Google Gives Ground on Book Settlement

Google, in response to authors, publishers, critics, lobbying efforts and renewed focus on antitrust laws in Washington, is changing its tune on books. As the Washington Post writes, the company filed a revised legal settlement that, “scaled back its ambitious plan to digitize books from U.S. libraries and created an opening for other companies to license its catalogue of copyrighted, out-of-print books.” The article notes other technology companies are also treading lightly in the changed political environment. Google proposed ceding some control over international rights of the so-called “orphan” books it has been digitizing and adding to its massive search engine. The new settlement will be open for a public comment period. It is still drawing criticism, and, the paper writes, it still might not satisfy the Justice Department.

Turns out cutting $500 billion from Medicare as part of health care reform will have an impact on coverage, says a study from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Post writes that House Republicans requested the study, which “found that Medicare cuts … are likely to prove so costly to hospitals and nursing homes that they could stop taking Medicare altogether.” Democrats responded by noting the report says health care spending will increase just 1 percent over the next decade, even with millions of newly covered Americans, and the Medicare savings will keep the program funded longer than currently estimated. The White House also said that President Obama, “made clear that no guaranteed Medicare benefits will be cut."

On his trip to China, the president, says the New York Times, “will, in many ways, be assuming the role of profligate spender coming to pay his respects to his banker.” The paper notes that previous presidents were able to exhort China to become more like the West, but Obama’s task will be to assure leaders there that the Western economic model—and China’s massive investment in it—are still both viable. The article recounts multiple concessions President Obama and his advisers have made to China, a contrast in message and tone from senator and candidate Obama. While the U.S.-China relationship isn’t characterized as a troubled one, it is, with the rapid shifts in roles and relative power over the past two years, a tense one.

The Times also tells the story of Bloomberg LP, the eponymous financial news and information company started in 1981 by Michael Bloomberg, now the mayor of New York City, after his exile from Wall Street. Bloomberg, thanks to its financial products and famous Bloomberg Terminal, has a stream of cash that its formerly high-flying competitors can only look upon with envy. The feature recounts Bloomberg (the company’s) humble rise, a-list talent, stunning success, massive spoils and future ambitions. Writers and editors who end up at the company seem to either get the Bloomberg religion, or get incensed by it. One newer executive, Andy Lack, calls the company, “a new kid on the block in a new world order.”

Apple files patents all the time; decoding them is the stuff of tech blogs and message boards. But today the Times is in on the action, noting a particularly insidious one. The company has a technique for an “enforcement routine,” built into hardware that would force users of its products to watch and respond to advertising. “The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message.” The story goes on to question whether a company as cool as Apple would risk its reputation with customers to implement such a devious scheme.

There’s logic in cell phone plans, companies swear. The Times carries a compelling explanation of how and why American pricing plans, which even baffle some economists, are actually honed in to maximize revenue and minimize churn. The analysis is worth reading for anyone with a cell phone: It explains why we tolerate the billing annoyances phone companies stick us with. Hint: They’re better than the annoyances cell phone plans are designed to filter out, like unpredictable monthly bills. The Times reports that home builders, who made fantastic profits on the back of the housing bubble, got a gift from Congress and the president: About $33 billion in tax relief. And, finally, the paper says new drugs can take eight years and cost $800 million to develop; turns out pharmaceutical companies would like to reduce both of those numbers.