LG celebrated iPhone 6 launch day by offering new LG G3 smartphone customers a free extra battery with purchases made through Sept. 22 (http://bit.ly/1CNRdEE). LG used the promo to highlight that its battery is replaceable -- unlike the iPhone’s -- and has what it called “one of the industry’s longest battery” lives. Participating customers will get the “leading flagship smartphone,” and in addition, “they can easily open up their LG G3 and pop in a fresh battery whenever they want,” LG said. The limited-time offer is valued at $70 and is available through any carrier or authorized retailer, LG said.

Twitter is testing a “buy” button to let a small percentage of its U.S. users buy products on its site, said a company blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/1usnbBG). Twitter partnered with Fancy, Gumroad, Musictoday and Stripe to give the button additional platforms, it said. Musicians Brad Paisley, Eminem and Pharrell are among the users who will offer their music via Twitter, it said. Home Depot will also offer its products on Twitter, it said.

Haier America, which a year ago moved its headquarters to Wayne, New Jersey, from midtown Manhattan (CED Oct 24 p1), plans to open a new North American tech center in Evansville, Indiana, by early 2015, the company said Monday. The center’s opening will create 50 new “high-wage” jobs by 2015, after Indiana offered the company up to $1.4 million in tax credits and $450,000 in job-training grants, conditional on its hiring Hoosiers to fill those 50 jobs, the company said. Haier America has a work force of about 300 across the U.S., the company said. “We haven’t had a tech center for the US until now,” spokesman James Liess told us Monday in an email when asked if the Evansville opening would cause the company to eliminate jobs elsewhere. “We had a small team of R&D folks who managed the process working with our folks in China,” Liess said, referring to Haier’s corporate parent. “Those folks will transfer to Evansville."

DirecTV and Raycom entered a new carriage agreement after the DBS company’s subscribers lost the broadcaster’s stations last week due to a carriage dispute (CED Sept 8 p13). Raycom will be working over the next few days to finalize the full agreement, it said in a news release Sunday (http://bit.ly/1oZ08sy). Subscribers were able to see Sunday’s NFL season-opening games, DirecTV said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1BnmWek).

The Interactive Ad Bureau released “a common set of specifications for audio ad delivery, execution and reporting across a wide variety of devices and platforms,” the bureau said Monday. The spec is called Digital Audio Ad Serving Template, or DAAST, a public comment period on which will be open through Oct 10, it said. “With music streaming services gaining prominence, we must ensure that audio ads get their chance to flourish in a unified marketplace,” said Chris Doe, co-chair of the IAB’s DAAST working group.

Roku expanded internationally with the launch of the Roku Powered program, it said Monday (http://bit.ly/1ueMhEU). The program, targeted to pay TV service providers outside of the U.S., enables providers to deliver streaming content to subscribers over the Internet. Roku said the combination of its software, “cost-effective” hardware design and content selection make its platform well suited to pay TV providers looking for a turnkey method for offering Internet-delivered entertainment to their customers. The program allows pay TV providers a way to integrate customizable content with their services, offer an upgrade option for subscribers and reduce subscriber churn, Roku said. Roku Powered, which includes ongoing software upgrades, allows operator branding, custom user interface themes, built-in promotional capabilities, “and control of the streaming content available through the platform,” the company said. Roku initiated the approach through a partnership with BSkyB, which began offering subscribers the NOW TV Box in July 2013.

The Internet economy -- including the ICT sector -- accounted for 20 percent of U.S. economic growth between 1997 and 2002 and 10 percent of growth between 2002 and 2007, said a Hudson Institute report released Monday (http://bit.ly/1roaWIg). It cited Department of Commerce data. “These contributions to economic growth are above the level of economic activity that would have occurred had economic factors remained constant,” said the report. The government, the report said, has never tried to pinpoint the exact contribution of the Internet economy to the overall U.S. economy. In total, the Internet economy contributed $922 billion in 2013 dollars from 1997 to 2007, it concluded.

E-Fun said it’s selling its model NX700QC16G quad-core Nextbook 7 -- with Android 4.4 and Bluetooth 4.0 -- exclusively through Walmart for $79. The 7-inch Nextbook 7, with a 1024 x 600 display, weighs under a pound and is preloaded with apps including Barnes and Noble Nook, Flixster, Google Play and Vudu. It includes a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera with microphone, micro HDMI port and 16 GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot to 64GB, the company said Monday.

A day before the anticipated debut of the iPhone 6, T-Mobile vowed Monday to “beat the big carriers’ best trade-in values on used devices” and help consumers “get the very best deal on the hottest new devices.” Consumers can now have peace of mind when they're ready to upgrade, “knowing that their trade-in at T-Mobile is the best deal they'll find anywhere compared to AT&T, Sprint and Verizon,” T-Mobile said (http://bit.ly/1ufQbgI). The industry will soon see introduction of “some of the most phenomenal devices ever,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a statement. “That means a whole lot of Americans trading-in their devices and upgrading. For years, the big carriers have been ripping off their customers with low-ball trade-in values, so we're putting an end to that and guaranteeing we'll give customers what they deserve -- the best value in the industry.” To make good on its guarantee, “T-Mobile will track the market every day to ensure we keep our promise,” the company said. “If a customer can find a better trade-in offer from a major national carrier, T-Mobile will beat that offer, give them the difference back and because we value this help from our customers we will top it off with another $50!” The offer begins Sept. 17 and will run “for a limited time,” it said.

Seiki Digital, the supplier of ultra-low-price Ultra HD TVs, will use Digital Power Station (DPS) audio technology from Bongiovi Acoustics in all its new HD and Ultra HD TVs, the company said Friday. Including the technology is part of Seiki’s “ongoing product development plans to introduce new technology and improve overall quality of its display products,” Seiki said. Seiki and Bongiovi happen to have booths just several feet apart in Hall 25 at IFA. DPS “represents a genuine breakthrough in audio processing,” Bongiovi said. “The unique and powerful digital audio signal processor was developed by a team of audio engineers with more than 40 years of experience in the music and motion picture recording industries. Audio is digitally restored in real time, adding missing harmonics, improving clarity, presence and bass resonance."