iBooks continues to lead as the most popular free app in the Apple App Store this week, according to research from AppData, Inside Network’s data service that tracks app and developer leaderboards.

Explore these 20 free apps and find out what kind of literary apps succeed in this crowded marketplace. To prepare for Mediabistro’s upcoming Publishing App Expo on December 7-8, we spotlight the top grossing book apps, the top paid Android books apps and the most popular free apps every week.

Below, we’ve listed the top free iOS apps of the week–linking to App Data’s research about each individual app, including historical charts, developer information and download details. Read more

Today marks the 176th anniversary of the birth of the author, social activist, and humorist Mark Twain. As you can see above, Google chose an iconic scene for today’s Doodle, though they did go a little overboard with it.

But at least they chose a Doodle we all know. Even if you haven’t read the book, you should recognize the scene above. It’s been portrayed in so many movies and TV shows that it has seeped into the American cultural subconscious.

Mark Twain was born during the visit of Halley’s Comet, and he died shortly after the next visit 74 years later. He had many jobs during those years, including reporter, author, gold miner, lecturer, and malcontent.

Just in time for family holiday gatherings and the 2012 political election, we have a free eBook to help you learn how to argue with people who spread misinformation.

Written by John Cook, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland and Stephan Lewandowsky, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, The Debunking Handbook gives tips on how to discuss the facts when you are in conversation with myth perpetuators. Here is an excerpt: “Common wisdom is that the more counter arguments you provide, the more successful you’ll be in debunking a myth. It turns out that the opposite can be true. When it comes to misinformation, less can be more.”

The Skeptical Science web site has the free PDF download.

For more free eBooks, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive. (Via Lifehacker).

It’s been some months since we last heard from Foxit, and now we know what the company has been doing. A few weeks back Foxit released its Mobile PDF app in to the Android Market.

The app offers text reflow, annotation, and bookmarks, but that’s only a bare summary of the features. You can scribble on or highlight text in a PDF in multiple colors. The app comes with its own file manager, and it includes a robust page jump feature.

This app offers far more abilities than your average free Android PDF app. It’s also priced the same a number of other paid PDF apps. While it might not be the best it is certainly worth paying for.

Android Market

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Last week Steven Colbert, host of the Colbert Report, turned his sights on Walter Isaacson’s recently published biography on Steve Jobs. Hilarity ensues.

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Earlier today Paul Misener, the Amazon VP for public policy, testified in front of Congress. He wasn’t there to make an offer for Amazon to buy North Dakota (they need the warehouse space); that’s tomorrow. No, Paul was there to speak in favor of passing new laws to close the current loopholes in existing sales tax laws.

Most states require residents to pay a sales tax on all their purchases, but they also require a retailer to collect it. This has led to a rather tricky situation when the retailer is located in another state and thus has no obligation to collect the tax.

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If you have a few billion euros sitting around, I have deal for you. The eBook and eReader retailer Weltbild is on the market. The Catholic dioceses of Germany have  recently decided to part with their controlling interest in Weltbild.

Weltbild is a German publisher and retailer based in Augsburg. It has over 300 stores in Germany and is widely regarded as one of the biggest media retailers in the country.  Last year it sold over a billion euros via its website and stores and published a large number of books.

While it’s rumored that this is a response to recent press reports that Weltbild is selling porn, the actual revenue from that content is minimal. According to Carel Halff, the board chairman, it’s much more likely that the Church doesn’t want to own a major business. There’s no word yet on who might buy the company.

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Simon & Schuster has released Ray Bradbury‘s classic science fiction novel about book censorship Fahrenheit 451 as an eBook.

This comes as a surprise, as the 91-year old author has expressed disdain for eBooks in the past. The Associated Press has more: “Bradbury himself has been an emphatic defender of traditional paper texts, saying that e-books ‘smell like burned fuel’ and calling the Internet nothing but ‘a big distraction.’” He seems to have had a change of heart since.

Simon & Schuster’s Jonathan Karp released this statement about the eBook release, calling it, “a rare and wonderful opportunity to continue our relationship with this beloved and canonical author and to bring his works to new a generation of readers and in new formats.”

The eBook is now available in Adobe DRM format directly from the publisher, as well as from all of the major eBook retailers, for $9.99. The publisher is also putting out a new paperback edition for the book in January.

Amazon is pushing out an update today for its 2 week old tablet, and early reports say that it’s undoing the hacks some owners have installed on their KF.

There aren’t any specific details on what is in the update, but we do know it is delivered automatically. Several users over at MobileRead Forums have already reported being surprised by the update. Apparently the Kindle Fire is set to check for updates and then download one if available.

That’s not good news for anyone who has rooted their KF; the update removes the root and returns the tablet to its regular condition. Luckily the update doesn’t appear to make any permanent changes; there are already reports that the KF can easily be rerooted after the update is applied.

You can download the update and apply it manually if you like, but there’s really no need. Your KF will install it on its own.

E-ink announced on Friday that they will soon be ending the partnership with the screen maker LG Display.

LG Display had been one of the main manufacturing partners for the FFS screen developed by Hydis. This screen, which is used on gadgets including the NookColor and the Kobo Vox, is one of the 2 new and better screen technologies used on tablets.

E-ink is cutting ties with LG Display in part becuase they are shifting manufacturing to their new partner, Chunghwa Picture Tubes. E-ink has been working with CPT for some months now to get the new proudciton lines up and running.

This changeover is not expected to affect the supply of screens for tablets, so there’s no need to start hoarding.

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