Loaded: The day the music died Video
Loaded: The day the music died Video Transcript
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>> Apple releases yet another iPhone firmware upgrade. IBM has a new technology to speed up your processors, and Android is no longer just a myth. It's Tuesday, August 19th. I'm Natali Del Conte, and it's time to get Loaded. ^M00:00:13 [ Sound effect ] ^M00:00:17 Apple keeps trying to right their wrongs. The company released yet another iPhone firmware upgrade Monday night, iPhone 2.0.2. It's supposed to fix all those bugs that plagued 3G iPhoners, like myself. So far it hasn't made my 3G service work any better. My iPhone still works best when I disable 3G, but I might just have a lemon. Apple is also still tinkering with Mobile Me. The company sent emails to Mobile Me users, giving them another 60 days of free service in exchange for their patience. This is the second time they've done this. Their hoping that free service will buy them enough time to get it right once and for all. [ Sound effect ] It looks like the US will be one of the last countries to get the BlackBerry Bolt. It's already launched in Chile, and this week it launches in Canada. RIM is supposed to launch the Bolt on Thursday, and it will be carried by Rodgers. This is BlackBerry's latest smartphone offering. It has 3G, Wi-Fi video recording, and several other bells and whistles. It isn't supposed to come to us Americans, though, until September. [ Sound effect ] The Recording Industry Association of America has shut down Muxtape, and online music site that lets users create public playlists. We don't have a lot details about this just yet. The site just posted a notice on Monday night saying that the service will be unavailable for a brief period while it sorted out a problem with the RIAA. That probably means that the RIAA got wind of the fact that you could stream whatever songs you wanted in whatever order you wanted, which amounts to free streaming and ownership of songs that they RIAA cannot capitalize on. This was a free service, but it looks as though the RIAA wants someone to pay for it, either by way of licensing from the company, or service fees from the users. That's too bad. I really liked this site. [ Sound effect ] We may see a new version of Microsoft Office soon. A Microsoft employee wrote a blog post saying that the company is looking for people to participate in Alpha testing of Office 14. Testing is supposed to begin in November or December, which means we wouldn't actually see the finished product for months after that. [ Sound effect ] Android seems to be a real thing. The FCC has approved the first Android-based phone that's supposed to launch on T-Mobile, but we still don't know when we'll ever actually see the thing. It still does appear to be and HTC phone, and we're still anticipating it around the Christmas shopping season. I'm really very dubious about Google's ability to launch a mobile operating system that will rock the mobile world, but I'll also just be glad when we can finally wrap our heads around this whole thing. [ Sound effect ] Google launched an advocacy campaign called "Free the Airwaves" this week. This is the company's efforts to get access to white space, which is the spectrum of frequency that will be vacated once TV moves to digital only transmission in 2009. Google and other companies like Intel, Microsoft, and Motorola want the FCC to give them access to this frequency to disseminate broadband, but the FCC isn't sold on that just yet. In order to gather support for the idea, Google's new "Free the Airwaves" site lets users sign petitions, post their own videos, or join advocacy groups. Now, of course, Google isn't doing this for Good Samaritan reasons. They want more people getting on the Internet using Google. But it's still a worthy medium of broadband, so check it out when you can at freetheairwaves.com. [ Sound effect ] Google Reader now let's you follow leading influential journalists and politicians and see which articles they read and suggest. Google has named a select group of political pundits as power readers, so if you subscribe to their feed in your Google Reader, you'll get the chance to see what they suggest that you read about the campaign. The two candidates, Obama and McCain, have also been named as power readers. Of course, I don't think Obama is actually marking articles for us to read himself. And John McCain doesn't even know how to use the Internet, so surely he isn't using Google Reader. But both candidates have staff to do that for them. [ Sound effect ] IBM is claiming to have invented a technology that speeds up your computer while reducing power consumption. The company shrunk the smallest features in test chips, the memory cell. By reducing the size of the memory cell, the company was able to reduce the overall size of the microprocessor. This brought the size of the Static Random Access Memory chip to 22 nanometers. Now, this may sound a little under the hood, but the point we ought to retain is that this technology could speed up our computers, and allow for more features like 3-D animation or graphics. IBM hopes to see this technology in our computers by 2011. [ Sound effect ] EA Games and Take Two Interactive seem to be a lot less hostile these days. In fact, they're getting along quite nicely, and it seems like a merger is imminent. Take Two released a statement on Monday, saying that they have entered into a formal process to evaluate strategic alternatives and are continuing discussions as part of the process to maximize value for stockholders. So it looks like this won't get so ugly after all. EA still wants to hold firm at their offer of $25.74 per share, and Take Two does want more. But the point is that they're talking and playing nice. [ Sound effect ] Lance Armstrong wants you to inspire others with your story. His site, LIVESTRONG.com is holding a contest on You Tube called "Dare to Share Your Story." Contestants are asked to upload their own videos depicting how change has impacted their life. The submissions are limited to two minutes, and the winner will be announced on September 23rd, and receive an autographed Trek Bike. If you recall, a few months back, Playboy held a competition like this over You Tube, but that didn't prove to be very successful. But LIVESTRONG's contest serves a very different purpose. So it will be interesting to see the response. [ Sound effect ] According to a survey just released, television is still the leading source of news in the US. The Pew Research Center's biannual survey on news consumption found that 46 percent of participants rely mainly on television for their news, while 13 percent obtain their news on the Internet. Now surprisingly, the Internet group skewed much younger. Web oriented news consumers were affluent and highly educated. [ Sound effect ] AC/DC will not be selling its new album on iTunes or on Rock Band, as I would expect them to. Instead, they'll release it exclusively to Wal-Mart and on their website. The album will be called "Black Ice," and it launches on October 20th. AC/DC has actually never sold their music on iTunes, but I really don't see any advantage of limiting distribution like this. I mean I know the Wal-Mart crowd is the right demographic for AC/DC, but why not have a better digital distribution strategy? I don't get it, but I also just don't get the musical experience that is AC/DC. I never really have. [ Sound effect ] 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. ^M00:06:23 [ Music ]
Apple releases yet another firmware upgrade for the iPhone, the BlackBerry Bold launches in Canada, and the RIAA closes down Muxtape.
