IT'S WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23RD. I'M NATALI DEL CONTE, AND IT'S
TIME TO GET LOADED. [*]
TODAY IS A BIG DAY IN MOBILE PHONES. FIRST OFF, SAMSUNG
RELEASED 3 NEW MESSAGING PHONES ON T-MOBILE. ONE OF THEM
IS NAMED AFTER AN EMOTICON. IT IS CALLED THE SMILEY BUT
SPELLED COLON-PARENTHESIS LIKE THE SMILEY SYMBOL. SILLY. THE
TWO OTHERS ARE THE GRAVITY 3 AND THE GRAVITY T. THEY ALL
HAVE FULL QWERTY KEYBOARDS AND COST $75 OR LESS. WE ARE
ALSO EXPECTING A NEW LINE OF VERIZON DROID PHONES TO BE
ANNOUNCED TONIGHT SO WE'LL FILL YOU IN ON DETAILS
TOMORROW AND OF COURSE THE IPHONE 4 LAUNCHES ON
THURSDAY AS WELL SO STAY TUNED TO CNET FOR A FULL REVIEW.
[*] MICROSOFT IS ADDING MUSIC TO ITS SEARCH ENGINE,
BING. THE SITE NOW OFFERS PLAYABLE SEARCH RESULTS. THERE
WILL BE 5 MILLION TRACKS THROUGH MICROSOFT'S LABEL PARTNERSHIPS.
YOU CAN PLAY OR BUY THESE SONGS THROUGH BING, ALTHOUGH
MICROSOFT STILL WANTS YOU TO BUILD YOUR LIBRARY IN THE
ZUNE MUSIC SERVICE OF COURSE. MICROSOFT ALSO ADDED ABOUT
100 CASUAL GAMES AND 20-THOUSAND EPISODES OF TV SHOWS,
ALL PLAYABLE FROM BING. [*]
GOOGLEVOICE IS NOW OPEN TO EVERYONE IN THE U.S. THE
SERVICE GIVES YOU ONE PHONE NUMBER THAT WILL RING ALL OF
YOUR PHONES. THE MOST USEFUL FEATURE IS VOICE MAIL
TRANSCRIPTION. IF YOUÕRE NOT INTO CHECKING YOUR VOICEMAIL,
GOOGLEVOICE WILL TRANSLATE THE MESSAGE INTO TEXT AND
EMAIL IT TO YOU. [*]
SEARS AND KMART ARE SET TO LAUNCH A STREAMING VIDEO
SERVICE ON TVS AND BLU-RAY PLAYERS. THIS IS A LOT LIKE THE
SERVICE THAT BEST BUY AND WAL-MART OFFER: STREAMING VIDEO
THROUGH DEVICES FROM SHARP, LG, SONY, SAMSUNG, PANASONIC,
AND RCA. CUSTOMERS WILL LEARN HOW TO SET THIS UP IN STORE
SO THAT WHEN THEY GET HOME, IT JUST WORKS. CLEVER PLAN.
THIS IS SET TO LAUNCH TOWARDS THE END OF THE YEAR.
[*] XBOX 360 OWNERS CAN NOW SIGN UP FOR AN XBOX
LIVE GOLD FAMILY PACK. THIS MEANS YOU GET FOUR INDIVIDUAL
GOLD MEMBERSHIPS ALL FOR 100 DOLLARS A YEAR. CURRENTLY
A GOLD MEMBERSHIP COSTS 50 DOLLARS PER PERSON PER
YEAR. THIS OFFER STARTS IN NOVEMBER.
[*] THAT IS YOUR NEWS FOR NOW. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING.
I'M NATALI DEL CONTE WITH CNETTV AND YOU'VE JUST
BEEN LOADED.
