Amazon takes on PayPal

Vishesh Kumar at TheStreet.com reports that Amazon is launching a new payments service called "Flexible Payments Service" to challenge PayPal. In spite of some moments of moxie, Google's Checkout thus far hasn't succeeded in slowing down PayPal. So it will be interesting to see what Amazon can do. But what befuddles me is why they're giving it such a cumbersome name when Amazon already has a famous and trusted payment brand: One Click.

Letters from liberal fans

Last Friday's L.A. Times article and Hardball appearance generated a lot of fan mail from some of liberalism's finest, and I even had some encouraging voicemails waiting for me when I got back into the office on Monday. Here are a couple that came in over World Ahead's website:

"I saw you on MSNBC tonight with Chris Matthews talking about your book 'Help Mommie, there is a liberal under my bed'. Listen you little ****-*** right-wingnut panty-waste. Go get a job and do something useful with you life. Nice haircut. I guess you have taken it up the *** more than a few times! DROP DEAD you ***** ******!!!!! " -- Robert Dodelin, Progressive, Anti-War, Republican hating liberal from the North East

(Note: the book's correct title is Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed!)

"I saw your interview with Chris Matthews. Aside from looking like you're 12 years old in that little buzz cut of yours, you come across as a little snot-nosed brat. You have a lot to learn about what the Republican party has done to this country. Seeing your picture with that moron Zell Miller on the home page of your website confirms that for me." -- Joel Hammer

Aside from wondering what this sudden obsession by liberals with my hair is all about, I really don't feel a need to respond; these letters speak for themselves. The hatred and malevolence they convey is plain enough, and unfortunately it's increasingly common for the Angry Left. I'll forego any lectures, but I will post that picture of me with former Senator Zell Miller that Joel seems to like so much:

Osteen gets huge print run, Amazon has e-book reader

OK, to the extent it's possible, I'm going to refocus on publishing news...

PW reports that Free Press (an imprint of S&S) has decided on a staggering first printing of 3 million for Pastor Joel Osteen's next book, Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life. Osteen reportedly signed with S&S for $13 million, and this book is scheduled to release on Oct. 15.

There's also another development in the never-ending e-book saga (e.g. see here, here, and here). Amazon has used the London Book Fair to unveil its own reader, which is said to be comparable to Sony's.