Twitter founders launch two new websites, Medium and Branch | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Twitter founders launch two new websites, Medium and Branch | Technology | guardian.co.uk: They inspired a boom in self-publishing with Blogger, then turned the world to 140 characters with Twitter. Now Ev Williams and Biz Stone have launched two new websites – Medium and Branch – in what they hope will prompt an "evolutionary leap" in online sharing.

Williams and Stone are still directors of Twitter, but are involved in the new ventures through their San Francisco-based incubator fund, The Obvious Corporation.

Hollywood Gets Hot for Fanfic: Who Will Write the Next 'Fifty Shades'? - The Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood Gets Hot for Fanfic: Who Will Write the Next 'Fifty Shades'? - The Hollywood Reporter: Call it the Fifty Shades effect. The hottest genre in the book world is self-published fan fiction -- original stories based on existing characters, typically traded online for free. Thanks to the steamy E.L. James trilogy, which began as Twilight fanfic before becoming a successful e-book and now a 20 million-selling worldwide sensation, publishers are racing to secure the next hot titles.