Loaded: Microsoft just won't quit Video

Loaded: Microsoft just won't quit Video Transcript

>> We haven't heard the last of the Microsoft and Yahoo tango. AT&T breaks up with Dish Network, and we've got another band releasing music straight to Rock Band. It's Wednesday July 2nd, I'm Natali Del Conte and it's time to get Loaded. Microsoft may not be ready to let sleeping dogs lie according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is wanting to take over Yahoo, but this time they're not operating alone, Microsoft may be enlisting the help of other companies such as Time Warner and Newscorp. Microsoft may also be exploring the option of breaking the company into smaller pieces. Of course, nothing is confirmed other then the fact that we haven't seen the last of this story and how it ends is anyone's guess at this point. AT&T has released details about the new iPhone and they promise that it will go on sale at 8 a.m. next Friday, July 11th. Now, Apple has not confirmed that this is the time that it will go on sale in the Apple's stores just yet, but we're betting that it will coincide. AT&T is also released an informational page for the new iPhone at www.att.com/iPhone. The company has also said that it will sell a contract free iPhone for 400 dollars more then the normal price at a later date. This puts the eight-gig model at 599, and the 16-gig model at 699. But even if you're not on contract with AT&T the phone will still be locked to work only with the network. The company says that it may also soon have a prepaid plan out, however for those who don't qualify for the credit check. T-mobile is raising its text-messaging rate to users from 15 to 20 cents per text at the end of August. Not the smartest move in the world. With the launch of the new 3G iPhone and other networks offering data plans that are all exclusive, it seems like T-mobile just wants to shoo [assumed spelling] their customers right out the door. If you're looking for an excuse to leave T-mobile, then the price hike might be considered a breach of contract. Blockbuster has changed its mind about Circuit City, according to the New York Times, the company CEO, James W Keyes, has said that Circuit City was just not in the Company's best interest. Myspace has launched a contest with the Rock the Vote, the campaign that MTV used to rock in the nineties to encourage young people to vote. The contest is called Demrocacy [assumed spelling], and it puts [assumed spelling] bands against one another to get their fans to sign up to vote. The first twenty-five bands to have a 150 fans who register through a widget on their page will have their music featured in custom playlist on TouchTune's digital juke boxes. Caroline McCarthy of www.news.com points out that these are the things you see in bars. The grand prizewinner will be the opening act at the Rock the Vote ballot bash concert at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 25th, for more information go to www.myspace.com/rockthevote. Lenovo hasn't launched a consumer desktop pc here in the US in a very long time. The company changed that this week with the launch of the Ideacentre K210. It's a pretty affordable machine starting at 379, after a hundred dollar mail in rebate. It comes with an option for a built in camera; facial recognition functions and the guts [assumed spelling] are made by Intel. It isn't a super fancy machine, but I think that Novo [assumed spelling] has it right, keep it simple when it comes to Desktops because people do still want them but throw most of your energy into the laptop market. AT&T is breaking up with Dish Network. The company will no longer sell home service bundles that offer TV service from Dish and Internet and phone service from AT&T. This is not surprising; given the fact that AT&T wants to be your TV Company with AT&T U-verse. The company will finish out its contract with dish until the end of the year. We've got another a county fair skip out, although I like this band, so I'm sad to make fun, but nevertheless, it is my pleasure to announce to you that the Who is the latest band to release its music on Rock band, the best of the Who launches on July 15th. Meanwhile, the game itself is actually hitting state fairs of its own, Rock Band is going on tour to state fairs across the US, where fans will be ever to rock out the main stage where hair bands or Duop [assumed spelling] groups will go on right after you. It's your chance to be a rock star. You can also find these rock band contest at Crue Fest, which is Motley Crew's festival and Jimmy Buffet's concerts. So break out your eyeliner and hair mousse and get up on that stage. Sweden is still peeved about a recent law that let's the government [inaudible] through any email, text message or voice mails of any citizen as they see fit. The Associated Press is reporting that Swedes are still petitioning in droves to get this law lifted, and other European countries are also following suit. When I reported on this story a few weeks ago, I had some Swedish viewers write in about this. Here's what I heard. Aoto [phonetic] said, Representatives of Swedish Parliament have tried to calm people down, addressing the fact that only traffic passing the borders of the country will be monitored, the general public still thinks the law is poposterious [assumed spelling]. One problem is that a lot of Internet and phone traffic is routed through Sweden. Countries in the Scandinavian region have an extensively interconnected Internet backbone, and most of the traffic from Scandinavia, the Baltic's and parts of Northern Europe will now be monitored by Swedish National Defense Radio establishment. Thank you for that background, Aoto, it's still really troubling. Those are all your headlines for today, but I will be back tomorrow with more. Thank you, for watching,

>> I'm Natali Del Conte, with CNET TV, and you've just been Loaded. [ Music ] ^M00:04:49