It works, says Amazon: Amazon.com has issued a press release claiming that books participating in its new “Search Inside the Book” feature are selling at a rate 9% better than those not. (Like they would have issued a press release if they weren’t.) I’m sure that within those 120,000 books are many, many titles that would have never been sold had not someone discovered them via the service.

No way MS will buy Google: The NY Times is reporting that Microsoft has held talks with Google (reg. required) that may lead to merger discussions. This is not about to happen. Too much like the Intuit deal. Google is too big for this to pass DOJ muster even under a Republican administration. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the EU. No way. Absolutely no way.

Creme puff: Gee, sometimes even really lame dreams come true. (If this link is dead, don’t worry, you’re not missing anything.)

En fuego: MediaPost’s Larry Dobrow profiles one of my favorites, ESPN Magazine.