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Helio’s latest promotion has their Ocean for just $99. Of course there is a small catch to get that price, the phone is actually going for $199, and you will get the $100 difference back in the form of a mail-in-rebate. Which would make this a good offer only for those that are good at making sure the take care of the paperwork.

Aside from the mail-in-rebate, the offer requires a new activation which means a two year agreement, and you have to sign up for a plan that retails for $60 or more per month. Of course when you consider Helio has a 500 minute plan for $65, a 1000 minute plan for $85 and an unlimited plan for $99 that should not be an issue.

As you would expect, this latest offer is just for a limited time, the Ocean must be purchased between May 1, 2008 and June 17, 2008, the rebate form must also be mailed in no later than July 17, 2008.

Read [Helio]

In a move that completely has the tech industry shaken up, Microsoft has put out a statement saying they have Proposes Acquisition of Yahoo! for $31 per Share - which of course equates to $44.6 billion dollars.  Yes, that this number -> $44,600,000,000… wow.

The bid for tech giant Yahoo is a mix of cash and stock, and would clearly be a giant blow to search leader Google.  The release states that online advertising is a big plus to the acquisition, in a niche where the two companies have struggled to compete with Google’s AdSense / Adwords.

Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ballmer sent the following letter to the Yahoo! Board of Directors yesterday.  More analysis to come on Gadgetell.

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