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Sony to Launch Online Entertainment Store in 2010

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2009 - 11:23am.
Tokyo - Sony (NYSE: SNE) announced plans on Friday to launch a new online store next year that will sell books, music and movies next year, and deliver content to networked televisions and other devices. The company did not provide many details about the "Sony Online Service," as it is tentatively being called, but is expected to be positioned as a competitor to Apple's iTunes Store.
tags: Games | Video | TV | Sony | Apple | Movies | Publishing | Books | iTunes Store | Sony Online Service |

Google Book Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval; Hearing in 2010

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2009 - 11:02am.
New York - The judge overseeing the settlement agreement between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over the direction of its massive book-scanning project has pushed a hearing on a revised settlement back to Feb. 18, while at the same time granted preliminary approval to the new deal. "The preliminary approval order sends a positive initial message; this agreement promises to benefit readers and researchers, and enhance the ability of authors and publishers to distribute their content in digital form," Google said in a statement.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Google | Copyright | E-Books | Publishing | Books | Authors Guild | Google Book Search |

Twitter Introduces Geo-tagging Feature

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2009 - 11:46am.
San Francisco - Twitter on Friday announced the launch of a new geo-tagging feature for its API, which will allow users of third-party applications like Seesmic, Birdfeed and Twindroid to opt-in to include their location information when they tweet. "The added information provides valuable context when reading your friends tweets and allows you to better focus in on local conversations," the company wrote on its blog.

tags: Publishing | Twitter |

Chegg.com Gets $57 Million for Online Textbook Rentals

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2009 - 8:06am.
Santa Clara, Calif. - Chegg.com, an online textbook rental company, said on Thursday that it has raised one of the largest funding rounds for a Silicon Valley tech company this year, landing $57 million in its fourth round.
tags: Deals | VC | Publishing | Insight Venture Partners | Chegg.com |

Wall Street Journal Counts 30,000 Kindle Subscribers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2009 - 12:00pm.
New York - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) The Wall Street Journal currently counts around 30,000 subscribers via Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) Kindle e-book reader, PaidContent reported, citing comments made by Down Jones head Les Hinton on Thursday. With a subscription fee of $15 per month, that translates to about $5.4 million in annual revenues -- although PaidContent notes that Dow Jones's cut would be less than half that figure.

tags: Newspapers | E-Books | News Corp. | Publishing | Amazon.com | Kindle | The Wall Street Journal |

Staff of Washington Blade to Launch "Modest" Publication Friday

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2009 - 10:39am.
Washington - Just days after the Washington Blade ceased publication, several former employees of the 40-year-old gay and lesbian newspaper said that they plan to launch a new, more modest version of the paper on Friday.
tags: Newspapers | Publishing | LGBT | Window Media | Washington Blade |

Mail.com Media Corp. Debuts HollywoodLife.com

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 17, 2009 - 12:24pm.
New York - Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC) on Tuesday announced the launch of HollywoodLife.com, a new female-focused celebrity and entertainment news website headed by former US Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller. The site's content will additionally be distributed by iVillage and AOL Popeater. MMC also operates Movieline.com, which is run by the former editorial team at Defamer, and Deadline.com, which features veteran entertainment journalist Nikki Finke.

tags: News | Publishing | HollywoodLife.com | Bonnie Fuller | Mail.com Media Corporation |

TIME's Josh Tyrangiel Named Editor of BusinessWeek

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 17, 2009 - 12:23pm.
New York - Bloomberg announced on Tuesday that it has hired Josh Tyrangiel to be editor of its newly-acquired BusinessWeek magazine. Tyrangiel is currently deputy managing editor of TIME magazine and managing editor of TIME.com.

tags: Moves | Magazines | Publishing | Time | Bloomberg | BusinessWeek | Josh Tyrangiel |

Twitter to Replace "Suggested Users" List

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 16, 2009 - 1:21pm.
San Francisco - Twitter will do away with its list of "suggested users," some 500 people the company picks out of its 54 million user base to promote to other Twitter users, the Associated Press reported. "That list will be going away," Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told reporters. "In its stead will be something that is more programmatically chosen, something that actually delivers more relevant suggestions." AP notes that the list had drawn controversy, for instance, for allegedly favoring Democrats over Republicans in California's gubernatorial race.

tags: Publishing | Twitter |

Google, Authors Submit Revised Book Settlement to Court

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 16, 2009 - 11:49am.
New York - A revised settlement agreement was submitted on Friday, in the closely-watched case of Google (NASD: GOOG) and the authors who sued the company over the details of its plans to scan the world's books into a digital index. The revised settlement addresses many key issues raised by the U.S. Justice Dept., copyright and consumer advocates, although some concerns remain. Under the agreement, the scanning of out-of-print books will now be limited to works published in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Google | Copyright | E-Books | DOJ | Publishing | Books | Creative Commons | Authors Guild | Google Book Search | Book Rights Registry |

Washington Times Editor Resigns Amid Management Shakeup

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 13, 2009 - 11:40am.
Washington - Less than a week after cleaning house in its executive ranks, The Washington Times confirmed on Friday that John Solomon has resigned as its executive editor. Solomon, who had held the post since Jan. 2008, formally tendered his resignation on Nov. 6. The news caps a chaotic week at the conservative publication, which on Sunday fired Thomas McDevitt, its president and publisher, as well as CFO Keith Cooperrider and Chairman Dong Moon Joo. The Washington Times was launched in 1982 by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and is subsidized by businesses related to Moon's Unification Church.

tags: Moves | Newspapers | Publishing | Washington Times |

Report: News Corp. to Block Google News "Within Months"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 13, 2009 - 9:52am.
London - Days after News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) chairman Rupert Murdoch said he plans to block stories from his stable of newspapers from appearing in Google's news index, the company's chief digital officer, Jonathan Miller, echoed the position and said the move would come in "months and quarters -- not weeks," the Telegraph reported. "The traffic which comes in from Google brings a consumer who more often than not read one article and then leaves the site. That is the least valuable of traffic to us... the economic impact [of not having content indexed by Google] is not as great as you might think. You can survive without it," Miller said at the Monaco Media Forum, according to the Telegraph's coverage.
tags: Advertising | Google | Newspapers | News Corp. | Publishing | Google News |

Forbes Media Acquires Web Photo Platform FlipGloss

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 13, 2009 - 8:21am.
New York - Forbes Media on Friday announced that it has acquired FlipGloss, the developer of a Web photo publishing platform.
tags: Deals | Acquisitions | Magazines | Publishing | Images | Forbes Media | FlipGloss |

Adobe to Lay Off 680 Employees; 9% of Total Workforce

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 11, 2009 - 10:23am.
San Jose, Calif. - Adobe Systems (NASD: ADBE), the maker of Web and desktop publishing software, plans to lay off 680 employees, or about 9% of its total workforce, the company said in a regulatory filing.
tags: Layoffs | Publishing | Adobe Systems |

Report: Hollywood Reporter, Billboard to be Sold to Finkelstein

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 11, 2009 - 10:12am.
Los Angeles - Nielsen is close to a deal to sell its Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Adweek and other magazines in its business media division to News Communications, James Finkelstein's company that publishes The Hill and the "Who's Who" stable of publications, TheWrap.com reported.
tags: Deals | Acquisitions | Nielsen | Magazines | Billboard | Publishing | Hollywood Reporter | News Communications | James Finkelstein |

Discovery Launches Online News Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 11:48am.
Silver Spring, Md. - Cable TV programmer Discovery Communications said on Monday that it has launched a dedicated website for its Discovery News service at DiscoveryNews.com. The company also has launched a Discovery News App for the iPhone and iPod touch. Discovery News produces breaking news, in-depth coverage and analysis of developments in technology, space and earth sciences.

tags: Mobile | TV | Discovery Communications | News | Publishing |

News Corp. Mulls Google News Exit for WSJ, Other Papers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 10:09am.
New York - News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) chairman Rupert Murdoch is considering blocking newspaper content from The Wall Street Journal and his company's other papers from appearing in Google's (NASD: GOOG) news index, The Guardian reported, citing an interview with Sky News Australia. Murdoch added that such a move wouldn't happen until his plan to begin charging users for access to more of News Corp.'s newspaper content online moves forward.
tags: Advertising | Google | Newspapers | News Corp. | Publishing | Rupert Murdoch | Google News | The Wall Street Journal |

Washington Times Fires Three Top Executives; Editor May Resign

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 9:49am.
Washington - In an unexpected development, The Washington Times on Monday fired Thomas McDevitt, its president and publisher, as well as CFO Keith Cooperrider and Chairman Dong Moon Joo.
tags: Moves | Newspapers | Publishing | The Washington Times |

Google Book Settlement Parties Ask Court for Extension

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 9:47am.
New York - Facing a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement on Monday, attorneys hammering out a new deal between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over Google's massive book-scanning project have asked the judge for an extension until Friday, The New York Times reports.
tags: Law | Google | Copyright | E-Books | Publishing | Books | Authors Guild |

Twitter Launches Spanish-language Version of Site

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 12:29pm.
San Francisco - Twitter has launched a Spanish-language version of its website, co-founder Biz Stone announced in a blog post published yesterday. The site was created with the assistance of volunteers -- similar to how Facebook has used volunteers and software to create foreign language versions of its site.

tags: Publishing | Twitter |
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