Amazon has led the way in driving acceptance of ebook reader devices with its Kindle, but now the market has gotten crowded. This is just the beginning though as ebook readers start to transition from purely consumer gadgets to accepted business tools.

Apparently Barnes and Noble and Sony failed to read the Forrester Research report when planning production of their ebook readers. Forrester predicted that as many as 1 million electronic book reading gadgets will be sold this holiday season, but the Barnes and Noble Nook and the Sony Reader couldn't keep up with demand and will miss out on the party.

In a desperate bid for survival, longtime office software maker Corel has agreed to a takeover by its majority investor, Vector Capital, a move that could help keep classic software packages such as WordPerfect and CorelDraw around as Microsoft Office alternatives, at least for a while.

Founded in 1985 with CorelDraw as its linchpin, Corel has struggled to compete with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office after acquiring the WordPerfect software title from Novell back in 1996. Corel has also produced literally dozens of other software titles over the years, often after acquiring them from other software vendors.

Google and TiVo are teaming up for a new deal that'll put your clicking habits into the hands of advertisers. Before you grab the nearest "privacy violation" placard, though, check out the specifics of this arrangement -- it's probably far less invasive than what you're expecting.

Google and TiVo's Ad Data Deal

Adding a second monitor to your workstation can greatly improve your productivity. Take it from me: There's nothing like having your Web browser running on one screen and, say, your word processor on another.

Most desktops (and even laptops) support the addition of a second screen, and the monitors themselves are pretty affordable these days.

Verizon has challenged Sprint's marketing claim that its "America's most dependable 3G network." The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has asked Sprint to drop the slogan in response to the Verizon complaint, expanding the ongoing marketing battle between the leading mobile service providers.

Verizon is already engaged in a heated battle with AT&T revolving around its 'There's a Map for That' ad campaign. Verizon's very clever marketing compares maps of the United States showing that Verizon has five times the 3G network coverage of rival provider AT&T.

Black Friday is only days away, and while early sales have been heating up this year, the day after Thanksgiving will still be a day for big bargains. If you haven't already, you should get warmed up for the big shopping day by checking out PC World's 10 Fascinating Facts (they're really tips) for Black Friday 2009, 8 tech tools to keep you on top of this year's deals, and some online shopping pointers from Black Friday pros.

The only thing left to do is keep an eye on the hottest destinations on the Web touting Black Friday deals. Here's a list of Web sites you'll want to keep an eye on, so sync them across your computers with Chrome bookmarks, save them to delicious or just store them in your favorite browser. Whatever you do, don't miss out on these sites to help you find great bargains.

Ubisoft's action-stealth game Assassin's Creed 2 already has its predecessor on the run for first-week sales, to the tune of 1.6 million units worldwide. That's 32 percent more than Ubisoft's original medieval sneaker, which, working backwards from that figure, sold about 1.1 million units during its inaugural sales week in November 2007.

Google is the leader in online search and search-based advertising, and recent acquisitions are designed to expand the vast Google empire. Critics take exception to Google undercutting traditional marketing channels, but the evolving advertising landscape levels the playing field for small and medium businesses.

Google recently purchased AdMob, which targets advertising on mobile devices, and now has also acquired Teracent, a firm focused on online display advertising. Google's voracious appetite for new advertising revenue streams borders on monopolistic.

Amazon has boosted the battery life of its Kindle e-reader and added native support for PDF documents, and you don't even have to buy new hardware to get the benefits.

The retailer says it made the battery improvements through a firmware upgrade that took six months to develop. As a result, Amazon claims that Kindles will get an 85 percent boost in battery life, lasting seven days with wireless turned on compared to four days previously. With wireless turned off, the Kindle will last up to two weeks on a charge, same as before.

Apple's jumping into the battle that sees Verizon Wireless and AT&T flaming each other in advertisements, but unlike AT&T's recent effort to defend itself, Apple's new pair of iPhone ads are actually good.

To recap, Verizon fired the first volley with ads that dissed AT&T's lack of 3G coverage. AT&T sued Verizon, claiming that the maps mislead viewers because areas with slower coverage appeared in white, giving the impression that those areas had no coverage at all. A judge ruled in Verizon's favor, allowing the company's ads to keep rolling. So AT&T retaliated with a lame and even childish ad that featured actor Luke Wilson checking off four bullet points in the carrier's favor.

In the age of Google we depend on our Web browsers--and on all the features which make them so efficient to use. Personal settings and data such as bookmarks, history, cookies, and saved passwords are essential to productivity. FavBackup (free) recognizes the importance of such data and offers an easy and comprehensive way to back it all up. Perhaps even more useful, you can use the program to migrate settings to a browser on a different computer.

Navigating your way out of town for Thanksgiving got easier for more Android users, thanks to Google. In a blog post , Google announced that Google Maps Navigation Beta (of course) is now available for free for mobile devices running Android version 1.6 and higher.

That means that users of phones such as T-Mobile's G1 and the myTouch 3G will have access to the app's excellent navigation features. Google Maps Navigation enhances turn-by-turn navigation by merging GPS functionality with features you're already used to on Google Maps such as street view , satellite view , and searching for a specific business by name.