Best Buy

Best Buy is implementing a new automated energy management system in all of its 1,150 stores, which is projected to cut energy costs by 15 percent in three years. By Jan. 31 the system will be installed in 300 stores with the remaining stores nationwide to come onboard by the middle of next year, the company announced. 

The days of tax-free internet shopping may soon be coming to an abrupt end. Two Republican senators are preparing to introduce new legislation that would allow states to force Amazon.com and other out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes.

WASHINGTON – A host of retail groups, retailers and retail property firms have called on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, known as the "Super Committee," to give states more leverage to collect sales taxes from Internet retailers and catalog merchants. About 70 national and state retail organizations and more than 60 retailers and retail property companies have signed a letter to the Super Committee that urges lawmakers to eliminate a loophole that prohibits states from requiring remote sellers to collect sales and use taxes owed on purchases from out-of-state vendors. The groups say the loophole gives online

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet Wednesday include Google(GOOG) Previously, comments made on Facebook and other social networking sites did not show up in Google searches because search engines were unable to read Facebook's programming automatically. Now, Google will be able to read comments posted on Facebook using Facebook's Connect add-in for other Web sites. If a Facebook account holder signs into another Web site using his or her Facebook account and leaves a comment, that comment can now show up in Google searches. Comments left on Facebook alone are not yet being indexed. Lenovo is

Best Buy announced that it will waive minimum purchase limitations and offer free shipping on its complete inventory of 400,000 website items from Nov. 1 through Dec. 27.

Impulse purchases require people to browse the aisles, but that’s happening less these days because web-savvy consumers often already know what they plan to buy and simply pick it up and leave, said Bill Martin, chief executive officer of ShopperTrak.  

Best Buy made a pretty big goof, accidentally pricing the HTC Flyer at $99.99. The electronics retailer mistakenly dropped the price on the tablet following the launch of Amazon's Kindle Fire, which is priced at $199.

Online music service Rhapsody announced that it's purchased Napster from Best Buy. Rhapsody didn't disclose the price it paid for Napster, which Best Buy acquired in 2008 for $121 million in a bid to break into the online music subscription space.

Best Buy is counting on competitive pricing, new products like the Apple iPhone 5 and more advertising to bring shoppers through the door this holiday season. The consumer electronics chain is not, however, counting on any help from the economy as it tries to make this holiday season different from the last one.

Best Buy has cut its 2011 seasonal hiring plans to about half of last year’s staff numbers in a move to curtail costs. This year’s plans call for 15,000 holiday workers, compared with 29,000 hired last year.