AMAZON TAKES ON GOOGLE

Amazon isn't just the everything store, it's the everything company. It deals with more than just shipping out massive amounts of products — it sells tablets and phones, cloud computing services, books, and now it's diving in to advertising. ​While the company already offers up ads as part of an affiliate program called Amazon Associates, its new advertising platform is said to take on the likes of the ubiquitous, all-powerful Google AdWords. (Video via Google) ​Amazon's ad platform is called Amazon CPM Ads — at least for now. Multiple reports say the final service will be called Amazon Sponsored Links. CPM stands for "cost per thousand impressions,"which is ad-speak for how much you'll get paid for every thousand views of an advertisement. ​TechCrunch reports the service will include ads from Amazon itself "as well as other 'high-quality' advertisers." The outlet says Amazon appears to be testing the service right now, as only some of the company's affiliates have been invited to give it a try. It seems if anything can take on the likes of advertising incumbent Google, it's Amazon. ​ As an analyst quoted in The Wall Street Journal reminds us, Amazon certainly knows a thing or two about people's purchases. "Amazon could use the data it has about buying behavior to help make these ads much more effective. Marketers would love to have another viable option." And Fortune says this would really be a one-two punch to Google's bottom line, because "Amazon is one of Google's largest ad buyers." Amazon would be building up its own advertising platform, all the while undermining its largest competitor.

Home-grown fictions outsell international bestsellers

The quick, pacy and low-priced reads by contemporary Indian authors have become a rage among the Ranchi youths. The book shop owners in the city admit that youngsters prefer a Chetan Bhagat and Ravindra Singh to a Richard Dawkins. Teenagers can relate to the love stories set in metropolitans. Reshma Kumari, a second year student of Ranchi Women's College said, "I love reading Ravindra Singh. The climax of his novel, 'I Too had a Love Story' put me to tears". Nonetheless, there are some who still swear by the foreign authors. Aryan (21) said, "I am buying a Nicolas Sparks book for my sister. I hope she appreciates my choice." S K Jaiswal, owner of an old book store in Tharpakna, said: "The social networking sites have destroyed the habit of reading. The writers usually come up with hackneyed story plots that have clicked with the audience in the past". Hindi translations of famous English novels are also popular here. Amish Tripathy's ?The Immortals of Meluha', translated to ?Meluha ke Mrityunjay' for the Hindi readers, have received good response. Shop owner of a book store at Firayalal chowk, Pradeep Burman said, "Approximately 800 to 1000 copies of home-grown love stories sell every month. The readership comprises youth ranging between 16 and 22". He added, "Few youngsters, however, look for motivational books as well." An MBA aspirant, Aman Dev said, "Most of the stories have associated plots and one gets tired of reading them after a certain point of time. The frenzy is common among the first generation English readers". Chetan Bhagat stories harp on similar storylines but as long as his book makes money, he gets to rule the market, he added. The international bestsellers, mostly non-fictions, are still missing from the book shop racks. The National Book Trust (NBT) organizes book fairs every year but not much is done to develop reading habits among the youths of the city.

The Accidental Prime Minister:The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh By Sanjaya Baru

Get it here In 2004 Sanjaya Baru left a successful career as chief editor of the Financial Express to join Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his media adviser in UPA 1. Singh offered him the job with the words, ‘Sitting here, I know I will be isolated from the outside world. I want you to be my eyes and ears. Tell me what you think I should know, without fear or favour.’

The Accidental Prime Minister is Baru’s account of what it was like to ‘manage’ public opinion for Singh while giving us a riveting look at Indian politics as it happened behind the scenes. As Singh’s spin doctor and trusted aide for four years, Baru observed up close Singh’s often troubled relations with his ministers, his cautious equation with Sonia Gandhi and how he handled the big crises from managing the Left to pushing through the nuclear deal. In this book he tells all and draws for the first time a revelatory picture of what it was like for Singh to work in a government that had two centres of power.

Insightful, acute and packed with political gossip, The Accidental Prime Minister is one of the great insider accounts of Indian political life and a superb portrait of the Manmohan Singh era.