This week in The Higgledy-piggledy Publishing Biz, the UK has another ebook-pedalling juggernaut to join Apple and Amazon, as Google ebooks are now available in the UK.

And in the aftermath of last week’s slam-dunk announcements from Jeff Bezos,  Eoin Purcell explains ‘Why The Kindle Fire Worries Me‘, and GigaOM asks ‘What happens to books when the Kindle is free?‘

Elsewhere, there are Lessons to Help Generate Book Buzz, and PUBSLUSH launches a Kickstarter platform for book publishing, using a similar crowd-funding model to Unbound.

In the wake of her controversial release, will there be a lucrative Amanda Knox book? Here’s what publishing insiders have to say.

And One More Thing. We’ve yet to see what the true impact of Steve Jobs’ tablet revolution will be on the book industry, but as a tribute to the Apple founder who passed away yesterday, here’s his speech at Stanford from back in 2005, in which he labels death as ‘life’s great change agent’.

“Stay Hungry. Stay foolish”.

This week BookWrap considered simply unleashing a barrage of questionable puns related to a certain product launch this week. But let’s not.

There’s much more to talk about instead, like the Bloomsbury venture to bring books ‘back from dead’ and the next chapter in a scandal we’re going to dub ‘Assange-Canon-gate’ in which we have the WikiLeaker’s Statement on the Unauthorised, Secret Publishing of the Julian Assange “autobiography” by Canongate.

In this week’s Scare Stories About Why Publisher Are In Deep Trouble, it seems The Perfect Storm Is Looming in Publishing, a Survey says publishers continue to miss out on digital opportunities, and even tech blog TechCrunch weighs in with The Future Of Books: A Dystopian Timeline. Gulp.

And there’s more: publishers are beginning to face a backlash concerning ebook quality, with Neal Stephenson’s Reamde eBook Replaced on Amazon, and there’s some Hard truths for book publishers.

Maybe we should have stuck to making puns.

No matter, here’s the Top 20 Free Book Apps of the Week,  and web design bible Smashing Magazine on How To Make An eBook.

There’s no question that this week’s top story is Canongate’s explanation of Why we are publishing Julian Assange’s (unauthorised) autobiography. Yes, a juicy tale this one, though the irony of Assange’s manuscript ‘leaking out’ appears lost on him as Assange savages “duplicitous” Canongate.

In other, somewhat less dramatic news, an NY Times Journalist explains Why I’m self publishing my next book, and In France, publishers seek to break Apple’s rigid terms and 30 percent cut.

For all the designers out there, here’s Three Typography Websites You Don’t Want to Miss, and if you’re interested in the future of textbooks, this podcast from O’Reilly explains why they should not be consumed in isolation.

Meanwhile, everyone’s favourite wee company Amazon wants to reinvent the electronic library, while battling The Myth of the 99 Cent Book.

And finally, last weekend saw a successful Publishing Next conference in Goa, great work by Leonard Fernandes and everyone at Cinnamon Teal.

This week, the sad end of a former giant was chronicled in a Borders epilogue: ‘We were in perpetual crisis’; but this year hasn’t been as bad as all that for everyone – Summer’s Over—and the Kids’ Bookstores Are All Right, so good for them.

The standout news this week is that Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It. Hmm.

Keeping up with industry trends is a tricky business these days. To help out, here’s 15 People You Should Follow (and Why). There’s also The three-headed Hydra of Publishing that’s consuming itself to be aware of, but leaving that aside for now, here’s The Article Everyone Who Loves Books Should Read.

Meanwhile, as Huffington Post Starts Publishing E-Books, Red Lemonade explain, “Why We’re DRM-Free (and it’s not because we trust you…)“.

As some would have it this week, we’re Turning the Page on the Book Industry, and Publishers Are Squandering Their Cachet On Imprints. Nevertheless, It’s still good to have gatekeepers.

And finally, Book publishing: Let me tell you a story…

In arguably the week’s biggest piece of publishing news, Amazon registers KindleScribe.com and KindleScribes.com, but why? (hint: they’re probably not launching a new line of cookware). That revelation came as two equally persuasive cases were made for and against digital publishing: self-published American thriller writer Michael Prescott’s three 99-cent e-books hit the Best-Selling Books list, suggesting a healthy future for authors in the electronic age, whilst Ewan Morrison brewed a storm of controversy in Edinburgh by asking Are books dead, and can authors survive?

So folks, that was BookMachine’s #kindleweek. Taking this week as a snapshot of web-words around the subject of Amazon, it’s clear that Booksellers are wary as Amazon tries to have it all, and Is Amazon Short-Changing Authors? Kate Pulliger meanwhile thinks Digital companies “have a stranglehold on publishing”.

Dilemmas, dilemmas. The New York Times is Deciding on a Book, and How to Read It, meanwhile, as the Tribune Company develops its own tablet, is Technological Innovation: A Publisher’s Dilemma? 

The mainstream media seems to be of the impression that publishing is awash with fear: “The printed book is doomed: here’s why” says The Telegraph, “Facebook acquires ebook design firm, but should publishers worry?” says The Guardian. In fact, it’s Time for book publishers to fight dirty says the Chicago Tribune.

This week Mr Jobs finally enforced his in-app purchase rules, leaving companies scrambling to devise ways of  Sidestepping Apple: From Amazon to Condé Nast, Companies Rethink App Strategies.