IT'S TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7TH, I'M NATALI MORRIS COMING TO YOU FROM SAN
FRANCISCO THIS WEEK AND IT'S TIME TO GET LOADED.
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GOOGLE LAUNCHED THE NEXUS S, A NEW ANDROID PHONE THAT WILL RUN THE
MOST CURRENT VERSION OF ANDROID, VERSION 2.3 CALLED GINGERBREAD. THIS
IS A SAMSUNG PHONE WITH WHAT THEY ARE CALLING THE "PURE GOOGLE"
EXPERIENCE. IT HAS A 1 GIGAHERTZ HUMMINGBIRD PROCESSOR, FRONT AND
REAR FACING CAMERAS, 16 GIGS OF INERNAL MEMORY, AND NEAR FIELD
COMMUNICATION HARDWARE THAT LETS YOU READ INFORMATION FROM NFC
TAGS ON POSTERS AND WINDOWS. IT COMES OUT DECEMBER 20 ON T-MOBILE.
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GOOGLE ALSO LAUNCHED GOOGLE BOOKS TODAY. THIS IS WHERE GOOGLE WILL
SELL AND GIVE AWAY ELECTRONIC BOOKS. IT COMPETES DIRECTLY WITH
AMAZON'S KINDLE STORE, APPLE'S I-BOOKS AND MORE. YOU CAN BROWSE TITLES
AT BOOKS-DOT-GOOGLE-DOT-COME-SLASH-EBOOKS AND READ THEM ON AN
DEVICE THAT ACCEPTS OPEN FORMATS SUCH AS YOUR COMPUTER, YOUR
SMARTPHONE, YOUR TABLET, AND MORE. YOU CAN ALSO MAINTAIN YOUR LIBRARY
OF BOOKS WITH YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT.
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ON THE HEELS OF THE NETFLIX STREAMING-ONLY MOVIE SERVICE, IT LOOKS LIKE
AMAZON WANTS TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR. AMAZON IS REPORTEDLY LOOKING
INTO SELLING A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION WHERE YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO
STREAM MOVIES ON DEMAND LIKE ON NETFLIX. AMAZON ALREADY HAS ITS VIDEO
ON DEMAND SERVICE BUT YOU PAY A LA CARTE FOR CONTENT. AND IF THEY
REALLY WANT TO COMPETE IN THIS BUSINESS, THEY NEED TO GET ON SOME
DEVICES WHERE NETFLIX ALREADY IS SUCH AS THE APPLE TV AND GAME
CONSOLES.
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VERIZON IS TESTING A SERVICE THAT WOULD LET YOU USE YOUR CELL PHONE
MINUTES ON YOUR HOME PHONE. VERIZON HOME PHONE CONNECT LETS
SUBSCRIBERS MAKE CALLS FROM THEIR LANDLINES USING THEIR MOBILE PHONE
PLANS. IT WOULD COST AN EXTRA $9.99 PER MONTH. THIS WOULD WORK EVEN IF
YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR LANDLINE NUMBER. THIS IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO
CUSTOMERS IN NEW YORK AND CONNECTICUT.
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TOMB RAIDER FANS, A NEW VERSION OF THE LARA CROFT GAME IS COMING SOON.
THE NEXT ITERATION OF THE GAME WILL BE CALLED TOMB RAIDER. JUST TOMB
RAIDER. AND IT IS A BIT OF A PREQUEL, TAKING US THROUGH THE HISTORY OF
HOW LARA CROFT BECAME QUITE SO FIERCE. THE TOMB RAIDER GAMES HAVE
SOLD 35 MILLION COPIES SINCE THE FRANCHISE LAUNCHED IN 1996.
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AND FINALLY IF YOU ARE ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR NEW YEAR'S
RESOLUTIONS, NIKE WILL BE GIVING AWAY A WORKOUT IPHONE APP FOR FREE ON
NEW YEAR'S DAY. THE NIKE TRAINING CLUB APP IS FOR IPHONE AND IPOD TOUCH
AND IS DESIGNED TO GIVE WOMEN A FULL BODY WORKOUT, ALTHOUGH I GUESS
MEN COULD USE IT TOO. YOU CAN FIND MORE INFO AT NIKEWOMEN-DOT-COM.
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THOSE ARE YOUR HEADLINES FOR TODAY. I WILL SEE YOU TOMORROW. I'M NATALI
MORRIS FOR CNET.COM AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.
