Technology & Innovation — August 4, 2010

Kindle and iPad Price Fixing

Ahead of what is expected to be a boom in e-book sales, Amazon and Apple are accused of colluding to fix the price of electronic books depriving the market of competition.

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A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Ahead of what is expected to be a boom in e-book sales, Amazon and Apple are accused of colluding to fix the price of electronic books depriving the market of competition. “Amazon and Apple are being investigated for allegedly seeking to fix the price of e-books by signing contracts with six of the world’s biggest publishers banning them from selling the digital books to rivals for lower prices. According to the US authorities, such contracts could ‘threaten to encourage coordinated pricing and discourage discounting’. Richard Blumenthal, the Attorney General of Connecticut, has written to both firms demanding a meeting to discuss the allegations.”

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Technology & Innovation

Apple Working Against the Public Interest, Insists Justice Department

The Justice Department maintains that Apple’s agreement with major publishers over how it markets e-books prevents its competitors from setting prices that would benefit consumers.

Person examining a petri dish with tweezers, holding small colored objects, against a dark background.

Health

Are microplastics really destroying our health?

They’re in our brains, hearts, and blood — but what are they doing to us?

A statue of a thoughtful, seated philosopher on the right seems to be contemplating a calling, while a standing figure holding a lyre on the left adds harmony against the textured background.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Can you have a “calling” without a caller?

If you’re an atheist with a vocation, who laid that path for you?

Close-up image of a human iris featuring vibrant blue and yellow hues with a dark pupil in the center.

The mystery at the heart of consciousness

“Is it possible that consciousness is a much more basic phenomenon in nature and is essentially pervading everything?”

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10 min

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with

Annaka Harris

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Does the CMB really “prove” the Big Bang?

Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang’s leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?

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