NEW YORK — Kids can video chat with Santa, follow him on Twitter or enlist NORAD to track his every move online. And yet in many ways, technology may be making it harder for parents to keep their children believing ...

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NEW YORK — Shoppers seem to be just as enthusiastic about shopping on their computers and smartphones on Cyber Monday as they were about finding deals over the Black Friday weekend. Online sales on Cyber Monday, which was started in ...

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Remember when gifts were objects, purchased or crafted and wrapped with a bow, then presented with a flourish? Over the last few years, gift cards have become a popular alternative, and now as we become increasingly connected to our smartphones, ...

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NEW YORK — OFFER. WANTED. TAKEN. With those three words, Deron Beal of Tucson, Ariz., helped move the yard sale online, only with no money changing hands. Beal is the founder of The Freecycle Network, or Freecycle.org. It’s a grassroots ...

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WASHINGTON — The personal financial details of as many as 5,000 college students were temporarily laid bare for other students to view on the Education Department’s direct loan website earlier this month, an education official testified Tuesday. The students’ information ...

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NEW YORK — Online coupon seller Groupon Inc. is discounting its expectations for its first stock offering. The company, which offers consumers daily deals targeted to their city and preferences, now expects net proceeds of about $478.8 million from its ...

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With a box full of carrots and a hankering for something vaguely exotic, Mary-Claire van Leunen turned to her computer for a recipe. “I looked for ‘Turkish carrots’ and I found it easily, in fact I found half a dozen,” ...

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NEW YORK — Target is a victim of its own success. The discounter drummed up so much hype around its exclusive, limited-time line by upscale Italian designer Missoni that its website crashed and was down most of the day on ...

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Sylvan Learning Inc. of Baltimore, a provider of supplemental educational services and online tutoring, launched “Fit 4 Algebra,” a free online tool to help parents assess whether their child is on track for the critical “gateway” subject. It consists of ...

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SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. is in talks to potentially bid for video-streaming service Hulu, a person close to the situation said Friday. The person, who said Apple is among several companies interested in Hulu, spoke on condition of anonymity ...

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