Busted. (Photo: flickr.com/photos/kodomut)

Bad news, everyone: Researchers are claiming the smart-but-neglected nerds don't actually win in the end. It turns out that, in the long run, the more popular kids actually make more money.  No word on how a makeover changes things. [The Atlantic Wire]

A Norwegian woman who somehow angered Amazon found her Kindle account frozen and access to her ebooks blocked, for an unexplained infraction. This serves as a nice reminder that unless you own something IRL, you only kinda own it. [GigaOm]

In what's likely evidence of testing going on at Twitter HQ, some users are reporting seeing the terms "star" and "like" pop up in the place of "favorite." [TheNextWeb]

Wal-Mart is investing quite a substantial bit of time, money and effort in its Facebook marketing efforts this holiday season. So don't fuck up, Zuck. [Wired]

Small businesses, unfortunately, can't quite count on flying under the radar so as to avoid cybercriminals. [ReadWrite]

Apple is livestreaming today's press conference, which is likely to be the occasion for the unveiling of the iPad Mini. [TheNextWeb]

Target Corp. ceased selling Amazon devices last Spring, after deciding Amazon's sales tactics were working against the retailer's best interests.

Now is the part where I throw my head back and laugh. (Photo: flickr.com/oreilly)

Good news for cheapskates, bad news for traditional publishing: "Agency pricing," which many in the book business had hoped would prove a defense against Amazon's discounting every new book to $9.99, is pretty much finito as of today.

A bit of background: At issue is the agency model, which first came into play when Apple debuted the iPad and began talking to publishers about ebooks. Apple liked the sound of an agency model, where publishers would set the price and and Apple would merely act as agent, taking a cut of the transaction. This looked like a way of finally breaking Amazon's iron-fisted insistence on charging $9.99 for a standard new release, which would otherwise go for $25.00 in print.

Back in April, the Department of Justice, however, took exception to this, filing an anti-trust suit against Apple and five of the big six book publishers, namely Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster. (Only Random House escaped unscathed.) The lot of 'em were accused of colluding to fix prices. Three of the accused--Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins--immediately agreed to settle, terminating the offending deals with Apple and pinky swearing not to control retailers' prices for at least two years.

Macmillan and Penguin are fighting on, as is Apple.

However, it wasn't as simply as signing some papers and cutting a check. Apple wanted them to wait until a trial determined the final outcome. It didn't work out, though: The Wall Street Journal reports that a judge has signed off on the agreement, meaning Amazon can begin sharpening the discounting knives... well, depending on whether Apple decides to appeal.

One industry analyst told the New York Times:

“I think that everybody competing with Amazon in the e-book market had better fasten their seat belts,” Mike Shatzkin, the founder and chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, a consultant to publishers, said in an interview. “I would expect Amazon to be leading the charge to cut prices on the most high-profile e-books as soon as the decision allows them to do so.”

That means anyone who wants to compete is going to have to start the price chopping, too.

Meanwhile, in the wider tech world, Amazon just took a flying leap, claws extended and teeth bared, at Apple's face. The press release issued for the Kindle Fire HD? "Amazon Takes on the High End."

And to think, this whole thing started as a way for Apple to get the content offerings to compete with Amazon.

You're welcome for the Comic Sans. (Photo: American Treasure Tour)

Here's the new Amazon Kindle. It has a "paperwhite" backlit display. [The Verge]

Facebook set to launch email and phone number-based ad targeting this week which is only mildly creepy. [TechCrunch]

Fantasizing about ditching email is porn for tech people, basically. [Planet Krypton]

Reddit tackles the important questions: "If you have one GIF to represent you on your tombstone when you die, what would it be?" [Reddit]

Netflix video streaming accounts for 25 percent of all Internet data transmitted in North America. But it's so worth it for all those Arrested Development marathons. [Yahoo]

Who, me? [Inside IPO]

More and more cyberattacks are being launched against U.S. infrastructure. Okay, but does the malware play AC/DC? [New York Times]

Amazon saw a 96 percent drop in Q2 profits. We're guessing you're not reading this on a Kindle, then. [Wall Street Journal]

The Verge uncovered top secret old Apple product prototypes. [The Verge]

How will Google fiber make money, and what does it mean for already-established broadband companies? [GigaOm]

JEFF BEZOS KNOWS.

It's a common refrain (one that'll be especially familiar to, let's say, romance fans): Hey, isn't it great that, once you get a Kindle/Nook/iPad, no one can see what you're reading? Now we're forever free from those awkward subway moments when we pull out our trashy novel and realize it's a little too lurid for the L train on a Saturday night.

Well, a bit of bad news for the bookish and private. The Wall Street Journal would like you to know that whoever sold you that ebook--whether it's Amazon, Apple, or whoever--actually is paying attention to what you read. For one thing, maybe be careful what you highlight?

"Amazon can identify which passages of digital books are popular with readers, and shares some of this data publicly on its website through features such as its "most highlighted passages" list."

Oh, but it gets even more datalicious. Over to the Nook:

"Data collected from Nooks reveals, for example, how far readers get in particular books, how quickly they read and how readers of particular genres engage with books. Jim Hilt, the company's vice president of e-books, says the company is starting to share their insights with publishers to help them create books that better hold people's attention."

To be fair, Barnes and Noble is studying batches of readers rather than individuals. But we're still a little unnerved by the thought of an all-seeing digital eye keeping tabs on our progress through that doorstop of a Steve Jobs bio.

Also please dear sweet merciful Jesus do not start trying to recapture our attention using multimedia in our ebooks:

"Pinpointing the moment when readers get bored could also help publishers create splashier digital editions by adding a video, a Web link or other multimedia features, Mr. Hilt says. Publishers might be able to determine when interest in a fiction series is flagging if readers who bought and finished the first two books quickly suddenly slow down or quit reading later books in the series."

Sometimes when we put a novel down it's because the damn thing got boring. 

"Should we just shrink it?"

Hard on the heels of last week’s Facebook phone rumors comes new smartphone pot-stirring on the part of Wired. The question: Why shouldn't Amazon take its foothold in the tablet market and tackle smartphones? Uh, we can think of a couple of reasons.

This isn’t the first mention of an Amazon smartphone. Back in November, All Things D got hold of a note that predicted the device would be launched by the end of the year, based on backdoor intel (called channel checks) from Amazon's Asian suppliers. The memo suggests the phone would cost $150 to $170 to build--and of course, Amazon has never been shy about cutting it close on margins. Now that it's already May, Wired runs the pros and cons. The ability to sell on its own homepage is not to be underestimated as an advantage. ABI Research analyst  Aapo Markkanen--who calls a smartphone “a logical next step” for Amazon--points to the “lock-in effect” of the company’s content ecosystem:

If Amazon builds up a sizable customer base for its devices, and many of those customers find its content offerings appealing enough, then that would mean a tougher market environment for Apple, as well.

But it's worth noting that the Android smartphone space is a whole different kettle of fish than the Android tablet space upon Amazon's advent. There’s already a whole bunch of competitors fighting for position, and Amazon wouldn't exactly be able to waltz in as the heir presumptive. Nor has Amazon’s relationship with app developers always been rosy, either.

All this follows yet another spate of ill-sourced speculation regarding Facebook’s long-rumored smartphone. DigitTimes claimed HTC is developing such a device with an eye to a Q3 launch, but there’s a good chance that’s utter nonsense.

Given all the rampant rumor-mongering, we can’t help but wonder what might be percolating in the minds of those behind “Newco,” Barnes & Noble’s nascent Microsoft-funded, Nook-making subsidiary. Let’s take another look at the kicker to yesterday’s press release:

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation, and moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products. This paves the way for both companies to collaborate and reach a broader set of customers.

Just saying. 

The much-anticipated follow-up!

As students of Gothic literature and Keanu Reeves fans know, Bram Stoker's Dracula is that rare classic that offers high-brow cover for what is essentially a sex romp through Transylvania. As author Maria Cruz found, it also makes for good plagiarizing.

You see, when Amazon opened up its Kindle Select program to indie publishers and self-published authors, it left the door ajar for plagiarists. As Adam Penenberg points out in Fast Company, that problem is particularly rampant in the erotica genre.

In Bram Stoker's case, his work has been in the public domain since it was first printed, due to his failure to follow proper copyright procedure. In most cases, however, the source text for thieves of the titillating aren't noted authors, but rather their fellow purveyors of smut:

It turns out Cruz isn't the only self-published plagiarist. Amazon is rife with fake authors selling erotica ripped word-for-word from stories posted on Literotica, a popular and free erotic fiction site that according to Quantcast attracts more than 4.5 million users a month, as well as from other free online story troves. As recently as early January, Robin Scott had 31 books in the Kindle store, and a down-and-dirty textual analysis revealed that each one was plagiarized. Rachel M. Haven, a purveyor of incest, group sex, and cheating bride stories, was selling 11 pilfered tales from a variety of story sites. Eve Welliver had eight titles in the Kindle store copied from Literotica and elsewhere, and she had even thought to plagiarize some five-star reviews. Luke Ethan's author page listed four works with titles like My Step Mom Loves Me and OMG My Step-Brother in Bisexual, and it doesn't appear he wrote any of them. Maria Cruz had 19 ebooks and two paperbacks, all of which were created by other authors and republished without their consent, while her typo-addled alter ego Mariz Cruz was hawking Wicked Desire: Steamy bondage picture volume 1.

Amazon's current policy is to remove offending content when a complaint of plagiarism is registered. Ms. Cruz, for example, had her 51 e-books deleted when users protested in a Kindle forum. But a few days later, she posted an entirely new set of material and Amazon takes time to act.

Meanwhile unlike other genres that operate less in the shadows, the original authors who shared their deepest fantasies for free on sites like Literotica are probably not going to lead the charge of plagiarism. Mr. Penenberg says the writers he contacted alternated between flattered, angry, and fearful that their identity would be revealed.

David Springer, for example, a security guard "whose 'nom de naughty' is Oediplex" learned that a Kindle Single called My Step Mom Loves Me by Luke Ethan was just a repackaged version of his original Literotica story, "I Remember Mother." As he told Fast Company,

"I never did expect to get wealthy from writing, though I wish I had a penny for every orgasm my stories have produced."

Real artists, it seems, do it for the love of the sport.

As AllThingsD reports, Amazon had to issue an apology last night to Kindle owners who received a notice about automatic enrollment for a subscription to something called the Kindle Compass that: 1. they didn't sign up for and 2. "would automatically continue at the monthly subscription rate” if they did nothing. Nothing like hearing that the mere act of going about your day as usual now comes with a mysterious additional fee.

Not all Kindle owners received the email. But the ones who did were, naturally, confused. No monthly rate was mentioned and customers jumped on Kindle forums to post complaints like under rubrics like “Where is Kindle Compass Magazine?” and “Auto-Subscription to the Kindle Compass??”

Just as the Times' customer phone lines were too tied up to explain, Amazon customer service likewise couldn't help. "Even worse, those who contacted customers service said the reps weren’t familiar with the service, so the best they could do was help them to unsubscribe to ensure they would not be charged," says AllThingsD.

In the email apology that went out to customers hours later, Amazon explained that the Kindle Compass was a pilot project and apologized for confusion about subscription prices:

This morning we sent you an email regarding The Kindle Compass, a new free publication built by the Kindle editorial team that we’re piloting to a small number of Kindle customers.

This email incorrectly referred to The Kindle Compass as a subscription with a free trial. We built it to always be free for customers, and you will never be charged for it. We apologize for any confusion.

If you wish to unsubscribe from the pilot for The Kindle Compass you can do so from a link in the last section of the magazine, or from the Manage Your Kindle Subscriptions page at www.amazon.com/manageyourkindlesubscriptions.

What, no apology for the automatic, opt-out subscription part?

NY is en fuego for the Fire

There was a reason Jeff Bezos came all the way to New York to unveil Amazon's new suite of Kindle e-readers and tablet devices. Like the iPad the Kindle is first and foremost a device for consuming media, with the new Kindles going beyond the book to offer music, television and movies as well. And the Big Apple's high end publishers are thrilled to have a second dance partner for the party beyond Apple.

As the NY Times reports, Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet will come with a digital newsstand front-and-center where users can buy magazines and newspapers. To glossy publishers, this sounds like a haven from a digital world dominated by Angry Birds.

“When you’re lost in the middle of 100,000 apps, you only have people who find you when they’re looking for you,” Bob Sauerberg, president of Condé Nast, told the paper. “This helps with getting consumers in. They pick what they want, and we sell them more of what interests them. And everybody is happy.”

Apple has been hoping to introduce its own newsstand for some time, and is expected to announce one within the next month. But Cupertino has struggled to come to terms with magazine publishers over their cut of subscription revenue. And sales of subscriptions on non-iPad devices, like Barnes and Noble's Nook, have already surpassed iPad sales for publishers like Hearst.

This new line of devices are all priced below $200, meaning they are most likely a loss leader to help Amazon establish themselves in the tablet market. So far it seems to be working, with the Kindle Fire and various flavors of Kindle sitting claiming the entire top ten for best selling gadgets on Amazon. Come Christmas time, the tablet market is going to look very different than it does today.