Google

Google Inc. has won preliminary approval on a settlement of copyright lawsuits by publishers and authors in which it will pay $125 million to resolve claims over its book-scanning project, Google Book Search (http://books.google.com/), according to Bloomberg News. The settlement was announced Oct. 28. On Monday, U.S. District Judge John Sprizzo tentatively approved the deal and scheduled a hearing for June 11, when he will further consider the pact's fairness.

Representatives of the book industry's leading trade groups say the pending agreement brokered last week with Google over the Internet search giant's controversial Book Search tool will benefit the U.S. publishing industry for years to come.

Google's open-source Android mobile operating system, a device manufactured by HTC of Taiwan to operate on the T-Mobile network, didn't make much of a splash. The press was unabashedly nonplussed. Out of the gate, the launch of the first Android phone, called the T-Mobile G1 with Google, failed on at least one count: matching the appeal of the iPhone.

Google Book Search announced Monday that it is launching a set of free tools that will allow retailers, publishers and anyone with a Web site to embed books with the Google Book Search functionality into their sites. These tools may be accessed at http://Code.Google.com/apis/books An entry posted on the Google Book Search blog (http://www.BookSearch.BlogSpot.com) by the program’s Product Manager Alex Diaz stated: “We are also providing new ways for these sites to display full-text search results from Book Search, and even integrate with social features such as ratings, reviews and readers’ book collections. By providing tools that help sites connect readers with books

A “slow, but steady decline” is how Rhonda Herman, executive vice president at reference publisher McFarland & Co. Inc., characterizes the market for reference books. “We are cautious about sales and will feel lucky if sales remain flat.” The reality of an economic downturn is starting to sink in—McFarland’s volume is flat, Herman says, “but actual income is down 2 percent. The reason for this is that we are experiencing higher than normal overstock returns, which is not surprising in this market.” Both direct and indirect costs are hitting the bottom line at the Jefferson, N.C.-based publisher. Higher fuel costs are forcing up the

Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), outlined a strategy for the future of the Web in a series of papers and articles published between 1998 and 2001. He observed that while there was a wealth of information available for people to explore on the Web, computers had difficulty extracting information from it. The Web consists largely of free-form text, and computers have great difficulty understanding human language. While search engines can index the Web, a human being is required to interpret the search results. You may be able to surf the Web, but your computer can’t. The value of the

Travel planning has never been easier. If you want to pack your bags and go somewhere—be it thousands of miles or only a few hours away—a simple Google search will bring you information from hundreds to thousands of sources. So how do travel publishers stay ahead of the Google game—and at the top of its results pages? Lauren Palmer, executive director of online strategy and business development for Fodor’s Travel—the largest worldwide publisher of English-language travel books and guides—is responsible for overseeing the company’s online property Fodors.com, including advertising and affiliate relationships, and digital licensing. And she knows a thing or two about

As the founder of Internet service provider Juno, Charles Ardai knows a thing or two about making a big splash on the Web. When Ardai sold his company in 2001, the entrepreneur and writer, then all of 32 years old, decided to pursue his dream of reviving the pulp-fiction genre by starting his own publishing company, Hard Case Crime. He knew from the beginning that success would require good online-selling tools. “It’s a pretty popular genre,” Ardai notes, “but it is a genre, and there is a certain fan base that loves this stuff. If you can find one of those fans, the

“To resist change, at this point, is true foolishness,” says HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide President and CEO Jane Friedman. Under Friedman’s direction over the last 11 years, HarperCollins has gone beyond not “resisting” change; the company has, in fact, been a pioneer of change, several paces ahead of the industry in many of its endeavors regarding digital content creation and distribution, marketing and audience-building. This year, the company—one of the largest English-language publishers in the world—has been named as book business’ Publishing Innovator of the Year in recognition of the company’s leadership and innovation. The first-annual award was presented to HarperCollins at an awards reception

The University of Chicago Press (UCP) has never had to regard itself as an afterthought. Founded in 1891 as one of the three original divisions of the university, the press has, from the beginning, been squarely in the center of the school’s mission to educate, advocate and innovate—a charge that continues to this day. In addition, it’s of more than passing interest to the press’s leadership that it is entirely self-supporting, even funding a few research grants at the school. “I’m unabashedly proud of the fact that our books are aimed at a shrinking audience and that we make money off them,” says Garrett