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Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman posted an entry to the company blog on Friday afternoon, coming out forcefully against a recent class action lawsuit that says the business reviews site runs its advertising sales operation like an "extortion scheme."

"There has been a long history of people accusing Yelp of monkeying around with reviews in exchange for money," Stoppelman wrote in the post. "The allegations are disappointing, not only because they are false, but because they ignore empirical evidence in favor of conspiracy theories."

Yelp has consistently fought allegations from media outlets and businesses who … Read more

A couple weeks ago I posted a Gateway quad-core desktop PC for $279.99--a pretty killer deal by all rights, which is probably why it sold out almost instantly. Hopefully today's will last a little longer.

Update: Uh, no, guess it didn't. These quad-cores are obviously very popular items. It's beyond my control, I'm afraid, but I apologize once again for the quick sellout.

Update No. 2: Back in stock! For the moment, at least...

An outfit called BuyDakota (by way of Buy.com) has a much-better equipped Gateway SX2802-01 quad-core desktop PC for $347.99 shipped.… Read more

Anyone who has listened to me on the MP3 Insider podcast, followed me on Twitter (WeirdEaredJas), or even taken the time to peruse the bio below knows I am cursed with absurdly tiny ears. Heck, you can even see for yourself in the multitude of in-ear photos plastered across the headphone reviews on CNET. Happily for me, I am not alone in my deformity (yes, misery does indeed love company).

In fact, many purveyors of portable audio find standard earbuds uncomfortable and can't get many in-ear headphones to fit properly into the ear. It is for my fellow small-eared … Read more

I don't know why, but it seems like almost every iPod speaker I hear here at CNET is a wretched-sounding thing. Most have screechy treble, lumpy bass, and vocals never sound remotely human.

As always, you get what you pay for, and the cheapest ones tend to be the worst offenders, but hey, they're cheap.

Some, going for upward of $300 are somewhat less horrible, but for three hundred bucks, you could actually buy a nice set of hi-fi speakers.

And since most iPod speakers are one-piece systems, they don't do stereo all that well. Sure, many incorporate some sort of processing to simulate stereo separation, but that usually messes up their already pitiful sound quality even more. With separate speakers, you can place them far enough apart to make stereo sound like stereo. Which stereo speakers, you ask?

I like Klipsch's little 2.1-channel iPod solution, the ProMedia 2.1 iPod/Computer Speaker system that goes for $150. It features a pair of two-way satellite speakers and a 6.5-inch powered subwoofer. Separate speakers means it does bona fide stereo, and the sub is big enough to generate real bass.

For $199 you could buy a pair of Audioengine A2 speakers and hook them up directly to your iPod. In my opinion, the A2 sounds at least as good as any single-box $400 iPod speaker I've heard. Granted, the $600 high-end iPod speakers make a lot more bass, but it's still on the thick, boomy, and bloated side of natural. And they're $600! For that kind of dough, you could buy a small stereo receiver and actual hi-fi speakers.

You can read my complete A2 review here.… Read more

Individuals and commercial businesses around the world are increasingly drawn to small wind turbines to supplement energy consumption, according to a report released Wednesday by Pike Research.

The niche industry of small wind turbines, which saw $165 million in revenue in 2008 and $203 million in 2009, will grow to $412 million by 2013, according to Pike's "Small Wind Power" report.

It can be attributed to the fact that on a cost-per-watt basis many are finding small wind turbines to be less expensive than solar panels, David Link, senior analyst at Pike Research, said in his report.… Read more

Quick MBA is a set of Excel worksheets geared toward entrepreneurs who need help with business planning. The program is rife with business jargon and is obviously geared toward users who appreciate this style of planning; some users may find it too formal for their needs.

Although the program is an Excel workbook, the creators did a nice job of making it look like more than a glorified spreadsheet. We liked that the program's setup is relatively simple, with an interactive dialogue that helps users choose the appropriate business model and set goals accordingly. A "sales funnel" … Read more

Cashbook Complete Accounting can help manage your company's finances. It can handle most any bookkeeping task. It will manage incoming and outgoing expenses, employee timesheets, list of contacts, and invoices for projects and jobs. You can also use it to run and print invoices, balance sheets, and profit and loss reports, and e-mail them to your customers or export them to financial-planning software. It will manage your company's bank accounts and even import data from your bank. There's a built-in backup utility, too.

Cashbook Complete Accounting is a good accounting solution for small- to medium-size companies. The … Read more

Helix Wind announced Wednesday that it's beginning a trial run in Southern California to see if its wind turbines might be useful for powering cell phone towers.

The manufacturer is becoming known for its small vertical-axis wind turbines that can generate electricity with winds as low as 10 mph, as well as its unique business model to finance them.

The pilot program, conducted in conjunction with cell phone tower operator Core Communications, will experiment with whether the turbines powering cell phone towers could also generate surplus energy to sell back to the energy grid.

If they generate enough surplus … Read more

Now you can test whether you're both techno-chic and an ecogeek by combining the iPhone with home wind turbines.

Small wind turbine maker Mariah Power has teamed up with software developer Create with Context to make an iPhone application designed to measure wind speed.

The application, which is due "any day," uses the iPhone's microphone to get a read on wind speed. It translates that into how much power a small wind turbine could offset. For example, a wind that averages 12 miles per hour is enough energy to run your refrigerator and freezer for a … Read more