The ongoing conflict between Apple and Amazon over e-book pricing -- which recently spawned a Department of Justice investigation -- has just created an unexpected casualty: big-box retailer Target will no longer sell Amazon's Kindle e-readers.

Target has cited an unspecified "conflict of interest" in its decision to stop carrying Kindles, but it's reportedly related to the Apple "mini-stores" that popped up inside various Target locations earlier this year.

Also possible, but less likely: the move could also be clearing the way for a Target-branded e-reader.

Target has already pulled all Kindle models from its website, and will stop selling them at its brick-and-mortar stores on May 13th.

[theverge.]

After months of delays, the Harry Potter novels are now available in e-book form for the first time, via J.K. Rowling's Pottermore website.

The series was supposed to get its digital release last October, but it had to be postponed because Pottermore -- Rowling's Harry Potter online game and fan community -- was so overwhelmed with demand from beta users.

Now that the books are here, they're available in the open EPUB format and Amazon's Kindle format, making them compatible with practically every major smartphone, tablet or eReader, including the Kindle, Barnes and Noble's Nook, and Apple's iPad.

Prices range from $8 to $11 for individual books, or you can pick up the whole series for $62.

Thus far, the Potter eBooks are only available in English, but translated versions are already in the works.

[mashable]

Kindle e-books are kicking real books' butt on Amazon.com. After putting the smack down on heavy hardcovers, now the Kindle has officially beaten sales of paperbacks too. For every hundo paperbacks, 115 kindle e-books are bought.

With the news of Rupert Murdoch's "The Daily" launching print media for the iPad, this is clearly a banner day for forests.

[CNN] t