There's big money in counterfeiting name-brand goods. Sales of knockoff products over the Internet climbed to nearly $120 billion in 2007, up from $84 billion the previous year, estimated MarkMonitor, an online protection firm that works with eBay and other online auction houses to shut counterfeiters down.

Virtual worlds expect to thrive as the economy slows.

Customers are cutting back and scrutinizing their budgets. That's the reality facing small-business owners today. An October survey by the PNC Financial services Group PNC shows growing pessimism among small- and midsize business owners and decision-makers, much of it tied to unstable energy prices, a credit squeeze and slowing sales.

When does an iReport give CNN's credibility a black eye? When its citizen "journalism" about a Steve Jobs heart attack turns out to be phony. It takes a lot during this Autumn of the Economic Meltdown for an individual company's stock woes to break out from the pack, but an Oct. 3 iReport on CNN.com claiming that Apple's CEO had been rushed to a hospital after suffering a serious heart attack did the trick.

Amazon On Nov. 1 will begin to offer volume discounts to customers of its S3 hosted storage service.

A minority Yahoo investor has called on the company to sell itself to Microsoft for $22 a share, and then for Microsoft to sell off the Internet firm's non-search businesses.

Microsoft gave audience attendees at the 2nd annual Microsoft Business Intelligence conference a sneak preview of its forthcoming SQL Server this week, code named "Kilimanjaro." It was an appropriate venue for its debut, given its increased emphasis on BI.

Michael Miller, author of "YouTube for Business: Online Video Marketing for Any Business," offers tips on how to take advantage of free advertising to millions of avid viewers.

GoDaddy gives birth to e-mail with hosted Exchange, your choice of Outlook or Entourage plus mobile access – at a price individuals and small businesses can afford.

Analyst cuts projections for online ad spending, but search marketers say their segment is holding strong.