LAWSUITS AND STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: The e-book scrum now has a new player, Microsoft, which announced a $300 million investment in Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader. (A little ironic given that Microsoft sued B&N last year for patent infringements.) This deal will create a new B&N subsidiary, Newco, that will house the company's digital and college e-textbook business, including platform, Nook Study. Microsoft will reportedly get a 17.6 percent stake. Education Week looks at this deal's potential impact on K-12 classrooms, where different initiatives have been in place to provide Nooks and Windows OS tablets in school districts such as Cleveland and Charlottesville. Microsoft and B&N have their work cut out to catch up with the likes of Apple and Amazon, but better late than never.
