KARYNE: Hey, Im Karyne Levy
EMILY: And I'm Emily Dreyfuss.
KARYNE: Welcome to Rumor Has It! The show where we round up the
week's biggest tech rumors.
EMILY: And vote on what sounds legit, and what seems like it'll never ever
happen.
KARYNE: And remember: you can vote on all the rumors! Keep your eye
out for the poll in the interactive player, if you're watching on CNET.
EMILY: First, on December 9, the New York Times reported that Media
kingpin and NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering buying the
company that owns British newspaper, the Financial Times.
But thats not what got the Internet interested. Buried in the report is the
assertion that Bloombergs advisers want him to buy LinkedIn instead.
KARYNE: Isn't Bloomberg's empire focused on financial news media?
LinkedIn is not a news organization. Soooo...what do they have to do with
each other?
EMILY: Right, but the assumption by analysts is that what Bloomberg really
wants is growth, and if Bloomberg wants to reach out to a broad base of
businesspeople on the Internet, well, LinkedIn would pretty much deliver
that, wrapped up in a bow. We could do a whole show on the intricacies of
this rumor, but we wont bc its the holidays and we don't want to torture
you.
KARYNE: Thank god, but click on the link to read more.
--
KARYNE: Next up, satellite-TV company Dish and wireless carrier Sprint
may be joining forces to offer customers bundled TV and phone service, if
they go through with a deal that would let Sprint use some of Dishs
unused airwaves, according to a report from...Bloomberg.
EMILY: OOOooh, I see what you did there with that fancy segue. Sprint isn't
the only company interested in those airwaves, as weve had reports that
Google and AT&T are also tossing their hats in the ring.
KARYNE: But whoever Dish goes with, its clear Dish wants to get into the
mobile phone game; there are even rumors that it plans to start selling
smartphones at its Blockbuster stores.
EMILY: And finally, rumors regarding Microsoft bringing its Office suite to
iOS have been swirling for a long time, but recent leaks seem to point that
it'll happen sometime in 2013.
The French site Mac4ever spotted references to a few key Office for iOS
applications on an official Microsoft support site. That site lists: Office
Mobile for iPhone, Excel for iPad, and PowerPoint for iPad.
KARYNE: Back in October, a Microsoft subsidiary in the Czech Republic
said that "In addition to Windows, Office will be also available on other
operating systems, Windows Phone, Windows RT, Mac OS, Android, iOS
and Symbian."
EMILY: But then Microsoft released a statement saying that this
information was inaccurate.
KARYNE: Either way, it makes sense for Microsoft to release an iOS suite.
Wouldn't they want their product on as many devices as possible?
EMILY: I say Yay to this because i selfishly want Word on my phone
sooooooo badly. I do almost all my writing on public transit, with a pen, in
a notebook, bc I think best while in motion, but you know what sucks?
Typing it up later! This would solve my whole life.
KARYNE: HA! How can you work at CNET and use a pen?!
EMILY: What do you guys think? Don't forget to vote.
EMILY: And the CNET Council's verdict is a unanimous yes!
KARYNE: Thats our show everyone, share your rumors at
rumorhasit@cnet.com or call us at 1-800-750-CNET. And tweet us!
EMILY: Tune in next week for more tech rumors.