Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration which was first unveiled at Google I/O conference in May. Wave is basically Google’s attempt at how email would look if it were invented today.

A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

Starting from today, Google will officially roll out Wave (Preview) to the first 100,000 users who have signed up for the service through Wave site (http://wave.google.com), to developers who are already enrolled in developer preview program of Wave, and selected paying customers of Google Apps.

If you are reading this now then chances are that you didn’t signup for Google Wave in time and so may not get an invite from Google today. But don’t give up just yet as there are some alternate ways to get on Wave!

Those of you who have signed up for the service and are lucky enough to get an invite will be able to invite your friends to join them on Wave. You can use twitter here effectively to find out people who have already got an invite. If you have large number of followers then chances are that sooner or later one of your follower will send you an invite to try out Wave. Alternatively, you can also follow the #GoogleWave and #GoogleWaveInvite hashtags on twitter to keep yourself updated with possible free invites. If I get a Google Wave invite, I’ll immediately send an update(tweet) to my twitter followers about it and invite as many as possible on the first-come first-served basis. Make sure you are following me on either twitter or facebook in order to have the best chance of getting an invite from me.

Multi-touch functionality has been continuously attracting consumers attention for the last two years or so. We are now not too far from the day when multi-touch-capable tablets and desktops will become a standard part of our daily lives. The PC market is preparing for this paradigm shift, as Microsoft ships the much-awaited Windows 7 to the masses on October 22nd. Among many of its attractive features, the ability to use two (or more) fingers as input mechanism (multi-touch) in my opinion stands out for re-coursing the shape of personal computing in the near future.

Windows Touch in Windows 7 with a multi-touch capable hardware allows for the use of two or more fingers to manipulate images or perform gestures on the screen. Users can increase or shrink the size of pictures on the screen by pinching or zooming and flip through documents and websites just like they can do on their iPhone.

PC manufacturers and vendors like HP, Acer, Lenovo, Fujitsu, LG and Dell are all gearing up for its launch by readying new hardware as a part of their Q4 2009 lineup. Some of these products are already in market and are being assessed by both experts and users alike:

Lenovo ThinkPad X200 and T400s

Category: Notebook/Tablet PC
Display Size: 12.1’’ for X200 and 14.1’’ for T400s
Availability: Already Available
Price: Starting at $1,999 for T400s and $1,654 for X200

HP Touchsmart tx2

Category: Notebook/Tablet PC
Display Size: 12.1’’
Availability: Already Available
Price: Starting at US $799

Fujitsu’s Multitouch LIFEBOOK T4310

Category: Notebook/Tablet PC
Display Size: 12.1’’
Availability: Q4 2009
Price: N/A

Dell Latitude XT2

Category: Notebook/Tablet PC
Display Size: 12.1’’
Availability: Already Available
Price: Starting at US $1909

ASUS Eee PC T91 (Netbook)

Category: Netbook
Display Size: 8.9’’
Availability: Already Available
Price: Starting at US $495

Apple has released the new iPhone OS Firmware 3.1.2 for the original iPhone (Edge), iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch via an iTunes update. This update includes the following fixes and enhancements:

• Resolves sporadic issue that may cause iPhone to not wake from sleep.
• Resolves intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular network services until restart.
• Fixes bug that could cause occasional crash during video streaming.

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPhone
• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3GS

To update to iPhone OS Firmware 3.1.2, all you will have to do is to connect youriPhone with your computer via usb and start iTunes. You should now see a message as shown below. Simply click on “Download and Install” button to get on to the new iPhone OS 3.1.2 firmware.

Also included is a new carrier update (.IPCC) file for AT&T customers which brings the carrier version number to 5.6.

Note: Do not update your iPhone to OS 3.1.2 yet if it is jailbroken or unlocked on firmware 3.1. Wait for the new jailbreaking and unlocking tools before updating your device or you may loose the capability to jailbreak or unlock your device in the future. You have been warned!

You can follow me on twitter or join our facebook fanpage to keep yourself updated on all the latest iPhone related releases.

Download links for iPhone OS Firmware 3.1.2 are as follows:

Download iPhone OS 3.1.2 for iPhone 2G
Download iPhone OS 3.1.2 for iPhone 3G
Download iPhone OS 3.1.2 for iPhone 3GS

Microsoft today has released the final version of their free antivirus/antispyware solution for Windows 7, Vista and XP. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antivirus and antispyware solution which protects your computer against unwanted threats and viruses. It promises to give high-quality protection against viruses and spyware, including Trojans, worms and other malicious software.

Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

Beta version of Security Essentials (MSE) was released earlier in June to a limited group of 75K in US. Those of you who are running Beta must upgrade to the final version.

Microsoft Security Essentials aka MSE supports both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP and can be downloaded for free from the link given below:

Download Microsoft Security Essentials

Following in the footsteps of Microsoft and Apple, Yahoo! today has launched its new advertising campaign, promoting “Yahoo!” as a brand through its Yahoo! today has launched its new advertising campaign, promoting “Yahoo!” as a brand through its new US $100 million dollar “Anthem” ad campaign. The new ad which is of a minute in duration covers people from all over the world, giving nice glimpses of their lifestyles, cultures and emphasizes on the word “You” a lot. For more than 75% of the time, you’ll hear the the word “You”. The message which Yahoo! is trying to give to everyone is very clear that it is “You” who is important to Yahoo!. Video is very dynamic, vibrant and certainly full of energy. It is so attractive and eye catching that ‘You’ who is so important to Yahoo cannot just wink away.

Certainly a good start by Yahoo! About time they start doing something about their brand. Thanks to Joe Wilcox for the hat tip via twitter!

Apple today has announced that iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS is going to be released by Orange in UK, thus ending the anticipated speculation of O2 exclusivity in this regard. Its a great news for all those who were reluctant to switch over to O2 just to get the iPhone.

Orange UK and Apple have reached an agreement to bring iPhone 3G and 3GS to Orange UK customers later this year. Orange globally now offers iPhone in 28 countries and territories.

Orange, which has the largest 3G network covering more people in the UK than any other operator, will sell iPhone in all Orange direct channels including Orange shops, the Orange webshop and Orange telesales channels, as well as selected high street partners. A pre-registration site for customers to log their interest has been launched at www.Orange.co.uk/iPhone

The deal struck between Apple and Orange UK marks the end of an era between the two partners Apple and O2, where O2 was the sole provider for the iPhone device in UK since the original iPhone launch in the year 2007. In its announcement today, Orange did not reveal an exact date for the availability of iPhone 3G and 3GS but it is envisaged that it will be available to Orange UK customers by the Christmas Eve.

Microsoft has released a new set, consisting of nine ads describing its latest operating system – Windows 7, prior to its official consumer launch in market. The main focus of these ads is to introduce Windows 7 to the masses with its new features and capabilities. These new ads surely look good but how far will these go to convince people for buying Windows 7 is yet to be seen.

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Complete set of new ads can be seen at the official Windows Channel on Youtube.

Windows 7 is the latest client version of Microsoft Windows for PCs and is the successor to Windows Vista. It is set for official retail launch on October 22nd. Check out our Windows 7 Center for the complete coverage on the latest client version of Windows.

Here we are at the end of September. This only means that Apple will announce soon enough when the next media event will take place. The new media event should be placed somewhere between end of October and middle of November. The products refreshed or upgraded at the "it's Only Rock and Roll" event in September were part of the iPod line, shuffle, classic, touch (refreshed) and nano (upgraded). The end of fall Apple media event is focused on all Mac computers. Don't get too carried away, we will probably see more refreshed models that upgraded or for that matter of fact, new models. I know what you are thinking, "What about the Apple touch tablet netbook?"

First of all, this new gadget will not surface on the market until the beginning of 2010. However, this doesn't mean that Apple can't make a preview at the last media event of this year. The Apple tablet will probably be branded and marketed as the ultimate netbook experience (net-touch MacBook). Furthermore, let's make an analysis between what Apple currently has to offer, and what it could offer in the Mac computer lines in six to eight weeks.

For the MacBook line, well, you only get one model, so it is not that accurate to call it line. Before the actual launch of the refreshed models, Apple will diminish the $999 price tag of the white MacBook. The current model is equipped with a 2.13 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2 x 1024 MB), and a storage capacity of 160 GB Serial ATA Drive at 5400 rpm. When it was launched, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphic chipset seemed like a great choice. Notice that the white MacBook doesn't include any additional software beside the operating system.