mw-630-google-music-630wToday at its I/O developers conference, Google unveiled a new cloud-based music storage and streaming service called, for the time being, Music Beta. The service allows users to store up to 20,000 of their own songs in a virtual "locker" which can then be accessed from multiple devices. The beta version of the service is now available by invitation (you can request an invite on the Google Music Beta site), and will remain so at least until the beta ends.

The service works hand-in-hand with a new version of the Android music app available today (for devices running version 2.2 Froyo or higher) that allows Beta users to store and access their tunes on the cloud. Along with universal music availability across tablets, smartphones and computers, your playlists also carry over to each device synced. The app also caches recently played music so that while the majority of your tunes are stored exclusively on the cloud, you'll still have a selection of songs available should you lose your

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Technology giant Microsoft has revealed it will acquire voice and video communications company Skype, according to a press release. Both companies have approved the deal, which breaks the scales at a staggering $8.5 billion, allowing Microsoft to control Skype's future, which now includes full integration into just about every Microsoft device on the market.

Microsoft notes that we can expect Skype to appear on Xbox Live (with Kinect support), as well as the company's Outlook email client and Windows Phone. But fear not, Android, iPhone, and Mac users, Skype's new owners assure us that non-Microsoft platforms will still be supported, although we'd have to imagine anything with a Microsoft badge will get first dibs.

Rumors had been swirling earlier this month around Skype's being scooped up by a number of different companies including Google and Facebook. Analysts originally predicted Skype's price tag could possibly push $4 billion. So while we'll likely never really know how many

th21-ipad-horizontal-630wShould every child in America have an iPad? That's what a rather provocative article over at Cult of Mac editorialized this weekend, to cries of both support and astonishment in the comments. The main gist of the argument is that the iPad is a better interactive learning tool than one of the main alternate activities that seems to get a free pass with many parents: watching television.

Blogger Mike Elgan shares statistics about how much TV consumption trumps time spent in formal education (1,500 hours of TV annually vs. 900 hours in the classroom), and posits that the iPad is an excellent substitute. The iPad features less harmful advertising (particularly for junk food), interactivity, portability (the iPad can be brought outside), skill-building and learning applications, and the ability to take advantage of parental controls for age-appropriateness, he argues.

Feedback to the post ranges from enthusiastic agreement to resounding calls for getting children away from screens and