Jay-Z has already sold one million copies of his yet-to-be-released new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, which isn't available to the public until July 7th.

The canny entrepreneur has spun a deal with Samsung so that the first million owners of Samsung’s Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 2 can download the free Magna Carta app from the Google Play store, which will give them exclusive access to the new album for free starting July 4th. The unique pair-up was announced during a commercial break at game 5 of the NBA Finals that included a player watching the announcement video in real-time on his Samsung device. 

"This is a smart strategy on Samsung’s part. Big fans of Jay-Z’s might be tempted to make the Galaxy S4 or Galaxy Note 2 their next phone due to the promotion, while Samsung fans get a free new album to rock on their phones," notes VentureBeat.Continue reading...

When you’re as big a star as Beyonce, you can pick and choose your gigs, and that includes what causes you lend your money (and fame) to. 

The star's latest philanthropic engagement is with Goodwill. The charity will collect donations at stops on Beyonce's Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, with proceeds from the sale of the items going towards Goodwill efforts to help unfortunate individuals find jobs. In further collaboration with CharityBuzz.com, ticket packages to the tour will be auctioned, with all proceeds going to Goodwill. 

Earlier this month, Bey partnered with mom Tina Knowles and sister Solange for an initiative called "Miss A Meal," where the family called on others to miss a meal and donate the money to charity. In February, Beyonce joined Salma Hayek Pinault and Frida Giannini to promote Chime For Change, an organization founded by Gucci to promote education, health and justice for girls and women around the world.

In the past, Beyonce has co-founded the Survivor Foundation to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, holding food drives during her 2006 tour. In 2005, her ambassadorship for World Children’s Day led to the release of “Stand Up For Love,” the anthem for the annual event to raise awareness and funds for children’s causes. She has supported 23 charities and foundations in all.Continue reading...

Secretary of State Brings Home 24 Canadians

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry found himself to be the proud owner of a case of Molson Canadian Thursday after settling a bet with Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird.

The pair had wagered cases of beer over who would win the women’s world hockey championship and the US came through on Tuesday with a 3-2 win. Baird will have to live without the case of Sam Adams, brewed in Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts, that would have been coming to him. 

They made the exchange in London, where they are holed up for the G8 conference, leading one to wonder if they each always travel with a case of brewskis—just in case.Continue reading...

Aereo TV streaming service from Barry Diller faces showdown with News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, who threatens to take FOX cable-only, as Intel cooks up its vision of future of TV.

Apple, which can now trademark iPad mini in U.S. and captured 74% of mobile app revenue in Q1, reportedly will release new iPhone 5S in "at least" two screen sizes.

Billabong in talks to sell out for $300 million.

Airbus juggles order book to meet record demand for A320neo Jet.

AT&T joins Boeing in backing U.S. cyber bill facing privacy fight.

Audi promotes in-vehicle Wi-Fi in new TV campaign.Continue reading...

Beyonce's new TV commercial for Pepsi was released today after being teased on Wednesday.

Reinforcing Pepsi's "Live for Now" global tagline, the "Mirrors" spot features a Bey dance-off with her many personas including alter-ego Sasha Fierce — watch it below.Continue reading...

Jay-Z has sold about 50 million albums, won 17 Grammys, is worth almost $500 million and can well afford his own "gentlemen's club" and nightclub, is the co-creator of the Rocawear fashion line, a part-owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center stadium in Brooklyn, and happens to be married to Beyonce and the father of Blue Ivy Carter. 

So while he may be busier than your average Roca-a-fella, he's also making time for a brand new endeavor to stretch his business clout: becoming a sports agent.

The big news this week—via well-placed media clips in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times—is that Jay is opening his own sports agency, snagging New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano away from the sport’s best-known and most-feared agent, Scott Boras, to be his first client.

Cano is in the final year of his current contract with the Yanks so whoever negotiates his next one, which will likely be worth more than $200 million, will be reeling in a whole lot of dough. It’s looking like the man who'll be hauling it is in none other than Hova himself.Continue reading...

Pepsi promoted new artists like Hunter Hayes as part of its presence on the Grammy Awards last night, but most of its music marketing budget remains devoted to one very established diva: Beyonce.

Beyonce is demonstrating her personal-brand firepower these days like no time in recent years. Using her Pepsi-sponsored Super Bowl halftime show as a launching pad, she also gave an award at the Grammys with Ellen Degeneres, made time to serve as the cover girl for the March issue of Vogue, taped an interview with Oprah Winfrey scheduled to run on Saturday and, of course, is awaiting reaction to the documentary about her that HBO plans to run on Sunday.

That's all by way of ramping up fan fever for her new "Mrs. Carter World Tour," which kicks off in Belgrade in April and finally reaches the United States in late June. MasterCard is holding a ticket presale event.Continue reading...

Pepsi may have shelled out massive dollars to sponsor the Super Bowl halftime show, but Beyonce Knowles—hired to keep millions from switching over to Animal Planet’s “Puppy Bowl IX” (and add luster to the NFL and PepsiCo brands) may be the biggest beneficiary.

Ms. Knowles, of course, had recently taken a pretty big PR hit for lip syncing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at President Obama’s second inauguration. But she's putting that behind her with a PR charm offensive, and Sunday night, she very clearly sang (and improvised a bit) her tunes live while constantly dancing, working the stage and speaking directly to the audience.

People called it “divalicious and hooftastic,” and The New York Times pointed out that she “answered her critics” by singing her songs in unexpected ways.Continue reading...