In addition to the security bulletins posted on this month’s Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has released a slew of non-security updates, the majority of which are for the latest versions of the client and server operating systems. All of them are available on Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center.

Compatibility

The first patch is for a game, application, or firmware that is either installed incorrectly, causes system instability, or has primary functions that do not work correctly. The update will either prevent incompatible software from running (hard block with third-party manufacturer consent), notify the user that incompatible software is starting to run (soft block), or improve the software’s functionality (update). This month’s update has changes for two applications on Vista/Server 2008 plus 11 applications on 7/Server 2008 R2, which is a few hundred times less in than previous months. Here are the direct links: Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows Server 2008 32-bit, Windows Server 2008 64-bit, Windows Server 2008 Itanium, Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit, and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium.

The next issue occurs when a dynamic-link library (DLL) is not manifested correctly and runs in the latest OS context unexpectedly. The update enables a DLL designed for earlier versions of Windows to run in a Windows Vista context if the DLL does not specify an RT_MANIFEST resource and the DLL calls an API that uses the dynamic compatibility context. This backward compatibility feature enables Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to provide a Windows Vista context for applications that are designed for earlier versions of Windows. You can grab it for Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit, and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium.

Media

The first media update is a cumulative one for Windows Media Center (WMC), which specifically fixes the following issues:

• If there is a revoked version of the PlayReady PC Runtime installed when you use Windows Media Center to play protected content, a “Copy Prohibited” overlay message or a black screen is displayed. After you apply this update, the overlay message will direct you to the appropriate PlayReady PC Runtime update on the Microsoft Update website.
• You reference a backup database when the guide database in Windows Media Center is corrupted. If you set a manual recording on a channel that is not listed in the backup database, the Mcupdate.exe process crashes.
• Schedule data may disappear in regions that use in-band guide data. For example, schedule data disappear in Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) regions.
• Windows Media Center crashes when you use an invalid path for a recorded TV location.

The fix is available for Windows 7 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit.

There is also a June 2010 Cumulative Update for WMC which fixes an issue where if the program guide database is corrupt, WMC crashes and Mcupdate.exe may crash when it automatically performs a daily guide update. The fix is available for Windows Vista 32-bit and Windows Vista 64-bit.

Other

Another update provides fixes and improvements to graphics, media foundation, and print functionality in SP2 of both Windows Vista 32-bit and Windows Vista 64-bit. It’s a beta update, however, so we wouldn’t recommend that you go out of your way to install it.

This last issue occurs when you configure the regional date and time format settings to use Hebrew (Israel). By default, the “dd/MM/yyyy” format is used for Short date, and when you view the date in a Windows Forms application that uses the DateTimePicker control, the date is displayed in the “yyyy/MM/dd” format unexpectedly. This fix is available for Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit, and Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium.

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Here’s the latest action:

TwitPic gets into Places — TwitPic, the photo service piggy-backing on the micro-blogging site, has introduced the “Places” service that tags photos with specific places they were taken, like restaurants or other venues.

Yahoo exec departs for greener pastures — Larry Cornett, Yahoo’s vice president of search consumer products, has left the search engine. It has been laying some people off lately, but it’s unclear whether he was one of the casualties.

IE beats Chrome in speed test — Despite all the advertisements demonstrating Google Chrome’s ability beat lightning strikes and the like in speed, it failed to beat Internet Explorer 9, which just beat the browser in a speed test. You can find a demonstration here.

Mozilla won’t run native code — Mozilla’s leadership says that it is going to avoid any application that wants to run native code within its browser, including Firefox and Adobe Flash.

Google disappears Android apps — The search giant has done away with two Android applications that have failed to meet its terms of service. Basically, they billed themselves as delivering services different than what they actually provide. PCWorld has the story.

Google Street View’s horse-boy — Google Street View’s van cameras caught footage of a man with what appears to be a horse mask, dubbed “horse-boy.” A lot of people are curious about who he is and what he is doing, but no answers have emerged. Learn more on the BBC.

Social networking is like falling in love — A new study reveals that the cuddly hormones released in people’s brains while they are participating in social networking activities approximate those that flood our bloodstreams when we are falling in love — yet another reason people become legitimately addicted to Facebook.

Amyris brings in $139M via Total deal — Amyris Biotechnologies, maker of biofuels from non-food feedstocks that recently filed to go public, has raised $139 million from French oil Titan Total, which bought a 17 percent stake in the company. Earth2Tech has the details.

Companies: Amyris Biotechnologies, Facebook, Google, microsoft, Mozilla, Total, Twitpic, Twitter, yahoo

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We caught up with Wired magazine writer Steven Levy today at the SDForum awards party. There were a lot of cool folks at the event in the hills of Los Altos, but Levy had the trump card. He picked up an iPhone 4 today and pulled it out for us to see.

Levy has been around the block a few times. He won one of the SDForum’s Visionary awards — which are like the Oscars of tech — a couple of years ago and is the author of multiple books. (He’s currently working on a book about Google). He is a senior writer for Wired and previously was chief technology writer and senior editor at Newsweek. His books on Apple include “The Perfect Thing” about the iPod, and “Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer that Changed Everything.”

Levy managed to get his hands on not one but two iPhone 4s today as Apple launched them in its stores. Check out our quick video of Levy’s thoughts on the latest must-have gadget from Apple. The bottom line is he likes it.

Tags: iPhone 4

Companies: Apple, Newsweek, Wired

People: Steven Levy

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Ultrafast laser maker Raydiance has raised $1.25 million of an expected $5 million, according to a filing with the SEC. Led by former AOL CEO Barry Schuler, the company manufactures computer controlled lasers that can be used in the healthcare, manufacturing and energy industries. Solar panel manufacturing, eye surgeries and cancer treatments are all examples of applications for the lasers.

In early June, the Petaluma, Calif. company announced a partnership with Rofin, a German laser manufacturer, to apply laser technologies to medical devices. Investors in Raydiance, which has raised more than $58 million in funding, include Greenstreet Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Companies: aol, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Greenstreet Partners, Raydiance, Rofin

People: Barry Schuler

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‘Man of integrity’ now a shell

Disgraced ex-Brocade CEO Greg Reyes, who appealed in 2007 against a 21-month prison sentence for stock option backdating, has been given an 18-month term in the slammer plus a $15m fine.…

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Ain’t no tea trolley in the real world

Ex-government developers and other tech staff will need to accept the different culture of working in the private sector if they want to find jobs.…

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street was set to open flat on Friday after the government said first-quarter economic growth was slower than previously estimated and lawmakers reached a historic agreement to overhaul financial regulations.

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Apple’s next-generation smartphone arrives and complaints pop up immediately, while Google beats Viacom in a landmark copyright case. Also: privacy pitfalls.

Read the whole story on CNet

Lately, it seems like the business world has taken a horribly misguided detour from B2C and B2B to Me2Me. For some reason, Gen Y personal branding “gurus” who’ve never built a company or marketed anything but themselves are actually passing for thought leaders in the blogosphere.

Read the whole story on The Corner Office

I’m a bit of a tech junkie.  I bought the iPhone as soon as it came out, I bought the iPad when it came out, and I’ll buy whatever else is coming out next week as soon as it comes out – I can’t help it.

So when I bought the latest greatest keyboard for my office, I was admiring it closely. That’s when I noticed the good old ESC key in the upper left. It then struck me that we’re very, very used to keys on a computer keyboard that never existed on typewriters just 20 or 30 years ago.

After closer examination, the classic CTRL+ALT+DEL came to mind and the above cartoon wasn’t far behind.  It’s pretty nerdy, but when my mom even understood it, I thought it was OK.

From Small Business Trends

The Control-Alt-Delete Clause

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