On September 14^th, Microsoft will release nine security related updates to fix 13 bugs in Windows, Office and Web server software.   Four updates are listed as “critical”, which is Microsoft’s highest threat level, and an additional five updates were labeled as “important”, the second highest level. The patch is twice the size of a typical patch for the odd numbered months, such as September, which would typically be a month with a smaller batch of fixes.  

Google Instant comes to a browser near you this week with the new feature that provides search results while typing in your search terms.   The company estimates that the typical user will save approximately between 2 to 5 seconds for each search.   Google Instant will be available starting this week in the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and France.   Internet browsers that will be supported include Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3, Safari 5, and Chrome 5 and 6.   A mobile version will be rolled out later this fall.

In less than 24 hours, Oracle announced that Mark Hurd would be co-president of Oracle, and HP quickly reacted with a lawsuit.   Mark Hurd had resigned from H.P. after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced earlier this summer and the company’s board pressured him to step down.   “In his new positions, Hurd will be in a situation in which he cannot perform his duties for Oracle without necessarily using and disclosing H.P.’s trade secrets and confidential information to others,” H.P. wrote in its lawsuit. Although HP and Oracle work together as partners on database project, Oracles acquisition of Sun Microsystems makes HP more than a little nervous because of its competing line of computer servers, business software and storage products.

Less than 48 hours after Apple launched Ping, a music centric social networking site, the company claimed that more than 1 million users had signed on.    1 million happy users?  Maybe not.   The press certainly has lots of skeptics which reflects concerns by Ping users. The criticisms range from it not being truly connected to the web, to it not being well integrated into an iTunes user’s own music library.  Dave Winer from Scripting News writes, "Ping is not a social network, by any realistic definition of the term... My guess as to why we can't post to the timeline is that Apple is afraid we might say something harsh about them or Ping." Meanwhile  TechCrunch’s Eric Schonfeld writes,   "The biggest problem I have with Ping is that it lives in iTunes. Not only does it live in iTunes, it is isolated there. iTunes is not social. It is not even on the Web."

As officially sanctioned Twitter mobile apps were released on Android, iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones, there has  been a 62 percent growth in Twitter mobile user since the middle of April.  "As we had hoped in April, these clients are bringing more people into Twitter, and, even better, they are attracting and retaining active users. Indeed, 46 percent of active users make mobile a regular part of their Twitter experience," blogged Twitter CEO Evan Williams on Thursday.   Previously there many unendorsed mobile applications that brought a level of confusion into the marketplace.   The company’s mobile site remained the most popular means of accessing Twitter with 14 percent of all users.  Twitter for iPhone and SMS service had 8 percent each, followed by Twitter for BlackBerry which had 7 percent.

As  iPhones, Android Phones and BlackBerry’s sell by the millions, Microsoft reached a major milestone of its own this week for its forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Smartphone platform.    The company plans for a multiple Window Phone 7 smartphones to be available in time for the coming 2010 Christmas shopping season.   The latest mobile operating system from Microsoft features aggregated Web content and apps that are organized into category specific Hubs that include “Games” or “Office”.    “Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released,” Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone Engineering, blogged on Sept 1st. “We had nearly 10,000 devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes.”

It all started with Dell’s initial $1.15 billion bid for 3Par Inc. a few weeks ago, then HP countered with a higher bid that started the bidding war between both companies.    HP currently has the highest  bid with a $2 billion dollar offer for 3Par, leaving Dell wondering about its next move in this strategic chess match.   “We're assessing what our next step will be," Dell spokesman David Frink stated.  As the cloud computing market heats up, both Dell and HP see 3Par’s storage technology as a great compliment to their respective product lines.   The question of how much HP or Dell is willing to pay for 3Par, Inc. may be answered in the near future.  "If HP is able to rapidly ramp up 3Par's sales, it can certainly justify the price they're offering to pay for it," says Stan Zaffos, research vice president at Gartner.

As August draws to a close, Google made its 5th acquisition of the month with its purchase of the Canadian social gaming company SocialDeck.  "We started this company with the goal of connecting friends through social games on all kinds of exciting new mobile devices," SocialDeck wrote on the company’s web site. "We've been amazed and humbled by all of the stories and experiences our customers (you!) have shared with us."   Recently Google acquired other social gaming companies such as Jambool and Slide, and has vested $200 million in Zynga which popular on Facebook.  A week ago Google bought Angstro which makes social-media applications, and it also recently purchased iLike, the e-commercial visual search company. Google has not disclosed its plans for the SocialDeck, however the social focused acquisitions has fueled much speculation about Google’s plans to expand in the social arena.

 SocialDeck is known for a number of games that include Pet Hero Puzzle, Shake & Spell, Shake & Spell 3D, and Color Connect.    The company distributed the games through iTunes and made Shake & Spell available through Facebook and Blackberry.   The company offered both free and 99 cent versions of their applications.   The company also developed Spark, a social-gaming platform that works on Facebook, iPhone and Blackberry to connect players across social games.

Related Links:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368513,00.asp

http://www.develop-online.net/news/35739/SocialDeck-buyout-next-in-Google-spending-spree

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/netsys/article.php/3901371/Google-Continues-Social-Buying-Spree-With-SocialDeck.htm

Your favorite movie may be available at home on YouTube sooner than you think.  Apparently talks are currently underway between major motion picture studios and Google regarding making a catalog of Hollywood favorite films available on a pay-per-view basis by the end of 2010 according to the Financial Times.    The on-demand streaming service will provide the movies for $5 per viewing based on reports from those are familiar with Google’s plans.  When a  YouTube representative was asked about possible developments the response was that, “We have nothing to announce at this time."