In the overheated realm of celebrity news, Harvey R. Levin, purveyor of the celebrity-driven Web site TMZ.com, is royalty.

The cellphone has become the latest medium to feed the appetite for up-to-the-second celebrity gossip.

By designing under an assumed name, André Benjamin is reflecting the latest trend in celebrity fashion, which is for celebrity designers to masquerade as nobody designers, and thereby appear to be more authentic than opportunistic.

Two economists contend that Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama last year gave him a boost of about one million votes in the primaries and caucuses.

The worldwide boom in commodities has created a growing number of billionaires who are hungry for art, access and, ultimately, acceptance.

The publicity for Kathryn Walker’s debut novel, “A Stopover in Venice,” is subdued given that the book is a roman à clef that includes James Taylor, the author’s ex-husband.

After years of raising the profiles and circulations of magazines like Us Weekly and Star by emphasizing celebrity news and gossip, Bonnie Fuller is going out on her own.

Where stars end and products and pitches begin has grown less and less discernible in the era of the human billboard.

Christian Dior said it had dropped the actress Sharon Stone from its advertising in China after she suggested that the earthquakes in Sichuan Province were karmic retribution for the country’s treatment of Tibet.

Mr. Cowan represented generations of celebrities, from Doris Day to Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra to Elton John, Ronald Reagan to Arnold Schwarzenegger.