Barnes & Noble, Microsoft get cozy over Nook e-reader Microsoft Corp will invest $300 million in Barnes & Noble Inc’s Nook e-reader, gaining a foothold in the fast-growing e-books market as the bookseller gets more firepower to compete against Amazon.com’s Kindle and Apple Inc’s iPad. The move comes as Microsoft is looking to generate excitement around its tablet-friendly Windows 8 operating system, expected on the market around October. The deal announced on Monday includes Microsoft taking a stake in the bookseller’s college bookstore division. It also means that the two companies have settled their patent dispute. Shares of Barnes & Noble soared nearly 70 percent on Monday, while Microsoft shares were nearly flat. The agreement values the Nook and textbook businesses, which will form a new subsidiary, at $1.7 billion. READ MORE: Microsoft buys Nook stake; B&N shares soar
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Barnes & Noble, Microsoft get cozy over Nook e-reader

Microsoft Corp will invest $300 million in Barnes & Noble Inc’s Nook e-reader, gaining a foothold in the fast-growing e-books market as the bookseller gets more firepower to compete against Amazon.com’s Kindle and Apple Inc’s iPad.

The move comes as Microsoft is looking to generate excitement around its tablet-friendly Windows 8 operating system, expected on the market around October.

The deal announced on Monday includes Microsoft taking a stake in the bookseller’s college bookstore division. It also means that the two companies have settled their patent dispute.

Shares of Barnes & Noble soared nearly 70 percent on Monday, while Microsoft shares were nearly flat.

The agreement values the Nook and textbook businesses, which will form a new subsidiary, at $1.7 billion.

READ MORE: Microsoft buys Nook stake; B&N shares soar

Why did Facebook buy Instagram for $1 billion? The price was stunning for an apps-maker without any significant revenue, even when measured by the lofty standards of Silicon Valley, where startup valuations have soared in recent years. It highlights the rising stakes in the social networking market in which services such as Facebook need to constantly excite consumers with new features and mobile applications. By acquiring Instagram - in a deal announced days after the startup closed a funding round that valued it at $500 million - Facebook may also have sought to absorb a potential rival or at least prevent it from falling into the hands of a major competitor like Twitter or Google Inc. “Anytime you see a social platform that’s growing that quickly, that’s got to be cause to be nervous,” said Paul Buchheit, a partner at the start-up incubator program Y Combinator and a co-founder of FriendFeed, which Facebook acquired in 2009. “It would be better to have bought Twitter at this stage,” he said of Facebook. “So if you’re thinking this could be the next Twitter, it could be a smart thing to do.” READ MORE: Facebook acquires two-year-old app InstagramPHOTOS: Inside Facebook’s new Menlo Park, California HQREUTERS TV: Instagram may not be Facebook’s last big purchase
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Why did Facebook buy Instagram for $1 billion?

The price was stunning for an apps-maker without any significant revenue, even when measured by the lofty standards of Silicon Valley, where startup valuations have soared in recent years. It highlights the rising stakes in the social networking market in which services such as Facebook need to constantly excite consumers with new features and mobile applications.

By acquiring Instagram - in a deal announced days after the startup closed a funding round that valued it at $500 million - Facebook may also have sought to absorb a potential rival or at least prevent it from falling into the hands of a major competitor like Twitter or Google Inc.

“Anytime you see a social platform that’s growing that quickly, that’s got to be cause to be nervous,” said Paul Buchheit, a partner at the start-up incubator program Y Combinator and a co-founder of FriendFeed, which Facebook acquired in 2009.

“It would be better to have bought Twitter at this stage,” he said of Facebook. “So if you’re thinking this could be the next Twitter, it could be a smart thing to do.”

READ MORE: Facebook acquires two-year-old app Instagram
PHOTOS: Inside Facebook’s new Menlo Park, California HQ
REUTERS TV: Instagram may not be Facebook’s last big purchase

Apple Inc’s new iPhone will have a sharper and bigger 4.6-inch “retina” display and is set to be launched around the second quarter, a South Korean media reported on Thursday. Sales of the iPhone, first introduced in 2007 with the touch screen template now adopted by its rivals, account for around half Apple’s total sales. Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source. Read more: Apple’s new iPhone will use bigger 4.6-inch display: report
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Apple Inc’s new iPhone will have a sharper and bigger 4.6-inch “retina” display and is set to be launched around the second quarter, a South Korean media reported on Thursday.

Sales of the iPhone, first introduced in 2007 with the touch screen template now adopted by its rivals, account for around half Apple’s total sales.

Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source.

Google Inc’s Chrome web browser overtook Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer (IE) to become market leader globally for the first time last Sunday, web analytics firm StatCounter said on Wednesday. “While it is only one day, this is a milestone,” said Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter’s chief executive. “At weekends, when people are free to choose what browser to use, many of them are selecting Chrome in preference to IE.” Read more: Chrome wins weekend browser battle with Microsoft’s IE
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Google Inc’s Chrome web browser overtook Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer (IE) to become market leader globally for the first time last Sunday, web analytics firm StatCounter said on Wednesday.

“While it is only one day, this is a milestone,” said Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter’s chief executive.

“At weekends, when people are free to choose what browser to use, many of them are selecting Chrome in preference to IE.”

Read more: Chrome wins weekend browser battle with Microsoft’s IE

Breaking News from SXSW: Reuters blogger Felix Salmon has learned from an unnamed source that CNN will buy social media website Mashable for more than $200 million. The source says an announcement is expected for Tuesday. (March 12, 2012)

Watch on YouTube | More from Reuters TV

Yesterday, Apple introduced the new iPad. This graphic is a comparison between the new Apple iPad , the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Motorola Droid Xyboard and the Kindle Fire. Which one would you be most likely to purchase? [REUTERS]
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Yesterday, Apple introduced the new iPad. This graphic is a comparison between the new Apple iPad , the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Motorola Droid Xyboard and the Kindle Fire. Which one would you be most likely to purchase? [REUTERS]

Last month, Apple responded to criticism over alleged abuses of workers at its suppliers by asking Fair Labor Association (FLA) to conduct special audits of the Chinese factories where Apple’s products are manufactured.  The results of the audit are expected this month. This is especially relevant today, as Apple is expected to announce the new iPad. [REUTERS]
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Last month, Apple responded to criticism over alleged abuses of workers at its suppliers by asking Fair Labor Association (FLA) to conduct special audits of the Chinese factories where Apple’s products are manufactured. 

The results of the audit are expected this month. This is especially relevant today, as Apple is expected to announce the new iPad. [REUTERS]

Josh Buckley, chief executive of an online gaming start-up, is looking forward to next month’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, particularly for the parties and the accompanying schmoozing with industry A-listers. There’s one problem: Buckley, who will turn 20 this week on February 22, may be turned away from many of the parties because he is not old enough to drink. His fake ID was recently confiscated, and the two new ones he ordered from a company in China have not yet arrived. Such are the dilemmas facing the ever-younger entrepreneurs that Silicon Valley investors are backing these days. While little data on the phenomenon exists, venture capitalists say they are funding more chief executives under age 21 than ever before. Read more: Meet the adolescent CEOs of Silicon Valley
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Josh Buckley, chief executive of an online gaming start-up, is looking forward to next month’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, particularly for the parties and the accompanying schmoozing with industry A-listers.

There’s one problem: Buckley, who will turn 20 this week on February 22, may be turned away from many of the parties because he is not old enough to drink. His fake ID was recently confiscated, and the two new ones he ordered from a company in China have not yet arrived.

Such are the dilemmas facing the ever-younger entrepreneurs that Silicon Valley investors are backing these days. While little data on the phenomenon exists, venture capitalists say they are funding more chief executives under age 21 than ever before.

Read more: Meet the adolescent CEOs of Silicon Valley

A conversation between FBI special agents and authorities at the UK’s Scotland Yard was leaked online Friday morning, the latest in a series of data dumps conducted by Anonymous hackers to protest against law enforcement. But the conference calls may have inadvertently released more information than the hacking collective would be comfortable with. Read more: Details in leaked FBI call could prove uncomfortable for Anonymous
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A conversation between FBI special agents and authorities at the UK’s Scotland Yard was leaked online Friday morning, the latest in a series of data dumps conducted by Anonymous hackers to protest against law enforcement.

But the conference calls may have inadvertently released more information than the hacking collective would be comfortable with.

Read more: Details in leaked FBI call could prove uncomfortable for Anonymous

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the Supreme Court in London February 1, 2012. Assange was detained in Britain in December 2010 on a European arrest warrant issued by a Swedish prosecutor after two female former WikiLeaks volunteers accused him of sexual assault. [REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth] Read more: Julian Assange appeals extradition to UK’s top court
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the Supreme Court in London February 1, 2012.

Assange was detained in Britain in December 2010 on a European arrest warrant issued by a Swedish prosecutor after two female former WikiLeaks volunteers accused him of sexual assault. [REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth]

Read more: Julian Assange appeals extradition to UK’s top court