Yeap, the last day for Mr. Gates - and a short history, with video, on the man has been compiled by the BBC. Well worth a look.

The new version of the BBC iPlayer is due to be released tomorrow, with features lots of us have been waiting for. The most important below:

• Full integration for TV as well as Radio
• A rewind and Fast-forward function for Radio, as per TV
• Easier Navigation, including Last Played option
• Combined categories for TV and Radio, allowing easier access to relevant content
• Larger TV viewing area
• A TV Schedule for viewer planning

So all-in-all a better experience for your online pleasure. But then we do actually pay a license fee for this stuff, so maybe we should demand it. Either way the iPlayer should be a bit more user friendly for the future after the updates.

After all the talks have turned to nothing, and shareholders prepare to oust the current board, there are tiny whisperings that maybe the Microsoft/Yahoo deal isn’t over - just yet.

Most of this is speculation, but there are already rumours about a renewed bid, far below what Microsoft originally offered. So is it just more gossip? Or (tin-hat time now I think) is it Microsoft using the public to revise interest in an otherwise dead pursuit? Maybe it’s true and Yahoo aren’t interested. Or maybe Jerry Yang has realised all the bad press for his failure to accept Microsoft’s offer has meant he’s had to go crawling back to accept a worse offer and retain his position in the company? All these questions, and only time will give us the answers.. Original source is this Reuters Article

You all know the story right? Ian Usher has put his life up for sale on the internet, with the aid of Ebay. By his life I mean his home, his job, his friends, his car - everything except himself. Interesting, quirky, but why did he trust the users of Ebay to “play fair?”

Just 24 hours after the bid began it was swamped with pranksters. People using other people’s accounts, people playing tricks on each other - you name it. At what point did Ian Usher actually think this wouldn’t happen?? It’s far too tempting for people to put in stupidly high bids - then “blame it on their friends.”

The current (authentic) bid for his life, as of this post, is about £189,000 ($372,000) which he says isn’t enough to cover the cost of the house! Check out the auction here, it ends in 3 days if you fancy moving to Perth.. And no fake bids please. I mean it.

This day 60 years ago, the first modern computer, nicknamed the Manchester “Baby” was switched on to run it’s first successful program. Baby was the first computer to store information digitally, using a Cathode Ray Tube (or CRT), and is the predecessor for how we store information in modern RAM chips.

The invention and concepts 60 years ago were monumental after people realised for the computer to be of any real use, the information would have to be stored permanently and electrically by the machine. Although the data was added by hand, the Baby would constantly read and refresh the bits on the CRT, it’s memory, electronically to keep them from decaying, and is a concept still in use by RAM today. By the time it was revealed this method was capable of storing 4096 bits.

The first program was run on the Baby, this day 60 years ago. One of the inventors, F.C. Williams, spoke of the monumental occasion, “A program was laboriously inserted and the start switch pressed. Immediately the spots on the display tube entered a mad dance. In early trials it was a dance of death leading to no useful result, and what was even worse, without yielding any clue as to what was wrong. But one day it stopped, and there, shining brightly in the expected place, was the expected answer. It was a moment to remember. This was in June 1948, and nothing was ever the same again.”

Mozilla are reporting the downloads for Firefox 3 have surpassed their expectations and will go into the Guiness Book of World Records - with 8.3 million downloads. The officials for the famous records publication are looking into the claim and checking the results before the number is officially announced. Of course if only 1 copy of Firefox was downloaded, it would still have beaten the record - which doesn’t exist yet! But hey, it’s great publicity for the open source browser.

Firefox 3 is available for download from here right now. As you know if you’re a regular reader of the blog, I’ve been trialling the latest release builds and I can’t recommend them enough. Very stable and quick with improved security and features. If you think you’ll pick up the latest version, make sure you do it within the next 24 hours - Mozilla are trying to get into the Guiness book of World Records for the most downloaded piece of software in a day! Help spread the word!

Yeap - that’s right - in my opinion, Yahoo! has definitely done the wrong thing. They have struck a deal with Google, so that their search results display Google-ads. Why would Yahoo do this? Sure you can understand the temporary shareholder value increase, but in the long term can only spell death for the search engine.

So the company is worth more, at least in the eyes of the shareholders and Microsoft, but does that mean Microsoft are interested anymore? I don’t think so. Of course, we can only speculate on the intricacies of the contract struck between Google and Yahoo!, but I’m sure Google have worded the legalise to make sure their ad deal sticks, no matter who buys Yahoo! - you would be stupid not to. By penning this one deal, I think the following will happen:

• Google will remove Yahoo! slowly from the search arena and gain monopolistic proportions themselves - 82% according to ComScore
• Microsoft will instantly been turned off by a Yahoo! deal, partial or otherwise - Jerry Yang’s plan?
• The replacement of Yahoo!’s board with Icahn’s influence may actually carry some weight now
• An anti-trust lawsuit to follow if Yahoo dips out of search?
• Yahoo! to switch tactics and focus fully on community driven projects, with Google supplying the ads

So what next for Yahoo!? It looks as though they’re getting out of the search game to me, either by choice or by Google sucking them dry.. Anyone remember AOL as search? Didn’t think so..

Reported by CNet this afternoon, Mozilla are getting ready to release it’s next Release Candidate version of their latest browser. Does this mean we’re accelerating towards a public release of Firefox 3? The latest RC versions of Firefox, as always, can be found here.

We want to see an end to the Yahoo! Microsoft battle that will hopefully benefit the whole online community. However, with the current tit-for-tat goings on between Jerry Yang and Carl Icahn, it looks like the dispute over who’s more capable of running the company will go on for a few months yet - at least until the board of directors get a vote of confidence, or otherwise.

With a reply to Carl Icahn’s recent ramblings about whose is bigger than whose, Yahoo! are appealing to the stockholders to hopefully see the light and retain their confidence in an otherwise chaotic company’s recent history. Is Steve Balmer still rubbing his hands, ready to exploit the spoils? Or is he thinking of distancing himself further from this self-imploding wreck of a company? Only time will tell I guess..