Shocker! Oracle takes on Amazon with all-Oracle-all-the-time cloud [GIGAOM]

Oracle cloud will use “our OS, our VM, our compute services and storage services on the fastest most reliable systems in the world — our engineered systems, Exadata, Exalogic, Exalytics, all linked with Infiniband,” Ellison told thousands of Oracle customers, partners and others at San Francisco’s Moscone Center Sunday night. For banks and other companies with requirements to run infrastructure in house, Oracle will offer a private cloud based on the exact same technology and run and manage it customer data centers, Ellison said.

Simon Cowell and Will.i.am are teaming up to create an X Factor to find the next Mark Zuckerberg [TECHCRUNCH]

Details are sparse on when the show will debut and the exact format, but if the tech-focused show is anything like X Factor, it sounds like would-be entrepreneurs will be pitching their ideas to an all-star panel of judges. It also appears that the show will be based in the UK.

As Will.i.am told The Sun, “Singing and performance create a couple of jobs. But this will create lots…It’s about getting in touch with youth and giving them a platform to express themselves — whether that’s in science or mathematics.”

Mapgate is over. Apple won. Customers won. Google, not so much. [PANDODAILY]

There was no better way for Apple to have handled this royal screw-up. I was not expecting it. I’d grown used to another, more aloof Apple, the sort of company that apologizes as a last resort, and even then makes you feel bad for it. In other words, I’d grown used to Steve Jobs’ Apple. This note illustrates that Tim Cook’s Apple is a more clear-eyed, pragmatic, and—not that it’s important, but it’s not nothing—a nicer place.

Facebook’s new pitch to brand advertisers: forget about the clicks [REUTERS]

Fewer than 1 percent of in-store sales tied to brand advertising campaigns on Facebook come from people who clicked on an ad, according to a new study that Facebook has conducted through a partnership with Datalogix, a data mining firm that tracks real world retail sales.

“We ended up in this world where the click is king,” said Brad Smallwood, Facebook’s head of measurement and insights, who will present some of Facebook’s findings at one of the advertising industry’s biggest conferences in New York on Monday.

The Paperwhite is a great ereader, and the superb screen quality, easy-to-use frontlight, and improved capacitive controls make it an easy choice. The only reason to not get it would be if you really love physical buttons, in which case you should probably look to the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight, which is now $120—in line with the Paperwhite’s Special Offers model. Otherwise, the Kindle Paperwhite is the best ereader out there.