Miscellaneous 'Shoe

-- "Lights! Cameras! Sales!" at WSJ.com. How small businesses can use YouTube to increase sales. "For one thing, it's hard to beat the price: It costs nothing to put something on a video-sharing site, unlike buying television time or a regular Internet ad. And the videos let companies use a creative and personal touch that wouldn't work in traditional ads."

-- Sears is prepared to bid for Restoration Hardware but claims it is being shunned by the Restoration board. Catterton Partners has bid $6.70 a share and Sears will offer $6.75. Sears recently disclosed it purchased 13.9% of Restoration's shares and is none too happy that Restoration is making things hard for Sears during its contractual "go shop" period.

-- Zoho Writer allows multiple users to edit the same document online. Changes made offline are automatically synced when the user goes online again. The competition for online office applications is heating up -- Google has Google Gears while Adobe has its Buzzword word processor. There's a lot of hype behind these new applications, but are they going to put a dent in Microsoft Office?

-- "What's Going On At Skype?" "Have they just decided that they have too many toes, and are trying to shoot them off one at a time? The list of gaffes and blunders is impressive..."