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Amazon.com's latest technical glitch—interrupting service for Netflix Inc. and others—is causing some companies to rethink their reliance on the company for the bulk of their Web-computing needs.

"There are some problems with this binder," complains Ruth from New Hampshire. "First, there are no women in it." A remark made by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney during Tuesday's debate brought us a meme that just keeps on giving.

Amazon.com Inc. is expected to unveil a new Kindle Fire on Thursday as it seeks to take a bigger bite of the tablet computer market and boost sales of digital goods like e-books and movies.

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.

The company reported net income of $7 million, or 1 cent a share, on sales of $12.8 billion. It was less profit than analysts had estimated, but the revenue was in line with forecasts.

Thousands of small merchants depend on Amazon.com to reach customers who otherwise wouldn't know they exist. But some complain that Amazon itself often spots their popular products and then starts muscling in.

Amazon has set a torrid hiring pace in recent months, accelerating a rate of employee acquisitions that was already well ahead of most large corporations.

The online retailer is now using its vast resources to become a major seller of high-end clothing.

Amazon.com Inc unveiled a new effort to develop original comedy and children's TV shows to distribute over the company's video streaming service.

Amazon.com Inc's quarterly earnings beat Wall Street's most bullish expectations as the world's largest Internet retailer brought costs under control and saw early success selling more digital products through its new Kindle Fire tablet, sending its shares up almost 15 percent.