Sony

MasterCard and Visa said Friday that they had notified issuers of its credit cards of a potential breach of the security of customer accounts. Visa blamed a third company for the error.

Don't be surprised if Netflix subscribers are on cinematic binges right now. Many of the most popular movies available via its streaming service will be going away on Thursday when its deal with Starz expires and roughly 1,000 movies go offline.

I recently penned a column pointing out that when America "lost" the TV manufacturing industry to Japan, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, because the business has become a low-margin money loser. A lot of readers disagreed.

Verizon and Coinstar are joining forces in a new Internet streaming video venture built around Redbox's DVD-rental kiosks. Details are sketchy so far, but it will bundle streaming and DVDs, and it'll probably cost less than dominant player Netflix's service.

It's hard to complain too much about how Japan "stole" the high-tech electronics business from the U.S. More accurately, they took a low-margin business off our hands. And you know what we should be saying to that? Good riddance!

No segment of the electronics industry better highlights the challenges of these times than the television business. With sales of standard TVs flagging, the industry is pinning its hopes to new models TVs equipped to handle Internet streaming, WiFi and more.

Millions of holiday shoppers aiming to avoid the crowds are headed online. But not all retailers do e-commerce with ease -- especially if you have questions and need help from a customer service representative. Which chains respond fast -- and which don't? We have the answers.