The publishing tide is shifting fast: E-book sales in February topped all over formats, including paperbacks and hardcovers, according to an industry report released this week. Get the full story »
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Amazon offers cheaper Kindle — with ads
A commuter reads a Kindle while riding the subway in Cambridge, Mass. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Amazon announced its new “Kindle with Special Offers“ on Monday which will sell for $114, which is $25 less than its ad-free counterpart, Amazon’s $139 Kindle Wi-Fi. The Kindle 3G is available for $189. It will begin shipping May 3.
The Kindle’s “special offers” and ads will appear on the e-reader’s screensaver and at the bottom of its home screen. Amazon plans to mix together advertisements from launch sponsors including Buick, Olay and Visa with daily-deal style discount coupons. Get the full story »
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ life story coming in 2012
Apple CEO Steve Jobs showing the first version of the iPhone in 2007. (AP file photo/Paul Sakuma)
Apple CEO Steve Jobs will allow best-selling author Walter Isaacson, who chronicled the lives of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, to publish his biography next year.
The Silicon Valley icon, who has battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer and undertook a liver transplant in 2009, granted exclusive interviews to the biographer over the course of three years — an unprecedented level of access to the CEO. Get the full story »
Kindle 3G to come to AT&T stores Sunday
AT&T will begin selling Amazon’s Kindle 3G March 6 as it looks toward other gadgets to increase its customer base outside of cell phones.
The Kindle 3G will sell for $189 at AT&T’s retail stores, the same price at which Amazon sells the e-reader online. Amazon has said that the Kindle is the most popular item sold on its gigantic retail Web site — though the company has never said how many it has sold.
Magic Johnson invests in Vibe, Soul Train
Magic Johnson, who last year passed on a deal to buy Ebony and Jet magazines, will become chairman of Vibe Holdings, the owner of the magazines Vibe and Uptown and the Soul Train TV show. Get the full story »
GE Capital tosses Borders a $550M lifeline
Borders Group has received a commitment for a $550 million credit line from GE Capital, a lifeline that will help the struggling bookseller pay its vendors and stay afloat – but it indicated that bankruptcy protection might still be an option.
Its shares jumped 28 percent in after-hours trading on the news. Get the full story »
Jan. 3 at 6:22 a.m.
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Filed under: Books, Internet, Magazines, Media, Movies, Music, Newspapers Google exploring digital newsstand
Google Inc. and Apple Inc. have stepped up their battle to win over publishers, as the two companies vie to become the dominant distributor of newspapers and magazines for tablet computers and other mobile devices.
Google is trying to drum up publishers’ support for a new Google-operated digital newsstand for users of devices that run its Android software. With the effort, it is chasing Apple, which already sells digital versions of many major magazines and newspapers through its iTunes store. Get the full story »
Dec. 30, 2010 at 6:45 a.m.
Filed under: Books, Computers, Internet, Magazines, Media, Movies, Music, Newspapers, Software, TV, Video Study: Web users willing to pay for some things
The Web may seem like the land of something for nothing. Free video. Free news. Even free tools such as word processing and spreadsheets.
But almost two-thirds of adult Internet users in the U.S. have paid for access to at least one of these intangible items online, according to a new survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Get the full story »
Oprah picks Dickens novels for Book Club
Talk queen Oprah Winfrey will announce her latest book selection on her show today, and her choice, according to the Orlando Sentinel, is actually two books: “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens.
In September, Winfrey chose Jonathan Franzen’s book “Freedom” as the first selection for the 25th and final season of her talk show. She announced that month that despite rumors, her famed book club would continue. “I will have book selections coming all season long and when I move over to OWN, my new network, the book club is coming with me,” she told her audience.
Dec. 1, 2010 at 10:41 a.m.
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Filed under: Books, Chicago executives, Entertainment, Media Oprah to announce next Book Club pick Monday
(Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Oprah Winfrey plans another pick for her popular book club.
Harpo Productions said Tuesday that current Oprah’s Book Club author Jonathan Franzen will appear on Monday’s episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Winfrey chose Franzen’s latest book “Freedom” in September as the first selection for the 25th and final season of her talk show.
On that same episode, Winfrey will announce her next book club pick. The new selection comes about 11 weeks after Winfrey chose “Freedom.” Since 2008, she has averaged one or two selections a year. Winfrey’s book club choices have vaulted to the best-seller list and given authors instant fame. Get the full story »
Google ready to launch e-books venture
Google Inc. is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, Google Editions, a move that could shake up the way digital books are sold.
The long-delayed venture — Google executives had said they hoped to launch this summer — recently has cleared several technical and legal hurdles, people close to the company say. It is set to debut in the U.S. by the end of the month and internationally in the first quarter of next year, said Scott Dougall, a Google product management director. Get the full story »
Amazon allows Kindle e-books as gifts
Amazon.com Inc. has begun allowing customers to give its Kindle e-books to others.
Before, customers could only give gift certificates to cover the cost of an e-book. Get the full story »
Google, Hachette ink accord on book scanning
Google has signed an accord with France’s biggest book publisher Hachette Livre on the scanning and sale of out-of-print books, which grants the publisher wide control over pricing and content. Get the full story »
Nov. 11, 2010 at 3:07 p.m.
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Filed under: Books, Computers, Entertainment, Media, Newspapers, Technology, Wireless N.Y. Times to add e-book best-seller list
E-books have reached another milestone: their own best-seller lists in The New York Times.
The Times, whose best-seller lists have long been a benchmark for success among authors, announced Wednesday that in early 2011 it will begin publishing rankings for fiction and nonfiction e-books.
The digital market has grown rapidly in the last three years, starting with Amazon.com’s Kindle reader and continuing with Apple’s iPad and Barnes & Noble’s Nook.
Pedophilia guide sold by Amazon causes outrage
Amazon.com Inc. is selling a self-published guide that offers advice to pedophiles and that has generated outrage on the Internet and boycott threats.
The availability of “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct” calls into question whether Amazon has procedures — or even an obligation — to vet books before they are sold in its online stores. Amazon did not respond to multiple e-mail and phone messages. Get the full story »
