There are lots of other things you could do instead.

Things could be going better for flash sale sites: "It's a classic case of investors and entrepreneurs not really understanding how an industry operates." [The Verge]

How are we supposed to know if Netflix's expensive original TV show, "House of Cards," is a hit or a miss? Good question. [Vulture]

Twitter was mentioned in 50 percent of Super Bowl commercials. That's a lot of free advertising. [Marketing Land]

Speaking of: Did Oreo have some poor designer on call last night? Because when the lights went out halfway through the game, the company's Twitter team was ready with an appropriate ad. [BuzzFeed]

Generally speaking, Twitter users went bonkers during the blackout. That's when tweets for the event peaked, at 231,500 per minute, most of them terrible jokes about Bane. [CNET]

Former CNET staffer Greg Sandoval, who left out of concern over interference from corporate overlord CBS, has landed at the Verge, the site that broke the news of Mr. Sandoval's departure. [New York]

Hopping into headlines, thanks to CBS.

This morning, The Verge published a damning report on an apparent conflict of interest in CNET’s “Best of CES” awards.

The post claimed that CNET's editorial staff, which votes on the award, crowned Dish Network's Hopper set-top box device the winner. But before the staff could reveal its decision, CBS--CNET's parent company--interceded because of litigation filed by CBS and other networks over the Hopper's ability to skip past commercials.

"Before the winner was unveiled, CBS Interactive News senior-vice president and General Manager Mark Larkin informed CNET's staff that the Hopper could not take the top award. The Hopper would have to be removed from consideration, and the editorial team had to re-vote and pick a new winner from the remaining choices. Sources say that Larkin was distraught while delivering the news — at one point in tears — as he told the team that he had fought CBS executives who had made the decision."

CNET's initial disclaimer about the awards did not state that Hopper had been chosen a winner, only that it was removed from the running. According to the disclaimer:

"The Dish Hopper with Sling was removed from consideration due to active litigation involving our parent company CBS Corp. We will no longer be reviewing products manufactured by companies with which we are in litigation with respect to such product."

The Verge says both Mr. Larkin and reviews lead Lindsey Turrentine "fought for full disclosure, but were rebuffed by CBS."

Not long after The Verge's report, Greg Sandoval, a veteran reporter who has worked at CNET since 2005 announced his resignation on Twitter under the handle @SandoCNET over concerns about "editorial independence."

He appears to be the first staffer to voice his misgivings about the actions of CNET's corporate parent. Judging by the last big dustup over conflicts of interest in tech reporting, we don't imagine he'll be the last. But like Buzzfeed said, this is pretty much every tech reporter's worst nightmare.

We've reached out to Mr. Sandoval for comment and will update the post when we hear back.

UPDATE: Both CBS and CNET editor-in-chief Lindsey Turrentine have responded to the controversy. CBS released a statement calling its interference in the CES awards "an isolated and unique incident in which a product that has been challenged as illegal."

"The product in question is not only the subject of a lawsuit between Dish and CBS, but between Dish and nearly every other major media company as well. CBS has been consistent on this situation from the beginning, and, in terms of covering actual news, CNET maintains 100% editorial independence, and always will."

Of course, as CNET's competitors have pointed out, according to their previous disclaimer, this means that CBS views product reviews as something other than "actual news."

So, according to CBS, product reviews aren't journalism. Good to know!

— matt buchanan (@mattbuchanan) January 14, 2013

Like TechCrunch before it, however, CNET has covered the meta story in its webpages. Editor-in-chief Lindsey Turrentine confirmed that her editorial team had indeed selected Dish Hopper as the winner. She also called CBS' conflict of interest "real" because "a legal case can impact the bottom line of our company and introduce the possibility of bias," but expressed remorse about the lack of transparency in the process:

"If I had to face this dilemma again, I would not quit. I stand by my team and the years of work they have put into making CNET what it is. But I wish I could have overridden the decision not to reveal that Dish had won the vote in the trailer. For that I apologize to my staff and to CNET readers."

Everyone will knowwwww (Photo: flickr.com/jamiesrabbits)

Obama just signed into law a bill that makes it legal for Netflix to share what you watch on your Facebook page (provided you give them the okay, of course). [Gizmodo]

Yikes: CNET was forced to withdraw a "Best of CES" award by its parent company, CBS, which is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Dish, the company that makes the product in question. [Buzzfeed]

Hey, Groupon stock is trading at double its all-time low! Before anyone breaks out the champagne, that's around $5.20. [TNW]

GM is hiring a thousand high-tech workers--software developers, database experts, etc.--for a new "innovation center" in a suburb of Atlanta. [Wall Street Journal]

“We’re fucked. These guys don’t want to take over our land—they want to come over and take our water and go back. They like where they are.” [AllThingsD]

Spotify playlist (screengrab)

In 2010 Swedish music streaming service Spotify was on the rise, with a 151 percent jump in revenue. According to PrivCo, a company that tracks financial data, the bottom almost fell out for Spotify in 2011 and the service's current model is "unsustainable."

CNET obtained confirmation from Spotify that numbers reported by PrivCo were correct--but not news. Spotify's losses since jumping into the U.S. market were first reported in August by the Wall Street Journal.

Regardless of who reported what first, PrivCo's assessment might sting at Spotify HQ:

Spotify was unable to generate any material improvements to its cost of sales margin. In fact, virtually every new dollar of revenue went directly to music companies as royalty payments, evidencing the fact that the more members Spotify adds, the more money the company loses. This is a clear indication that the online licensing fee/royalty model is increasingly restricting Spotify's ability to generate sustainable margins using its freemium model. In almost a one-for-one scenario, every dollar Spotify is generating immediately exits the company due to licensing fees as members listen to music and ring up Spotify's music royalty tab.

While CNET's Greg Sandoval writes that "multiple music industry sources" say Spotify is doing well, rapidly convincing free users to subscribe, PrivCo CEO Sam Hamadeh suggests that in order to survive, Spotify needs to adopt a "tiered subscription system." Mr. Hamadeh suggests Spotify could adopt a Platinum service level for power users willing to pay $25 a month for more plays.

Spotify has tried to be more honorable than Napster but they're still pissing off bands and solo artists so if Spotify takes the hint and implements something similar, they may even be able to bring more performers into the fold.

We hope they stick around so politicians can continue building cheesy playlists for our amusement.

(Photo: Meme Generator)

Xbox Live is down. This is not a drill! We repeat: Xbox Live is down.

Gamers everywhere are chucking Xbox controllers at walls, begrudgingly rising from their butt-shaped couch holes and maybe even getting some sunlight for once because I mean would it really kill you, honey?

CNET has confirmed with Microsoft that "Xbox Live users are unable to access the online-gaming service."

Microsoft's Xbox Live status page states, "We are aware of the problem and are working to resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience."

It better be up by the time we get home from work, because it's Friday and we have some robots to shoot.

Mr. Green. (linkedin.com)

Hey rest of the world, you may now breathe easy: neon braided belts, tailored chinos and crisp pinstriped shirts are finally coming your way. And it looks like you have New York's own FiftyOne to thank for that.

FiftyOne is a global e-commerce platform that has helped some of the biggest names in fashion scale their businesses internationally. We first reported on them when they helped Gilt Groupe expand their reach to 90 countries. According to CNET, they're at it again today with client J.Crew, helping the quintessentially Americana brand grow from 29 to 107 international markets overnight.

FiftyOne's chief strategy officer, Kris Green, told CNET, "To do international by yourself, you need to place bets on what countries you think have the biggest opportunities for your brand, and spend significant dollars setting up shop there. We help retailers avoid needing to make those bets upfront."

Going the e-commerce route allows brands to extend their global reach without having to build physical stores in other countries. This way, brands can test how successful sales are in international markets without having to waste money and time constructing brick-and-mortar stores.

"For J.Crew, it's a chance to bring its collection of turquoise ballet flats and faded oxford shirts to the growing overseas middle class," notes CNET. Oh, we can hardly wait.

"I want to thank you for your support, insight, inspiration, and amusement over the course of my five years as a journalist with CBS/CNET.  My last day at the company is May 6. Following ten days that will be divided up between a remote cabin somewhere in Northern California and the annual overnight Ragnar Relay from Woodstock to Westchester, I'm starting a new chapter at Google," she wrote in an email to friends this morning.

Ms. McCarthy will be based out of New York but continue to visit the Bay Area frequently, as she has in her capacity as a tech reporter. She'll miss the fourth estate, she said, but is understandably excited about the new position on Google's Trends and Insights project, which is "working to bring the company's massive amounts of data and research to life and helping to spread more digital trend research and forecasting throughout Google."

"I'll be on a very small and entrepreneurial team and I hope it won't be long before you get to see what we're going to be working on," she teased.

Betabeat asked Ms. McCarthy which posts were her favorite from her time at CNET. "Definitely my review of The Social Network," she answered. "That was just...fun."

Ms. McCarthy started at CNET.com when she was 21 as an entry-level gadget blogger. She's managed her own blog, The Social, where she covers social media, e-commerce, advertising and entrepreneurship, since July 2007, and has broken news on everything from big companies like Facebook and, yeah, Google, to small start-ups in the New York and the Bay Area.