Early this year, Circuit City announced that it was closing all of its stores after being in business for 60 years. Gizmodo is pointing to a screenshot from Circuit City’s website now, however, suggesting that the company will be back in online form.

Last month Best Buy announced a new social and API-driven initiative to give its web business a boost. The Best Buy Remix Developer Network comes with an affiliate plan that lets developers earn commissions if the traffic they send to BestBuy.com results in a sale.

Best Buy is changing the way it does business online and surprise, surprise – it involves social media and APIs. The company has introduced what it is calling the "Best Buy Remix Developer Network."

"We’re working to give you the tools you need to make Best Buy into what you need it to be," the company says.

Circuit City stock was perhaps rather attractive to some at around a dollar per share; in a weird twist it’s somehow less attractive at 39 cents—maybe it’s the stink of death all around it, maybe that’s what Blockbuster smelled when they pulled out of an acquisition deal.

4 Thoughts On Best Buy & Napster

•   Napster was worth even less than I thought. Given the $67 million in cash that Napster has on hand, the purchase for $121 million by Best Buy puts the valuation at just $54 million.

Best Buy will have some music to offer alongside all that portable gadgetry soon. The company announced this morning the acquisition of Napster for $121 million in cash.

Best Buy is testing a free electronic recycling program in 117 of its stores.

The program launched on June 1, with stores in Baltimore, San Francisco and Minnesota. Customers can bring in up to two electronic devices per day, per household for recycling.

Electronics that can be recycled include televisions, monitors up to 32 inches, computers, phones, and cameras. Items that won’t be accepted are televisions or monitors that are over 32 inches, console televisions, air conditioners, microwave ovens and appliances. Best Buy has a separate program for appliances.

Our network at FastCompany.tv continues to grow, this time into a show about how our work is changing thanks to the Internet called WorkFast.tv. It’s my way of trying to help you all be more productive after sending you so many Twitter messages that waste your time.

Shoppers can find Dell computers in retail stores.  Any displays aren’t likely to feature neon arrows and all-caps lettering, however, as various people have noted that there’s not an all-out push taking place.

The early birds are rising earlier this year as searches for Black Friday-related websites spike a bit earlier than last year.

Best Buy has launched an online video sharing service that lets users store and share home movies on the Web.

After being sued by a customer and investigated by Connecticut’s Attorney General, Best Buy has reportedly updated their in-store sites with a disclaimer letting customers know that kiosk prices might not be the same as the public website prices.

Amazon.com and Best Buy were ranked #1 for being the best online electronics retailers according to a Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Electronics Retailers study.

Best Buy has a lot of ‘splainin’ to do about the company’s in-store look-alike Websites with different prices than what the customers found online. The company will have the opportunity to defend itself in a lawsuit filed by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

Electronics retailer Best Buy is in hot water. Near as I can tell, they shouldn’t be. What’s gone wrong at the Minneapolis-based company seems to be a lack of coordination rather than the underhanded scheme that characterizes reporting about the crisis.

And it is a crisis, make no mistake. The company stands accused of maintaining a “secret” intranet that duplicates its consumer website but with higher prices. When customers come into the store asking for the price they saw on the web, employees reportedly show them the look-alike page on the intranet claiming the price isn’t as low as they thought, forcing them to pay more.

Best Buy’s got some ‘splaining to do. Connecticut’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has launched an investigation into allegations that Best Buy is intentionally employing a 21st Century bait-and-switch model, enticing customers with sale prices on the store Website and then jacking up the price once they get to the store itself.

Best Buy, of course, denies any such charlatanistic practices.