Internet | featured news

The California tax man cometh, and he's headed for the Internet. State tax collectors are preparing to crack down on renegade Internet merchants who don't collect sales taxes, and nearly 100 new state auditors, lawyers and other specialists are being hired to help over the next three years.

Amazon.com quenched the Kindle Fire on Thursday, saying its first tablet computer is now "sold out." The Internet retailer has a major press conference scheduled for next Thursday in Santa Monica, California. It's widely expected to reveal a new model of the Fire there, so the announcement that the first model is "sold out" suggests that Amazon halted production a while ago to retool for a new model.

Personnel records of former and current members of Nigeria's top domestic spy agency, including home addresses and names of immediate family members, leaked onto the Internet in a threatening message that claimed to come from a radical Islamist sect that's killed hundreds of people this year alone, The Associated Press has learned.

Facebook Inc. received final approval Wednesday for its purchase of photo-sharing application Instagram Inc., clearing the way for a cash-and-stock deal that has lost about a quarter of its value since an agreement in April.

In another social-media first, President Barack Obama took to Reddit today to become the first sitting head of state to moderate the site's "AMA," or, ask me anything, series. 
The chat lasted an hour, and got so much attention that it shut the site down during his post. 

Zynga said Chief Creative Officer Mike Verdu has decided to leave the social gaming firm, one of several recent departures at the company as it has faced an erosion of investor confidence.

With the value of its shares down over 50 percent since its highly anticipated IPO, is the company making a hash of the public relations disaster it is now facing; and, just as important, why has Zuckerberg remained quiet about the state of the company?

The stock market operates in mysterious ways. Yelp shares are actually trading sharply higher this morning, despite the expiration of the company's post-IPO lock-up period. As I noted earlier, the stock had lost about a third of its value in anticipation of today's event; for reasons that are not entirely clear, the stock has responded to the news with a major rally.

RealNetworks disclosed in an SEC filing this afternoon that the company today cut 80 positions, or about 7% of its worldwide employee base, as part of a previously announced plan to reduce operating expenses.

The New York Times Company has agreed to sell the About Group, which includes the About.com network of topic sites, to Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp for about $300 million in cash, the company said on Sunday.