ebay

Apple reporter Tom Krazit drops by the studio to talk about how Apple's iPhone, largely ignored by IT departments in its first generation, is now making its way into more and more companies' tech arsenal.

Also in this podcast: Sun Microsystems announces it's laying off up to 6,000 employees; Barack Obama says he'll post his weekly public addresses to YouTube; eBay shuts down inauguration ticket scams; and Netflix's CEO dreams of radical change in the realm of home TVs.

Today's stories:

Businesses warming up to the iPhone

Sun chops heads: Can it get any respect?… Read more

eBay has removed tickets for the upcoming presidential inauguration from its Web sites in an effort to help curb scams.

Tickets to the January 20 event have been listed on eBay and sites like StubHub, an eBay subsidiary, for tens of thousands of dollars. The home page of InauguralTickets.com reads, "Our prices reflect the difficulty in obtaining hard-to-find, quality tickets."

eBay decided to halt the ticket sales on Thursday after meeting this week with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"Any Web site or ticket broker claiming that they have … Read more

Update at 2:17 p.m. PST, with comments from Microsoft on fate of Windows Marketplace.

Microsoft is doubling down on retail, with the launch of a second online store at the start of this year's especially critical holiday shopping season.

The Microsoft Store, which opened for business Thursday, is designed to carry the largest and most up-to-date selection of the software giant's product lines, such as Office, Windows, Xbox, and Zune.

The one-stop shop will carry Microsoft hardware too.

Microsoft currently operates its Windows Marketplace e-commerce site, which it began testing in 2004.

There are many similarities … Read more

Microsoft is getting more aggressive with Live Search Cashback, a program that offers price cuts for those who buy products found with the company's search engine, touting a 25 percent rebate for items purchased through eBay.

eBay has long been a Cashback partner, but the company went to the trouble of promoting the deal on its Live Search blog Thursday. Kok Waii Wong, Microsoft's group product manager for Live Search, announced the 25 percent eBay rebate on the blog. There are some conditions, though, including a $200 cashback limit and payment through PayPal only. It's offered only … Read more

Insanity knows no limits. Neither, it seems, do the feelings of a hurt eBay seller.

Chris Read, a 42-year-old English chap, bought a Samsung 700V phone from Joel Jones on eBay.

"I was told the phone was in good condition, but there were scratches all over it, a big chip out of the side and it was a different phone. I paid for a Samsung F700 and got a Samsung F700V," Read told the Daily Telegraph.

He returned the phone and got a full refund, but, thinking he might help other less-than-witting purchasers, he left a comment on … Read more

It looks like Wii Fit will outsell Grand Theft Auto IV this year, Apple's already sold 10 million iPhones, people are lining up for the T-Mobile G1 Android phone (much to our surprise), and just when we started to think the economy might be turning around after all, we got the news about Yahoo laying off some 1,400-plus people. Ouch. Listen now: Download today's podcast

T-Mobile delivers the G1 (aka Android) phone http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10072545-94.html http://news.cnet.com/2300-1039_3-6247193-1.html

Google’s open-source Android now actually open http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10071093-92.html… Read more

Stand back! My cheapskate senses are tingling! A new site called Daily Dollar Deals catalogs soon-to-end eBay auctions that have prices below $1. Just pick a category--anything from Antiques to Video Games--and you'll see a list of all under-a-buck auctions, sorted by time remaining. (You can also drill down into sub-categories to get more targeted listings, and there's a search option as well.)

Talk about a great way to scoop up bargains! Admittedly, sometimes the stuff that's selling for a buck isn't worth much more than that, but there are exceptions. For instance, I found four … Read more

Many people looking at the tech industry are worried about a repeat of the first Internet bubble burst. But several indicators suggest this time around might not be so brutal.

Shoppers willing to do a little haggling are finding some sweet deals at consumer electronics stores. The Mac Mini may be on its way out. And reporter Kara Tsuboi and mobile phone reviewer Nicole Lee talk about what to expect from the T-Mobile G1, which goes on sale in San Francisco Tuesday evening.

Today's stories:

One small step for animals, one giant step for animal kind?

Maybe.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is celebrating a decision by eBay to issue a global ban on the sale of elephant ivory products by January 1, 2009.

Coincidentally or not, eBay issued its report Monday, one day before the IFAW issued its report detailing the illegal trade in endangered species over the Internet. Nichola Sharpe, a spokeswoman for eBay, said the company had just seen a copy of the report and did not have immediate comment. But she added that eBay planned to implement a variety … Read more