Whether Beyonce actually dared to lip-sync the National Anthem during President Obama's second inauguration, one thing is clear: The controversy has landed her back in the headlines, if not as disgraced as Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o.

Beyonce stands a major chance at public redemption with her Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, to be sponsored by Pepsi, and by the continued unfolding of her $50-million endorsement relationship with the soft-drink brand. There's also an upcoming HBO documentary about her life.Continue reading...

The annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that's now underway in Las Vegas is not only the world's biggest trade show, but a snapshot of how the fast-moving world of technology innovation is impacting sectors. Witness automotive, such as Ford's just-announced mobile partnerships to enhance the brand's in-car connectivity platform as part of a bigger CES push by car manufacturers this year.

CES is also a soapbox for competitors to one-up one another as they spit out product announcements and flaunt new alliances. This year, the rivalry is particularly fierce in the web TV/digital streaming arena.

"As new Internet TV players look to invade the living room, some cable and satellite operators are stepping up their embrace of Web technology to jazz up aging interfaces and head off subscriber defections, the Wall Street Journal reports from the show.

CES attendees include DirecTV and Dish Network on the satellite side, Verizon (FiOS) and AT&T (U-verse) touting Telco TV, and U.S. multi-system operators including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications are at CES to recast themselves as web TV purveyors and shake off the dreaded "cable operator" moniker. No wonder the U.S. National Cable & Telecommunications Association is reportedly considering dropping "cable" and rebranding to the U.S. Internet and Television Association (but, oddly, keeping the NCTA acronym).

AT&T's U-verse platform is introducing "Screen Pack," a $5 per month addition to existing subscriptions which enables customers to stream some 1,500 on-demand movies. AT&T plans to add more content in the future in an effort to thwart the flood of video streaming competitors in the space.Continue reading...

Hostess is in talks to sell off bread brands, as makers of Thomas' English muffins and Tastykake snacks emerge as two of the bidders for Wonder Bread according to the Wall Street Journal.

Hulu CEO resigns as web TV startup faces impasse.

NHL resolves labor dispute, faces shortened season.

Apple envy one of Fast Company's suggested New Year's Resolutions for brands.

Bank of America settles with Fannie Mae for $10 billion.

BMW is paring back car discounts in Germany.

CES lures brands and marketers to Las Vegas.Continue reading...

Want to have your face on a Pepsi can? Well, first you need to sell more than a 100 million albums around the globe and win 16 Grammy awards. At least, that’s what it took for Beyonce to get her face etched into aluminum.

As already announced, Bey is starring in the Pepsi-sponsored Super Bowl XLVII halftime show in February as part of the brand's multimillion-dollar return to the Big Game after pulling out in 2010 to reallocate its funds for the social Pepsi Refresh crowdsourced philanthropy platform. Now

Now PepsiCo is expanding its Super Bowl deal with the performer beyond the half-time show into a full-blown partnership in a $50 million deal that will burnish the Pepsi brand and Brand Beyonce, including marketing support for her new album that's dropping next year.Continue reading...

Apple's 2012 Thanksgiving TV commercial ("Turkey," above) highlights the iPhone 5 Shared Photo Stream function of iOS 6 ("it's as easy as pie"), with a music track that references its new "Orchestra" spot, below, and its earlier iPhone 5 commercials. The narrator is, once again, actor Jeff Daniels, whose HBO series The Newsroom returns in June.Continue reading...

Apple is poised to sell 10 million iPhones in smash debut but sparks backlash by unseating Google maps from its platform.

Adidas cuts Reebok revenue forecast.

Walmart drops Kindle in slap at Amazon, as Amazon Fresh makes grocers nervous.

BASF buys U.S. seed-technology company Becker Underwood.

BlackBerry hit by service outage across much of world in another setback for RIM smartphone brand.

BSkyB deemed fit to hold license by U.K.

CKE delays IPO of parent of Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands.Continue reading...

Uber, the San Francisco-based startup at the intersection of mobile, car transport and logistics, is disrupting the industry and causing wide-spread regulatory reverberations.

The app for U.S. urbanites to book a cab on iPhone or Android OS smartphones has emerged as an alternative to overcrowded public transit and an escalating dearth of regular taxis, but now finds itself in the crosshairs of local taxi and limousine commissions. The key issue, is Uber a limousine service or a cab service? Answer — a bit of both.

It's pitched as "Everyone's Private Driver. Request a swanky ride in a black car with just the tap of an app! We're changing the way people are getting around by offering a convenient, cashless, and stylish on demand car request service from your mobile phone." A clever marketing tie-in just saw the Uber app used by New Yorkers to hail vintage gangster cars in a "free on demand" (a double entendre for NYC cable VOD subscribers) promotion for the third season launch of Boardwalk Empire on HBO.

This week the app launched in Boston and last week in Dallas, making it available (in theory, if not in practice) in 15 cities in total: San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Diego, Denver, Atlanta, and beyond the U.S., London, Paris and Toronto. But it hasn't all been smooth hailing — D.C.'s taxi commission has just proposed new rules to shut down Uber.

Uber's execs thought they had recently passed muster in Washington, following a six-month battle in the District of Columbia to legalize sedans used by its car-service partners.Continue reading...

Apple iPhone 5 sets pre-sale record, inspires queues outside stores.

Express Scripts members now can go back to Walgreens.

Ford becomes focus of talks with Canadian Auto Workers ahead of strike deadline at midnight.

Fox says Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban will join American Idol as judges.

GM is getting resistance from U.S. government over proposal for taxpayer exit from ownership.

HP emphasizes design in turnaround hopes.

Heineken makes over its bottle and enlists James Bond for global campaign.Continue reading...