Amazon

Online consumers may one day be able to sell or trade their digital items to other users, at least if a new Amazon patent comes to fruition.

Granted to the retail giant on January 29, the patent dubbed "Secondary market for digital objects" describes an electronic marketplace for swapping digital items.

You'd start off by housing your purchased music, videos, apps, and e-books in your own online storage space, just as many of us do today. When you get tired of listening to the same songs or reading the same books, you can move those items to … Read more

For the first time ever, worldwide e-commerce sales exceeded $1 trillion, according to new data from research firm eMarketer.

The first $1 trillion mark was reached in 2012, with sales up 21.1 percent from the previous year, according to eMarketer. The company said that it expects e-commerce sales to grow this year by 18.3 percent to end 2013 at $1.3 trillion in worldwide sales.

In addition, the company expects North America to lose its position as the leading e-commerce market to the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, Asia-Pacific's share of total e-commerce spending was 30.5 percent, … Read more

Come May, Kindle Fires users can pocket virtual coins to spend on their favorite apps.

Announced today, Amazon Coins is a new type of virtual currency developed by the retail giant. The coins will be used to purchase Kindle Fire games, apps, and in-app items from the Amazon Appstore.

To kick off the currency in May, Amazon will offer shoppers tens of millions of dollars of free Amazon Coins to spend on Kindle Fire apps. The company will also let customers buy more coins directly through their Amazon accounts.

Amazon sees the currency as a boon for developers, as it … Read more

Another state will soon be reaping revenue from Amazon as the Internet retail giant has agreed to begin collecting sales tax from consumers in Connecticut.

Amazon will begin collecting the state's 6.35 percent sales tax on items bought on the site from within the state in November, state officials announced today. Kevin Sullivan, Connecticut's commissioner of Revenue Services, told the Associated Press that Amazon's tax collection will add $8 million to state coffers the first year, with $13 million to $15 million in the second year.

Amazon has also agreed to invest $50 million in Connecticut … Read more

Imagine John Goodman strutting across the screen as a smooth-talking, deal-making Southern House member or senator. But, don't think of Kevin Spacey's conniving Francis Underwood in Netflix's "House of Cards."

Amazon Studios is reportedly tapping Goodman to play North Carolina Sen. Gil John Biggs in an upcoming comedy, "Alpha House." The new series, written by Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, centers around four senators who live together in Washington, D.C.

"Alpha House" is just one piece of Amazon's ambitious foray into original content. In December 2012, Amazon announced that it … Read more

MacBook Pros equipped with a Retina display are not exactly priced to move. Best Buy and Amazon are trying to change that.

Best Buy, for example, is now selling the 128GB version (model MC975LL/A) of the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro Retina for $1,549.99, $150 off the regular $1,699.99 price.

Need 256GB of solid-state storage with that gorgeous Retina screen? That model (MD213LL/A) is now $1,799.99, $200 off the regular price of $1,999.99.

The pricier 15.4-inch models with 256GB and 512GB solid-state drives (MC975LL/A and MC976LL/A, respectively), also … Read more

Sorry, Netflix and Hulu. Starting in June, Amazon Prime will be the only place to stream the latest episodes of popular TV series "Downton Abbey."

The online retail giant announced today that it secured a licensing agreement to exclusively stream season 3 of the award-winning series that airs on PBS in the U.S., starting on June 18. The agreement also covers season 4 and, if it's produced, season 5.

"The series is consistently in our top most watched TV shows each week, making it the most popular TV series with Prime Instant Video customers, ever,&… Read more

As Android tablet shipments surge, probably the best thing that can be said about Microsoft is that it's not going away.

Android tablet shipments totaled about 30 million in the fourth quarter, IDC reported today. And that number (total market) jumps to 50 million if you throw in Apple's iPad.

"There is no question that Microsoft is in this tablet race to compete for the long haul," an IDC analyst said today in a statement, trying to put Microsoft's tablet debut into perspective.

In fact, that's probably about as positive a statement that can … Read more