Hoping to read the New York Post on an e-reader anytime soon? Then your choices just got quite a bit more limited, as the newspaper has signed a deal that will see Sony offer the only version of the paper for digital reading devices. Joining it are various exclusive offerings from Dow Jones & Company, including The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch , which won’t be completely exclusive to Sony readers, but will be available in special editions only available on Sony readers — that includes The Wall Street Journal PLUS , a digital edition of the morning paper that also features an update of the day’s events after the close of the markets. Owners of the Sony Reader Daily Edition will also naturally be able to get the day’s papers wirelessly delivered to their readers, with subscriptions running between $9.99 and $19.99 a month. Sony e-readers get exclusive Dow Jones, New York Post content originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:52:00 EST.
Momentous moment alert — the EU has just closed the book on its lengthy investigation into potential Microsoft antitrust violations. Lasting through nearly the entire noughties, The European Commission’s dissatisfaction with what it perceived as monopolistic practices from Redmond has resulted in some hefty fines over the years , but the conclusion to hostilities has been pleasingly amicable. In exchange for Microsoft’s legally binding promise to offer up to 12 other browsers alongside its own , the European executive will give the company a clean bill of competition-friendly health. All this means is that the ballot screen will be around on Windows operating systems for at least the next five years (starting in mid-March 2010), which should give the EU plenty of time to think up the next batch of allegations to throw Microsoft’s way. EU settles affairs with Microsoft, no fines this time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:24:00 EST.
It’s looking all-but-official that Google is developing a smartphone of its own using its Android operating system, as reported in TechCrunch last month. All Google has said officially is that it has developed a “mobile lab” device that “combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android,” and that employees are “ dogfood ” testing the phone. But both TechCrunch and the Wall Street Journal say the device is, in fact, the fabled Google phone. (Subscription required for the second link.) The phone will reportedly be called the Nexus One, and Google will sell the device itself, online. Users will then buy cellular plans on their own, from a carrier of their choice.
Joining Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group (Stephanie Meyer, James Patterson) in delaying e-books months after their hardcover releases? HarperCollins, home to Neil Gaiman and the Lemony Snicket series. Beginning in 2010, five to ten books released each month will be given a physical head start lasting anywhere from four weeks to six months. Similar justification as before, the prevailing worry is that the cheaper digital copies so early in a title’s release will make for “fewer literary choices for customers” because publishers won’t be as willing to take a risk on new writers. It’s not necessarily the most sound of arguments, but still we can imagine some short term harm to the e-book industry.
A decade after the world’s craziest merger, AOL has been spun off again from Time Warner, which AOL acquired for a stuperiffic $164 billion dollars a decade ago. (That’s right: It was AOL which purchased Time Warner, not the other way around.) Rather than file another navelgazing commentary , VentureBeat collected crib notes of all the factoids you need to know about the deal. Print it out and pocket it for tonight’s industry mixers. The Past AOL bought Time Warner for $164 billion — more than the current market value of Google — on February 11, 2000. At the time of the merger AOL’s dot-com-era market value was $165 billion.
