In the most recently released developer preview of Mac OS X, Mountain Lion, Apple has included an automated system that lets the user check and install new Security Updates. Part of a new set of OS X 10.8 protection tools against the once non-existent Mac OS malware threat, the new feature is called "OS X Security Update Test 1.0," and it will be rolled into the release version of Mountain Lion when it comes out next month.

The new security automator can run at a daily scheduled interval, or upon system restart, and it offers the user the ability to download and install updates in the background. In the Mac App Store, Apple states that after restarting your Mac, it will provide a much more secure connection to Apple's update servers, providing an encrypted connection to help protect from possible man-in-the-middle attacks for each update.

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T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm announced in a statement today that he will be resigning from the top executive postion of Deutsche Telekom's US-based subsidiary.

Humm joined Deutsche Telekom in 2005, and was responsible for the company’s mobile business in Germany. In 2008, he took on the responsibility of managing the sales and service activities within the larger Deutsche Telekom Group. In May 2010, he moved to T-Mobile USA, taking over as CEO in November of that same year.

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It appears that this round of mobile operating system updates will be incremental for all platforms involved.

Following Apple's announcement of iOS 6, and Microsoft's announcement of Windows Phone 8, Google on Wednesday outlined the upcoming features of Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean," and revealed the update will provide mostly under-the-hood changes that aren't geared toward "wowing" users.

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If Boxee shook up the design world by turning the standard set-top box form factor into an odd geometric shape, Google has completely eliminated the "box" from the equation, and unveiled the Nexus Q, a streaming home entertainment hub for connecting your TV to your Android devices and to Google Play for content distribution.

It features:

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At Google's I/O 2012 developer convention on Wednesday, the long-rumored Asus tablet sporting the Google Nexus brand was finally revealed. Confirming the rumor from Gizmodo Australia earlier this week, the tablet is known as Nexus 7.

As the rumors had suggested, the $199 device is going to be the first to run Android 4.1 (aka Jellybean), sport a 7-inch, 1280 x 800 display, run on a quad-core 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with 1GB of RAM and a "12 core" GeForce GPU, be Wi-Fi only, and offer a 1.3 megapixel forward-facing camera, accelerometer, and NFC chip for device-to-device communication. The total weight of the device is just 340 grams.

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I'm here in San Francisco, undeterred by cancelled and delayed flights, and it's madness. At 7 am PDT, when the doors were supposed to open, the line wrapped around and down the block and around the next one. Man, you should have come. I/O closes an exciting month of developer events -- Apple's WWDC, Microsoft's TechEd, Windows Phone and surprise Surface announcement. But the last word goes to Google, which is expected today to debut the Nexus tablet, expand cloud services and delight with lots more. I'm too rushed to go through them all.

The keynote commences at 9:30 am PDT -- that's 12:30 pm Eastern Time, and all updates here will be in chronological order reversed -- meaning newest first. You'll want to refresh often.

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Oh man, what a hellish 10 days this has been.

Before we get too far, let me just warn you that when the doorbell rings, this little chat will be over. I don’t care if I’m in mid-sentence. That’s it. Period. End of story.

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Bitdefender has released its 2013 range: Antivirus Plus 2013 ($49.95), Internet Security 2013 ($69.95), and the high-end Total Security 2013 ($79.95).

And the headline addition this time is Safepay, a secure virtual browser which aims to protect your online banking and shopping details (although the technology will help to shield any confidential online activity). It’s a useful feature and is available on all three products.

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Google has released Chrome 20 to the Stable Channel for Windows, Linux, the Mac and Chrome Frame. And while it’s a less-than-exciting maintenance build with no major visible changes, there are more than enough patches included to justify updating.

The official Chrome Releases blog details its usual top 20 security fixes, for instance. SVG and PDF-related code in particular sees some useful updates this time, although there are other important tweaks as well, including one to “prevent sandboxed processes interfering with each other” (the fact that this was possible before is a significant issue).

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Facebook has really made waves among its users by changing the contact email address information in personal profiles.

In a move meant to popularize Facebook's own email service, users have been given an @facebook.com email address with the same address as the one in their personal URL. For instance, now you have idontcareaboutfacebook@facebook.com if you had the URL www.facebook.com/idontcareaboutfacebook. I believe that is the best news Facebook could have given to those 800 million users, and I think it’s the best thing they’ve done so far.

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Cisco has taken the plate and swung hard for the fences with their new draft 802.11ac gigabit wireless router product, the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router EA6500.

Scheduled for release in August, the EA6500 is available as a $219.99 pre-order in Cisco's Web store. Besides the feature set of the latest draft 802.11ac for speeds of up to 1300 Mbps, it also includes a fancy new NFC (near field communication) capability for smart device admin access, and the new "Cisco Connect Cloud" which will allow remote monitoring and administration from a native mobile device app. The Cisco Connect Cloud will be free and also have support to control other home automation devices such as smart appliances, smart security systems, and smart TVs.

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In light of the recent news that Google finished the acquisition of Motorola Mobility, one has to wonder which direction Motorola is heading.

Google claims it has not acquired Motorola just for the patents (though that is a great bonus if I’m being honest), but rather that Motorola's technical know-how and experience will be a great card up Google’s sleeve.

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Google-backed startup CliQr launched its cloud management platform on Tuesday. CliQr's offering is aimed at making it easier for enterprise IT to migrate legacy apps to the cloud, as well as between different cloud platforms with little additional work.

Lock-in has become an increasing concern among cloud computing industry watchers, as Amazon Web Services takes an ever more dominant role. Rackspace president Lew Moorman slammed AWS last week, saying its proprietary cloud tools make it difficult for Amazon customers to migrate elsewhere.

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Google I/O starts tomorrow, and if rumors are right -- and I believe them -- developers get a big peak at the 7-inch Nexus tablet. About a month ago, I asked how much would you pay for one. Now with more details available, I ask if you will buy the Google device.

The Nexus tablet, manufactured by Asus, features a 7-inch IPS LCD display with 1280 x 800 resolution; 1.3 GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, 1GB RAM; 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera; near field communications; and Android 4.1 "Jellybean". There are two capacities, 8GB and 16GB, selling for $199 and $249, respectively. This information comes from a leaked training manual that Gizmodo Australia obtained. The big differentiator is price. As I explained in April, "Google isn't trying to save Android tablets but kill Kindle Fire".

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Unlike most tech industry analysts that pit Google versus Microsoft in a paper-specs war each time they opine about these cloud email platforms, I’ve got two cents to offer on the subject from a slightly different -- and perhaps more down-to-earth -- perspective. I’m an IT consultant by day who is responsible for implementing, supporting, and training on each company’s product.

It allows me to have better perspective about how end-users feel about these major cloud suites when “non techies” are at the wheel. And the things they tell me are often no-holds-barred as they rarely hold back. The bigger question most analysts fail to answer still stands: who’s winning the “hearts and minds” of those using these suites?

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