Entertaining With Microsoft, Calling With Nokia
Bill Gates kicks off his last Consumer Electronics Show with some TV and movie deals. Nokia Siemens wins a big Saudi contract. And Wikia Search debuts today.
NEWS AT A GLANCE
Microsoft’s Gates touts video deals
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates kicked off the annual Consumer Electronics Show last night, using his 11th and final CES keynote address to highlight new deals with entertainment companies. Gates said Microsoft is partnering with NBC to provide live and on-demand Webcasts of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and will offer MGM movies and ABC and Disney Channel TV shows over its MSN and Xbox Live services. (Los Angeles Times, free registration required) Before the CES, Warner Bros. said it is dropping the HD-DVD format for rival Blu-ray high-definition video, a big win for Sony and a blow to Toshiba and Microsoft. (MarketWatch)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Nokia Siemens lands Saudi wireless deal
Nokia Siemens Network won a $935 million contract to build a high-end mobile network in Saudi Arabia for Middle Eastern carrier Zain. “It’s a very sizable deal,” said eQ analyst Jari Honko. “Very good news indeed for Nokia.” (Reuters) Nokia Siemens is a joint venture between Germany’s Siemens AG and Finland’s Nokia, the world’s top cellphone maker. (MarketWatch) Motorola, the No. 3 mobile phone maker, said today that it had purchased Singapore-based Soundbuzz, Asia’s largest online music company. (Reuters) The deal will let Motorola expand its Motomusic service to India, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. (AP in Houston Chronicle)
Wikipedia founder goes for the search
Wikia Search, an open source Web search tool from Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales, debuts today, in a bet that regular citizens and $14 million from Amazon and other investors can create a search engine to rival Google, Yahoo!, and other heavyweights. The ad-funded service will incorporate feedback from users to weigh search results. (The New York Times, free registration required) Wales warns not to “expect Google-quality searches on Day 1.” But Web users may not be patient, says Search Engine Land editor Danny Sullivan. “Quitting Google is like quitting smoking,” he adds. “It’s a habit that’s hard to break, and people don’t want to break it.” (BusinessWeek.com)
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Working to engage the customer
Online floral retailer 1-800-Flowers is taking customer engagement to the next level, holding a contest to flush out the Valentine’s season’s most compelling marriage proposals. Aspiring brides and bridegrooms can submit video proposals to a special YouTube channel starting today. 1-800-Flowers chose Valentine’s Day—a big day for the $16 billion floral industry, but smaller than Mother’s Day—to ring in a novel yearlong deal with Google, YouTube’s parent. “We have a very strong respect for the whole YouTube culture,” said Monica Woo, an executive at the flower firm. “What we don’t want to do is overly commercialize the channel.” (The New York Times, free registration required)
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
India's lengthening working week
Under The Radar Fourteen-hour work days, meetings during holidays, and no overtime are just part of the job in India's workplace culture
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: October 7, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: October 7, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published