Penguin Digital Newsround - July 12th

Google has massive power over so many companies on the web. Through the secret algorithm that determines which web pages show up most prominently in its search results, it can bring a flood of traffic to other sites – or cast them into the online equivalent of Siberia. In this article, the FT's Richard Waters examines whether Google's pursuit of the perfect market really works as advertised - Google has so much influence on what we stumble upon, what we read and what we believe, that smaller, less powerful internet companies are becoming resentful:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a5596c2-8d0f-11df-bad7-00144feab49a.html

Internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox (co-founder of lastminute.com and now the UK's Digital Champion) has launched a drive to get every working-age person in Britain using the web by 2012. Around 10 million Britons have never used the internet and Lane Fox believes that getting people online could drive real social change: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iQ09c5QfAYZz4VaHZY-wo9tZZSsQ

"When Internet users become Facebook users they actually do significantly more searches on Google" - Google's CEO Eric Schmidt says he is undaunted by Apple or Facebook. Schmidt was joined by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as they addressed a variety of issues at a conference last week: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6682JA20100709?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtechnologyNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Technology%29

Interead the company behind the Cool-er eReader has been put into liquidation. Cooler Readers were launched in 2009, but offered nothing new in terms of technical innovation - they were noted only for their colourful packaging: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/122928-company-behind-cool-er-reader-goes-into-liquidation.html.rss
As eight of the top 10 publishers see a drop in sales in 2010, Victoria Barnsley, CEO of HarperCollins, warns that the publishing industry is unlikely to return to pre-recession prosperity and urges publishers to adapt and deliver what consumers want: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/122971-adapt-to-recover-warn-publishing-chiefs.html