Sometimes the juxtaposition of two headlines can trigger an a-ha moment. Today news from the east coast shows growing protests against financial institutions as Occupy Wall Steet rolls on, while out west Apple’s visionary genius Steve Jobs has succumbed to cancer and died at 56. 

Steve Jobs built a company that surpassed Exxon this year as the leader in market capitalization. His personal net wealth in 2010 was estimated over $8 billion, making him the 42nd-richest American, according to Forbes. And yet it is hard to picture frustrated activists, union leaders, or downwardly mobile members of the squeezed middle class mustering at 1 Infinity Way in Cupertino to rail against Apple’s profits, or Jobs’s greed. Why?Continue reading...

AOL/HuffPo kills software blog Download Squad

Bing captures 30% of U.S. web searches in March

Cisco shuttering flip camera business

Ceglia provides new email evidence for claims against Facebook

Fiat raises Chrysler Stake to 30 Percent

Apple manufacturer Foxconn Considers Brazil Plant

Atlanta celebrates the 75th Anniversary of Gone With the Wind Continue reading...

Remember that time, back in e-reader history, when Barnes & Noble upped the ante by going all polychromatic on everyone? And getting all jiggy with the kids’ books? Ahh, the golden age.

In the e-reader wars, every week seems to bring more big news – such is the biz cycle when the market for your product is just taking shape, the speed of innovation is high (“hey, what if this e-reader could also make toast?”) and the competition hot and heavy.

Apparently Jeff Bezos was paying attention when the Nook made its splash, because yesterday Amazon announced it is completely flipping the script on the revenue share deal with its partner publishers. Currently publishers are on the wrong end of a 70-30 split, but beginning December 1, Amazon is offering publishers 70 percent of the retail price on newspaper and magazine downloads purchased at the Kindle store – matching Apple’s current split.  Continue reading...

It was a story right of out of the Web 1.0 1990s: Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara, childhood buddies from New Jersey, launched a specialized e-tail site, raised $59 million from investors, and skyrocketed to success. 

Today, the Diapers.com foray into deja-vu-point-oh comes to a fitting end, with its sale to mega-mammoth online retailer Amazon.com.

Amazon is reportedly shelling out $540 million to buy Quidsi, parent company of both Diapers.com and Soap.com. Like many a dotcom entrepreneur past, Lore and Bharara will have their cake and eat it too, as reports say not only will they pocket millions in cash, but also are slated to sign multi-year deals to stay on in key managerial roles.

Last year, Amazon spent approximately $900 million to acquire Zappos.com, the shoe e-tailer that has built a loyal customer base by offering unparalleled customer service and easy return policies. Likewise, Diapers.com focused on differentiating themselves with the kind of, ahem, back-end service that, some feel, is lacking from the increasingly monolithic Amazon shopping experience. Continue reading...

Those brands seeking longevity and vitality — and who ain’t? — might want to take a life lesson or three from 66-year-old guitar slinger and lifelong Rolling Stone Keith Richards, whose no-holds-barred memoir hits bookstores and online retail today. 

After all, he’s survived legal troubles that would have derailed those of lesser mettle; substance abuse so legendary you have to wonder how he’s even alive, let alone lucid; decades of ups and downs in the most fickle business on earth, pop music; and even a fall from a coconut tree and ensuing emergency brain surgery. 

With an estimated personal net worth of over $220 million and a 50 percent stake in one of the most lucrative songwriting catalogues in history, Richards is the quintessential bad boy who made good.

Richards’s highly anticipated autobiography, Life, was already the number one bestseller at Amazon.com’s U.S. site and number four at Amazon U.K. before today's release — all on the strength of pre-orders, and some well-leaked bits about Richards’s contentious relationship with Mick Jagger.Continue reading...

Gentlemen: Have you ever met your girlfriend for a date only to notice that she’s wearing an article of your clothing, perhaps one you had given up hope for ever finding again? And ladies, have you not raided your significant other’s closets, cabinets – even laundry pile – for that certain style and feel – even the smell – of his manly garments? Women borrowing men’s clothes – appropriating, wearing, stealing – is standard vernacular in the language of love.

Now what if someone could find a way to really cash in on it?

Molly Raney and Kathryn Hobbs, the whip-smart entrepreneurs behind shoplesnouvelles.com, are doing just that – with the introduction of The Men’s Shop, a “selection of must have mens pieces form our favorite designers along with some treasured vintage finds…” They say the clothing in their Men’s Shop is “for your boyfriend, your lover…or you!”

Note that the copy never targets men themselves, choosing instead to acknowledge that little secret: women love to dress their men – and to dress in their men’s clothes. The link to the recently launched Men’s Shop is enticingly titled “boy meets girl.”Continue reading...

How do you weather a downturn in demand? His-and-hers brand icons Brooks Brothers and Maidenform are following a two-part formula to maintain market share and grow their customer base in down times: First, think timeless style, not hot-button fashion. And second, when you have the chance, hitch your wagon to a blazing star.

Maidenform is going from battle-axe to bombshell with a deal inking Mad Men stylist/design goddess Janie Bryant. She’ll be helping Maidenform boost sagging assets by spearheading a viral marketing campaign for the kind of vintage, form-flattering bras and slips that Maidenform has always specialized in.Continue reading...

At 8:00am EST this morning, the word rang out: Let there be Rock! And Hip-Hop! And disco, R&B, metal, country, and everything else...  Rdio, the latest entry in the online music streaming game, went live in the US and Canada this morning.

After two months in beta, Rdio beat the much-blogged European service Spotify to the sonic punch when it launched to general audiences.

Started by Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Rdio’s business model is similar to Spotify’s: monthly subscription ($4.99 to $9.99), unlimited access, massive archive of tunes (over 7 million and counting as momentum builds with indie music companies). They enter a field in need of weeding out, with Pandora starting to feel venerable, MOG going strong, and Apple’s slated relaunch of the popular Lala service it purchased last December then abruptly shuttered.Continue reading...