Whether you love him, hate him, love to hate him, or hate to love him, the classic car loving late night talk show host and his trademark chin are finally ending their 17-year run on the Tonight Show. Leno’s last show will be May 29th, 2009 and Conan will begin hosting duties on June 1st. Still no word as to whether or not Tonight Show announcer “Stuttering” John Melendez will go crawling back to Howard Stern and Sirius Satellite Radio.

We already knew that Conan O’Brien was taking over for Leno, and the inherent dangers of transporting some of his more racy characters, like the Masturbating Bear and The Gaseous Weiner, to a full hour before. We just didn’t know the official date until now. We also learned that Jimmy Fallon is taking over for Conan, but we didn’t know the 5 W’s: WHY Jimmy Fallon? WHO the heck approved this at NBC? WHAT in the world were they thinking? WHEN did every other possible replacement on planet Earth not pick up their phones? HOW does “Fever Pitch” and laughing through your lines in the “More Cowbell” sketch justify having the chops to host late-night? And of course, WHERE will Jimmy go when the entire operation fails? Jimmy’s material will be “tested” online before being moved into the NBC 2009 schedule. Shouldn’t this testing have been done before he was named as replacement? But I slightly digress…

With Leno handing over the reigns, one thing we do know for certain. Now he finally has to touch his Tonight Show money; a rumor nobody has ever once believed, but that Leno himself has publicly stated many times. Only Jay and his financial advisor know for sure. Isn’t it remarkable how he has managed to scrape by on weekly stand-up appearances in Hermosa Beach, CA and the occasional Mirage Las Vegas appearance? He had to have amassed his countless collection of antique cars thanks to his short-lived Doritos commercials and residuals from his one Inside The Actor’s Studio appearance. What’s that you say? Jay Leno is not an actor? Well neither is Sir Elton John, but Bobby Deniro must have been shooting a film somewhere. What will Jay do next to avoid touching his Tonight Show money???

NBC is toying with the idea of keeping Leno on in some capacity at NBC, but ABC, Fox, and Sony Pictures still have some courting to do.

I admit, I haven’t been keeping up with Meet the Press nearly as much as I should have over the past decade, but the passing of Tim Russert made me curious. The tribute shows and clips made me more curious, and suddenly I wished I’d gotten to know the man before his terrible tragedy.

He didn’t just get the obligatory “1950-2008″ picture, he got so much more from friends and colleagues who appreciated his hard-hitting questions and preparation on the air, as well as his kindness, his faith in God, his consideration, and his friendship off the air.

Watch the last 10 minutes of the Sunday 6/15 Meet the Press tribute round table where they put pictures and Tim sound bytes to Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” and if you don’t start crying, then you obviously have no heart beating in your chest. I immediately bought his two books on Amazon, and am curious to find how how they will attempt to “replace” him.

This proud Buffalo native, son of ‘Big Russ’ and father to Luke reached the pinnacle of American journalism and truly loved what he did. He was taken from our living rooms years before he was meant to be, during an election year he relished, and with so many more contributions he would have gladly offered. This is what makes his passing most tragic of all.

Remember Monopoly by Parker Brothers? Whenever three or more people play, there’s always some wheeling and dealing for property. Well, Facebook just sold 1.6% of its stake to Microsoft, along with a seat on the Facebook Board.

Facebook’s investors, including Accel Partners and Greylock Partners have the company worth an estimated $10-15 billion dollars according to the latest valuation. Microsoft’s new 1.6% stake cost them four hundred eighty thousand of those orange $500’s. That money will now serve as capital for buying servers and engineers (houses and hotels) and expanding the company. They plan to double their employees to 700 in the next year.

This is a big win for Microsoft considering the favorite was Google, that young newcomer who seemed to land on and buy all the right properties the first two times around the board, including Boardwalk and Park Place. The whole world seems to have landed on Boardwalk to the point where Google has practically become the new banker. Maybe they can consider this a win seeing as how they made Microsoft spend heavily for Facebook’s hot corner of green and yellow properties.

Microsoft certainly had the money to play, though. They’ve been around the board more than a few times, owned the blue and purple properties since the 80’s and even got in trouble a few years back for owning all the railroads. They also struck a deal with Facebook in September for U.S. ad sales good until 2011. With this new acquisition, the deal will be expanded into international ad sales. Had Google ended up winning, that property would have been mortgaged, and Google would have easily bought it back from the bank.

Facebook has also reported that they will be announcing their new ad network at the upcoming Ad Tech Conference in NY November 6th. Will it be a Google network or a Microsoft one?

As any great Monopoly player will tell you: stacks of orange $500’s might seem appealing in the short term, but dwindle quickly with poor decision-making. Let’s not rule Google out just yet. There may be more deal making in the works.

This week marks the launch of eBay’s Neighborhoods, a social networking environment designed to match buyers and sellers with similar interests and create a greater sense of community. With all the attention paid to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, why shouldn’t the world’s largest online marketplace throw their hat into the ring?

The idea is simple. Let’s say you love Spider Man comic books. There is already a Spider Man neighborhood on eBay, along with over 600 others. New ones are being suggested and created as we speak. “Hey, does anyone have Amazing Spider Man issue #294 part 5 where Kraven kills Spider Man?” By joining the Spider Man Neighborhood, you can communicate with other Spidey fans, automatically receive and vote on snapshots of related listings, as well as browse reviews, guides, and blogs from other Neighbors.

Each member of the Neighborhood will also have the opportunity to display their profile, and who knows? Maybe two star-crossed Voltron lovers can fall in love thanks to Neighborhoods. After all, they would share common interests.

With eBay Neighborhoods, sellers reach their target audience, and buyers can browse things they never even knew they wanted. This new release conveniently arrived in conjunction with eBay’s new streamlined checkout and one-click bidding.

Now let’s hear from the cynics, shall we? Hopefully eBay will monitor this new rollout so that it doesn’t become cluttered with posting-happy users who love to see their handle in print. CatLady317, as cute as you might think your cat Whiskers may be, chances are the other cat lovers won’t care, unless Whiskers is up for auction. Then there will inevitably be the show-offs who feel the need to display their Honus Wagner original baseball cards and depress the rest of us.

Ebay had also better screen the Neighborhood suggestions carefully, because though there may be a considerable section of the population sharing the same common interest, that interest might be offensive, illegal, or downright harmful.

We’ll see how Neighborhoods develops over the next few months, but the idea has already brought people to eBay, which translates into more revenue.

Last Thursday through Sunday’s Digital Life Expo at the Jacob Javitz Center could easily have been described as a gamer’s paradise. Organized by Ziff Davis Media with Best Buy as the Official Retail Sponsor, Digital Life is perfect for a technology education, or some early Christmas shopping.

In the gaming arena, throngs of attendees lined up to show off their licks on unreleased Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, available 10/27. Those who overcame their stagefright competed in nightly tournaments. Nostalgic gamers played original Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaga machines, which promoted the Namco Mobile Ms. Pac-Man nightly tournament.

Madden, a new Lord of the Rings, and many other titles let gamers go head-to-head on hundreds of screens. PC vendors like Dell and HP displayed their latest models with mind-blowing graphics, processor speeds, and memory that made the average computer look like a Commodore 64. The Blackbird002 was a huge hit, with its liquid cooling technology, sleek design, and easy-access hardware for a paltry $5,600.

Hourly seminars, skits, and e-raffles showed just what some piranhas would do for free T-shirts. Technology innovators included CircleUp, a business and social networking e-mail aggregator that organizes multiple e-mail responses into a customizable chart. Zip-it is a hand-held device for around $150 that allows for chat with your buddy list free over every IM service simultaneously at any Wi-Fi hotspot. Hasbro showcased their playful robots, while the Eye-Clops ($50) magnifies anything 200 times and links to your TV.

The usual Mobile and Wireless vendors were back, offering seamless remote access to home or office computers, transcribing voicemail into e-mail text messages, even linking your favorite mobile or wireless device to your favorite car.

When asked to describe this year’s Digital Life in one word, the overwhelming response was “AMAZING” while one sullen gamer said “depressing”. “There weren’t enough manufacturers. No Sony, no Nvidia”, but he did like the “Can You Frag a 4th Grader?” booth. Vendors responded to the same question way differently after the show. Frazzled and haggard, one exhaustingly said “In … sane. I have no more … talk-ability … left in me.”

Is it next year yet?