July 9 - 4:55pm EDT   Amazon's price cut of its Kindle 2 e-book reader have prompted some in the publishing industry to worry that the online retailer, which is far and away the leading provider of e-books, may put pressure on them to drop the prices for electronic versions of their books for the device, according to a Bloomberg report. Amazon reportedly pays between $12 and $13 to publishers for Kindle editions of books that are on the New York Times bestseller list and sells them for about $10 to customers. Many publishing houses are concerned the giant online vendor will put price pressure on them in order to bump its own profit margins. [full story]

May 5 - 11:05am EDT   Contrary to rumors, Apple has expressed no serious interest in buying Twitter, says All Things Digital's Kara Swisher. Some in the industry are said to be claiming that Apple is already in "late-stage negotiations" to buy Twitter, whose microblogging service has skyrocketed in popularity following adoption by celebrities like Stephen Fry, Lily Allen and Shaquille O'Neal. Apple has so far only "said hello" to Twitter though, according to Swisher. [full story]

December 29 - 3:05pm EST   A new video-sharing website may be in the works, as the four major music labels -- Universal, Warner, EMI and Sony BMG -- are in preliminary talks for creating their own web portal, according to a weekend Financial Times report. Early last week, news came of the four labels planning to band together to create a site devoted to music videos and related content. More recently word has leaked of the three options the labels are considering, due to unhappiness with the ad revenue derived from the Google-owned YouTube. Under consideration is a premium service on YouTube, a totally new site, or a partnership with Hulu, the film and TV site jointly owned by News Corp. and ... [full story]

July 23 - 12:55pm EDT   Dow Jones -- owned by News Corp., and responsible for financial publications like the Wall Street Journal -- has given its seal of approval to the iPhone, according to another one of its publications, Barron's. The company's Global Technology Services division is now supporting the phone through use of Microsoft ActiveSync technology, which enables the iPhone to access corporate e-mail via Exchange. Like most such services, users require a password and will have data locked or deleted in case a phone goes missing. [full story]

July 11 - 8:45am EDT   Fox's parent company News Corp. is unlikely to link up with Yahoo and offer an alternative to a Microsoft takeover, says News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch. Speaking at the Sun Valley conference, the executive claims that the likelihood of any deal is now slim despite early talks after Microsoft had first announced its plans to buy out Yahoo. The latter search engine company has been eager to find a partner for a deal that would bolster its value and either deter Microsoft from making a purportedly undervalued bid. [full story]

April 1 - 8:35am EDT   Microsoft has no intention to raise its bid for Yahoo past the original offer, say sources speaking with the Wall Street Journal. The Windows developer reportedly knows that it can afford to wait for Yahoo and that there is no incentive to spend more than the original $31 per share, which at the time of the original bid amounted to $44.6 billion. Without any imminent rival offers for Yahoo, Microsoft believes Yahoo will have little choice but to accept original terms. [full story]

March 5 - 12:25pm EST   Yahoo is extending the deadline for nominations to its board of directors, Reuters reports. While nominations were to have ended by March 14th, they will now take place 10 days after the company announces a date for its shareholders' meeting. The move is openly admitted by CEO Jerry Yang to be a delay tactic, preventing Microsoft from subverting Yahoo in order to ease its hostile takeover attempt. "Microsoft, of course, could still choose to name directors," says Yang in a letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, "but our objective here is to enable our board to continue to explore all of its strategic alternatives for maximizing value for stockholders ... [full story]