Ford may sell off Aston Martin
Detroit: Ford Motor Co. is said to be trying to sell its Aston Martin luxury in order to get funds to invest in its other brands amid a sharp downturn in sales but is not sure that its decision would result in a sale of Aston Martin. In Europe potential buyers are said to have already approached the company about a deal. Ford's portfolio of European-based luxury car brands has fallen short of the automaker's optimistic projections from several years ago. The Aston Martin unit lost $162 million in the second quarter of the current year, at the same time as a downturn in U.S. sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles hit Ford's most important market and product line.

Ford chairman and chief executive officer Bill Ford said Aston Martin was the most logical and capital-smart divestiture choice since the product line-up and dealer base of the niche automaker remain separate from other Ford brands. He said Ford had made no decision on whether to sell any of the other luxury brands that form its Premier Automotive Group unit. Ford shares have gained 32 percent since late July as traders began to price in the prospect of an accelerated restructuring plan for the automaker.
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Book lovers hit jackpot as Google offers classics free
San Francisco: Google has made classic literary works available for free download in printable format as part of its controversial quest to make the world's books available online. Now a number of books can be printed out at the Google Book Search website http://books.google.com, according to the company. "Users can search and read these books on Google Book Search like always, but now they can also download and print them to enjoy at their own pace," the company said in a release. However, the company said it does not enable downloading of any books under copyright. With copyrighted material, Google only displays basic information and snippets of text along with information regarding where to get the books, according to the company.

Google has established partnerships with major libraries to make more books available online.
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