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By Times wires
Published March 13, 2008

TiVo connects directly with YouTube videos

TiVo Inc., facing rising competition from cable and satellite companies offering digital recording services, will offer access to YouTube's online videos directly on its subscribers' televisions. TiVo will let subscribers log into their accounts with Google Inc.'s YouTube video-sharing site through their set-top boxes. The service will be available this year to customers with TiVo Series3 DVRs, the company said Wednesday. Chief executive Thomas Rogers has been emphasizing the need for TiVo subscribers to be able to use one system to access multiple home entertainment sources.

Facebook raves could draw cash

Facebook Inc.'s popular online hangout so far has proved a better place for promoting fun and games than peddling products. But a new application aims to inject more commerce into the social playground by paying Facebook members who help merchants sell to their friends. The program, called Market Lodge, will pay Facebook members a 10 percent commission on all sales made on their recommendations. Facebook members who decide to use Market Lodge can customize their own stores, selecting from more than 1,200 products sold by about 50 merchants. Facebook users can invite others in their network to check out the stuff they're recommending. Market Lodge users can make purchases from their own stores and still qualify for the 10 percent sales commission.

Can turning books turn around sales?

Borders Group Inc. has decided you can sell a book by its cover. In a radical move aimed at jump-starting sales, the nation's second-largest book retailer is sharply increasing the number of titles it displays on shelves with the covers face out. Because that takes up more room than the traditional spine-out style, the new approach will require a typical Borders superstore to shrink its number of titles by 5 to 10 percent. That makes the strategy a big gamble for Borders. Reducing inventory goes against the grain of booksellers' efforts over the past 25 years or so. But with the book market facing unmitigated gloom, Borders has little choice but to experiment.

Coke Zero adapts to Mexican taste

Coca-Cola has reformulated the Mexican version of Coca-Cola Zero, removing a controversial artificial sweetener that is banned in the United States and caused an outcry from consumer advocates in Mexico. Sodium cyclamate, which is legal in more than 50 countries, including Mexico, was replaced in Coke Zero in Mexico with a combination of two other artificial sweeteners, aspartame and acesulfame-K. New bottles and cans bear the legend "Without Cyclamate" in Spanish.

LCD television future beaming

Shipments of televisions using liquid-crystal display technology will increase 28 percent this year as makers step up marketing and offer discounts, according to researcher iSuppli Corp. More than 100.1-million LCD TVs will be shipped in 2008, compared with 78.5-million last year, iSuppli said. Shipments might double from this year to 194-million in 2012 as the market expands, the researcher said. Prices for LCD TVs measuring 42 inches have more than halved since 2006, iSuppli said.

[Last modified March 12, 2008, 23:52:11]