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@earlybird

Twitter's @earlybird: Not the most magical debut

Twitter's hoping to conjure up a new revenue stream with @earlybird, its take on the limited-time-only online deals craze. And the company announced Wednesday its first @earlybird deal: a limited two-for-one ticket deal for the new Disney live-action flick "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which just hit theaters. It's Twitter's second edgy ad partnership with Disney, after a "promoted trend" in sync with the Pixar film "Toy Story 3."

Unfortunately, Twitter might not want to be launching @earlybird with this turkey, an over-the-top Jerry Bruckheimer action-fest that stars Nicolas Cage. To put … Read more

Borders launches its eBook store

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Borders launches its eBook store with reader programs for Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and AndroidTwitter launches @earlybird to help advertisers push out limited-time deals and discountsHollywood director Kevin Macdonald and producer Ridley Scott are accepting YouTube video submissions on July 24 to turn into a documentaryBest Buy now has its own broadband serviceA project out of MIT lets you mouse around your computer mouselessly

Twitter gets into deal alerts with '@earlybird'

Twitter is getting into the online shopping business--or at least pointing to places where deals can be had.

The company's new service, aptly named @earlybird, is an official Twitter account that the company plans to feed with deals at both online and offline retailers, as well as "sneak peeks and events." Users who follow the account will see these entries just like any other tweet in their stream.

While it might seem to be a minor offering, @earlybird is notable in that Twitter plans to monetize it. The company is partnering with companies to provide the deals, … Read more