Internet & Media

A day after Apple announced a new device that some say goes right at the heart of the Kindle e-reader, Amazon--the maker of the Kindle--reported fourth-quarter net income of $384 million, or 85 cents per share, up from 52 cents a year ago. Revenue was $9.52 billion, a 42 percent increase over the year-ago quarter. (Statement)

Wall Street analysts had been expecting earnings of 72 cents per share on revenue of $9.01 billion.

During the quarter, which included the holiday season, the company said that November was its "best sales month ever" and that the Kindle … Read more

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an investigation into the marketing practices of 22 online retailers, including Staples, 1-800-Flowers.com, and Orbitz.

Cuomo's office said Wednesday it issued subpoenas to the merchants and requested information about the retailers' relationships with three marketing companies, Webloyalty, Affinion, and Vertrue. These firms have allegedly misled consumers for years into joining membership programs and paying monthly fees.

Webloyalty and the other companies are so-called post-transaction marketers that have compiled a long history of consumer complaints and class-action lawsuits. Typically, the three firms present pop-up ads to online shoppers when they're … Read more

Netflix has more than a million people to thank for its latest surge in sales and earnings.

After winning 1.1 million net new subscribers in a single quarter, the company announced Wednesday that fourth-quarter profits jumped 36 percent to $30.9 million from $22.7 million in 2008's final quarter. Sales climbed 24 percent to $445 million from $359 million in the year-ago quarter.

The new subscribers added since the third quarter marked a record for the online rental company, which offers DVDs through the mail and streaming content for 12.3 million customers. Netflix also lost fewer … Read more

Officials in Massachusetts believe there's been another deadly case of cyberbullying in the apparent suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley, Mass.

Prince moved last year to the area from Ireland. While making the transition to a new town and a new country, Prince, officials believe, became the target of intense cyber-bullying, which may have contributed to her apparent suicide.

Prince was found dead in her South Hadley home on January 14, just days before a big school dance.

Read more of "Officials: Suicidal teen was cyberbullied" at CBSNews.com.

Update 12:01 p.m. PT: To include quotes from Joe Sibley, one of Jammie Thomas-Rasset's attorneys.

The four top recording companies on Wednesday made a settlement offer to Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota woman who was found liable last summer of willful copyright infringement and ordered by a jury to pay $1.92 million in damages.

And wasting little time, Thomas-Rasset's attorneys rejected the settlement offer almost immediately.

Days after a federal court judge reduced the damage amount to $54,000, the Recording Industry Association of America forwarded settlement terms to her attorneys, according to a copy of … Read more

Apple is in secret last-minute negotiations with book publishers over a new e-books pricing scheme for its highly anticipated tablet computer, putting it in direct competition with Amazon.com, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Apple wants publishers to create two new price points for e-books of best-sellers: $12.99 and $14.99, with some titles offered at $9.99, according to the report. As it does with iPhone apps, Apple is negotiating for a 30 percent take on the sales price, with publishers getting the other 70 percent, the Journal reported.

The move would put Apple … Read more

I'm only moderately familiar with vacation rental exchange HomeAway.com because a few of my longtime friends use it to book the house for our annual ski weekend (outdoor hot tub absolutely mandatory!) But it looks like this online service is going to get a big boost in publicity: Not only will it be running a TV commercial during the Super Bowl, but the commercial will feature actors Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo in their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold from "National Lampoon's Vacation," the 1983 comedy about a holiday gone horribly awry.

A … Read more

At this point, it looks fairly certain that an Apple tablet computer, expected to debut on Wednesday, will offer digital books, newspapers, and video.

But what about music? Conspicuously missing from much of the speculation surrounding Apple's tablet is any word about what music features it offers. Music is the content that Apple used to forge the iTunes and iPod dynasties, and music has been an integral part of the iPhone as well.

Could music be left out of all the tablet ballyhoo?

CNET reported last week that Apple spoke to the labels recently about offering iTunes users the … Read more

eBay announced Tuesday that it's lowered listing fees for U.S. residents using the auction site to sell products, with new plans geared toward both frequent and infrequent sellers.

A new rate called "eBay Every Day" offers no up-front fee for the sellers of auction-style (rather than flat-rate sale) listings with a starting price of 99 cents or less. Once they've been sold, a fee of 9 percent is appended, with a maximum fee of $50; if the item doesn't sell, no fee is charged to the seller. An individual can do this for up … Read more