Over the last year, Piano Media has helped several dozen European news and magazine sites implement nationwide paywalls for selected content. Now it is adding a new payment model, the meter, by acquiring parts of another facilitator. The outfit is buying software, rights and people from Vienna-based Novosense, whose technology can support New York Times-style metered free-article allowances without logging readers' consumption count via conventional cookies.

A jury in Australia has found Google liable for damages after a complaint that its search results had linked a local man to gangland crime. Milorad Trkulja had alleged that the US firm's image and web results had caused harm to his reputation. The 62-year-old had said the site had refused to remove the material when asked. He had previously won a related case against Yahoo.

A New Zealand blogger has landed a mainstream print media editorship. Cameron Slater, who writes a blog called Whale Oil Beef Hooked, has become the editor of Truth, a weekly tabloid newspaper. Regarded as "scandal mongering" and "scurrilious", the paper carries Page 3 girl pictures and salacious stories. Slater, who is no stranger to controversy himself, says he plans to shift the emphasis to more hard news and opinion pitched at the "working bloke" and written in a "blunt and forthright manner".

The latest figures from the National Readership Survey print and digital data report shows the Telegraph has a UK monthly readership of 9.23 milliion across print and online. The Telegraph had a higher print readership of 4.27 million, compared to the Guardian's 4.17 million, but a lower website readership of 5.98 million compared to the Guardian's 6.71 million. In both cases it shows a higher readership online than in print.

The BBC and Sky may represent polar, warring opposites of the broadcasting business, but that doesn't mean their technology platforms can't get along. Following a promise made all the way back in January, internet-connected Sky+HD boxes will be able to access BBC iPlayer from today. The service has been integrated into Sky's world-class program guide, with users even able to plump to catch available shows in high definition. The announcement also let slip that 4OD, the last remaining holdout to the service, will be added in early 2013.

The shift to responsive came out of MNA's "mobile-first strategy", which launched a year ago, with the team responding to a significant rise in the number of people reading their sites on mobile and tablet devices, William Beavis, head of digital at MNA told Journalism.co.uk. During the first quarter of last year, 11 to 12% of people accessing MNA's sites were doing so from mobile devices. This rose to 30% in the first quarter of this year, Beavis said.

Canada's largest daily newspaper is to introduce a paywall to its online content from 2013, in what is a "significant transition" for the newspaper and website. According to Toronto Star publisher John Cruickshank, a paid-subscription programme will launch next year and print subscribers to the Toronto Star will gain full access to online content on thestar.com. Details on how to register and subscription costs are due to be announced in the coming months.

The Herald, the Glasgow-based daily published by Newsquest/Gannett, has increased the cover price of its Monday to Friday issues from GBP1 to GBP1.10. It cites "significant increases" in production costs as the reason for the rise. Earlier this month, The Herald's Edinburgh-based rival The Scotsman, published by Johnston Press, raised its cover price to GBP1.10.

Trinity's shares rose 1.6 pounds, or 3%, to 52.9 pounds and Johnston's gained 0.4 pounds, or 4%, to 10.5 pounds after Daily Mail and General Trust confirmed talks to sell its Northcliffe Media regional newspapers business. Northcliffe's likely buyer is former News Of The World editor David Montgomery, who plans to pool Northcliffe's assets with the newspapers of privately owned Iliffe News & Media in a new private equity-backed vehicle.

Italian and German companies demand that Google to share some of the advertising income from user searches for news on their media websites. France is considering to bring in a legislation which would see search engine giant Google to pay for linking content from the French media, until it signs a deal with the country's media channels. According to reports, Press associations in France, and other European countries, are demanding Google to pay for the displayed links associated with French newspapers in Internet searches.