Apple

(Reuters) - Five of the largest U.S. publishers objected to tough new restrictions sought by the U.S. government against Apple Inc for illegally conspiring to raise e-book prices. In a motion filed on Wednesday in U.S. district court in Manhattan, the publishers said a proposed final order in the case would effectively prevent Apple from entering agreements that limit its ability to discount books. The publishers said provisions proposed by the U.S. Justice Department would instead punish the publishers, which had already reached settlements with the federal government and dozens of states, paying $166 million

Since Barnes & Noble announced that the company is sinking faster than a swimmer with cement shoes, there have been a myriad of articles written on what Mr. Riggio and his golfing buddies should do to right the ship. It's an important question, but possibly the wrong one. Instead of focusing all of our attention on the retail train wreck, we should be working to ensure a long, prosperous future for those most impacted by Barnes & Noble's demise - those who create the books. 

The US Department of Justice has called for further and extended penalties for Apple in the wake of its successful case against the company for e-book price-fixing, indicating that it believes publishers "may be positioning themselves to pick things back up where they left off as soon as their two-year clocks run".

This week's Founder Stories features Inkling Founder and CEO Matt MacInnis. Inkling, the 100-employee cloud publishing company, recently announced a $16 million Series C funding. With inevitable growth, it is an interesting time for Inkling. But that story is still unfolding, so Matt and I went back to the beginning to talk more about how the company started and what inspired him to leave Apple after eight years to build a startup:

Interactive e-book publishing platform Inkling announced on Wednesday new, multiyear contracts with two major textbook and medical publishers, deals that will expand the number of titles it offers.

The San Francisco-based company, which makes tools for publishers to create and distribute books for tablets, smartphones, and the Web, is now working with publishers Pearson and Elsevier; The two plan to use Inkling's technology to produce digital versions of their books.

As I survey the responses to and discussions of the recent decision in the Apple e-book antitrust trial, I’m disheartened by how many people seem to be buying into the publishers’ and Apple’s narrative of Amazon as the evil predatory-pricing monopolist. You see it in comments and articles here and there, that take for granted Amazon has been selling all its e-books at a loss, not just a small handful.

Even Adam Engst of TidBITS has been taken in:
Initially the U.S. Department of Justice filed this lawsuit against

The abrupt resignation of the CEO of Barnes & Noble is raising questions about the future of the only remaining national bookstore chain in a digital age.

The shift to digital technology is affecting nearly all the industries across the board. Few would have thought that even the book-selling business could become a culprit of the advances in technology. Nonetheless, this is what is happening to Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS).

The company has been trying to position itself for the future with its investment in Nook Media and in partnership with Microsoft and Pearson, a London-based bookseller.

Is there a future for a Nook-nicked Barnes & Noble? The retailer’s plan to stop making its Nook color tablets revived questions about the long-term viability of the last remaining national bookseller that’s been feverishly trying to reinvent itself amid game changing Amazon.com AMZN +0.35%.

Ebooks get a lot of attention, but there is another publishing world that exists in parallel with the commercial publishing world we see and know. It is the shadow world that evolved from the copier and later the digital printer — for the first time, individuals could make their own books.