E Books

The "Harry Potter" series, which has conquered mediums from books to movies, is finally available in e-book format. The books by author J.K. Rowling can be purchased on Pottermore.com for $7.99 for the first three books, $9.99 for the last four installments, or $57.54 for the entire series. “Today is a great day for Harry Potter fans and e-book readers alike,” said Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of Pottermore. “Not only is this phenomenally popular series available in e-book form for the first time, but across an extensive range of devices and platforms, thanks to unique collaborations with leading online retailers.” The Harry Potter e-books can be accessed using several platforms, including the Amazon Kindle, Sony's Reader, Google Play and the Barnes & Noble Nook.

--Springtime is Christmas for the home-improvement industry, and Home Depot is marking the season with its third annual "Spring Black Friday" promotion. With warmer-than-usual weather over much of the country, the chain is rolling out deals nationwide, instead of region by region as in previous years. The promotions, which include 50% off select patio furniture, are to continue through April 11. Balmy temperatures have showered good fortune on the industry at large. Retail sales for garden and outdoor-home-improvement merchants rose 18% in February compared with the same period a year ago, according to Global Hunter Securities.

The Justice Department laid out its price-fixing case Wednesday against Apple and five major publishers, three of whom settled without admitting any wrongdoing. On Friday it was Apple's turn to speak. As ever,  the company was terse. Here's the entire statement released by spokesman Tom Neumayr: The DOJ's accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry.

NEW YORK — A federal judge has approved a U.S. government settlement with three major publishers accused of conspiring with Apple to fix the prices of electronic books. The ruling released Thursday requires the publishers, Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, to abandon a pricing system that they conceived in 2010 when Apple Inc. released the iPad and began selling digital books in its iTunes store. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote approved the deal nearly five months after the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging Apple worked with the largest digital book publishers to rig a system designed to counteract Amazon.com's pricing practices.

Apple announced its best e-books of the year Thursday. The company has come up with a best-of list at years' end since the launch of the iBookstore in 2010. This year marks the debut of the interactive category "Best Multi-Touch Book," specifically for e-books designed using the iBooks Author tool. The interactive e-book Apple selected as the best of 2012 is "Fashion" by DK Publishing , created in conjunction with the Smithsonian. Apple cites the "photos, videos and virtual style tours" exploring 3,000 years of fashion history as what makes the e-book outstanding.

William Shakespeare once wrote: "A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. " That seems to be the guiding philosophy behind a new line of Shakespeare e-books from Sourcebooks that seeks to demystify the playwright's work. Called the Shakesperience and available through iTunes' iBookstore for $9.99 per title, the e-books use audio readings, a glossary, photos from notable performances and other tools to help student readers better understand Shakespeare's famously challenging texts.

--After a few years of restraint, teen spending is on the rise. Just in time for prom season, American teenagers reported double-digit increases in how much they're shelling out on fashion, beauty and entertainment, some of the sharpest jumps since 2004, according to a semiannual survey from Piper Jaffray. Teens from wealthy households said their fashion expenditures rose 17% in the last six months, while youngsters from families with more moderate incomes said their spending had risen 18%. Overall, about 39% of teen budgets are devoted to fashion, up from 38% last fall and 37% a year ago. --Discount giant Wal-Mart has picked 10 products as finalists for its Get on the Shelf contest.

Electronic-book deals between Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and major book publishers may be anti-competitive, Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal said Monday. Blumenthal's office said he is investigating whether the terms of these agreements, in which Apple and Amazon "will receive the best prices for e-books over any competitors," lead to less competition when it comes to book pricing. "These agreements appear to deter certain publishers from offering discounts to Amazon and Apple's competitors — because they must offer the same to Amazon and Apple," Blumenthal's office said in a statement.

A federal judge has ruled that Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook must testify in the U.S. government's e-books antitrust case against the company. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan granted the Department of Justice's request to order Cook to testify for four hours in the lawsuit, according to Reuters . Apple had tried to block attempts to have Cook sit for a deposition, saying it would be "cumulative and duplicative" because the government had already deposed 11 other Apple executives, Reuters said.