Linked List: April 18, 2012

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

The Best Bond Book Covers 

Worth a re-link: Michael Gillette’s pitch-perfect book covers for Penguin’s 2008 hardcover re-issues of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. See also: fan site MI6’s interview with Gillette.

Ikea Getting Into the TV Set Business 

I don’t expect this to be a major disruption in the industry, but I think they’re on the right track.

Amazon vs. Best Buy: A Tale of Two Retailers 

The first chart pretty much says it all.

Amazon Buys Rights to Ian Fleming’s James Bond Novels 

Amazon:

Amazon.com, Inc. and Ian Fleming Publications Ltd today announced that Amazon Publishing has acquired a ten-year license for North American rights to the entire list of James Bond books by Ian Fleming in print and ebook.

So does this mean you won’t be able to buy even the print edition of these books in the U.S. from anyone other than Amazon? Sure hope Amazon does a better job with the cover designs than they’ve done with the current Kindle editions.

Penguin’s new paperback editions have great covers, and some of these classics from the ’60s are even better.

Will Existing Windows Phone Devices Get Software Update to Next Major Version? 

Dieter Bohn, The Verge:

Earlier today, a developer evangelist for Microsoft was quoted as saying that all Windows Phone devices would get an upgrade to the “next major version” of the operating system. Now, a trusted source close to Microsoft tells us that is absolutely not the case, that instead there will be no upgrade path from Mango to Apollo.

Glad to see they’re all on the same page up there in Redmond.

‘Apple iPhone Will Fail’ 

MG Siegler has some vintage 2007 claim chowder.

Just Do It 

Shayndi Raice, Spencer E. Ante, and Emily Glazer, reporting for the WSJ on Facebook’s billion-dollar acquisition of Instagram:

Companies generally prefer to bring in ranks of lawyers and bankers to scrutinize a deal before proceeding, a process that can eat up days or weeks. Mr. Zuckerberg ditched all that. By the time Facebook’s board was brought in, the deal was all but done. The board, according to one person familiar with the matter, “Was told, not consulted.”