Effectively immediately, any webmaster can open a Kindle Bookstore and integrate it into their website, Amazon announced on Tuesday.  Amazon says it takes just a few seconds to embed the Kindle for the Web widget into a website, and once in place webmasters can begin earning referral fees through the Amazon Associates Program for sales originating from the site.

"Kindle for the Web makes it possible for bookstores, authors, retailers, bloggers or other website owners to offer Kindle books on their websites and earn affiliate fees for doing so," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content. "Anyone with access to a web browser can discover the seamless and consistent experience that comes with Kindle books. Kindle books can be read on the $139 third-generation Kindle device with new high-contrast Pearl e-Ink, on iPads, iPod touches, iPhones, Macs, PCs, BlackBerrys and Android-based devices. And now, anywhere you have a web browser. Your reading library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights are always available to you no matter where you bought your Kindle books or how you choose to read them."

Amazon's announcement comes just one day after Google unveiled a cloud-based eBookstore of its own called Google eBooks. Both services feature a reading app integrated into the browser, with the advantage perhaps going to Amazon for offering referral fees.

To say Cyber Monday "was a success" would be like saying Michelangelo did a "good Job" painting the Sistine Chapel. Neither description does their respective events justice. According to comScore's number crunching, this year's Cyber Monday posted $1.028 billion in online spending, a 16 percent increase over one year ago and the biggest online spending day in the history of mankind.

"Cyber Monday was a historic day for e-commerce as we saw daily spending surpass $1 billion for the first time," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "The online holiday shopping season has clearly gotten off to a very strong start, which is welcome news. At the same time, it’s important to note that some of the early strength in consumer spending is almost certainly the result of retailers’ heavier-than-normal promotional and discounting activity at this early point in the season. So, while we anticipate that there will be more billion-dollar spending days ahead as we get deeper into the season, only time will tell if overall consumer online spending remains at the elevated levels we’ve seen thus far."

While Cyber Monday set a new record, sales are up across the board so far this holiday shopping season. Consumers spent $13.56 billion from November 1-29, a 13 percent increase over last year, and $407 million on Thanksgiving Day, a whopping 28 percent jump from a year ago. Black Friday sales were up too, and so were the following weekend sales figures.

Get the full breakdown here.

If we ignore the occasional price hikes, like the recent one that upped the subscription costs for its DVD rental plans, is there really anything not to like about Netflix? The streaming service just keeps getting better, and fresh off the news wire this morning, Netflix said it has inked a multi-year deal with FilmDistrict to stream first-run, theatrically-released films distributed by FilmDistrict a few months after their release on DVD.

This is referred to as the "pay TV window," in which these flicks would normally be licensed to premium cable channels. Now they'll go from FilmDistrict to Netflix instead.

The new deal will kick off in 2011 with Drive starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, and Lockout with Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace.

The well timed deal comes on the heels of Netflix's new $7.99 streaming-only subscription plan that was unveiled earlier this month.

We noticed quite a few vendors getting a jump on Cyber Monday this year, posting Black Friday deals online. As a result, Paypal benefited from a 27 percent increase in total payment volume on Black Friday 2010 compared to one year ago, Yahoo News reports.

"The tough economy has made shoppers more price-conscious, and this year's Black Friday results show that they're going online to find the best deals," said Amanda Pires, senior director at Paypal. "With the convenience of shopping from a laptop or mobile phone, more people are choosing to avoid the long lines, parking chaos, and early morning rush in exchange for great online deals available from the comfort of their homes."

Not surprisingly, mobile shopping proved popular this year, too. Paypal noted a whopping 310 percent increase in overall mobile shopping compared to last year's Black Friday, while Ebay -- the online auction site that owns Paypal -- saw a 30 percent increase in mobile bidding.