Riding the success of the iPhone, AT&T, apart from trying to keep the phone exclusive, seems to be learning from Apple in another way--its retail stores.

The company announced Monday that it has done a major makeover to more than 2,200 retail locations across the country. The aim is to provide consumers and small-business customers with a better hands-on experience when shopping for devices and service plans.

According to the telecom giant, the overhaul brings a refreshed, more intuitive organization of products and services. For example, all wireless devices now show up on new power-enabled displays, making … Read more

As it has for most of the past decade, Barnes & Noble is playing catchup to Amazon. Barnes, the nation's largest brick-and-mortar bookseller said Monday that it has launched its own digital-book store.

The Barnes & Noble eBookstore will enable customers to read the service's digital books on an array of different platforms, including the iPhone, the iPod Touch and BlackBerry smartphones, the company said in a statement.

In addition, Barnes & Noble will be the exclusive digital-book supplier for the upcoming Plastic Logic eReader, which hopes one day to be a competitor of Amazon's Kindle, by … Read more

Can social media really help grow your business? A new study aims to find out by ranking the top brands on the Web.

Starbucks came in first place among the most branded or engaged names on the Web, according to the study released Monday by analyst Charlene Li of the Altimeter Group and Wetpaint.

The study, available at the Engagementdb Web site, scored how engaged the top 100 global brands are at using social-media channels, including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wikis, and discussion forums.

Each brand was scored based on whether or not it uses all the different social media channels … Read more

The new Kazaa appears to be mostly a run-of-the-mill subscription music service, but it does add a few new twists. The one that stands out right from the sign-up phase is that subscribers can either pay by credit card or via their telephone company.

"Brilliant Digital Entertainment Inc. (BDE) and Kazaa are not affiliated with your local telephone company," Kazaa writes in the company's terms of service, "However, for your convenience, BDE's charges will appear on your local telephone bill."

Music industry insiders have long talked about creating subscription services in partnership with Internet … Read more

European Union regulators want publishers and authors to weigh in on copyright issues with Google's book scanning and book search project, according to the Associated Press.

European Commission officials will meet with copyright holders on September 7 to discuss the search giant's $125 million proposed settlement with U.S. publishers and authors granting Google the right to digitize and publish books that are out of print but still protected by copyright law. The court overseeing the settlement has given authors a September 4 deadline to opt out individually if they don't not wish to participate. Google has … Read more

This week there is just no shortage of dudes named Armstrong in the press. There's the one who rides bikes and likes to tweet about it, the one who walked on the moon 40 years ago, and then there's Tim Armstrong, who has officially been CEO of AOL for 100 days as of Monday.

So he celebrated with press coverage! Armstrong interviews were published Monday on by the Associated Press, AllThingsD, AdWeek, and Advertising Age, and AOL advertising chief Jeff Levick talked to PaidContent. We hope Armstrong also commemorated the 100-day mark with some cupcakes, because while press … Read more

Mediafly is coming to the Roku Digital Media Player later this year. The Mediafly channel will aggregate free-of-charge audio and video podcasts from a variety of providers, including Comedy Central, CNN, ESPN, and NBC. While these programs are easily available on a PC, the Mediafly channel should provide a quick and easy way to enjoy them on a TV or living room audio system as well.

Currently, Mediafly allows users to organize podcasts into customized feeds that are then available on a variety of Web-connected devices, including the iPhone, Zune, and Blackberry. (Check out CNET's coverage of the recently … Read more

Once the major force behind the failed HD DVD format, Toshiba may finally be launching its own Blu-ray player, according to a report in Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun.

Toshiba, which lost the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray battle in early 2008, is reportedly readying a player that will read both Blu-ray discs and DVDs and will appear in stores by year's end.

Quoting unnamed sources, Yomiuri Shimbun reported over the weekend that Toshiba had been thinking of developing yet another technology to combat Blu-ray but gave up the ghost because of the huge growing market for Blu-ray players and discs.… Read more

Kazaa is coming back from the dead.

One of the most recognizable brands in the history of illegal downloading is due to officially resurface, perhaps as early as next week, sources close to the company told CNET News. Only this time the name Kazaa will be part of a legal music service.

Altnet and parent company Brilliant Digital Entertainment attached the Kazaa brand to a subscription service that will offer songs and ringtones from all four of the major recording companies. For the past few months, a beta version has been available.

The company tried recently to ratchet up expectations … Read more