Girl!

The pop star turned fashion mogul announced in her recent interview with Elle magazine that she and her fiance Eric Johnson are, in fact, expecting a little girl.  The blonde beauty literally bared all as she posed completely naked showing off all those pregnancy curves.  She looks wonderful and she shared some thoughtful words about what she hopes for her little bundle of joy and more in the spread, like ideas on the name they have chosen.

They have agreed to a name and it is absolutely set in stone.  It will not be anything like Apple or Bronx Mowgli (her nephew) from what it seems.  Jessica said that “it’s nothing shocking.”  Apparently once we hear it though, we will know why she chose it.

In 2011, social networking experienced tremendous growth with millions of new user sign-ups.  While the majority of new users are individuals, an increase in the number of businesses with a Facebook page was also noted.  Depending on the type of business you are in, a well designed Facebook page can really boost the interaction between your company and its fan base.   This is especially true for musicians and entertainers, who last year began using Facebook in record numbers. 

Beyonce and husband Jay-Z finally welcomed their baby girl to the world over the weekend!  To satisfy  the powerful music  industry couple’s insistence on total privacy at Lenox Hill Hospital, all of the “regular” new and expectant parents reported that they were given substandard treatment at the same hospital, and even kept out of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that is located on the same floor as Beyonce’s delivery suite.  This was all allegedly so that Beyonce’s entrourage of family and friends could move about at will without having to worry about ordinary people spotting them or interfering. 

Google has been threatening, or rather promising, to deliver a revolutionary online music service for months. The rumors have run high and speculation has been intense as industry watchers wondered how Google thought it would be able to compete with existing services such Apple’s iTunes, and the recent immigrant to the US, Spotify.
During a news conference in Los Angeles to unveil its new online music store, simply called Google Music, the company finally laid the rumors to rest, announcing deals with three major music companies. The service allows users to buy music, and upload and store up to 20,000 songs — for free.

Last night’s episode of The X Factor, USA, featured all of the ten finalists still hanging in there trying their hand at “rock night,” but many of the performers lacked a lot when it came to pulling off a rock song. In fact, several of this season’s favorites seemed to completely ignore the “rock” part of the evening’s theme.

The Recording Industry Association of America and the Authors Guild, who don’t typically have much in common, have taken recent steps to underline their mutual and ongoing resistance to modern forms of product distribution. Unfortunately, their actions often harm the very consumers who keep them in business, making music and media consumption unnecessarily burdensome. For instance, defining when, and if, a consumer actually owns the music he purchases through downloads in the iTunes, Amazon, or now Google music stores is a sore spot for these two organizations. With the RIAA, it’s there is recent contention about the business model of ReDigi, a “used digital music” business that went online in early October. ReDigi’s business model is based on the idea that it can acurately distinguish music files that have been legally purchased through iTunes or another download service versus files that were ripped from music CDs or downloaded illegally. Users of the new service can sell legally-downloaded tracks to ReDigi, which applies the equivalent of store credit for use in the purchase of other digital tracks through their service. It’s a novel idea that is catching a lot of attention, and heat, from the RIAA.

Google is hosting a major event in Los Angeles today which has long been rumored to include the launch of its new music service. The event, kicking off at 5pm Eastern Time, will be webcast via youtube.com/android, and many of the major technology websites will be providing “live chat” coverage of the event so that people can read along to learn what Google has up its sleeve.

Hundreds of eager Justin Bieber fans showed up for the X Factor performance last Tuesday screaming in delight. The entertainer was featured on stage singing his popular holiday tune Mistletoe from the Under the Mistletoe holiday album. He then dished out some insightful advice to the X Factor contestants one on one. This was something unexpected by viewers who were surprised by Bieber’s appearance on the show, and delighted to see him emerge from recent scandalous accusations against him made by a woman who claims he is the father of her child. Bieber, who was just today declared officially not involved in the woman’s case, seemed unaffected by the accusations. It was his first run-in with negative media attention, and most agree that he handled it well.