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

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..

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..

Firefox 3 is nearing it’s completion, with the latest Release Candidate ready for release tomorrow (or at least, that’s the ETA). RC1 has been pretty stable (I’ve been using it on both of my computers now) but does suffer a little with a few websites and some authentication issues I have (which I make sure I send the reports to Mozilla about, like a good Beta tester). Thankfully most of those bugs have been addressed with the latest RC and we can all enjoy the speed increases and usability functions of the new Firefox very soon when it’s released for general consumption within the next month or so. To download the latest RC builds, visit here.

August 1st is the date when a new board will be proposed by Carl Icahn, shareholder and expert at releasing cats amongst pigeons. Mr Icahn has publicly stated he will sack Jerry Yang, one of the co-founders of Yahoo, if he’s successful with his bid, along with a lot of the other directors.

I personally don’t think Carl Icahn is going to be successful with his bid - he’s starting to come across as a bit of a mad man, with his intimations of “showing Microsoft Yahoo! are serious about a deal.” Serious? Don’t you mean desperate? I’m sure Steve Balmer is rubbing his hands with glee at the moment with the negative discourse and division in the Yahoo! camp - ready to pick up the pieces once the dust settles.

I don’t know about anyone else here, but are you getting sick of this Microsoft-Yahoo stuff? I’m covering it because it would be silly of me not to, but does anyone really care that much anymore? Microsoft - If you want to buy them, front the cash. Yahoo - If you want to be bought, accept the offer. It’s not difficult is it? And as if to rub salt into the wounds, Microsoft is now considering a different option of a partial buyout of the company. Almost like a compromise between the board of directors and the shareholders - I don’t see how big a deal for Microsoft this would be. Surely it’s all or nothing??

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is going to suggest a new board of directors for the shareholder’s meeting on the 3rd of July. Mr Icahn has said that the shareholders (himself included, owning $1 billion worth) should have been given the chance to vote on the future of the company during the Microsoft negotiations, and felt the offer put on the table was more than good enough to be accepted by Yahoo. If this move works, does it mean the new board will go to Microsoft, cap-in-hand asking for renewed negotiations?

Microsoft has backed down and walked away from its Yahoo takeover plans. Not prepared to part with the sort of cash Yahoo were after, Steve Balmer is quoted as saying, “Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer.”

This really surprises me - I thought that the offer would either be accepted, or Microsoft were going to go hostile - walking away was never on the cards for me. So after months of anticipation, lots of discussion (both with the companies themselves, and globally on blogs, podcasts, even mainstream news) the deal has fallen through, and both parties are going their separate ways. A question still remains though - What sort of damage has this whole situation down to the stability of Yahoo? Read the Microsoft press release here.

The micro-blogging site that’s big in America, has been used to good effect in the current US election race. Of course, it’s main users are the geek types, who like to check up on what other geek types are up to (check the links on the left!)

Well now 10 Downing Street have jumped on the bandwagon and started their own twitter feed. If you want to know the latest political developments as they happen, then head on over to twitter, create an account and start following. It will make you a more efficient person at slating the government in real-time!