Putting aggressive digital marketing tactics on trial, Papa John's is facing a $250 million class-action lawsuit for spraying customers with illegal text messages.

“The plaintiffs allege that Papa John's franchises sent customers a total of 500,000 unwanted messages in early 2010,” reports CNNMoney.com. “The pizza franchises sent the text blasts through a mass text messaging service called OnTime4U, which is also a defendant in the case.”

“Some customers were getting as many as 17 messages a day, and they were even coming when they were asleep,” writes The Inquirer. “Let's face it, no one wants to buy 17 ...» 1 Comments

Windows chief Steven Sinofsky -- who some assumed would one day replace Steve Ballmer as head of Microsoft -- is out. “Two weeks after Apple's stunning management shakeup, Microsoft has announced a shocker of its own,” writes CNNMoney.com.

“His departure was a mutual decision,” reports The New York Times’ Bits blog, citing sources. Yet, “the departure raises questions about how Microsoft … will prepare itself for a new generation of leadership.”

“Critically, Sinofsky was not ousted because of any issues with the launch of Windows 8 or the Surface,” The Verge reports, citing its own sources.

Realigning the online travel business, Priceline.com on Thursday agreed to buy rival Kayak for $1.8 billion in cash and stock. “A bomb just dropped in the online travel world,” Rafat Ali writes in Skift. Likewise, Forbes calls the move a “major shake-up” for the industry.

If and when the deal closes, “Priceline will gain a great online and mobile team to build its portfolio and will put muscle behind the Kayak brand,” Ali adds.

“The acquisition … could provide a new source of revenue for the company,” The New York Times’ DealBook blog writes.

“Kayak adds a ...» 0 Comments

To date, Instagram has attracted over 100 million users with its wholly-mobile platform. Now, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app is ready for the Web.

"We're launching Web profiles to give you a simple way to share your photos with more people and to make it easier to discover new users on the Web," Instagram said in a Monday blog post.

Some Web watchers say the move is a no-brainer.

“It strikes me that a quick, dynamic overview of your life in pictures is maybe even more compelling than the overall Facebook Timeline because it’s so simple,” MG Siegler blogged.

With Craigslist in its crosshairs, Facebook is reportedly working on a classifieds service, which utilizes users’ personal networks.

“The new tool, which is tentatively called Marketplace … would allow users to create short advertisements that appear in their friends’ news feeds notifying them of everything from apartment rentals to furniture sales to job boards,” The Daily reports, citing sources.

On the news, Forbes asks: “Why Did This Take Facebook So Long?” Indeed, “if you’ve already got 1 billion users, all of whom are already telling people their location, then wouldn’t running classified ads strike you as an obvious ...» 0 Comments

After some initial trials, what do critics make of Apple’s new iPad mini -- particularly compared to Amazon’s Kindle Fire? Well, in The Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg says the mini “does exactly what it promises: It brings the iPad experience to a smaller device.”

“You could argue that the iPad Mini is what the iPad always wanted to be," David Pogue gushes in The New York Times. “Over all, the Mini gives you all the iPad goodness in a more manageable size, and it's awesome.”

Citing a positive industry response, Venture Beat writes: “Truly living up ...» 0 Comments

Letting Google and Microsoft watch from the sidelines, Amazon just picked a fight with Apple over the future of mobile computing.

“Amazon’s front page -- one of the best marketing venues on the Web -- is using the Apple brand name to tout how its own competing Kindle Fire HD is better than the new iPad Mini,” reports AllThingsD.

“It doesn’t look like [Amazon] is going to simply let Apple roll right by and take over the mini tablet market,” The Next Web writes.

“It seems the time has come for the Kindle Fire hucksters at Amazon ...» 0 Comments

Nearing the launch of its first personal computer, the Surface, Microsoft is promising to make a lot more hardware in-house. “We'll dive in," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told BBC News regarding the company’s gadget ambitions. “Where we see important opportunities to set a new standard.”

“Ballmer … is taking the company away from its foundations in software to become more of a hardware and services company, like long-time rival Apple,” writes Reuters.

“In his annual letter to shareholders, Ballmer said more or less the same,” The Register recalls.

“There will be times when we build ...» 0 Comments

Can Microsoft’s first tablet stand up to Apple’s iPad? The Surface’s early reviews are in, and, as you might have expected, they’re all over the place.

Walt Mossberg likes it. Putting his blessing into a historical context, he writes in AllThingsD: “With this device … Microsoft is adopting the model of its longtime rival, Apple, which has always believed that the better way to deliver digital products is to build them end-to-end.”

Rich Jaroslovsky, in Bloomberg Businessweek, admits that the Surface is the slickest laptop he’s used in a very long time. Whether it can truly compete ...» 0 Comments

Along with Windows 8 and its Surface tablets, Microsoft plans to launch its Xbox SmartGlass app at the end of the week.

What is SmartGlass? Part of Microsoft’s grand plan to sync its entertainment and media platforms, the free app “will essentially turn tablets, phones and PCs into a second screen,” reports NBCNews.com

“SmartGlass is a way to tie everything together, allowing you to take a video on your phone and play it on your TV or get more information about an actor on your flat screen via your tablet,” VentureBeat explains.

“One of the neater tricks is the ...» 0 Comments