ABC

What a free iPad bought Apple

How to turn bad publicity into a public relations coup for less than $500

Michael Finney, a consumer reporter for KGO-TV, the local ABC affiliate in San Francisco, thought he had a story that would give Apple (AAPL) and its "red hot iPad" a big black eye.

The station had received a call from Diane Campbell, a disabled woman on a fixed income, who had saved $600 to buy her first computer MORE

Video: The iPad hits prime time TV

Apple's tablet computer made two big appearances Wednesday night -- on ABC, naturally

ABC, which is owned by Disney (DIS), whose largest stockholder is Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple (AAPL), gave the iPad two big fat plugs on prime time television last night:

Can Steve Jobs unplug cable TV?

CBS and Disney may join Apple's $30 per month TV service, says the Wall St. Journal

This could be totally disruptive. Or it could be another "hobby" like Apple TV that never quite takes off.

In a front-page story published Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that CBS (CBS) and Disney (DIS) are "considering participating" in Apple's (AAPL) plan to offer television subscriptions over the Internet.

It was the first hint of interest MORE

Online video sites fizzle

Startups Joost and Veoh try to retool while network-backed Hulu cruises.

The Web video shakeout has begun. Hulu, a venture of NBC, ABC, and Fox, is growing nicely, aided in part by a slick marketing campaign using, of all things, television ads starring Alec Baldwin. But a slew of smaller sites are starting to reformulate their strategies in the hope of surviving.

Joost, which was started by the founders of Skype Technologies, MORE