Reuters – Amazon.com Inc all but waved the white flag in a dispute with publisher Macmillan that could lead to the online retailer raising prices on some of its e-books.

AFP – Australian Internet rights groups fear a piracy court case could force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to become “copyright cops” and cut web access to customers who make illegal downloads.

AFP – An Internet festival in Brazil billed as one of the biggest in the world has proved an irresistible attraction not only for corporate technology sponsors — but also for military recruiters and politicians.

Reuters – U.S. arms sales to Taiwan hurt China’s national security, its foreign minister said, escalating the rhetoric in a dispute threatening to deepen rifts between the world’s biggest and third-biggest economies.

AFP – China’s online tourism market is booming as an increasingly wealthy middle class travels for pleasure and the use of credit cards and the Internet soars, analysts say.

We recently discussed how social media complements the news industry, and how a study has even found news to be a top priority of Twitter users. Facebook wants to let users know that it can also be used to keep track of news, when you set up a news list.
This isn’t so much a new feature, as it is a way to use the social network that you may or may not have thought of. Basically, Facebook is encouraging users to set up a list for news, as if …

If you are one of those people still skeptical about the business uses of social media, you may be interested to know that Google’s Social Search is no longer just an experiment. Though it does have the beta tag on it, it is now mainstream. This is something we’ve all known would come sooner or later, but now it’s here.

Have you established enough connections to do well in social search? Comment here.

If people were already seeing different search results from one another before, that is really going to …

PC World – While it seemed that all eyes were on Apple’s unveiling of the long-awaited iPad this week, Oracle on the same day revealed its plans for Sun Microsystems’ technology, while those at Sun braced for the merger and began their public goodbyes. We also had a flurry of financial reports this week and some Internet weirdness associated with President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address.

PC World – Google will phase out support for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 Web browser starting in March, the company said Friday.

PC World – Amazon has always been cagey about releasing sales figures for its Kindle e-reader, but maybe it’s opening up a bit. Rather than simply crow about Kindle’s growing popularity with Amazon customers–the device was reportedly a best-seller during the holiday season–the online retailer is now providing numbers–well, sort of.