• MONEY TAKEOUT: New York Times finance reporter Louise Story reports on a plan by fed chief Ben Bernanke to raise interest rates.
• TECH TAKEOUT: Yesterday, Google unveiled Buzz, a new social networking service that lets Gmail users share short status updates in much the same way they might on Twitter or Facebook. Is it the next big thing? Will it take Twitter down? Or is Google just inserting itself into another arena where it's not wanted? Fast Company tech blogger and Wired writer Cliff Kuang has used Buzz and shares his opinions.

Rumors have been swirling for weeks about a new Apple product that's scheduled to be unveiled next week. The legions of Apple rumor-mongers suspect the company is about to launch a new tablet device, which Apple fans hope will have the kind of game-changing impact of the iPhone. We try and separate fact from fiction and look at how useful such a device might be.

Today Microsoft launches Windows 7, the latest and much-anticipated version of its popular Windows operating system. Microsoft hopes to build buzz for the new release by offering it on the same day that the software giant also makes its first foray into the retail side of business. Microsoft, taking a page from Apple's playbook, is planning to open their own stores all over the country. Killing Microsoft's buzz is the news that Apple profits skyrocketed 47 percent in the last quarter on the success of iPhone and Mac sales. The Takeaway's tech contributor and Wired magazine writer Cliff Kuang says Apple's big week was a big blow for Microsoft but that this could be Microsoft's big year. We also go live to Paul Atkinson of public radio station KJZZ in Arizona, who is on the scene of a Microsoft Windows launch party in Scottsdale, Ariz.

(Banners in the Scottsdale mall promoting the Microsoft Store. [Photo: Paul Atkinson])

Once upon a time, internet-based phone service was "the future"; now tech watchers are wondering about its future survival. Online auction site Ebay announced this week that it's selling internet voice-and-video conferencing tool Skype for almost $2 billion. Were the two companies simply strange bedfellows? Or did eBay dump Skype because Skype's voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is no longer the frontrunner in voice technology?

We speak to Cliff Kuang, who's written about this for Wired magazine, and Takeaway technology contributor Baratunde Thurston, host of the new TV show Popular Science's "Future Of" and a former telecommunications analyst.

Read Baratunde Thurston's blog post about the back room deals that determine international call rates