We’re not at Hogwarts anymore, kids. As J.K. Rowling prepares to release her first non-Harry Potter book, The Casual Vacancy, on Thursday, her publisher, Little, Brown, has announced more than one million pre-orders and a two million book print run for the highly anticipated title.

Her first adult novel is poised for a record-setting debut. "It's one of the biggest releases of the 21st century. I think 99.9 percent of us (in the industry) are predicting it will go straight to number one," commented Philip Stone, charts editor at The Bookseller magazine, to The Telegraph.

Patricia Bostelman, VP Marketing, Barnes & Noble, told USA Today that The Casual Vacancy could be the biggest book of the year. "We're very optimistic about this book. She's a gifted storyteller and very skilled at creating characters and creating worlds.”

Whether Rowling can cross over from the magical realm of Harry Potter — conquering the young adult book market, selling 450 million books and earning almost $900 million, not to mention movie and ancillary sales — to an adult novelist, is the next million dollar question.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola announces Global Fund donation at Clinton Global Initiative meeting, teams up with Segway creator on clean water project and launches corporate blog.

GE's Jeff Immelt joins the few brave CEOs on Twitter.

IBM targets Amazon in the cloud.

AirAsia creates child-free quiet zones on flights.

Arby's sees gains under new owners.

Barnes & Noble plans to launch Nook video service.

Chase Bank tops customer-satisfaction study.Continue reading...

Fresh off her global Olympics cameo reading an excerpt of “Peter Pan” to the bazillion viewers who gaped at the London 2012 Games Opening Ceremony, author J.K. Rowling now gets to turn her attention back to her own magic-fueled kid-lit fantasy that ended up spanning a few generations: Harry Potter.

Rowling earlier this year announced she's writing a book for adults, her first foray beyond the Potter Empire that has kept her busy since Harry hit bookshelves back in 1997. Moving on from Potter publisher Bloomsbury with the move, Rowling stated, "The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life."

The last Potter book came out in June of 2007, and the last movie last year, but Rowling can't quit Harry — not just yet.Continue reading...

"Pandemonium" was the theme at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. 

Depicting a living Facebook timeline of moments from British history, the XXX Olympiad kick-off included a mad mix of cultural references — a skydiving Queen with Daniel Craig as James Bond (nice promo for Skyfall), flying Mary Poppins, J.K. Rowling reading and a giant Voldemort from Harry Potter menacing a giant baby, Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean using an iPhone, a nod to the Mini, costumed villagers in a shire, chimney towers depicting the Industrial Revolution, a British musical medley featuring hits from Sir Paul McCartney (singing the Beatles' "Hey Jude"), the Sex Pistols, Queen, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie (cue a rocketman), plus a speed boat driven by David Beckham, bird bikes and a tribute to web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee in the digital portion of the show — all orchestrated by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, who tweeted "Thank you, everyone, for your kind words! Means the world to me."

"Pandemonium" indeed — a theme and word chosen, according to the BBC, because it "was coined by poet John Milton (and) the name of the capital of Hell in Paradise Lost."Continue reading...

Apple plans smaller iPad to compete with Google Nexus, as Nokia gets touchy too.

Getty Images bidding nears $4 billion.

Barclays ex-CEO Diamond faces UK MP grilling as Bank of England faces tough decision.

Asian tourists flock to Europe for luxury bargains.

Asus aims to help athletes "find their zen."

Branded content shown to have limited impact in US.

China bans shark fin consumption in luxury crackdown, as mainland slowdown affects Hong Kong luxury spending.Continue reading...

Kids and Young Adult (YA) e-book sales in the U.S. grew by triple digits in February, reports the Association of American Publishers, as compared to relatively flat adult e-book sales figures. The total for e-book sales in the category is close to 25 million sold in January 2012.

The key contributing factor: adults are devouring YA e-books like The Hunger Games trilogy, and — still — Harry Potter. The Hunger Games franchise held the top three spots for the month of January on both the physical bestseller list and the Kindle paid bestseller list, appearing on USA Today’s bestseller list and taking first place for Amazon and Kindle sales. With the March release of the movie, stats on e-book sales to be released next month could be record-breaking.

On the Pottermore e-hub, which was announced last June, Harry Potter e-book sales reached close to 525,000 in the first month, totaling about $4.8 million. The Pottermore e-bookstore launched on March 27 as the exclusive place to buy Harry Potter e-books and digital audiobooks followed by the full Potter digi-verse on April 14.Continue reading...

“Alohomora!” J.K. Rowling's Pottermore website to keep the world of Harry Potter alive on digital has finally opened its e-bookstore.

While Rowling's books have sold an estimated 450 million physical copies and been translated into more than 70 languages, the author had retained the digital rights as part of her book publishing contracts, so the e-book editions weren't immediately available — until the Pottermore (think "Potter" plus "ever more") digital brand extension plan was announced last June. Already, Slate is calling it a game-changer for publishing.Continue reading...

Apple's "app store" trademark suit likely to fail; COO Tim Cook visits China to talk 4G, may offer new iPhone in September.

Bacardi and Live Entertainment partner for social promotion.

Best Buy launches Music Cloud service.

BP faces fresh fingerpointing by Transocean.

China plans a cloud computing zone.

Clearasil reaches out to teens via Facebook and Lollapalooza.

CSN Stores rebrands as Wayfair.com.Continue reading...