 It's Tuesday, July 10, 2012. I'm Nilay Patel. Do you shut the front door all the way? Because we're about to spend 90 seconds on the Verge. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wants to make it clear he plans to take on Apple in every single way. In an interview with CRN, the boastful executive said the company is quote, not going to leave any space uncovered that is Apple's. Ballmer still plans to lean on hardware partners like HP, Dell, and Samsung. He estimates Microsoft may sell just a few million of its Surface tablets in the first 12 months they're on sale. That's less than 1% of the estimated 375 million Windows PCs Microsoft expects to sell over the same period. A $99 Android game console is poised to be the next Kickstarter success story. It's called the Ouya. In its first nine hours on Kickstarter, the LA-based company behind Ouya has met its funding goal and raised over a million dollars. If this momentum keeps up, it could beat the $10 million record set by the Pebble smartwatch. Ouya hopes to launch in March of next year. Starting tomorrow, DirecTV customers will no longer have access to MTV, Comedy Central, and 24 other Viacom channels due to contractual disputes. Negotiations are still ongoing, but one thing is clear, no one cares about VH1. And finally, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion held an investor meeting today after putting on an aggressive media blitz the past two weeks. CEO Thorsten Heinz continues to deliver his optimistically confusing message, saying that since RIM already owns the QWERTY smartphone market, the company will target the full touch market of BlackBerry 10. A clever plan, seeing as the QWERTY market is all but dead. That's it from i45x2. Tune in tomorrow to find out how the 28th Amendment will forever change love in the metaverse.
 It's Tuesday, July 10, 2012.
 I'm Nilay Patel.
 Do you shut the front door all the way?
 Because we're about to spend 90 seconds on the Verge.
 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wants to make it clear he
 plans to take on Apple in every single way.
 In an interview with CRN, the boastful executive said the
 company is quote, not going to leave any space uncovered that
 is Apple's.
 Ballmer still plans to lean on hardware partners like HP, Dell,
 and Samsung.
 He estimates Microsoft may sell just a few million of its
 Surface tablets in the first 12 months they're on sale.
 That's less than 1% of the estimated 375 million Windows
 PCs Microsoft expects to sell over the same period.
 A $99 Android game console is poised to be the next
 Kickstarter success story.
 It's called the Ouya.
 In its first nine hours on Kickstarter, the LA-based
 company behind Ouya has met its funding goal and raised
 over a million dollars.
 If this momentum keeps up, it could beat the $10 million
 record set by the Pebble smartwatch.
 Ouya hopes to launch in March of next year.
 Starting tomorrow, DirecTV customers will no longer have
 access to MTV, Comedy Central, and 24 other Viacom channels
 due to contractual disputes.
 Negotiations are still ongoing, but one thing is
 clear, no one cares about VH1.
 And finally, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion held an
 investor meeting today after putting on an aggressive media
 blitz the past two weeks.
 CEO Thorsten Heinz continues to deliver his optimistically
 confusing message, saying that since RIM already owns the
 QWERTY smartphone market, the company will target the full
 touch market of BlackBerry 10.
 A clever plan, seeing as the QWERTY market is all but dead.
 That's it from i45x2.
 Tune in tomorrow to find out how the 28th Amendment will
 forever change love in the metaverse.