Loaded: Safety first Video

Loaded: Safety first Video Transcript

>> Microsoft finds a new victim. MobileMe resets user's expectations and ditches the concept of Push. And how to make the best of getting the ticket for talking on the phone while driving. It's Thursday, July 17, I'm Natali Del Conte and it's time to get Loaded. ^M00:00:15 [ Music ] ^M00:00:17

>> Amazon launched the video-on-demand store today. It features over 40,000 movies and TV shows available by streaming just like on-demand service from your cable company. Amazon must be hoping to compete with Apple, but [inaudible] of them because their content doesn't require you to wait for a download. Amazon Unbox was the company's first TV and movie store, but it did require a download and was mostly unsuccessful at competing with iTunes. Microsoft may have a new obsession and my name is AOL. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is meeting with Time Warner to discuss an AOL acquisition to ease the blow of its Yahoo rejection. Of course we won't really know anything for a while and this will probably drag out like the Yahoo [inaudible]. Apple sent out a notice to .Mac users this week saying that the MobileMe transition was complete, but there were some major snags particularly with the Push service and the meaning of the term Push. While the storage, synch and gallery services are working smoothly, Apple overpromised and under delivered on the Push services for mail calendar and contacts. When Steve Jobs promised Push service with the announcement of MobileMe, he set the expectation that you get instantaneous updates in real time. Apple now says the updates to these services happened in the cloud and take about 15 minutes, so they no longer be using that nomenclature. So, forget Push -- it never existed. To make up for it, Apple has extended .Mac subscriptions for existing users for free for 30 days. Meanwhile, Microsoft launched its own cloud computing solutions to the public to the public this week. This is called Live Mesh and it essentially does what MobileMe is supposed to do synchs your files, folders, bookmarks, news and more between devices. Microsoft announced this service back in April, but it's just now opening it up to anyone in the U.S. You can find more information at mesh.com. Dish Network is making an investment in its high-definition offering. The company rolled out 17 more HD channels on Wednesday bringing the total number of Hi-Def channels to 100. To do this, Dish Network launched its EchostarXI satellite into space on Wednesday after a failed attempt last March. The company expects to have a 150 HD channels by the end of the year helping them to compete with Direct TV. Dish is also expected to introduce an all-HD programming service pack called Turbo HD along with these new channels. Apple is one step closer to a European iTunes store that would service the entire EU. They haven't been able to do this so far because music writers sold separately in each country. However, a new ruling from the EU on Tuesday says that copyright groups must end the system that mandates country by country licensing. Artists and composers are not thrilled about this because it cuts the number of royalties that they can collect from various countries. A group of artists bonded together to protest the law including Paul McCarthy, The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb, Abba's Benny Anderson, and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Reuters is reporting that Sprint Nextel and SK Telecom are actually not in merger talks as we reported yesterday. The buzz is that the two companies are in talks to collaborate on technology, but not actually merge. They both run on the CDMA network and both are pushing hard for a WiMax roll out. We could be weeks or even month away from any confirmation on this, so we'll just see what happens. Drivers who get a ticket for talking on their handsets while driving can consider the price of the ticket as part of the price of a Bluetooth headsets. That's because Aliph is offering a $20 discount on the Jawbone to anyone who has already been cited. The Jawbone is still $100, but at least you won't have to feel like you wasted the 20 bucks. This is a brilliant promotion. I don't know why no one has thought of it so far. But don't go get a ticket as an excuse to get a Jawbone -- Safety first. Gmail is cleaning up its act a little. The Contact List is getting a redo and it will now separate your contacts into two groups. The ones you've added and the ones it suggest that you might want. Gmail was initially designed to auto-add contact information from people who write to you, but that can get a bit cluttery. Now it will give you a choice, which I appreciate. This feature is set to roll out sometime next week. Google is also launching new template features in Google Docs. So if you have a need for uniformity in your Google Docs for things like business cards, invitations or fax cover letters, although, who still faxes anymore. Then you can find those things in your updated version of Google Docs. Get ready to see chat options and a lot more sites, that's because Meebo is launching a new program that lets any website imbed a chat function on its pages, a lot like Facebook Chat. The difference is that you don't have to leave the chat when you leave the page. Meebo will let you pop-out the chat window when you're finished, so that you can continue to visit with your friends and see what's going on on the site. So if someone posts on your wall, you'll get an IM and then you can head right back to the page to see it. I had tea with Meebo founder Seth Sternberg this week and he told me about this. He said that most desktop IM list get outdated quickly, but your social networks are always an updated buddy list so why not add chat. Meebo launches this on just a few sites for now, but undoubtedly we'll see more sites adapted in the not too distant future. MTV is getting back into the music business -- sort off. The company is launching a new site called Sound Track where you can go to see what songs played on shows like the Hills. You can find the song name and information and then buy it on Rhapsody if you're so inclined. Of course this MTV will just play videos like they used to. You wouldn't have to go looking for this information. Those are all your headlines for today. Tomorrow we'll be doing a rare Friday edition of Loaded. The most anticipated movie of the year launches tomorrow, the latest Batman installment called The Dark Knight. The Loaded crew headed to the press screening a few nights ago and we interviewed the president of iMax about the iMax technology that went into filming this freaking amazing movie. We're gonna show you some behind the scenes footage and talk about the iMax experience. Make sure you tune in tomorrow for that. Thank you for watching today. I'm Natali Del Conte with CNET TV and you've just been Loaded. ^M00:05:31 [ Music ]