Technology News: Publishing

Playboy's Bunny Couldn't Make the Hop to the Web
November 20, 2009

What the hell happened to the sort of man who reads Playboy? How could he let the Internet develop into the world's strip club -- and worse -- without taking Hugh Hefner's company along for the ride? There's no long tail for the Playboy bunny, judging from the rumored impending sale of Hefner's company for around $300 million to Iconix, collector of apparel brands like Candies and Joe Boxer.

YouTube Gives More News Reporting Power to the People
November 17, 2009

News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch is threatening to divorce Google over the issue of unpaid news content. However, Google's YouTube division still wants the marriage of technology and traditional journalism to work; hence the Tuesday launch of YouTube Direct, a tool designed to bring together media organizations and citizen journalists.

Intel Escapes Its Legal Morass, One Settlement at a Time
November 13, 2009

Intel and AMD have finally put a long and bitter disagreement to bed, and in the end, all it took was a little open communication and understanding, along with one and a quarter billion dollars. The two have been at it for years -- accusations, threats, lawsuits. AMD said Intel engaged in anticompetitive behavior; Intel said AMD broke its licensing agreements.

Flu Fear Goes Viral on the Web
November 13, 2009

There's a very good reason why we call Internet memes and themes "viral." Good and bad information spreads on the Web in much the same way those nasty bundles of nucleic acid and proteins do when they attack your body's cells and make you sick. Some of the Internet news items I've seen related to the H1N1 swine flu virus are making me feel a little ill.

Schools Slam Kindle Over Blind Access Failure
November 11, 2009

Amazon's Kindle can read books aloud, but if you're blind it can be difficult to turn that function on without help. Now two universities say they will shun the device until Amazon changes the setup. The National Federation of the Blind planned to announce Wednesday that two major schools won't consider big rollouts of the electronic reading device unless Amazon fixes the problem.

Kindle for PC: A Good Preview for E-Reader Fence-Sitters
November 10, 2009

The scales of justice definitely don't tip in grayscale's favor when it comes to the overall e-reader device experience for consumers. Whether it's an Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader or Barnes & Noble Nook, 16-level grayscale means nothing more than a digital version of the weather in Seattle between November and April: different shades of gray.

Judge Gives Google an Extension on Its Book Report
November 10, 2009

A judge has given Google more time to revise a legal settlement that has drawn government scrutiny because it would give the Internet search leader the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books. Under a change approved Monday, Google and groups representing U.S. authors and publishers now have until Friday to change an agreement reached more than a year ago.

Murdoch Threatens Google Blockade
November 09, 2009

It's not so much a war of words, but a war over words, between News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and search giant Google. Murdoch fired another broadside over the weekend by announcing his intention to eventually close off News Corp. content to Google's search technologies.

Print Pubs, Meet Moving Pictures
October 31, 2009

Hold Esquire's December issue in front of a webcam, and an on-screen image of the magazine pops to life, letters flying off the cover. Shift and tilt the magazine, and the animation on the screen moves accordingly. Robert Downey Jr. emerges out of the on-screen page in 3-D, offering half-improvised shtick on Esquire's latest high-tech experiment for keeping print magazines relevant.

Chinese Paper Accuses Google of Stonewalling Searchers
October 27, 2009

Google faces a new controversy in China after a Web site run by the Communist Party's main newspaper accused the U.S. search giant of trying to keep Internet users away following its reports on a copyright dispute. The online People's Daily book section said the three-day disruption began last Wednesday.

HP, Amazon Team to Offer Paperback Copies of Rare Books
October 21, 2009

Some of technology's best-known companies are betting there's pent-up demand for on-demand books. HP, the world's top seller of personal computers and printers, is teaming up with online retailer Amazon.com to challenge Internet search leader Google in the quirky new market of re-creating digital books as paperbacks.

Barnes & Noble Aims to Take Down Kindle, by Hook or by Nook
October 21, 2009

It doesn't matter whether Amazon's Kindle has 60 percent market share, or that Sony has its powerful brand backing its Reader. Barnes & Noble wants in on the nascent e-reader market. For reasons not apparent at press time, Barnes & Noble is calling its new electronic reading device the Nook, officially launching it during a late-afternoon Eastern time press event Tuesday in New York City.

EC Copyright Overhaul Could Spur Google Book Project
October 20, 2009

The European Commission said Monday it may revise copyright law to make it easier for companies like Google to scan printed books and distribute digital copies over the Internet. Such changes would likely include ways to more easily compensate authors and publishers, possibly through a statutory license in which a company would automatically get rights to scanning and would pay royalties to a collective pool.

Rivals Dogpile on Amazon
October 16, 2009

Jeff Bezos named his company after the longest and largest river in the world. So it's appropriate that the past week has shown just how influential Amazon has become in both the online and offline retail spaces, as competitors and the Seattle-based e-commerce giant threw a series of punches and counter-punches.

Putting a Price on Historic Footage
October 16, 2009

The following column is brought to you by nostalgia -- the unique kind experienced only by unrepentant newsies approaching a half-century of existence. But have no fear; technology plays a key supporting role, as always. A slow weeknight evening shift at a regional cable TV network prompts some wide-ranging Internet exploration between newscasts.

Google to Step Into Wholesale E-Book Biz
October 15, 2009

Google is launching a new online service for booksellers next year called "Google Editions," which will let readers buy books and read them on gadgets ranging from cellphones to possibly e-book devices. It's the first foray into charging for books for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, which began its Google Books program in 2004, and will put it in competition with Amazon.com's Kindle reader.