Mediagazer: Google Play Books' new reading mode lets you browse and skim nonfiction ebooks faster (Laura Hazard Owen/Gigaom)

5:12 PM ET, October 30, 2014

Top News:

First Look Media opens up about Matt Taibbi's departure, details months of internal turmoil — The Inside Story Of Matt Taibbi's Departure From First Look Media — Matt Taibbi, who joined First Look Media just seven months ago, left the company on Tuesday.

New York Times:

NYT Q3 results: $364.7M revenue, 1.3% increased circulation, operating loss of $9M, digital subs up 20% year-on-year — The New York Times Company Reports 2014 Third-Quarter Results — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)— The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) announced today a third-quarter 2014 …

Discussion: Poynter, New York Times, Poynter, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, @whatthebit, @joycelaunews, NetNewsCheck Latest, @byheatherlong and Forbes

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Times brass tout native, digital subs as bright spots — Digital advertising growth and digital subscriptions got lots of love from New York Times executives as the company reported its third-quarter earnings results Thursday morning. — On a conference call with Wall Street analysts …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, AdAge and MediaWire Daily

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Flipboard debuts a big redesign and The Daily Edition, a morning news section — With a fresh coat of paint and a handful of new features, Flipboard targets competitors big and small — Finding the right news to read is hard. That's why hundreds of companies have jumped …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Vice Media Pacts with Rogers for $100 Million Canadian Studio Venture — Vice Media and Canada's Rogers Communications, a media and communications conglom, have formed a $100 million joint venture to create a multimedia production studio dedicated to original programming from the Great White North.

Discussion: Gawker, Globe and Mail, Forbes, AdAge, Media & Entertainment, @johnmccauley, Tubefilter, @rmcomedy and City A.M.

Jordan Chariton / The Wrap:

Al Jazeera America Viewers Down Nearly 50 Percent From Current TV's Numbers — The winner and loser of the lawsuit between Al Jazeera America and former Current TV CEO Al Gore is yet to be determined, but ratings comparisons between the two show a clear winner. — See photos: Is One of These the Next Al Jazeera America Chief?

Ramin Setoodeh / Variety:

ABC News Takes Over ‘The View’ As Ratings Dwindle (Exclusive) — Incoming president Ben Sherwood steers franchise to division's non-fiction arm — For 18 seasons, “The View” has been one of the crown jewels of ABC Daytime programming block. But in a significant restructuring …

Discussion: TVNewser, Broadcasting & Cable, @spinsvixenella, @carrie_uk, @poniewozik, Capital New York and UPROXX

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Newsquest cuts 20 jobs at Oxford as it switches production to south Wales — In yet another round of cutbacks, Newsquest is set to make 20 staff redundant at its Oxfordshire titles. The official announcement was made this afternoon. — It is part of the group's strategy of transferring …

Discussion: @mediaguardian

Kate Abnett / The Business of Fashion:

Telegraph Lays Off 55 Employees, Including Senior Fashion Staff — LONDON, United Kingdom — BoF has learned that The Telegraph is laying off 55 people from the newspaper's staff, as part of a round of cuts being made today and tomorrow. The redundancies will heavily impact …

Discussion: @sambaker

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Industry vet launches Global Music Rights promising 30% higher royalties from radio and online — New Venture Seeks Higher Royalties for Songwriters — Smokey Robinson, the Eagles, Bruno Mars, John Lennon and Megadeth would not seem to have much in common.

Discussion: RAIN News, Music Week, AllAccess.com and hypebot

Patrick O'Rourke / canada.com:

Bell announces new video streaming service called Project Latte — On Thursday Bell announced plans to launch its own streaming video service currently code-named Project Latte, designed to compete with digital platforms like Netflix and Rogers and Shaw's upcoming shomi.

Discussion: Reuters

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Google Play Books' new reading mode lets you browse and skim nonfiction ebooks faster — It's not particularly convenient to read cookbooks, travel guides and other reference works as ebooks. Google is hoping to change that. — The digital format works a lot better for some kinds of books than others.

Discussion: Publishers Weekly, PCMag UK apps, Liliputing, The Verge, VentureBeat, 9to5Google, TechCrunch and Droid Life

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

Pandora, Spotify top ranking of music apps — so where's Beats? — What are the first apps that pop into your head when you think music? If Apple's Beats Music is among them, you may be scanning farther down new App Annie standings than you might expect.

Discussion: App Advice, Music Ally, VentureBeat, MacRumors and App Advice