The Wall Street Journal reports that Barnes & Noble is launching an advertising campaign for the Nook, featuring a television commercial showing a girl reading as she grows up (as well as radio, print, and Internet ads). This will mark Barnes & Noble’s first television commercial since launching the BN.com website in 1996. Barnes & Noble seems to be shelling out some serious cash outlay on this, as the Journal article notes the TV ad will be airing during such popular fare as American Idol. The article then goes into further detail about the advertising and other...

TechCrunch reports that the New York Times is raising its rates for electronic delivery. The “E-Edition” of the paper is going from $14.99 to $19.99 per month, and the Kindle version is going from $13.99 to $19.99 per month for new subscriptions and starting in 6 months for existing subscriptions. Presumably, the iPad edition will be at the same $19.99 monthly rate. PaidContent points out that this is still less than half the cost of having the print edition delivered ($46 per month), but it’s still a hefty bump for people used to the older pricing. ...

As the iPad launches, so too do the tech-maven reviews. Here’s one from the Wall Street Journal and AllThingsD’s Walter Mossberg, who makes no bones about the fact that he really likes the gadget. My verdict is that, while it has compromises and drawbacks, the iPad can indeed replace a laptop for most data communication, content consumption and even limited content creation, a lot of the time. But it all depends on how you use your computer. Mossberg found it excellent for viewing media (including reading e-books), surfing the web, and light typing...

The Wall Street Journal has a comprehensive article on what magazine publishers are doing with advertising on the iPad. Of more interest to the consumer, however, is some of the magazine pricing information contained in the article. Here it is: Esquire: $2.99 or $2 less than the print version WSJ: $17.99 per month, versus $30/month for paper Men's Health: $4.99 per issue, same as print version...

Rupert Murdoch has confirmed that the Wall Street Journal will be on the iPad. Meanwhile, the Washington Post just launched a paid subscription mobile news app for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The price isn’t bad—$1.99 for 12 months—but this could go up after the first year. From Nate’s Ebook News comes word that Opera has updated its e-book reader widget. Only reads DRM-free EPUB, but Nate seemed to find it a decent reading experience. The EFF has updated “Unintended Consequences”, its annual “__ years under the DMCA” whitepaper. The time count now stands at 12, and the paper...

New York Magazine has a fascinating 8-page in-depth look at Rupert Murdoch, his recent feuds, and his family dynasty. The first half is devoted to Murdoch’s purchase of the Wall Street Journal and its subsequent transformation into a general-news paper with which to take on the New York Times. While this does not necessarily have a great deal to do with electronic reading, it does provide some excellent background behind both Murdoch’s and the Times’s decision to implement paywalls. But in the second half, there is some coverage of Murdoch’s much-publicized feud with Google, which we...

The Wall Street Journal reports that a Credit Suisse analyst predicts that Amazon’s share of the e-book market will fall from 90% to 35% over the next five years, with most of the rest of the market going to Apple and Google. Of course, an analyst’s predictions and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee. There is no reason to expect they have any more accurate crystal balls than the rest of us. Still, Apple and Google are about the only e-book competition in Amazon’s league that has yet materialized, and the market share they...

The Wall Street Journal’s “Digits” blog reports on Google filing a brief in defense of the planned Google Books settlement, in advance of the February 18th hearing to discuss the issue further. Google reiterates arguments Google has already made in favor of the settlement, and responds to Justice Department objections by citing legal precedents in its favor. The eventual fate of Google’s settlement is still up in the air, though the upcoming hearing should provide some hints as to its possible future. Given that most of the objectors were not swayed by Google’s revision—even the Justice Department,...

Here are a couple of recent shots fired across the bow of e-book readers and content aggregators. In a conference call, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch called e-book readers, tablets, and smartphones “lifeless” without the kind of print or video content that News Corp. can provide. “Content isn’t just King anymore but rather the emperor of all things electronic,” he said. Bigger and flatter screens are nice, but without the content, the devices will be “unloved and unsold.” Update: News Corp. also owns “big six” publisher Harper-Collins, and Gizmodo reports Murdoch said, "We don't like the Amazon model of $9.99….we think...

The Apple tablet is “the best gadget ever made” and includes an HDTV tuner, according to  Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo.com, after a claimed hands-on. True? And what might the TV angle mean? I’ve always believed that e-books could piggyback on mobile gear with a high-quality display for TV. Will this happen? Quoting Calacanis is the Wall Street Journal, which includes links to specific Tweets. [Post-Event Update: As noted on Apple's website, the resolution of the iPad is 1024x768 at 132 pixels-per-inch. This means the device can't do HDTV, as 16:9 720P high-definition requires at least 1280 pixels of horizontal resolution. —C.M.]...