Retailer Barnes &Noble says it will take on Amazon.com with an electronic bookstore that will allow customers to buy books to read on a variety of handheld platforms and computers. The New York-based retailer says the store will provide access to more than 700,000 titles and up to 1 million titles within the next year. The bookseller is competing against Amazon.com Inc., which focuses on the Kindle reader. Barnes &Noble says that as part of its digital effort, it will be the exclusive content provider for the new Plastic Logic eReader device.
Google offers ‘guided tour’ of the moon
Google Inc. is offering a more wide-ranging view of the Moon, 40 years after humans first landed there. To commemorate Monday’s anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew’s first steps on the lunar surface, Google Earth is adding a guided moon tour with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Jack Schmitt, who was a pilot on the later Apollo 17 mission. The free software also offers panoramic images shot by the Apollo astronauts, new video footage and other features. The features are available with the Google Earth 5.0 download. Some images are already available: http://moon.google.com.
Bartell’s opens new store in Lynnwood
Bartell’s Drugs will open a new shop in Lynnwood’s Lake Serene neighborhood today. This will be the Seattle-based company’s 55th store. The location, 3625 148th St. SW, Lynnwood, will include a full-service pharmacy with drive-thru service. It replaces Bartell’s Mukilteo Speedway store, which had been open 17 years.
Some bailout firms up lobbying spending
Some of the biggest recipients of the government’s $700 billion financial bailout increased their spending on lobbying in the second quarter as Congress began to look closely at revamping the rule system for financial institutions. Bank of America Corp., which received $45 billion in federal rescue aid, spent $800,000 in the April-June quarter, up from $660,000 in the first quarter. Morgan Stanley’s lobbying costs jumped to $830,000 from $540,000 in the first three months of the year. Bailed-out automaker General Motors spent $2.8 million on lobbying Congress and the federal government, about the same as in the first quarter but down from $3 million in the second quarter of 2008.
Airbus progresses on first A330 Freighter
Final assembly of Airbus’ first A330-200 Freighter is under way in France, the company said Monday. Workers have joined the fuselage sections, wings and horizontal and vertical tail. Airbus also has installed the main landing gear. After Airbus puts its A330 Freighter in the air in November, the company plans to deliver the first freighter to Ethiad Airways next spring. Airbus has 65 firm orders from nine customers for the A330-200F.
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