Weekend Wrap-up: Dell vote delayed, Surface loses $900 million

Thanks for checking into yet another edition of our Weekend Wrap-up! This past week wasn’t full of big headlines like some prior weeks, but there were a few major stories that you should know about.

Dell-ayed

First off — dude, who’s getting Dell? The saga that’s been playing out for the past six months or so will continue on, as the Dell shareholder’s vote that was scheduled for this past Thursday was delayed until this coming Wednesday, July 24. Will Michael Dell be able to take the company he founded private or will the notoriously noisy Carl Icahn work his way into the mix? Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday.

Sinking Surface

Microsoft recently dropped its Surface RT $150, down from $499 to the lower price of $349. The good news is that Microsoft believes this price drop will help spur sales of its entry-level Surface tablet. The bad news is that the Surface RT has lost the company $900 million so far. Word is that Microsoft plans to refresh its Surface line later this year, even though millions of RT tablets are sitting on store shelves collecting dust. We’ll see if Microsoft sticks to that plan in a few months.

Elsewhere in the techosphere

Ouya is launching a $1 million Kickstarter fund — which the company will match — to encourage new development for its Android-based game console. The Ouya, which went on sale in late June, only has a few dozen titles built or modified for the system and most of those titles aren’t all that high-quality. While it’s great that the company behind the system is looking to bring new games to the platform, this would have been a great move before launch.

It seems like we’re always hearing something about Apple and TV. The latest story is that Apple is pitching media companies on a commercial skipping feature that would presumably be built into its TV device. Would that device be an Apple TV streaming box or that Apple television set that’s been “just around the corner” for the past three years? We can’t say for sure. This is a story to keep an eye on, though.

And, finally, it wouldn’t feel right to end this without mentioning wearable technology in some way. The latest company rumored to be getting into the wearables game is Microsoft, who is reportedly working on a Surface Smartwatch. The watch could wind up running a modified version of Windows 8 in order to help it connect more easily to other Windows devices.

That’s a wrap on the Wrap-up. Check in next weekend to get caught up with the week’s news.