Want to promote yourself as being hip and cool and all that? First, buy a $300,000 Maybach. Then get a blowtorch and heavy-duty metal cutter, film yourself destroying the body of the car and driving it around like a maniac with four models in the back seat while rapping like mad.

That’s what Jay-Z and Kanye West are up to in their latest video, “Otis,” from the new album “Watch the Throne,” which was released digitally a week ago and hit store shelves Aug. 12.Continue reading...

What's the best way to promote an iPad magazine? How about walking through New York City with it wrapped around your head?

Hearst;s new iPadazine, CFG (Cosmo For Guys), did just that, sending a model around New York's Bryant Park on a sunny afternoon. The reactions are hilarious, as the YouTube video (which has notched almost a million views) shows.Continue reading...

The U.K. considers social media clampdown as Prime Minister David Cameron admits police misread rioters and promises "swift justice" in House of Commons speech.

American Airlines revives plans for American Eagle spinoff.

AOL authorizes $250 million stock buyback program.

British Airways embarks on employee engagement program and digital recruitment.

Cisco sees results from John Chambers' strategic turnaround.

Coca-Cola launches "Future Flames" integrated London 2012 Olympics campaign in U.K.

Gawker's Gizmodo site won't face charges in iPhone 4 case.Continue reading...

Gap promised that its new global branding campaign would bring an extra treat to U.S. fans — food trucks serving tacos in a handful of markets.

The event marketing, dubbed Pico de Gap, kicked off Monday in Los Angeles with chef Marcel Vigneron from Bravo's Top Chef (and now SyFy), with celeb guests including Jennifer Love Hewitt, Nikki Reed and Sarah Silverman.

Starting Friday, three other vintage food trucks will be popping up in downtown neighborhoods, music festivals and other gatherings in San Francisco (with another Top Chef alum, Ryan Scott, on-board), New York (food writer Katie Lee, another Top Chef vet as host of the first season of Top Chef Masters) and Chicago (chef Rick Gresh).Continue reading...

Accenture drives social business adoption through gamification.

Amazon battles U.S. states over taxes.

Bally expands to India.

Banco Popular expands rebranding to Popular Inc.

Canada sees online ad revenue exceed print for the first time.

Cargill recalls 36 million pounds of turkey products.

CNN finds host Piers Morgan coming under parliamentary pressure and accusations by Heather Mills over hacking.

Coca-Cola joins brands testing cloud-based in-text social advertising.

comScore acquires analytics firm AdXpose.

Dunkin' Donuts rolls out Keurig single-serve cups, with Starbucks to follow.Continue reading...

Period films and costume dramas never offer much in the way of product placement, except for the odd historical brand sighting.

Genre-bending period films appear to be no different, as the Western/science fiction mash-up Cowboys & Aliens could not even match earlier #1 film True Grit by mustering a Sharps rifles mention.Continue reading...

The BMW Guggenheim Lab, which opens tomorrow in New York, gives new meaning to pop-up art.

Reclaiming a rat- and rubble-infested 2,000 square foot East Village lot between Houston and East First Street, the Lab is a social experiment in urban living — through October 16th, when the pop-up co-branded installation takes off on a six-year world tour to inspire eight other cities.Continue reading...

Social media-watcher Mashable, which turned six this week, is getting ready for the second annual Social Good Summit. 

Co-hosted by Mashable, the 92nd Street Y and the UN Foundation from September 19th-22nd in New York, organizers are hoping to top last year's attendance of 1,500 in-person participants and 45,000 virtual attendees via LiveStream.

The agenda: to "explore how communities and audiences are connecting with each other through social and digital innovations. We will share best practices (via) keynote speeches, Q&As, conversations, case studies and networking sessions." Hot topics will include the Arab Spring, global health, human rights, women's rights, poverty alleviation, education, reinventing activism and peace in the Middle East.

"The Social Good Summit unites an extraordinary community of social entrepreneurs and new media leaders," commented CNN founder Ted Turner, who's returning as a speaker this year. "They share a commitment to finding and sharing the best ways technology and media can solve the world's problems. As the world's attention turns to New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly, these voices need to be heard. The people in this audience are the ones who will help the UN address some of the globe's toughest challenges."Continue reading...