e+

eBay tests new program to sell your items to Goodwill

Have a used item you don't think will sell on eBay? A new program could still fill your pockets with half the proceeds.

Recently launched on a test basis, "Sell it Forward" lets you send your used items to eBay in a free, postage-paid bag. From there, eBay hands them over to the San Francisco Bay Area branch of Goodwill Industries. If Goodwill can unload the items within 14 days, you score a 50 percent cut of the sales price, which is sent to your PayPal account. If not, you get a receipt for a donation that … Read more

Mailbox e-mail app signs up 1 million users

Dropbox's Mailbox app for iOS has just picked up its 1 millionth user.

The free app hit the iTunes store on February 7, where iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users can download it. But access to the actual service has been doled out on a first-come, first-served basis via a reservation system.

As of yesterday, 1 million of those reservations have been filled, according to a blog from the Mailbox team. But there are still a fair number of people in line.

Filling out a reservation today, I learned that around 445,500 users are ahead of me. The … Read more

Samsung eyes sale of e-ink company to Amazon -- report

Samsung is said to be in talks with Amazon to sell an e-ink technology company it acquired a couple of years ago.

The two tech giants are currently holding discussions for Samsung to sell Liquavista, a firm it acquired in 2011, to Amazon, Bloomberg is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the discussions. An exact price hasn't been determined yet, but Liquavista is expected to go for less than $100 million.

Samsung acquired Liquavista in January 2011 after the company, which develops e-ink technology for e-readers, made a splash at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show with … Read more

Tackle IMAP e-mail not being stored on server

Apple's Mail e-mail client supports a number of different messaging protocols including POP and IMAP, but if you convert an existing account from POP to IMAP then you may run into a problem in which e-mails are longer saved on the server.

MacFixIt reader Bruce recently wrote in with such a situation:

I have recently tried to convert my wife's AOL email from POP to IMAP. I did this by adding a new account in Mail. When she sends messages with the new account, the sent messages do not show up on the server, even though I have … Read more

Amazon offers up 'Send to Kindle' button to Web site owners

Amazon has released a new tool for Web site owners that allows them to get users to share their content on its products.

The new feature, called Send to Kindle, is basically a button that's embedded into content sites. When a user clicks that button, the article or page they're on will automatically be sent to their Kindle device or Kindle apps on iOS and Android.

The Send to Kindle button is the latest in a long line of apps that are designed to share content from one product to a Kindle device or app. Amazon already offers … Read more

eMusic merges with e-book distributor, loses CEO

As interest grows in the online music subscription sector, one pioneer appears to be throwing in the towel.

eMusic quietly announced a merger yesterday with K-NFB Reading, an e-book distributor founded by noted inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. Adam Klein, the company's chief executive for the past three years, has also left the company, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"I am very pleased with the significant repositioning of the company and its future direction," Klein said in an e-mail to the Journal confirming the exit.

The newly merged company will "create a consumer-centric interface that makes … Read more

Microsoft pins Hotmail, Outlook outage on hot data center

Outlook and Hotmail users can blame the recent outage on an overheated data center, Microsoft says.

On Tuesday at around 1:30 p.m. PT, the two online e-mail services suffered a service disruption, rendering them inaccessible to many users. Microsoft started to bring them back online the rest of the day and on into Wednesday. But access wasn't fully restored until 5:43 a.m. yesterday, according to the company.

Microsoft's status page confirmed that the problem was repaired but offered no details as to the cause. Now the company has revealed the source of the glitch … Read more

Apple CEO will testify in e-books case, judge says

Apple CEO Tim Cook will testify as part of the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple, a judge ruled today.

Cook, who became Apple's CEO in August 2011, will be required to engage in four hours of testimony per a ruling by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan today, Reuters reports.

Apple had attempted to prevent Cook's involvement, arguing that the Justice Department already had access to nearly a dozen of its executives as part of the case.

In April 2012, the Justice Department sued Apple, along with five of the six … Read more

Get a refurbished Kindle Touch for $69

Anyone shopping for a no-frills, brass-tacks e-reader has undoubtedly eyed Amazon's basic Kindle, which for $69 is just a crazy-good deal.

Of course, to turn pages and navigate menus, you have to press buttons. Ew!

Today it's all about touch screens, baby. Hence, this is the better deal: Today only, and while supplies last, Daily Steals has the refurbished Kindle Touch e-reader for $69 shipped. Yep: same price as a new non-touch Kindle. (Unlike with Amazon, however, shipping can take 2-3 weeks.)

The Kindle Touch was discontinued last year in favor of the Kindle Paperwhite, but it's … Read more

A great way to read e-mail on your iPad

Incredimail is an elegant way to manage your e-mail on the iPad. You start by signing in to your e-mail accounts and Incredimail gives you a brief tutorial to show you the major features of the app. The app has full IMAP support so you can add your Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or any other IMAP accounts. A menu button in the upper left lets you quickly switch accounts, and you can also filter by categories within an inbox to look at starred messages, drafts, sent messages, and other mail you have assigned filters.

The beauty of Incredimail is all about … Read more