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A company spokesman couldn't say Wednesday when the presumed theft occurred, but he speculated it took place sometime after Aug. 23. He based his speculation on the fact that the laptop contained data on people employed at T-Mobile between May 25 and that date. Letters dated Oct. 14 were sent to all T-Mobile employees who may have been affected, advising them of the theft, the company said. It said that though the laptop was password-protected, the company is providing free credit-monitoring and identity-theft insurance to affected workers. The laptop hasn't been recovered, the company said. Gates says Google rivalry is 'fun for both companies' Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. have a lot of "overlap" in the products they are developing and the employees they want to hire, heightening the rivalry between the two, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said. "There's differences, but a lot of similarities too," Gates said Wednesday at an event at Stanford University, near Palo Alto, Calif. "This competition is a fun one for both companies." Google, owner of the most-used Internet search engine, introduced more online products this year that target customers for Microsoft's software, including its Office programs. Microsoft in turn has taken aim at its rival's online maps business by introducing its own with more detailed graphics. Gates said Microsoft should have entered the Internet search market four years earlier than it did. To boost its share, the company will work to persuade users to try its search engine, rather than paying computer manufacturers to make its search the default setting in Web browsers. Allen is selling some of his stake in DreamWorks Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen is selling some of his DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. stake, unwinding the partnership that controls the movie studio. Viacom Inc. and Lee Entertainment LLC will also sell stock in the $330 million offering, Glendale, Calif.-based DreamWorks said Wednesday. Allen may sell as much as $241 million worth of shares, Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield said in a research note. The sale ends a collaboration that started with Allen's 1995 investment in DreamWorks, the film studio founded by movie executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, director Steven Spielberg and music mogul David Geffen. NATIONAL NEWS Blockbuster makes deal for movies from Weinstein DALLAS -- Blockbuster Inc. said Wednesday that it has reached a deal for exclusive U.S. rental rights to movies from The Weinstein Co., whose founders created the Miramax studio and sold it to Disney. The deal will keep all movies from Bob and Harvey Weinstein's new production company out of the hands of Netflix Inc., the online service that competes with Blockbuster, the nation's largest movie-rental chain. Bob and Harvey Weinstein said Netflix had talked to them about a deal. But the brothers, whose Miramax credits include "Chicago" and "Shakespeare in Love," picked Blockbuster because of its combination of stores and online rentals. The agreement runs from Jan. 1 through 2010 and gives Blockbuster three years of exclusive rental rights to Weinstein movies. It doesn't cover retail sales of the movies. AOL's Instant Messenger e-mail service upgraded AOL, Time Warner Inc.'s Internet unit, upgraded its Instant Messenger e-mail service in an effort to lure more visitors to its Web sites. The new version released Wednesday, called AIM 6.0, lets users increase their list of messaging friends to 1,000 and allows video chatting while sharing pictures and files, the company said in a statement. The upgrade follows an update of the AIM Internet phone service in September and the release of free broadband software in October. Printable Version Email This Share 0 IFRAME: customFacebookIframe Technology Briefing Bellevue's T-Mobile USA Inc. on Wednesday confirmed reports that a laptop computer containing the Social Security number, salary, birth date and home address for as many as 43,000 current and former employees disappeared from an employee's checked luggage. Google, owner of the most-used Internet... 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