What Went On While We Were Out

The weekend is over, the Giants won the Super Bowl, and most of us have gotten our tongues back in our mouths after Friday's announcement that Microsoft has a serious case of the hots for Yahoo. Now it's time for the wrap-up of what was going down while we were weekending.

Of course, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal has been the big news all weekend, with everyone stumbling over each other to rack up the most outrageous portmanteau. While Yahoo ponders the deal, and maybe even an alliance with Google, News Corp. is apparently ringing up private equity firms like mad, looking for partners for a rival bid. The Big G, for it's part, is busy screaming like a banshee that a deal would be the worst thing since Windows Vista.

Speaking of Vista, the first service pack for The Empire's latest and greatest OS will see the light of day today, according to reports. The package — which will reportedly exceed 65MB — will be available for download through Microsoft, as well as being pushed out through Windows Update. We're not laying any bets on this being an improvement for the rapidly sinking flagship.

Getting away from the subject of evil, there's interesting news in smartphones this weekend, with the news that a sub-$100 3G Linux handset called Purple Magic has been developed by Purple Labs and NXP Semiconductors. The system is targeted for use in developing countries, which will surely come as a relief to the Canadian government. A government ministry there has asked employees to unplug and get away from it all by giving their Crackberries the shove on nights and weekends. One has to wonder, though, what will happen to all the night and weekend minutes if the plan goes through...

And good news if you're an iPod fanatic with a pacemaker, as the FDA has announced that getting your Barry Manilow fix won't give your ticker the nix. No word on potential mental health effects, though.

That's all for now, back to Matt and Meredith in the studio.