If you're feeling good about the market, you're not alone. Take my hand as we go over some of this week's more uplifting headlines.

1. Kindle slays Harry Potter
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) has finally found a better-selling product than the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series -- and it's a homegrown hero, to boot.

Amazon revealed this week that "millions" of its third-generation Kindle e-readers have been sold since its summer debut, topping J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to become the leading online retailer's best-selling product of all time.

Amazon made its own luck, naturally. It's been aggressively marketing the e-book reader on its landing page for ages. It also helps that the new Kindle sells for as little as $139. The original model hit the market with constrained supply at $399 three holiday seasons ago.

The Kindle has also widened its distribution. During the 2009 holiday season, Amazon.com was the only place to score a new Kindle. These days, even Staples and Target are selling the gadgetry.

Is it fitting that a digital reader pushes out an old-school leaf turner? Young wizards in training will be crushed, but Amazon's Kindle is here to stay.

2. Ma Bell knows best
AT&T (NYSE: T) isn't a name that you'll find often in this flattering column. The telco giant is often the derisive target of attacks over shoddy iPhone connections or its move away from unlimited data plans earlier this year.

However, this week AT&T gets a pat on the back for making the most of a bad situation. The wireless carrier is announcing this week a beefed up network of Wi-Fi "hot zones" in areas where AT&T has come up short in the past. In other words, disgruntled AT&T wireless customers in New York City and San Francisco may find some relief in expanded hot spots providing Wi-Fi connectivity to offset iffy 3G signals.

Is it the perfect fix? Of course not. Technology is evolving rapidly, and this is merely a tourniquet to stop the data bleeding. However, it's a stopgap solution until AT&T gets its act together.

3. Making the most of the World Wide Web
Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) may be stamping its passport earlier than expected. Advertising industry watcher Adweek is reporting that Netflix is already in discussions with advertisers and media agencies to map out marketing strategies in international markets.

Now that Netflix has worked the licensing and logistics kinks out after introducing a streaming service in Canada three months ago, it's largely a matter of talking to studios and inserting pushpins on the global map.

Isn't it great? There hasn't been a company that's been able to front a worthy challenger to Netflix domestically, and it's already trying its hand at winning as the away team overseas.

4. A small step for MannKind
The Food and Drug Administration is delaying its decision on MannKind's (Nasdaq: MNKD) inhalable insulin treatment until later next month, but don't let that poke you the wrong way.

MannKind's product could be huge, especially for those who have tired of insulin injections. If the FDA were going to nix MannKind's application, it would have probably put it out of its misery already. Giving itself a few extra weeks obviously doesn't mean that approval is on the way, but at least the yea or nay decision is proving challenging. In other words, there may be something to build off even if Afrezza is ultimately rejected.

Yes, an overtime loss is still a loss, but investors know that MannKind is going to be either feast or famine in 2011. They're buckled in for what promises to be a wild ride one way or the other.

5. Coal rush
A-Power Energy Generation Systems (Nasdaq: APWR) signed a major contract to build a coal-based power plant for Inner Mongolia Huolinhe Coal Trade Group.

The new project will be fully operational in five years, so it's not as if A-Power is going to collect the roughly $600 million right away. However, it's just what the company needed after a crushing third quarter. Orders today are the energy-generating systems of tomorrow.