Loaded: CBS acquires CNET

>> We have info about our new boss here at CNET. A behind the scenes look at the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, and tips on disgusting yourself to go to the Apple Store. It's Thursday, May 15th. >> I'm Natali Del Conte, and it's time to get loaded. ^M00:00:13 [ Music ] ^M00:00:15 >> This morning CNET announced that it would be acquired by CBS. >> We're expecting this transition to be complete by Q3 of this year. I'm discussing this because it is breaking, [inaudible], really good news. But I obviously cannot opine [assumed spelling] about it just yet. It's completely new to me and I am sure the networks will have details about integration of the two brands shortly, so please stay tuned for that. Comcast has purchased Plaxo, a contact management service. Comcast and Plaxo already had a working relationship in May of 2007 they partnered to offer Comcast customers network address books. Dan Farber [phonetic] of www.news.com points out that this is a big win for Plaxo whose Pulse social network service with 1.5 million active monthly users has been overshadowed by the likes of Facebook and Myspace. If you want more then one iPhone, you'll have to go to more then one Apple store or get a funny mustache disguise. That's because Apple is now limiting the number of iPhones each customer can purchase to just one. It used to be three. That rule went into effect on Wednesday. This is yet another sign that Apple has probably got a next generation iPhone on its way. They must be trying to stretch out their existing inventory until June. Honestly though, who would buy an iPhone now, much less three, wait it out people, just a few more weeks. Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian is based on the second book in C.S. Lewis's classic series. The film opens this weekend and our producer Wilson Tang [phonetic] got a chance to speak to the cast and director about the stunning visual effects. Take a look. >> Can you explain to our viewers what are the challenges of acting with so many visual effects and CG [assumed spelling] characters? >> Yeah, I mean a lot of it is, actually people don't realize that a lot of it is actually done for you. We really do kind of go to these amazing places and build these bridges and smash them apart again, and you know, these castle sets are completely real. >> You're Narnians [assumed spelling], you're supposed to be extinct. >> You might have an actress in a green suit, kind of on her knees moving the props around the way that batch of wood, which is easy to communicate if you have someone to, you know, to converse with and look in their eyes. But if you're doing a scene with Reepicheep, say for example, you're talking to a piece of wire with an orange sticker for the eyeline [assumed spelling] and someone's feeding you the lines from like off the set somewhere. And the river God at the end when we're looking up at the River God, we're actually watching someone play with a toy helicopter, just so it can get high enough up. >> [Inaudible] Reepicheep and Aslan are two very important characters. They're [inaudible] they're entirely CG. And one of the things I want to do this time with this character is there's a lot more physical interaction, whereas last time [inaudible] the girls rode Aslan, and they came into contact with Aslan. It was somewhat limited. This time I wanted Lucy to be able to hug Aslan, to roll on the ground and, you know, bury her face in his mane. The technology necessary to do that differently was only just achievable last time, was a lot more achievable this time. >> In this movie the Gryphons [assumed spelling] flying in on the night raid, those were painstakingly [assumed spelling] long scenes to film, because they were much in control, which means that we were suspended in harnesses where you can only stay up for really ten minutes, twenty minutes at a time because it's so uncomfortable. And it means that these machines assimilate the exact movements of the Gryphons so that when the [inaudible] computer generates the Gryphons, we're moving in the appropriate way for them to map the Gryphons onto us. And stuff like that takes a long time. And so it was really gratifying to see the movie the other night and see if that stuff paid off and it looks really cool. >> The film opens tomorrow May 16th and is rated PG. For an extended look at Prince Caspian check out CNET TV.com. WWW.Ask.com has acquired Lexico publishing group, the company that operates www.dictionary.com, www.thesaurus.com and www.reference.com. Full ownership of these popular reference sites will inevitable help ASK feel out its brand. It currently has a little over 4% of the search market share. I would be more incline to use ASK after using these sites. But the problem is that I use dictionary and www.thesaurus.com all the time, but in my dashboard as a widget I almost never go to the sites. So the companies will have to think really hard about integration. New Yorkers will have to wait a little longer for Overstock shipments because the company has pulled out of contracts with its affiliates in the state. Overstock was going to be subjected to the Amazon tax where the state is going after back taxes from online purchases. Overstock said, forget that. So they're picking up and moving. Meanwhile, Amazon is still involved in a lawsuit over the legislation. This is ultimately really bad for the state because it will discourage online retailers from doing business here; thereby cutting jobs when they move to another more tax friendly tax. It's back to the auction block for the seven hundred mega hertz [assumed spelling] spectrum. Fortunately, this is not the consumer block that all the big carriers were dukeing [assumed spelling] it out over. This is the D block that was set aside for public service agencies. The SEC voted on Wednesday to ask for public comments on how to go about re-auctioning off the block that was left behind. We'll keep our eye on this one. Sony and Reuters [assumed spelling] want to see your pearly whites. The two companies are co-hosting a smiling picture contest. All you need to do is send in a photo of your smiling mug and if you win you could be on a Time's Square billboard for us all to see. This is a silly contest meant to feature Sony's Smile Shutter Technology that automatically takes the picture when your subjects are smiling. Submissions are being accepted now through June 16th, so head on over to www.reuters.com/smiles You might want to brush your teeth first actually. T-Mobile is trying to help you ward off stalkers. Crunchgear reports that the company is working on plans that let customers block calls and messages from specific numbers. There's no release date yet for these plan, but they're suppose to be in two tiers. One that lets you block just SMS and the other lets you block SMS, MMS, emails and IM's. Unfortunately I do have a need for something like this in my life but I don't have T-mobile. I wish all carriers offered this option. I got a lot of responses about the Post Office this week. Most of you think it's just a matter of a few years before that service is kaput. But there were some good counterpoints too. For instance, Michael said, nothing beats a handwritten letter that you can keep forever. Do you really get the same effect out of an SMS love letter? And who will deliver all that stuff you buy on Ebay, UPS? Sure, for twice the cost of the mail. And Jose said, I'm surprised that the price of postage keeps going up, usually whenever you're competing with someone you try to get the price lower. Good point. I also got a message from Christopher, who's in the Armed Forces, and said that there's nothing like a handwritten letter or care package when he's overseas, so we definitely need the post office for that. Agreed, until you can send brownies as an attachment, we will always have a need for the Post Office in some capacity anyway. And finally my favorite response was from Mike. And this will be our first Loaded love story. He says, in the mid sixties, I was in the Navy, one Christmas as I traveled home to Illinois a young lady was leaving San Francisco to visit her family in a town near mine. My sister-in-law set us up with a blind date, which must have worked because we spent my entire three day leave together. From that point on our courtship was entirely through the mail. The only time I got mail was when we pulled into port or up next to an aircraft carrier. When I got her letters I understood right away the power of the post park. I put them in sequence according to the postmark date so I could read them in the order she wrote them. A year and a half went by before we saw each other again one week before our wedding. This October, we'll celebrate our forty-first Wedding Anniversary. Those are all your headlines for today. And that is the last Loaded for this week. But if you've missed any episodes, you can catch up at www.loaded.cnettv.com. Thanks for tuning in. >> I'm Natali Del Conte with CNET TV, and you've just been Loaded. ^M00:07:25 [ Music ]