Dish Network has revised the plans for its recently purchased Blockbuster video rental business. After originally saying that about 1500 stores would remain open, with 90% employee retention, the satellite provider is backtracking. The company CEO is now claiming that only profitable stores will remain open.
You may not have encountered a Square mobile credit card reader, but the odds of it might have just gone up. Company CEO Jack Dorsey announced today that Wal-mart has been added to the list of retail stores that sell the Square reader. This comes in addition to Apple, Target, Radio Shack, and Best Buy stores. Great for those times when you absolutely, positively have to take payments now. 
Google has spent most if its existence being an innovative web company, but the search giant has just jumped into a decidedly old-business environment: retail stores. Yes, the first ever Google store just opened in London to push ChromeBooks through the holiday season. The so-called "pop-up store" has been erected in PC World, a larger electronics retailer.
We didn’t get a lot of news out of the annual Microsoft Global Exchange sales meeting last week, but it appears one sneaky attendee has leaked an interesting sales video. Redmond is prepping their representatives to sell Office 365 over Google Apps, and the “Gmail Man” video is one tool being used to rally the troops. Microsoft isn’t willing to own up to the video, but most pundits believe it is real.
Remember 
It’s getting to be a highly predictable pattern. A state starts working on a bill that would force Amazon to pay sales tax up front on its sales in said state. Amazon then starts playing hardball by cancelling business deals and ending associate programs, and that’s what’s happening in California today. 
Hot on the heels of the successful LinkedIn IPO, Groupon has filed its S-1 paperwork with the government to have a public offering of its own. The online purveyor of deals is looking to raise $750 million. Can Groupon’s 83 million subscribers get it the faith it needs? Its profits certainly won’t.
It seems that wherever Amazon goes, sales tax issues will follow. After pulling out of planned distribution centers in both South Carolina and Texas, the online retailer may now be leaving a planned facility behind in Tennessee. The company is usually unlikely to issue press statements on such issues, but this time Amazon is coming out swinging.
Being a super hero is sometimes a thankless job. Just ask Spiderman and a handful of others who have both fought for and been chased by the law. As it turns out, even being just a regular hero isn't always all that it's cracked up to be. If you require proof, sit down for a chat with Roger Kline, a 51-year-old former Best Buy employee who was shown the door after he tackled a would-be laptop thief making a mad dash with stolen merchandise.
According to Cnet, one US Senator is preparing to introduce legislation that would radically alter online commerce. The bill would end the ability of Americans to buy goods from online retailers free from state sales tax. Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois is expected to present the bill shortly after the Easter recess.Connect with MaximumPC
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