Roman

Project Alesia: News Corp.'s Roman Battle Cry–Does That Cast Googlers as the Gauls? (Plus Video!)

Kara Swisher in News on December 23, 2009 at 11:23 am PT

While Internet companies such as Google use baked goods as names for their key strategic initiatives–recent ones related to its Android mobile operating system were called Donut and Eclair, for example–aggressive media giant News Corp. is definitely not going for sweetness in its unusual selection of a code name for its high-profile digital content effort. That would be Project Alesia, a moniker that comes from a vicious siege in ancient times widely considered to be one of the more decisive battles in history. And that is apparently what top News Corp. execs think is the best way to describe their plans for stopping the decimation of premium content in the digital age and transforming their business to take advantage of new means of distribution.

The Book That Contains All Books

Stephen Marche, Pop Culture Columnist, Esquire Magazine in News on October 19, 2009 at 5:00 am PT

On Monday, the Kindle 2 will become the first e-reader available globally. The only other events as important to the history of the book are the birth of print and the shift from the scroll to bound pages. The e-reader, now widely available, will likely change our thinking and our being as profoundly as the two previous pre-digital manifestations of text.