• San Francisco PR firm Bite interviews the San Jose Mercury News senior web editor about the Merc's new media offerings. Sez the editor about the popularity of the Merc's American Idol blog, "Compelling content still rules the day." And by "compelling content," he means "celebrity trash." (Gawker Media heartily agrees.) [Bitemarks]

At BookExpo America, distinguished novelist John Updike (whom you read in college) snarked at Wired Magazine founding executive editor Kevin Kelly (whom you last read when someone linked to his blog). At an event so square that the MCs were still making Survivor jokes, Updike (pictured) played the perfect nemesis to the breathless technologist Kelly.

The Nobel Prize in Literature was presented to Harold "Ha'Pint" Pinter, a Great Britain-based author who calls himself "The Playwrighta."