Weekend Wrap-up: SoftBank May Be After T-Mobile; Apple Reportedly Acquires BroadMap

It’s time again for the Weekend Wrap-up, where we cover the biggest tech stories from the past week and help you get all caught up. If you missed us last week, we’ve now added a video to our weekly post that compliments our text summary. So whether you’re someone who prefers to read or someone who wants to see and hear the news, we now offer both.

Now, let’s get to the Wrap-up.

Softbank is Closing In on T-Mobile

Sprint parent company SoftBank has had its eyes on T-Mobile for a while, and T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom has hinted at selling the carrier in the past. Until now, nothing has come of the stories surrounding a potential T-Mobile sale, but reports say that SoftBank is ready to make a bid on the fourth-place wireless company. One has to wonder — how would such an acquisition affect the U.S. wireless market, especially now that T-Mobile has brought a fresh new take to the field with its “Un-Carrier” strategy? That’s an answer we won’t get until a deal goes through.

Apple May Have Acquired Broadmap This Year

Who says Apple has lost the ability to keep secrets? News surfaced this past week that Apple may have snapped up a mapping firm called BroadMap this year. It’s suspected that the technology from that purchase will eventually make its way into the maps product on iOS 8, because, let’s face it: Apple’s Maps app needs work. It’ll be interesting to see exactly how Apple changes Maps and whether those changes will also make in into Maps for OS X.

Rap Genius Smacked for Spammy SEO Practices

In the past, typing in a search query for lyrics to a rap song more often than not directed you to Rap Genius. The site ranked very well in search engines, particularly Google, but it seems that Rap Genius’s great rankings were not totally kosher. It came to light that the company was engaging in spammy SEO practices, asking affiliates to tweet out links to blog posts that contained links to Rap Genius pages. Google was not pleased by this revelation and retaliated by punishing Rap Genius’s rankings in its search engine . We’ll keep an eye on this and let you know if anything changes.

Microsoft’s New Operating System Initiative Could Begin Next Year

“Threshold” is a code word for the initiative Microsoft plans on using to merge its various operating systems into one. We’ve now learned that Threshold could start coming together as soon as 2014, which could be good news for a company that hasn’t seen a lot of success with its new operating system or some of the devices its been putting out recently. How exactly will Microsoft bring its operating systems together and make the experience cohesive across PCs, phones and tablets? We may find out in the next few months.