Week in the News for November 18

Here are this week’s interesting publishing and media stories. Add your favorites to the comments section.

E-books, E-readers, and Apps

• In Russia, 95% of e-books are pirated. A company has developed an app to stop the trend. All Tech Considered
• Self publishing is big in Germany and has helped Amazon dominate the e-book market. Publishing Perspectives
• E-books are increasingly popular holiday gifts. Forbes

Tech

• The Internet is a valuable distraction for this writer. New York Times
• How technology changes language. Prospero
• 18 games for typography fans. Mashable

Social Media

• 10 surprising social media facts. FastCompany
• 5 tools for identifying online influencers. PR Daily
• Derek Thompson reviews the video sharing site Upworthy. The Atlantic
• The semantics of online advertising. The Guardian

Media and Publishing

• Publishing experts debate the future of the book. Publishers Weekly
• A roundup of independent print magazines and interviews with the editors. New York
• Brief interviews with very small publishers. The Morning News
• Five female writers discuss sexism in the literary world. Brooklyn Based
• Reality TV shows for writers are cropping up around the globe. The Guardian

Lifehack and Business

• How to build a strong team at work. Fast Company
• How to build a balanced creative team. 99u
• 10 brands that changed the world. AdWeek
• Coca-Cola is aiming to kill the press release. PR Daily

Writing and Grammar

• 10 types of writers’ block and how to fix them. io9
• Creative nonfiction subgenres. LitReactor
• On anonymous authorship. Page-Turner
• The import of ALL CAPS. Lingua Franca

Podcasts

• Author, publisher, and Powell’s bookseller Kevin Sampsell talks to Brad Listi. Other People
• Media strategist Ryan Holiday talks to Mitch Joel. Twist Image

For fun

• How chocolate works. How Stuff Works
  
• The science of inner speech. Scientific American

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Week in the News for November 11

Here are this week’s interesting media and publishing stories. Add your favorites to the comments section.

Social Media

• Daily Facebook activity among younger teens is in decline. AdWeek
• Jenna Wortham wonders if Facebook is fading. Bits
• Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, talks about his new venture, Medium. NYT

Media and Publishing

• John Oliver leaves the Daily Show for HBO. AdWeek
• BuzzFeed Books promises positive coverage. CJR
• 10 technological innovations in TV broadcasting. Stuff of Genius

Lifehack and Business

• Five free apps to help with directions, finding cheap rooms, and learning a language. FastCompany
• Coworking spaces are on the rise. All Tech Considered
• An interview with the co-founders of Makeshift Society, a San Fran coworking space. Design Observer
• An interview with Bill Gates. Financial Times Magazine
• Is a startup or a corporate job better for your career? FastCompany

Writing and Grammar

• Can you acquire empathy through essays? UTNE Reader
• The evolving role of the OED. Financial Times
• Is it impossible to be literal? Prospero
• Should literature be useful? PageTurner
• Marketing literary nonfiction. VQR

Podcasts

• Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper and lead developer for Tumblr. NextMarket
• Tim Stevens, Engadget’s former Editor-in-Chief. RIYL
• Tech columnist David Pogue talks about leaving The New York Times for Yahoo! NextMarket

For fun

• The experiment that led to the concept of “thinking outside the box.” io9
• Do our brains find certain shapes more attractive than others? Smithsonian

Link roundup for the week of October 28

Here are some of my favorite stories and news items from this week’s publishing, media, and tech reporting.

E-books, Readers, and Apps

• The state of e-book sales today. Publishers Weekly
• The new NOOK GlowLight reviewed. Good E-Reader
• Amazon’s Matchbook program launched this week. TIME

Tech

• Researchers and designers are proposing new keyboard layouts for thumb typing. The Atlantic
• How to crack a Wi-Fi password (and protect your own) Lifehacker
• You don’t have to leave your gadgets behind to get away from it all. GadgetLab

Social Media

• Facebook dominates in logins; Google makes gains [infographic] SocialTimes
• At 300 million users, Google+ activity remains in question. Digits
• Is Facebook failing marketers? Digiday
• Facebook is looking to develop better consumer tracking technology. WSJ
• Has Twitter changed the role of the literary critic? NYTBR

Media and Publishing

• World Book Night US announced their 2014 selections. WBN
• Random House acquires Figment, an online writing community for young readers. Jacket Copy
• Editor & Publisher’s 2013 EPPY Award winners. E&P

Writing and Grammar

• Five best free online word processors. Mashable
• How to polish your writing. Poynter
• When to use the passive voice. CJR
• Tim Kreider on writing for free. New York Times

Lifehack and Business

• How anxiety leads decisions astray. HBR
• Top 50 executives who make wheels turn.  AdWeek
• The structure of a 60 second pitch. Fast Company
• Tick is a new to-do app. Lifehacker
• 7 apps for a faster commute. Mashable

Podcasts

• Former editor at Esquire and GQ, now editorial director of nonfiction at Random House, Andy Ward. Longform

Misc.

• The science of a great subway map. FastCoDesign
• Best Longreads accounts on Twitter. Mashable
• Paintlist, a new app by Dutch Boy, recommends paint colors based on songs. New York Times
• New iPhone app Knoala is a repository for toddler playtime ideas. Techland

Link roundup for the week of October 21

Lots of interesting media, tech, and publishing news this week. Here are just a few things that caught my eye.

E-books, Readers, and Apps

• Competition in the tablet market is increasing. NYT
• 97% of newsstand apps are now free. AdWeek
• New moms spend more time on smartphones than other adults. LA Times
• Using metrics to boost e-book sales. MediaShift

Social Media

• Five tips for promoting your online events using social media. Social Times
• Facebook rolls out a new feature to help publishers increase engagement. Facebook

Media and Publishing

• A brief history of publishing [timeline] GalleyCat
• Is the gap between readers and critics widening? Publishing Perspectives
• Google gathers tools for journalists in one spot. Poynter
• To ticket or not to ticket literary events? Boswell Book Company
• Esquire Network reviewed. NYT
• Ad Age releases their annual Magazine A-List. Ad Age
• Macmillan CEO John Sargent profiled. The Bookseller

Writing and Grammar

• “E-book” keeps its hyphen in the NYT style guide update. GalleyCat
• Five best social sites for writers. Daily Dot
• How and why to promote your book in the digital age of publishing. Digital Book World
• When to leave out “that” Daily Writing Tips
• The Golden Age of Grammar myth. The New Republic
• 25 reasons Chuck Wendig loves genre fiction. Terrible Minds

Lifehack and Business

• 10 scientific studies on negotiation and influence. Smithsonian
• Why spend less time online. The Atlantic
• Seth Godin on the dangers of living in a Crystal Palace. Seth’s Blog

Podcasts

• IQ2 Debate: Copyright is Dead, Long Live the Pirates. Big Ideas
• Debbie Millman talks to book designer Chip Kidd. Design Matters
• Daniel Pink has a podcast. Office Hours

Misc

• Most popular coffee brands on Twitter [infographic] All Twitter
• Abraham Lincoln liked infographics. Elements

Link Roundup for the Week of October 14

Here are just a few things in the media and publishing world that caught my eye this week. Add your favorites in the comments section.

E-books, Readers, and Apps

• Oyster iPad app has arrived. GalleyCat
• Judge appoints monitor to keep eye on Apple’s e-book business. CNET
• Five useful apps. Aliza Sherman

Social Media

• One year later, Medium is changing the way writers write and readers read. MediaShift
• Video sharing site Upworthy pairs emotional content with catchy headlines to spread social awareness. New York Times
• Online mentions: New York Times vs. Mashable [infographic] SocialTimes
• Twitter revenue more than doubles in third quarter. Bloomberg
• Does real-time marketing work? AdWeek

Media and Publishing

• Debut ratings for MSNBC’s “Up Late with Alec Baldwin” TV Newser
• Willa Paskin reviews “Up Late with Alec Baldwin” Slate
• A look inside the life of New York City newspaper hawkers. CJR

Writing and Grammar

• 9 proofreading marks for correcting people on the Internet. College Humor
• Imminent vs. eminent. CJR
• How handwriting analysis works. How Stuff Works

Lifehack and Business

• Five prefixes to use in your email subject lines. 99u
• Use your email autoresponder for maximum productivity. FastCompany

Podcasts

• Granta editor Sigrid Rausing talks about the magazine’s past, present, and future. Late Night Library
• The app generation. Leonard Lopate Show
• Jerry Seinfeld talks to Alec Baldwin. Here’s the Thing

Misc

• History of typography in five minutes. Lost at E Minor
• Research shows that Oreos are just as addictive as drugs in lab rats. Connecticut College

Link Roundup for the Week of October 7

Here’s this week’s tech, media, and book publishing news.

E-books, Readers, and Apps

• E-book singles are on the rise. AppNewser
• McDonald’s is teaming up with UK publisher DK to distribute free e-books to diners. Forbes
• Kindle Paperwhite reviewed. Wired

Tech

• Young people are not as digitally native as many believe them to be. Bits
• How to get better Internet connection in your hotel room. GadgetLab
• Silicon Valley novels blur fiction and nonfiction. Bits

Social Media

• The old and new guard at Twitter. New York Times
• How to create a compelling email newsletter. Social Times
• Twitter bios and what they really say. NYT Style
• Nick Bilton on Twitter’s origins. NYT Magazine

Media and Publishing

• John Freeman, former editor of Granta, profiled. New York Observer
• Creative tech leader Andrea Colvin on digital publishing. Digital Book World

Writing and Grammar

• Write better blog posts. LitReactor
• How to hyphenate ages. GrammarGirl
• How tablets are changing the way writers work. Poynter

Lifehack and Business

• Sourcing talent for the workplace of the future. Wired
• Tame your Twitter feed by turning off retweets. GadgetLab
• What multitasking does to your brain. FastCompany

Podcasts

• American Icons: Native Son. Studio 360

Misc

• A breakdown of Twitter’s 200+ million users (funny). Geek Culture
• Edgar Allan Poe’s obituary. The Paris Review
• “Doctor Who” fans petition to light the Empire State Building in Tardis blue. CNET
• Geek vs. Nerd, this hip hop offers help with definitions. Social Times

Link Roundup for the Week of September 30

Here’s the week’s interesting tech and publishing news.

E-books, Readers, and Apps

• Scribd teams up with HarperCollins and several smaller publishers for an $8.99 all-you-can-read subscription service. Salon
• The American Library Association talks about e-books in libraries. Forbes
• The Kenton County Public Library has an e-book mascot. Overdrive

Tech

• The benefits and challenges of digitizing library collections. The Atlantic
• How to fix music discovery sites. FastCoDesign
• NPR’s news app editor on designing for the mobile screen. MediaShift
• Top 20 tech hangouts in New York City. The Next Web
• 50 people in the New York tech scene you should know. The Next Web
• Technology and the college generation. NYT Style 

Social Media

• Who are the most social publishers on the web? DataBlog
• Facebook made it easier to find old status updates. Here’s how to reconfigure your privacy settings. Huffington Post
• Important facts about the Twitter IPO. Quartz 

Media and Publishing

• Top 30 news shows for the third quarter of 2013. Huffington Post
• Four things trade publishers can learn from scientific, technical and medical publishers. DBW
• Penguin Classics editorial director Elda Rotor answers questions about publishing. Reddit
• Author website tips. Jane Friedman
• 25 independent publishers. Flavorwire 

Writing and Grammar

• Smart vs. dumb quotes. FastCoDesign
• Writing life vs. the blinking cursor, four essays. Longreads

Lifehack and Business

• Career advice from top media editors. Digiday
• How effective people handle email. 99U
• How to establish a personal brand when you’re an introvert. Lifehacker
• Work, life balance advice from neuroscientists. Fast Company 

Podcasts

• Media and fashion entrepreneur Marc Ecko talks about sincerity in branding. Twist Image
• In their second segment, the Culture Gabfest discusses the state of literary criticism. Slate
• Reddit founder Alex talks about startups. Leonard Lopate Show 

Misc.

• Michael Kimmelman says we should use libraries as storm shelters. The New York Times
• 50 years of headlines from The New York Review of Books. NYRB
• From the archive, Ursula K. Le Guin reviews Italo Calvino’s “Italian Folktales” (1980). The New Republic
• A girl quit her tech job through a skit on camera, it went viral. Speakeasy