Users are downloading more e-books, music, TV shows and movies than ever: Digital content and subscriptions were the fastest-growing retail e-commerce category in 2011, according to a new ComScore (NSDQ: SCOR) report.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has cleared up some of the confusion regarding its plans for Windows 8 computers that will use ARM processors, the first time the storied company has built a version of Windows for the chip standard that dominates the mobile world. Windows 8 devices on ARM chips will be able to run a version of Microsoft Office in an operating mode that resembles older versions of Windows, but all other applications aimed at those devices will have to be designed for Microsoft’s new Metro user interface.

Last year, it became clear that Facebook is well on its way to becoming a social operating system underlying our digital lives.  And the enhanced Facebook Open Graph makes that vision a reality. 

After quickly gaining a warm reception and a rapid post-launch investment from BSkyB, the social TV app startup co-founded by ex BBC iPlayer head honcho Anthony Rose is making its first real play at monetisation.

It would be dramatic to say that independent booksellers nationwide are boycotting Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) Publishing titles en masse—and hey, it could still happen. But a new decision from the American Booksellers Association’s IndieCommerce—which comes as bookstore chains Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and Indigo are making similar decisions—is not so far-reaching.

Is 2012 “the year of mobile?” No sir. Mobile is simply too disruptive to have just one year. After all, who remembers the year of the TV or the year of the Internet? Talk of “the year of ...” is not only passé but also irrelevant. The disruptive forces of mobile arrived more than two years ago and will fundamentally change businesses in the decades to come.

The fate of Google’s massive book scanning project has been up in the air since a legal settlement collapsed last year. New court filings this week suggest a possible end game.

Google’s bid for Motorola (NYSE: MMI) is likely to get a thumbs up from the U.S. Department of Justice, but still could face opposition from other regulators both in the U.S. and in Europe. The landmark $12.5 billion deal is essential for Google’s attempts to play defense in the mobile patent wars, as the DOJ is also likely to finally sign off on the results of the Nortel patent auction that kicked off Google’s desperate bid.

Besides the typical $1 to $2 broker fee, one of the factors limiting the growth of the online movie-ticket selling business has been its complexity: The two dominant online players in the domestic market, MovieTickets.com and Fandango, don’t have deals with every theater chain, meaning consumers often have to visit multiple selling platforms to find a convenient location and showtime for the movie they want to see. A lawsuit filed in a Florida Circuit Court against exhibition chain AMC illustrates this conundrum.

It’s been almost a year since former Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2, and according to a new report, the company plans to launch the third version of its breakthrough tablet device around a month from now in early March.

AOL (NYSE: AOL) has hired a new Chief Content Officer in its latest attempt to reboot Patch, the network of hundreds of sites that offer “hyper local” coverage.

Recent roll-outs to new countries of download and streaming services helped Michael Bublé‘s Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) offset physical declines with digital growth in its October-to-December Q3.