Pogue Deciphers E-Book Device Nomenclature
In a brief blog post, David Pogue looks at the names of new and recent e-book readers and notices something that most of them have in common: they take their names from parts of book-related terms, such as the “Nook” (from “book nook”), the “Blio” (from “bibliophile”), and the “Alex” (from “Alexandria”, site of the ancient library).
Surely it won’t be long before we see e-readers called the Guistic (from “linguistic”), the Aperba (from “paperback”) and the Cyclopede (take a guess).
Google News Drops Associated Press
Search Engine Land and TechCrunch report that Google News has quietly stopped carrying new Associated Press stories. This is apparently not related to the AP’s attempts to pre-empt fair use, or even to the noises Rupert Murdoch and other news magnates are making about aggregators, however—at least not directly.
For the past three years, Google has had a contract with the AP to allow it to carry AP content. That contract is up for renewal now, and it appears that negotiations may not be going entirely well.
SEL thinks this is simply Google’s way of covering bases in case the contract is not renewed, while TC thinks Google may be trying to show the AP how its traffic will drop if Google does not carry its content.
Apple and Orange
An earlier TeleRead post reported that an exec from Orange confirmed the existence of the new Apple tablet, and said that Orange customers would be getting it. PaidContent reports that Orange has now said “not so fast.”
A full statement emailed to us has further back-tracking: “These responses in no way reflect Orange’s confirmation of the existence of the rumoured device. The spokesperson was merely confirming that he is aware of the speculation surrounding a launch and that Orange would be delighted to have such a product were it ever to be available.”