Mediagazer: The story behind ‘the most bad-ass obit ever’ (Jim Romenesko)

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Billionaire Romney donor uses threats to silence critics — Frank VanderSloot, Romney finance co-chair, suppresses scrutiny by threatening reporters and bloggers — Frank VanderSloot is an Idaho billionaire and the CEO of Melaleuca, Inc., a controversial billion-dollar-a-year company …

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Barnes & Noble Misses In Q3; NOOK Business Up 38 Percent To $542M — Barnes and Noble reported earnings this morning, with total sales increasing 5% compared to the prior year, from $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion, falling short of analyst expectations. Net income was $52 million, which is flat with the previous year's earnings.

Discussion: paidContent, paidContent, VentureBeat, mediabistro.com, Business Wire and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »

Discussion: Engadget, more at Techmeme »

David Gambacorta / Philly.com:

Rendell's silence lasts all of 2 days — ED RENDELL'S vow of silence was officially laid to rest yesterday. — It lasted about as long as most people expected. — The former governor, who told the Daily News on Saturday that he would no longer talk publicly about his pursuit …

Discussion: The700Level.com

Sarah Fitzmaurice / Daily Mail:

The Colbert Report returns as Stephen honours sick mother, 91, on screen — With a nod of tribute to his ailing mother, Stephen Colbert returned to present The Colbert Report last night. — The political satirist was back at the helm of his show after he cancelled taping last week …

Discussion: Huffington Post

Gordon MacMillan / Brand Republic:

Sun insider claims Sun On Sunday is “desperately seeking advertisers” for first issue — A Twitter account belonging to someone who purporting to be an ex-News of the World journalist claims there is little enthusiasm for The Sun on Sunday internally and that dummies of the paper have not been well received.

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
Sun on Sunday: Rivals likely to take the biggest hit this weekend

Discussion: I'm With Kanye, Guardian and The New York Observer

Mark Sweney / Guardian: Sun on Sunday: NI plots ad-backed push for sales top spot

Paul McNally / journalism.co.uk:

A Guardian hotel? Publisher says it is ‘exploring options’ — Guardian News and Media says it is “currently researching and exploring a range of options”, amid claims that it is thinking of developing a new hotel concept. — A post on the Washington-based Harry's Place blog quoted …

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Rachel Maddow attacks PolitiFact, again — For the third time in four weeks, Rachel Maddow has lashed out at the fact-checking organization PolitiFact for issuing rulings that seem to defy its own research. — In January, Maddow called PolitiFact “a mess” and “an embarrassment”; last week, she called it “a disaster.”

Discussion: The Raw Story and Mediaite

Alex Fitzpatrick / Mashable!:

Tweeting a War: How One Journalist Is Using Twitter in Afghanistan — Journalists are using Twitter more and more these days, even in an unlikely place: Afghanistan. — With about a million active Internet users out of a total population of just less than 35 million …

E.D. Kain / American Times:

Possible Conflict Of Interest In ABC's Exclusive Access To Apple Chinese Supply Chain — ABC has been granted exclusive access to Apple's Chinese supply chain. — In January, the New York Times published a controversial and troubling report about working conditions in FoxConn factories where Apple products are manufactured.

Discussion: TVNewser, ABCNEWS, The Huffington Post, Fortune, Techland, 9to5Mac and Gizmodo

Jim Romenesko:

The story behind ‘the most bad-ass obit ever’ — “I have something really fun for you,” New York Times deputy obituaries editor Jack Kadden told Margalit Fox last Monday. He handed the obit writer a copy of Adam Bernstein's Washington Post piece on “professional adventurer” John Fairfax, who died Feb. 8.

Discussion: Gawker

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is Twitter a newspaper, or is it the phone company? — Is Twitter a publisher and distributor of information like a newspaper, or is it just a dumb pipe like a telephone network? Lawyers in Australia seem to believe that a case could be made that Twitter is a publisher, like a newspaper …

Discussion: paidContent and citmedialaw.org, Thanks:@mathewi

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Coming Soon From Amazon: Kindle Towering Inferno — Here's another report to add to the chorus of predictions that Amazon is gearing up to launch a larger version of its Kindle Fire tablet. The occasionally reliable Digitimes claims that Foxconn has won the contract for a new 10-inch Fire …

Discussion: ITProPortal, eBookNewser and BGR, more at Techmeme »

@wikileaks:

The only explanation for Bill Keller's bizarre attacks on Wikileaks, his former benefactor, is fear. The question is, of what?

Discussion: Gawker and The Nation