season

Fox and Apple have jointly launched an iTunes store for American Idol performances, in case you thought Fox was finished co-branding and cross-promoting (milking) the Other-Super Bowl*.

Call it a consequence of the free market, the law of supply and demand, or just good old-fashioned opportunism. I'll leave the ethics debate up to you. After all, is it really any different than selling Guitar Hero III for $9,000?

The majority of Generation-Y (70%) said they will shop both online and at retail stores this holiday season, according to a survey from market researcher Peanut Labs.

The unattributed verbatim appearance of a Wikipedia article in a book from a major publisher sparked accusations of plagiarism, and raises more serious issues of ethics as well as the perils of publishing under open licenses.

Pencil . . . check.  Paper . . . check.  Access to your search engine of choice . . . check.  Well, maybe schools aren’t putting Google on their supply lists, but the back to school season has turned out well for all the major search companies.

For most of us the holiday season is the beginning of Thanksgiving and lasts through the end of the year. For online retailers the holiday season starts at the end of October according to a study from Oneupweb titled, "2006 Holiday Online Retail Buying Trends".

As shoppers online and off steadily run out of time before they find themselves standing in front of someone looking at them expectantly (otherwise known as Christmas Day), and as sold-out signs begin their annual appearance over iPod racks, gift cards become all the rave.

If you despise cold weather, crowded shopping malls and parking lots, or if you simply want to shop in your underwear, doing your holiday shopping online will be your savior. That is, if you know how to shop online without being scrooged.