On the block: A vintage Mac, owned by Gene Roddenberry

So count us a little incredulous, but when the creator of "Star Trek" – a legend nonpareil in the sci-fi community – leaves behind a vintage 1MB Mac Plus, we'd expect the thing to go for more than a grand. Two grand. Three grand. Maybe more. After all, before he died, Michael Jackson was set to auction off a coin-operated horse ride for $1,500. A coin-operated horse!

But there it is, in bright red (digital) ink: Bidding for this Mac Plus, which was presented to Gene Roddenberry as a gift by Apple, will start at $800. As auctioneer Profiles in History points out, the computer is a "incredible artifact with a wonderful association between the visionary computer designer/manufacturer and legendary Star Trek creator."

And did we mention it's the very first Mac Plus to hit the mass-production lines? The clunky old machine even comes with by a signed letter of provenance from Gene Roddenberry’s son, Rod. So you know it's the real deal. Here's a bit more from the item description:

With 1 Mb RAM (upgradeable to 4Mb), it supported the double-sided floppy disk format and was the first Mac with a SCSI port for fast data transfer to and from an external hard drive. The Macintosh was the first mass produced computer to utilize the mouse and the Macintosh Plus was the longest-lived Macintosh with production until 1990. It features the beige-colored case with 9 in. display, 3.5 in. floppy drive and includes the short keyboard, external floppy drive, mouse and Apple logo padded carrying case.

Let's face it folks: it's probably worth the $800 for the carrying case alone.

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Could lawsuit mean the end of Skype as we know it?

Earlier this month, eBay announced that it would sell web phone service Skype, which it bought in 2005 for $3.1 billion. The recipients: Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and a group of private investors. The price tag: $2.75 billion. Now, that deal appears to be in danger.

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