In Q4 of 2009, Google’s staff jumped from 19,665 to 19,835, so it follows that they’d make yet another jump. Sez the G-men:

“We’re investing heavily for the long term to maintain and increase the company’s pace of innovation…[t]his means an investment, first, in people.”

Here’s a list of the areas Google will be padding out:

• engineering
• product management
• human resources
• finance
• strategic partner development management (????)
• inventory analysis
• the party escort submission position (Portal reference!)

Well, in an era of nobody hiring anybody and everybody getting fired, it’s nice to see somebody bucking the trend. Now only if they were hiring overenthusiastic technology bloggers with a penchant for hyperbole.

This just in: Google Greatest Company Ever!

See what I mean?

Source: AdWeek

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You’d think Amazon would want that extra cash, too – an increased sale price means more profit for the globe’s biggest book retailer, right? Well, not if they’re trying to move Kindles, they don’t. Amazon’s looking for a e-book pricing model that’s simple and cheap – take a loss on each e-book to more more of their e-book readers – but publishers are balking, moving from wholesale pricing models to what they call “agency” pricing models in order to restore the higher prices.

HarperCollins, Hachette and a just added Macmillan are the biggest of the defecting publishers, and are unilaterally setting their price points at $14.99 to $15.99 per e-book (with new releases  going possibly as low as $12.99). Amazon, who needs their books, has no choice but to go along with it all.

This is good news for Steve Jobs, who seeking to avoid his iPad being outmaneuvered by the Kindle – both are e-book readers, and the one with the cheapest e-books could conquer the emerging e-publishing market. If he can keep parity with the Kindle’s prices (or undersell them), it’ll be just another reason to pick up an iPad.

Personally, I’ll be sticking with r-books – real books that actually exist in physical space – for the time being.

Source: VentureBeat

Image Source: Amazon.com

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