ReadWriteWeb

Back in October, I compared the various online streaming services here and Netflix looked like it had the most offerings. But what if you want to search across multiple providers for your streaming content, and find out which one offers you the best deal? Enter CanIStream.It, a free iPhone app from Urban Pixels that allows users to search for movies. It is a great idea whose time has come.

Not unsurprisingly, this holiday season was a big one for the world's biggest e-commerce retailer. But it wasn't just all those remote-controlled, inflatable flying sharks and Forever Lazy pajamas people ordered. Among the biggest winners this year was Amazon's line of Kindle e-readers and, naturally, the e-books that go on them.

Kindles flew off Amazon's digital shelves at a rate of over 1 million per week during the month of December and occupied the top three slots on the company's site-wide bestseller list. The #1 position was held by the Kindle Fire, which was also the most gifted and wished-for item on the entire site, according to data released today by Amazon.

Amazon updated the Kindle app for iOS today, giving iPad users the ability to access publications from the Kindle Newsstand. Amazon's Newsstand offers over 400 full-color publications to Kindle Fire users. Apple's own Newsstand offers more app-like experiences from many of the same publishers.

In addition to the 400 magazines and newspapers, the iPad app can also now display "print replica textbooks," which are more like giant PDFs than interactive applications. All iOS devices, not just the iPad, now support the Send-to-Kindle feature, allowing users to send documents to the device by email. They can also open PDFs from email or the browser in the Kindle app.

As part of our annual review of the Web, we single out a big Internet company that has impressed us the most over the calendar year. The first Best BigCo was chosen back in 2004, so this is the 8th year we've done this. Only four companies have won it up till now. Google has been our selection three times (2004, 2006 and 2009) and Facebook has won it twice (2007 and 2010). The only other two winners have been Apple (2008) and Yahoo (2005).

This year we're pleased to etch a fifth name onto the Best BigCo trophy (although like our own little company, the trophy is virtual). Our Best BigCo of 2011 has been around since the Dot Com era, but what's most impressive is how it has disrupted entirely new markets over the past year. Our Best BigCo for 2011 is...

We're still waiting on a South Pole region for AWS, but it might be a while before Amazon sets up shop in Antarctica. However, the company announced today that they've got South America covered. Amazon has opened its South America (Sao Paulo) region in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This will be useful for organizations in South and Central America that want to use AWS services with low latency. Amazon is also working to reach customers in the new region with blogs in Spanish and Portuguese.

Amazon really wants to attract more independent authors to its publishing platform. It also wants to add competitive muster to its Kindle Store for e-books and the new Kindle e-book lending library. In a move designed to achieve both goals, the company today announced the launch of KDP Select, a program that gives Kindle Direct Publishing authors an incentive to participate in Amazon's e-book lending initiative.

If indie authors are willing to sell their e-book exclusively through Amazon for 90 days, those books become available through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Each time a writer's book is loaned through the system, they get a cut of revenue on top of the royalties they get from book sales.

Have you noticed that the cost of some new e-books seems to be a few dollars higher than it was before? The U.S. Justice Department certainly has and they're investigating why that is and if it's legal. Specifically, the DOJ is looking into whether Apple and major publishers colluded to set e-book prices in a manner that would violate antitrust laws, the agency confirmed yesterday.

Media reports have pointed to the existence of such an investigation since last year, but yesterday an Justice Department official publicly acknowledged it, saying, "We are also investigating the electronic book industry, along with the European Commission and the states attorneys general." That's right, Europe and a handful of U.S. states are concerned about e-book pricing as well.

When you're holiday shopping this year, there's little doubt that Amazon would prefer that you buy that copy of the Steve Jobs biography or Snuggie on their site, rather than in an actual store. That's why the e-commerce giant offers things like free shipping and a mobile app that lets you scan barcodes and compare prices.

In many cases, the price Amazon pulls up on its Price Check app for iOS is going to smaller than the one stuck to the item you're holding in your hand. They know this, and so to further encourage you to buy from them, Amazon is offering a 5% discount on items purchased via the Price Check app.

Amazon has announced the opening of the Kindle Store in Italy and Spain, as well as the first Italian- and Spanish-language Kindles. The French Kindle Store opened in October. The Italian store features over 16,000 book titles, and the Spanish store has 22,000, both including thousands of free classics.

Just as in the French, each of the new stores is opening with the new basic Kindle reader available for 99€. The international stores also support Amazon's new Kindle Direct Publishing service, so independent authors and publishers can make their books available in these new stores.

Amazon's Kindle sales on Black Friday were up 400% over last year, according to the company. The Kindle Fire tablet is now the bestselling item on Amazon.com. Prior to its release, Amazon ordered 5 million Kindle Fires to meet demand.

Amazon also refreshed the e-ink Kindle line this year, introducing a touchscreen version. Amazon is usually cagey about Kindle sales and won't specify numbers or the breakdown across the Kindle family. But 2011 has been the year of the Kindle, and Amazon wants to demonstrate its success.