GigaOM

Amazon.com reportedly agreed on Monday to buy mapping startup UpNext, the latest sign of increased competition between the world's largest internet retailer and tech rivals such as Google and Apple. GigaOM reported that UpNext Founders Raj Advani, Vik Advani, Robin Har and Danny Moon will move from New York to Seattle, where Amazon is based, to lead the e-commerce company's mapping efforts. The technology news service didn't report a purchase price, but said UpNext backers, including Chris Sacca's Lowercase Capital, will get a five-fold return on their investment, made about 16 months ago.

Borders has partnered with Bookbrewer to create a simple e-book self-publishing service that lets authors write works of any length and set their own suggested retail prices. The announcement was made days after Amazon debuted Kindle Singles, a publishing service for digital works that are shorter than traditional books. The capabilities continue to blur the line between books and "not quite books," GigaOm writes.

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