own variations for possible publication.

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