An advance notification regarding Microsoft's Patch Tuesday promises eight security updates to Windows, Office, and IE vulnerabilities and eight more non-security related updates for Windows Update and Windows Server Update Services.

Five of the patches are rated as "Critical," the highest level of severity given to updates, and most of those patches affect Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. The remaining three updates are classified as "Important." These updates may require a restart. There will also be eight high priority but non-security related updates on Windows Update and Windows Server Update Service.

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The iPhone SDK has not even been available for a week and we're already seeing the preliminary versions of software for the smart phone. Early entrant Socialthing! has opened in private beta, showing off its Web-based "digital life manager."

Socialthing is an application that lets users post content on its service which gets aggregated to all social network sites of which the user is a member. It effectively acts as a social network of social networks. Unlike Friendfeed, which is a site that creates a feed of a user's social network updates on a single site, Socialthing actually populates the participating sites while simultaneously informing friends.

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Acknowledging an expected increase in Blu-ray releases, Global Digital Media Xchange said Wednesday that it had tapped Sonic's Scenarist technology to help it increase production capacity. GDMX is the authoring facility for Warner, who was the first studio to go Blu-ray exclusive after a stint of dual-format support. That switch is widely regarded as the turning point which helped Sony defeat competing format HD DVD.

With this switch by a major Hollywood disc authoring company, it can be expected that studios using GDMX's facilities -- like Warner -- will be able to increase the number of releases on the format.

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While YouTube is best known for its work in promoting social video, the company is looking to live video as its next format. In an interview with NewTeeVee, YouTube founder Steve Chen said that the company plans to introduce a new live feature sometime this year. He said that the company had always wanted to do it, but didn't have the resources. Now that YouTube is owned by Google, Chen said the resources are now at their disposal.

Analysts say that YouTube is likely to quickly build momentum in the marketplace, which is primarily due to its already strong presence in social video. "Like video, content creators want to be on the service that gives them the most exposure, no matter how good the alternatives are," Duncan Riley wrote for TechCrunch. "YouTube already has the user base; live video streamers will flock to YouTube like a moth to a flame."

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Web browsing software company Opera today announced that its free Opera Mini and its Opera Mobile browser will once again have Google as the default search engine.

While Google has been the default search for Opera's desktop browser for nearly seven years, Yahoo was only a partner for a year, going live as the mobile software's default search in early 2007. User responses to that switch were mixed. On March 1, Opera will change back to having the default search as Google.

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After successfully cutting into Nintendo's considerable lead in console sales over the past several months, Sony is once again losing ground. According to statistics provided by Japanese game magazine Enterbrain, Nintendo sold 331,627 Wii consoles in the four weeks ending February 24, compared to 89,131 for the PS3. This is larger than the 3-to-1 margin in January.

As has been practically consistent since its launch, the Xbox 360 lagged far behind with only 14,079 consoles sold during the same period. With such broad success during the month, Wii games also stood atop the best selling games. Nintendo sold some 1.33 million copies of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, followed by Wii Fit, which had sales of 309,311 units. Both games are produced directly by Nintendo.

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Access to YouTube has been restored in Pakistan after the country ordered local Internet providers to unblock the site. The move comes two days after a mistake by one of the telecommunications companies that caused it to identify itself as the fastest route to YouTube, breaking the site around the world.

The problem was corrected after briefly knocking out access to YouTube on Sunday, but the ban within the country remained in effect until Tuesday. While other videos featuring Dutch politician Geert Wilders will still be available to Pakistani users, the offending video that led to the blocking order has been removed by YouTube parent Google.

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Continuing the trend among LCD TV makers to pool their resources, Sony said it will buy panels from competitor Sharp in order to keep up with demand.

Neither company is commenting on the report, which first surfaced in the Japanese media on Friday. However, Sharp is already working with another LCD TV manufacturer, using Toshiba's computer chips in its own sets.

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Apple has released Mac OS X version 10.5.2, the second major update to Leopard, which brings with it 80 specific fixes and improvements. Most notably, wireless connectivity is now more reliable and stability has been improved when running third-party applications.

Apple has also added an option to turn off the much-maligned translucent menu bar that was introduced in Leopard, along with adding a Time Machine menu bar option. 18 issues have been addresses in Mail, while another 8 were fixed in Finder. Mac OS X 10.5.2 is available now via Software Update.

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Microsoft has sent a letter to buyers of its pink Zune, because the special edition player may not arrive in time for Valentine's Day. The Zune was announced just three weeks ago and has an engraved heart on the back. Apparently, the demand was too high to get all orders out on time.

"Due to some issues in our fulfillment center there remains a chance we will miss getting your Zune to you by February 14th," Microsoft wrote to buyers. The company will be refunding the entire purchase price of the special Zune, which should make customers happy even if the iPod alternative arrives after Valentine's Day.

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Apple quietly pushed out a new 7.4.1 QuickTime update to stop attacks through maliciously crafted Web sites.

Apple released the patch because malicious users had the ability to entice "a user to visit a maliciously crafted Web page, [where] an attacker may cause an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution."

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Verizon today announced it now offers the Venturi Mini, an A2DP bluetooth FM transmitter that can broadcast music and voice calls through in-car audio systems.

Similar in function to the Motorola MotoROKR T505, the Venturi Mini pairs with stereo bluetooth-enabled phones and broadcasts the phone's audio over the car's audio system on a free FM channel.

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NPD group has reported that American retail sales of Activision's popular Guitar Hero music simulator franchise have put it among the top-selling game franchises of all time, earning over $1 billion in 26 months. Activision has reported sales of 14 million units and 5 million additional song downloads since the title's initial release in 2005. The fiscal year of 2007 ended with the company posting $1.5 billion net revenues.

Several sources report that the Pokemon series, which consists of over 30 individual titles holds the position of "best-selling video game of all time." Other sources say the Mario Brothers series is the best-seller of all time, with a total sales figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 195 million units.

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Verizon's V CAST Mobile TV service, which uses MediaFLO to provide television entertainment to capable handsets has received a service upgrade in the areas surrounding New York City.

Included in the expansion is the greater part of Suffolk County including Lindenhurst, West Islip, Holbrook, Centereach, and from Coram east all the way to Riverhead, All of Staten Island, portions of Essex, Union, Passiac, and Morris Counties in New Jersey. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx will also receive a service enhancement.

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Netflix subscribers who have unlimited rental plans will now be able to stream an unlimited number of movies or TV shows on their PCs at no additional cost. The change affects all subscribers with plans starting at $8.99 per month, according to a statement. About 6,000 movies and shows are currently available for streaming. Previously the company used a metered approach to offering streaming.

"Unlimited has always been a very powerful selling point with our subscribers and a large part of what set us apart in the marketplace," marketing chief Leslie Kilgore said. Only subscribers of the $4.99 per month plan will have limits on streaming. Two hours of time will be alloted to customers on that plan at no extra charge.

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