Mediagazer: Amazon Has Some Kindle Book Rentals Beyond Textbooks (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

10:55 AM ET, December 1, 2011

Top News:

For first time in history, TV ownership declines — Nielsen, the TV ratings people, are out with the 2012 edition of their Television Audience report. Much of this is a repackaging of data previously released by Nielsen. But as NBC used to say, it's new to me!

Discussion: Poynter, /Film and Inside TV

Sean Comer / Yidio: A Sign The Internet Has Won? TV Ownership Declining

Stan Schroeder / Mashable:

Spy Files: WikiLeaks Releases Surveillance Industry Documents — WikiLeaks on Thursday released the first 287 documents from a database containing “hundreds” of documents from contractors in what WikiLeaks calls the “mass surveillance industry.” — For this project, WikiLeaks teamed …

Wikileaks:

The Spyfiles — Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

Amazon Widens Its Kindle Footprint With €99 Device On Sale In Spain, Italy — It's taken a few years, but Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has really ramped up the number of countries where it is selling its Kindle products. Today it's announcing two more countries to the list where it sells …

Discussion: Amazon.com, PC Magazine, CNET News, Epicenter and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon Has Some Kindle Book Rentals Beyond Textbooks — Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has made some e-books in the Kindle store available for rental. This is a program different from Kindle Owners' Library Lending: Users can rent a book for a period of 30, 60, 90 or 120 days.

Discussion: The Verge

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Blagging figures were ‘grossly understated’ — The Information Commissioner's official figures on the extent of blagging by journalists and private investigators unearthed by Operation Motorman have been “grossly understated” - according to the man who led the investigation.

The Independent: Investigator: I was barred from taking on the press

Cotton Delo / AdAge:

Foursquare Rolls Out New Buttons for Publishers — ‘Share’ Button Enables Foursquare Users to Add Venues to To-Do List While Reading Web Content — Foursquare is looking to increase its visibility on the web by introducing new sharing buttons for publishers that will appear side-by-side with the Facebook …

Discussion: VentureBeat

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Foursquare Teams Up With NY Mag, Time Out, Other Publishers — “Save to Foursquare” buttons now appear alongside web content at New York magazine, Time Out, and a variety of other publishers, allowing users to send places they want to go to their phones and get alerted when they're in the vicinity.

Discussion: Foursquare Blog, L.A. Times Tech Blog, FT Tech Hub, ReadWriteWeb, Marketing Pilgrim, Lost Remote and Electronista, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

How 9/11 led to the birth of Google News — In a video explaining the evolution of Google search over the years, Google Fellow Amit Singhal tells the story of how Google News came to be:

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

Barnes & Noble Reports Q2 Net Loss Of $6.6M, Says NOOK Is Now A $220 Million Business — Barnes & Noble this morning reported sales and earnings for its second quarter ended October 29, 2011, and they're a mixed bag. Total sales decreased slightly, from $1.9 billion to $1.89 billion, compared to the prior year.

Discussion: paidContent, Media & Entertainment, Fast Company, CNET News, Publishers Lunch and TeleRead, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

Alibaba-Led Group Said to Prepare Yahoo Bid — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Softbank Corp. (9984) are in advanced talks with Blackstone Group LP (BX) and Bain Capital LLC about making a bid for all of Yahoo! Inc., said three people with knowledge of the matter.

Discussion: AdExchanger.com, CNET News, Business Insider, Medacity, Electronista and Forbes, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:
Silver Lake Bids $16.60 a Share for Yahoo Stake

Discussion: AllThingsD, DealBook, Business Insider, The Next Web, GeekWire, CNET News, Forbes, Deadline.com and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

HBO To Cord Cutters: You'll Never See Our Shows — HBO is cementing its reputation as a trail-blazer with a new batch of hit shows and, more recently, a hugely popular mobile offering. But the company is determined to remain a traditionalist when it comes to its relation with tv distributors.

Discussion: Multichannel, VideoNuze, Techland, The Verge and Deadline.com

Matt Seaton / Guardian:

Naomi Wolf: reception, responses, critics — Naomi Wolf's article about the police crackdown on Occupy went viral this weekend. Many ‘liked’ it; others, not so much ... When a single article is recommended on Facebook 235,000 times, tweeted nearly 7,000 times, gets close to 1,000 comments and is viewed …

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:

You Bet Apple TV Is Coming, Says Apple Guru Gene Munster — Here Are The Details — Apple analyst Gene Munster just reiterated his belief that Apple is going to launch a TV next year. — He made the comments at our IGNITION: Future of Media conference this morning.

Discussion: Fortune, MacRumors, Future of Journalism, NYConvergence.com, 9to5Mac and Softpedia News, more at Techmeme »

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:UK:

Hearst's Carey: We Will Have One Million Paying Digital Subscribers In 2012 — On the heels of the Economist claiming one million monthly mobile readers of its magazine across Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Android devices, another magazine publisher is gearing up to join the seven-figure club …

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

New York Times overhauls comment system, grants privileges to trusted readers — The New York Times rolls out a new commenting system today that spotlights reader contributions and grants special privileges to some. — The Times will invite any reader whose comments are consistently approved …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, NetNewsCheck Latest and New York Times

Jef Feeley / Bloomberg:

News Corp Wins Dismissal of Shine Group Acquisition Lawsuit by Investors — Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. (NWSA) persuaded a judge to throw out an investor lawsuit seeking information about the $675 million purchase of a U.K.-based television production company owned by Murdoch's daughter.

RBR:

Q3 Internet ad revenues up 22% — Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. hit $7.88 billion in Q3, a 22% increase over the same period in 2010, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US. These figures also show a 2.7% uptick from the record-setting revenues of Q2.

Discussion: Adweek and MediaPost

James Robinson / Guardian:

The Leveson inquiry: what we've learned so far — From the ‘toothlessness’ of the PCC to Hugh Grant's middle name, we round up what 10 days of testimony has taught us — Over the past 10 days, a succession of famous faces, and some who are less well-known, have appeared at the Royal Courts …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

Henry McDonald / Guardian:
‘Paisley family targeted for phone hacking’

Discussion: Press Association, Telegraph, Irish Independent News and Reuters

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Pulitzer Prizes change breaking news category to emphasize ‘real-time’ reporting — The Pulitzer Prizes are doing away with paper for next year's awards. All entries must be submitted digitally. The Pulitzer Board is also changing the local breaking news award to emphasize real-time reporting.

Discussion: Mashable!, GigaOM, J-source.ca, NetNewsCheck Latest and The News About The News