RIM writes off unsold PlayBooks

Research In Motion (RIM) wrote off nearly a half-billion dollars in unsold or discounted PlayBook tablets and warned it expects to sell fewer BlackBerrys this holiday, further clouding the company's future as it struggles against rivals Apple and Google in the smartphone market, says The Wall Street Journal.

RIM disclosed on Friday it would take a $485 million charge in its fiscal third quarter, which ended in late November, after marking down the value of its large inventory of PlayBooks.

It also revised downward profit and revenue estimates for the full year.

For anyone who needed official word, a new study confirms that many of us - and the majority of young adults - go online for no good reason at all, reports AP.

The report from the Pew Research Centre's Internet & American Life Project found that on any given day, 53% of 18- to 29-year-olds go online just to have fun or pass time.

The report finds that the amount of time people spend tooling around on the Web doing nothing corresponds with age. Only 12% of people over 65 say they went online the previous day for no particular reason. Of those aged 50 to 64, the study found 27% answered yes to the same question.

Amazon and eBay had it out in a public brawl in Washington last week, during a congressional hearing about allowing states to collect sales tax on Internet purchases, reveals CNN.

Amazon and eBay are an opposite sides of the lightning-rod issue - and touchy about it. During their testimony, the companies' lobbyists swapped barbs and accusations of everything from being misleading to outright profiteering.

eBay's stance is that tougher sales tax collection laws would hurt the small merchants that use its sales platform. But when eBay executive Tod Cohen trotted out that argument, Amazon's Paul Misener fired back, saying eBay is hardly a small business.

UK shoppers are embracing technology at a faster pace than many other countries, a survey of global shopping habits by KPMG has suggested, reports the BBC.

Some 77% of British shoppers prefer to buy goods like CDs, DVDs, books and video games online - compared with 65% globally.

But when it comes to mobile banking, consumers in the UK are more reluctant than those in other parts of the world.