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I just noticed while reading this article that if you click on a word, a reference box pops up so you better understand what you're reading. I think this is a really great idea, and very smart of the New York Times. It shows that the NYT is trying to keep readers engaged in their online version.

Macmillan is introducing software that will allow college instructors to edit digital editions of textbooks without consulting the original authors or publisher.

Apple wanted publishers to discount best sellers, so its $12.99-to-$14.99 range is merely a ceiling, according to people familiar with talks with publishers.

This would appeal to me more if I didn't get visions of people watching the 60 second videos and claiming to have "read" the book (my inner bookworm is cringing). If you can have previews for movies, though, I don't see why you couldn't have previews for a book, assuming that's how they are actually used (because I'm sure we all know how Cliff's Notes and even literary Wikipedia entries have turned out so far; some people do legitimately use them to merely clarify the text, but far more use them as a substitute...).

How do you keep a print book relevant in a rapidly changing technology domain?  Continuous publishing is one possibility, supported in O'Reilly Press' Live Editions.   See the comments for some interesting discussion with the authors of the first Live Edition book.

The debate is over what parts of the online display-ad ecosystem, estimated to be worth $7.9 billion in 2010, are adding value for publishers or brands.

FT Press is selling stripped-down, 1,000- to 2,000-word versions of books, for $1.99, and a new series of essays of about 5,000 words, for $2.99.

The digital divide is still alive and well....highlighted in an article centered in Fairfax.

LOS ANGELES — The Hollywood trade newspaper Variety is putting its Web site behind a "pay wall" starting Thursday – reserving its online content for paid subscribers and hoping its advertisers will stick around despite the smaller Internet audience. Variety plans to shut off free access gradually, asking one in 10 visitors for a user name and password that will be sent to paying subscribers.

CNN.com is investing in Outside.In, a start-up that feeds neighborhood blogs and other local news to the Web sites of larger media outlets." />

Simon & Schuster plans to postpone the release of 35 e-book titles by four months. This is in part attributed to the sales of Stephen King's "Under the Dome" in which the publisher noticed that e-book sales were cannibalizing hardcover sales.

A private school in Toronto is replacing its textbooks with the Sony e-reader.

More people are turning to the Internet for their arts consumption...seems to me that this might have implications for 1) people working in the arts (they have to market themselves too), and 2) people who want to do e-projects of various sorts (there is an audience for more complex online projects).

This is a segment from a "To the Best of Our Knowledge" podcast from a few weeks ago. Mr. Creative Commons (Lawrence Lessig), of course, says the copyright laws are too strict, but he talked in particular about the laws in relation to new technologies, in particular, mashup artists.

Interesting essay on what's happening to reading now that most of it is click-and-skim....

The iPad is on the way, and it just might reduce calling costs, cut your commute, and, to the delight of journalists everywhere, pull print media back from the brink.

Borders joins the e-book revolution with a new e-reader and e-book site created with a Canadian partner. The bookstore chain is entering a market crowded with other e-reading devices.

Publishers love to gripe about Google. But they almost never, ever, do the one thing that could put their money where their mouth is: Tell the search giant to

As the newspaper wraps up its assessment of the benefits and risks of restricting access to news on the Web, it is nearing a decision to charge its core online readers. " />

With a new tablet device, Steve Jobs is betting he can reshape businesses like textbooks, newspapers and television much the way his iPod revamped the music industry-and expand Apple's influence and revenue as a content middleman." />