What would I do without Twitter? It’s my own little news show. Here are the links I’ve collected this week. I think I got a bit carried away:

#1: Something is up at Amazon (again). Are they forcing publishers to put up searchable copies of their books before the book is for sale?

#2: Interesting statement on the Google Book Settlement, excerpted and highlighted for easy reading. Covers the reasons the settlement has “bad idea” written all over it.

#3: An article on Craigslist and its odd founder from Wired examining why, against all odds and a staunch refusal to innovate, Craigslist continues to dominate online classifieds. The article is much more interesting than I make it sound. Really.

#4: Star Trek fan? John Scalzi ranks Star Trek film directors.

#5: Use Gmail? Here’s a handy Lifehacker article with a number of ways to access Gmail when it goes down.

#6: James Patterson signs 17-book over 5 years deal. Sigh. This is why I often stop reading authors: too many books pumped out over too little time leaving them cookie-cutterish, boring, and predictable. Apparently he comes up with an outline and contracts out the writing of the first draft (which is the most time-consuming and painful part of the writing process for many), so he’s not really “writing” 17 books.

#7: An article on why students aren’t ready for digital textbooks (or as I read it: why digital textbooks aren’t ready for students).

Related posts:

1. Interesting Links for July 9, 2009
2. Interesting links for September 10, 2009
3. Interesting links for September 3, 2009
4. Interesting links for September 24, 2009
5. Bookish news links