Gates says Ballmer to decide on Yahoo

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says "key decisions" following the company's withdrawal of a takeover bid for Yahoo will be made by CEO Steve Ballmer, according to 13WHAM.com.

Gates, on a brief trip to South Korea, was asked about the software maker's plans after the Yahoo bid fell apart, including whether Microsoft would pursue another deal of the same size elsewhere.

Possibilities are seen including large Internet companies like Time Warner's AOL and News Corp's MySpace and promising start-ups like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Popular video sharing site YouTube has launched its local Indian site (www.youtube.co.in), which features a localised homepage and search functions, reports Sify.

"YouTube India would allow users to create and share videos, discover the most popular and relevant videos in India, and connect with other Indian and global users.

"Over time, YouTube India will benefit from an entirely local experience highlighting and featuring the content and functionality most desired by the Indian users," said Sakina Arsiwala, international manager, YouTube.

BBC and ITV have introduced Freesat, a free digital satellite television service. Reaching almost all of the UK (98% of households), Freesat has over 80 free digital channels - television, radio, interactive - plus high-definition (HD) services from the BBC and ITV, says TV next.

Freesat has no subscription and no contract; all that is required to receive it is a once-off payment for equipment. Freesat's channel line-up will grow each month, with up to 200 channels on air by the end of the year.

"Today is a landmark day for digital TV in the UK - the launch of a new digital satellite service which brings free HD programmes to everyone. With more than 9.6 million HD-ready televisions already sold in the UK, but only a tiny fraction of those who own them currently able to receive HD programmes, there's a big opportunity for Freesat to lead the way in introducing the UK to HD viewing," said Emma Scott, MD of Freesat.

A week after Microsoft reneged on publicly releasing Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), due to compatibility issues with one of the company's small and medium business products, the update for XP is finally available to the public at large, says Small Business Computing.

Microsoft was set to broadly release XP SP3 via its public download sites last week when the conflict between the two pieces of software was identified.

"Today, Microsoft released Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center ... [and] is also resuming automatic distribution of Windows Vista SP1," a company spokesman said in an e-mail. Vista SP1 had experienced the same clash with Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System.