Microsoft Corp. has retaliated against Apple's clever, youth-targeted ads by writing a $10 million check to Jerry Seinfeld to appear in its new ad campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company, whose recent quarterly profit growth has been upstaged by Apple, is hoping that the 54-year-old comedian will help make Windows seem less stale and outdated. But the choice of Mr. Seinfeld--who is most associated with his eponymous, and quintessentially '90s, New York-based sitcom--has left more than a few industry observers scratching their heads, especially since Mr. Seinfeld will reportedly appear in ads with 52-year-old Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.  read more »

Housingworks bookstore served gin and carrots last night; they were having a party and a lot of people who work in publishing were there. You could tell it was 2007 because it was a benefit for people living with AIDS and the DJ was playing some really recent Sonic Youth. But in some ways, it felt like a throwback to the days when people came to events like these to actually have fun.

Really though: none of the big publishing execs were there and neither was Jonathan Safran Foer, and that meant all the nice editors who came—silvery haired ones like Paul Slovak from Viking as well as young ones like Matthew Weiland from the Paris Review and Jamison Stoltz from Grove/Atlantic—could just talk about the books they liked, and it was okay.  read more »