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Amazon is playing hardball with book publishers. The Seattle online bookseller says it will give authors a 70% cut of the sale of e-books sold for its Kindle readers, essentially offering writers a way to bypass traditional book publishers.

Back in June , the market was flirting with the idea that Amazon was looking to acquire Netflix. Analysts largely dismissed the combination then. After all, Amazon itself is preparing for a world that is moving away from physical products like books and CDs, and is instead placing emphasis on digital delivery via the Kindle and other devices. Why would the online retailing giant want to buy a company that processed millions of scratched, misplaced, and expensive DVDs? Yesterday may mark a change in the perceptions of a Netflix-Amazon deal . In short, Netflix is becoming a lot more attractive to Amazon.

YT is out to increase the amount of time that viewers spend on the site, which is currently 15 mins per day. They spend 5 hrs per day on TV, so YT execs see that as their main competition. How to make YT viewing experience more like TV? More sticky? Need to generate new models for search suggestions ("discovery," a la Netflix and Amazon, or social media, a la Facebook). Also need to explore models for pushing content, Amazon.

Amazon is conceding to Macmillan's price hikes on e-books rather than pull Macmillian from its digital and physical catalog.

With the impending arrival of digital books on the Apple iPad and feverish negotiations with Amazon.com over e-book prices, publishers have managed to take some control - at least temporarily - of how much consumers pay for their content.

When Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) announced its Nook e-reader in October, the ability to pursue a dual in-store and online sales strategy appeared to be one of the clear advantages it might have over Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN). But, as we first reported then, the chain didn't plan to sell Nooks to go in all its stores for the 2009 holidays-and, as it turned out, the combination of demand and distribution issues kept the device from store shelves. Instead, most people who bought Nooks at B&N stores were placing online orders for delivery weeks or months into the future-not buying them for same-day use.

Fending criticisms from multiple parties, Google once again made the case for digitizing millions of orphaned books before the U.S. District Court Southern District Court of New York, in a fairness hearing held Thursday. A total of 27 different parties requested to speak before the court. Five were in favor, including Sony, the National Federation of the Blind and the Center for Democracy and Technology. The rest -- 22 in total -- opposed the settlement, including Amazon, Microsoft, the Open Book Alliance, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Those in favor praised the idea of rendering hard-to-find books in electronic form, because they could be accessible to a much larger group of readers, and not be lost to the ages. The objectors, however, voiced strong concerns that the settlement case preempts U.S. copyright law altogether. Others voiced privacy and antitrust concerns.

"A ChangeWave survey of 3,171 consumers -- conducted in the aftermath of that Apple announcement (Feb 1-10) -- shows a huge wave of pre-launch demand for the iPad and offers key evidence that the Apple tablet will have a major impact on the e-Reader, laptop and home entertainment markets."

Discusses how Google's ambitions have grown recently, as the company now desires to enter the realms of social networking and ecommerce. It's only a matter of time before Google conquers the world.

Provides breakdown of publishing costs for hardcover books vs. e-versions. Authors get screwed, while publishers struggle to cover their overhead costs and maintain profitability.

A look at Google's competition in advertising revenues, online media, communication technologies, etc.