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Masterbeat.com, the popular gay-owned dance music commercial download site, ceased operations on Sunday.

AmericaBlog Gay reports on the backers of yesterday's ban on LGBT rights in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce - chaired by Nissan, and whose other board members include such companies as FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare - actively lobbied for a religious right bill in the Tennessee legislature that would rescind Nashville's civil rights protections for its gay and trans citizens, and which bans every city in Tennessee from passing any civil rights laws, for anyone, ever again. The bill passed yesterday. It's on its way to the state's Republican governor for his signature, unless he vetoes it. And these companies led the way in making it happen.

Sign this open letter to the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce demanding that they rescind their support for this hateful bill.

Microsoft has agreed to purchase Skype for $8.5B.

The acquisition will "increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities," Microsoft said. Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and an array of Windows devices. Microsoft will also connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft said it will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms. “Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”

Cable news networks have increasingly turned to Skype to eliminate the cost of bringing interview subjects to their studios.