Vienna

Jonathan Franzen spent 50 minutes discussing the work of Austrian satirist Karl Kraus and slamming social media and modern technology, particularly Amazon, at his Portland Arts & Lectures appearance Thursday night. The author of "Freedom" and "The Corrections" seemed a little apprehensive and defensive about the content of his lecture, but he needn't have worried.  You might not agree with all of Franzen's arguments, and he sometimes came across as out-of-touch and a scold…

Art and cookery specialist Phaidon Press is up for sale, with owner Richard Schlagman looking for another owner to lead its transition from print to digital. Investment bank Greenhill has been appointed to conduct the sale, and is understood to be in the early stages of the auction process, sending out information to prospective buyers, according to reports. According to Companies House, Phaidon's annual revenues were up 17% in the year to June 2011, to £25m, with a pre-tax profit of £411,000 for the year, following a pre-tax loss of £149,000 for the previous year. In July 2011,