Bebo, the social networking site bought by AOL for $850 million (which just closed today), is reported to not renew its current advertising contract, which ends in September 2009, with Yahoo.

The current deal with Yahoo will only cover Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom, with the other localized versions of Bebo to carry AOL’s Platfrom ad network. The loss of the deal will also see Yahoo not having a bid ad contract with any big social network, with Google having MySpace and its own, Orkut, and Microsoft having Facebook.

AOL has also announced that Bebo, AIM, ICQ and many of its community platforms will form a new uit dubbed the "People Networks". Joanna Shields, who is president of Bebo, will head the new unit as president and corporate EVP.

Microsoft has said that it is now back in talks with Yahoo that would see a brand new deal that would not involve a buyout.

In a statement released today, it has said that it was considering a new deal after the software giant walked away earlier this month from its US$47.5 billion bid to bid the web company.

"In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo, Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business," it said in the statement.

Since the buyout bid talks broke down, billionaire investor Carl Icahn has launched a proxy fight with the board to oust them and replaced with members including Mark Cuban.

I really don’t believe in promoting other blogs, but this is kinda like a tip because I listen to Buzz Out Loud. While the video embed code is there already on some of the blogs run by CNET or their employees, CNET TV does not allow you to have an embed code.

Well, TECHGEEK (which I should mention is not affiliated to CNET) has found a way. As well, I am not going to put up the links, well except the embedded video, unless they pay me some advertising money. That or just plug this on Buzz Out Loud - That would be so cool.

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I, and the TECHGEEK crew, are pleased to announce a brand new blog. Unlike ‘The Journal’ where it is a blog about anything; this actually has a topic.

Called TECHGEEK GamesArena, it is a blog dedicated to the entire world of Gaming. News, Reviews and many other things will go there. Some content will be posted here as well, but not all. GamesArena will be run by me and the Gaming Editors. James Davis will oversee some control of the blog.

Log onto http://games.techgeek.com.au/ for the new site. We are also in the process of slowly moving posts onto the new site, so please be patient.

With CNET being bought by CBS Corporation, TechCrunch is reporting and has confirmed that Ars Technica has been bought by Condé Nast, the publisher of Wired Magazine and the New Yorker.

Ars Technica will run under Wired Digital, joining Wired’s online site Wired.com and Reddit (acquired in 2006). Pricing was not disclosed, but sources told TechCrunch that it was in the $25 million range, the same price when Condé Nast bought Wired.com from Lycos, reuniting the magazine and the website.

As well, Federated Media Publishing, which handles advertising for many sites including TechCrunch and GigaOm, will lose Ars Technica as a client, Condé Nast will take over advertising sales. Another popular site, Digg, left in 2007 Federated Media after accepting a Microsoft deal that will pay over $100 million over three years.

Ars Technica was founded in 1998 by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes. They, including their eight or more employees, will remain with the company.

CBS Corporation has announced today that it has bought CNET Networks for $1.8 billion in cash,or $11.50 per share - representing a 44.6% premium on last night’s closing price of $7.95.

From all the latest reports, this appears to avoids a proxy drama from Jana Partners, though it has no comment over the new deal.

CNET Networks is expected to be part of CBS Interactive, pending approval. CBS Interactive will add CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com, UrbanBaby, Chow, BNET, MySimon and TechRepublic to its current lineup of sites; including WallStrip.tv and last.fm.

As well, CBS Interactive will also add its international businesses, including sites in the UK, Australia, Germany, France and its growing China operations - who has sites devoted to women and automobiles.

CNET already has a partnership with Yahoo, where CNET provides technology news and reviews to its current slate of sites on the search company, and Yahoo is to sell ads on CNET properties and CNET to sell ads alongside the content on Yahoo.

"There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks," said Leslie Moonves, the President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation, in the statement.

“CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNET Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience. Together, CBS and CNET Networks will have significant additional exposure to the fastest- growing advertising sector and can accelerate our growth through a number of new content, promotion and advertising initiatives. We could not be more pleased with the prospect of adding CNET Networks and its tremendous team of people to the CBS family. I look forward to working with Quincy Smith, Neil Ashe and the considerable combined talent at both companies, as we build upon our success.”

On the CNET News blog, where they had announced it, the deal has gotten some mixed comments, with some saying that they don’t want this to happen. One comment says: "A real shame. I’ve been a daily CNET user for over 10 years but there is no way this will equate to an improvement. But maybe it’s time to retire my daily regiment.. Good luck to the staff of CNET, I hope you all are able to keep your jobs or find better ones."

CBS Corporation is the legal successor of Viacom, which included the company now called Viacom. Both Viacom and CBS are owned by Sumner Redstone, where he sits as Executive Chairman at CBS.

The British Education Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) has filed a formal complaint against Microsoft with the European Union, saying it has failed to support open standards in the latest addition of the Microsoft Office product line, Office 2007.

It claims that the Office Open XML is not interoperable with software from other vendors, and wants the EU to compel Microsoft to support open standards. And this is not the first time Microsoft and BECTA clashed. Earlier this year, it released a detailed advisory over what should they do with Vista and Office 2007.

The advisory has told schools to not use them, until the schools can find ways to have them interoperable.

NEWS IN BRIEF: TechCrunch is reporting that Comcast has bought social contact list Plaxo today. While financial terms were not disclosed, the purchase price is between $150 and $170 million.

Founded in 2002, Plaxo raised just under $30 million in venture capital. It has also been the subject of rumours of being acquired by Google and Facebook, among other names.

Plaxo is also saying that they will remain independent, and will report to Comcast Interactive Media.

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) is reported to be considering making its own bid to the Federal Government’s proposed  $4.7 billion national boradband contract, putting it in competition with the Optus-led G9 Group.

CEO for SingTel Chua Sock Koong said yesterday that the board would consider launching a separate bid under the right conditions.

The federal budget saw the contract being moved to the Building Australia Fund, where it is controlled by the Finance Minster Lindsay Tanner. The fund will have $20 billion.

Companies have until July 25 to submit their contracts.

Dr Francis Gurry has been nominated as the next director general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), after defeating his Brazilian colleague Jose Aranaha by a single vote.

He had to compete with eight candidates in a three-day meeting. There were sixteen candidates, including Gurry, but seven dropped out.

He needs to be appointed at the next WIPO General Assembly, held on the 20th September to the 22nd September, and will assume the duties on the first day of October.

Previous directors have been from The Netherlands, United States and Sudan.