Global Trade Talk: Borders UK Closing; Moody’s Twitter Story, Germany’s iPhone App Association

By Edward Nawotka and Siobhan O’Leary

Black Friday had a different ring in the UK, where The Independent is reporting that the closing of Borders UK’s 45 stores may account for as many as 1,150 job losses.  The Bookseller states that the going-out-of-business sales at the stores will begin tomorrow. Meanwhile, in The Observer, Rachel Cooke says that she doesn’t especially lament the passing of Borders UK and that hope for the future of bookselling lies with the independent booksellers like the new Lutyens & Rubinstein in west London.

Welcome to the world of micro-serialization: Rick Moody has crafted his latest short story as 153 distinct Tweets, the first which debuts today at http://twitter.com/ElectricLit. The publisher, online literary journal Electric Literature, promises each has been honed to “a state of diamond-like perfection” (perhaps, but hardly with the lingering luster of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “immortal diamond”).

Twenty-seven German-language iPhone app developers have formed vieda  (Verband der iPhone-Entwickler deutschsprachiger Apps), the first German professional association for iPhone developers in Germany. The association was created with the goal of increasing communication and collaboration among German-language developers, reports Buchmarkt. Members will be able to participate in collaborative marketing activities and vieda intends to set up an app platform for its members and a formal certificate for professional German-language apps. Until the end of the year, professional developers will also have an opportunity to have their apps evaluated by independent vieda examiners to determine if they are of high enough quality to receive a vieda certificate of approval.