by Staci D. Kramer, Co-Editor & EVP, PaidContent.org
It could change–and probably will when the first flurry is over–but, as I type, the Kindle edition of Dan Brown’s latest thriller The Lost Symbol is outselling the hardback on Amazon.
by Jessica E. Vascellaro, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Silicon Valley antitrust lawyer Gary Reback made his case against the Google Books settlement Tuesday, arguing that the settlement is illegal but could be remedied if the Justice Department insists that Google license the books it scanned to competitors.
by Geoffrey A. Fowler, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Amazon took a lot of heat in July when it wirelessly deleted copies of two George Orwell titles from the Kindle e-readers of some customers. CEO Jeff Bezos eventually apologized for the incident, calling it “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles.”
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Discovery Communications has filed for a patent on an e-book reader, the Baltimore Sun reported over late last week.
The Sun notes that Discovery, which owns Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and other cable properties, filed a patent for the device in February; but the Sun notes that the patent filing was not made public until last Thursday.
by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Book Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Many publishers were eager to see if Random House would challenge Amazon’s strategy of pricing the book industry’s most successful titles at $9.99 for the Kindle e-reader by withholding the e-book edition of Dan Brown’s upcoming novel, “The Lost Symbol.”
by Simon Dumenco, Columnist, Ad Age, The Media Guy
There’s something a little heartbreaking about the very existence of “And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture,” by Bill Wasik.
by Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Tech Trader Daily, Barron's
Target’s decision today to build out its e-commerce infrastructure won’t likely hurt Amazon.com, writes J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan in a note to clients. In fact, it could help.
Target announced today it would construct its own order-fulfillment services for its online sales, which totaled $1.8 billion last year, according to Khan’s estimate, signalling the end of its use of Amazon’s back-office fulfillment services, for which Amazon receives a fee.
by Geoffrey Fowler, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
When Amazon.com agreed to buy Zappos last week for $847 million in cash and stock, most reports said that the online shoe and clothing store had over $1 billion in sales last year.
by Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
It’s a terrible day to be some big tech company, folks. Following disappointing quarterly reports by Microsoft and Amazon.com that sent their shares down eight percent this evening, Juniper Networks, a $14 billion (market cap) competitor to Cisco Systems this evening reported sales and profit for its Q2 that beat estimates, and a better-than-expected forecast, but it wasn’t enough for the stock.
So you’ve got a Kindle, and you have books on it, and you want to keep those books–no matter what Amazon or a publisher decides you deserve in the future. Your legal options are limited, but you do have some.
by Marisa Taylor, Tech Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
The hacking of Twitter CEO Evan Williams’s email account has sparked an ethics debate after TechCrunch said that it would publish some of the confidential documents that the hacker leaked.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
The takeover-rumor driven rally in Netflix shares has continued today, as investors debate the potential for an acquisition of the company by Amazon–or Microsoft.
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