Microsoft has put on an announcement through one of its many channels that Office 2007 owners can expect Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 to show up in their Windows Automatic Updates sometime on or after June 16. The Office 2007 SP1 has been available since December of last year but Microsoft has been careful about forcing it into the general population of Office users.

As they had done with Office 2003, they are giving a 30 day warning/notice that the automatic update is coming. They also said that not everyone will see it at the same time since they will rolling it out a little at a time to be sure that their servers can handle the download requests.

In case you might have missed it, Microsoft has been in the action figure business for about two years. It was easy to miss. MSDN, the Microsoft Developer Network, recently announced the latest members of the Source Fource, limited edition, collectible mini-action figures based on Microsoft development and software products. They’re tiny and plastic, resembling LEGO figures. The characters include “Windows Vista Sensei,” “Office Master,” “ISV Server Gal,” “Virtual Labs Guy,” “SQL Server Gal,” “Visual Labs Guy,” and “MSDN Webcast Guy.”

You won’t be able to get these figures in stores however. The two latest figures, “Windows Vista Sensei” and “Office Master,” will only be available to the first 5,000 users attending at least two MSDN webcasts or those who complete at least two MSDN Virtual Lab courses between March 15 and April 15. The other figures were released in 2006 and can’t easily be found either. Pretty strange stuff. You figure they would want to market these things and put them on store shelves, since geeks have money and all.

Dell and Microsoft partnered on a program called (RED) in conjunction with (RED) co-founder Bono to help fight AIDS in Africa. The program offers special (RED) branded PCs and printer in which part of the proceeds will go to help people in places like Rwanda, Swaziland and Ghana.

For each purchased (PRODUCT) RED branded PC from Dell loaded with a RED branded Windows Vista Ultimate, Dell and Microsoft will contribute between $50 and $80 to the Global Fund of the program. $80 will bring as much as six months of life-saving antiretroviral treatment for a person living with AIDS in Africa. A RED branded printer will generate a $5 contribution.

Microsoft wants to deliver more ads to consumers, so they have found a unique way to do it more effectively. Working with a company called MediaCart, they are building computers that would be mounted on grocery carts. It would allow consumers to navigate the store and then automatically check them out when they’re finished. What would convenience be without revenue? That’s why Microsoft will have video ads mixed with the experience.

The cart-mounted computers will be tested at some ShopRite markets in the second half of 2008. Shoppers can pick up items, scan them with the system and leave them in their carts. The console will provide a running price tally and even check items off the shopping list. The system is also equipped with RFID, so it can track shoppers while they’re moving around in the store, deciding whether they want Captain Crunch or Cocoa Puffs. Shoppers will also be able to bring their list to the store with just a swipe of their loyalty card.(Everybody has a loyalty card, and yet it doesn’t seem to make any of us loyal.)

Welcome to January 2008. Amongst all the CES coverage we’ve been doing we failed to notice yesterday, being the second Tuesday of the month, revealed to us on our Windows desktops that monthly ritual all Microsoft customers must endure: security patches. We’ve decided here at SlipperyBrick to implement the Microsoft Security Bulletin Watch - a basic way of us providing you information about new patches Microsoft is releasing.

For January 2008 Microsoft has released one Critical, One Important and seven Non-Security, High-Priority updates on the Microsoft Update site. You may not of course need all of these - it depends upon your machine’s specific Windows OS flavor and what you already have installed on your PC. Check after the jump for a summary of the most important updates.

Opera Software has filed a legal complaint to the European Commission against Microsoft over the companies web browser and how it is packaged with the operating system. As you may or may not have noticed, the Internet Explorer browser that comes with the Windows operating system has become part of the OS, and can’t really be removed or uninstalled. Because of this Opera Software is complaining that the tie Microsoft has between the OS and its IE browser is illegal since it does not give competing browsers a chance on the highly dominate Windows OS. Opera is also saying that Microsoft is hindering interoperability by not following the commonly accepted web standards.

Opera is asking that Microsoft be forced to “unbundle” their web browser and operating system allowing other browsers, such as Opera’s, to be able to compete more fairly. They are also asking that Microsoft adhere to common Web standards so that developers creating hosted applications and web sites do not allow or need specific code written for viewing on Internet Explorer compared to other browsers.

Samsung is offering up for the holidays a new digital picture frame which makes use of Microsoft technology to wirelessly display your digital photos. The new Samsung SPF-83V looks to be priced at around $230.

The Samsung SPF-83V uses technology developed by Microsoft Research to work with the Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Media Player. The frame communicates with WMP, which in turn in conjunction with the online photo gallery wirelessly streams digital images to the Samsung display for presentation.

Microsoft today dropped the rest of the details on its upcoming Xbox 360 2007 Fall Dashboard Update. This includes the previously covered Xbox Originals download service. You can expect this update to populate your video game console sometime starting Dec. 4.

The Xbox 360 2007 Fall Dashboard Update is definitely a major overhaul with lots of new features. Besides the ability to download and play Xbox Originals you also get access to reduced prices on select Xbox Live Arcade titles. There will also be a new direct feed into the dashboard which gives you more updated information on new Xbox offerings. You’ll also be able to add more information into your bio for friends to view as well as being able to see the Friends Lists of other Xbox Live members.

Is “Halo 3″ not worthy of play on the Microsoft Xbox 360? According to one California resident, you better bet your Covenant plasma pistol.

A class action suit has been dropped on Bungie, the makers of “Halo 3″ and Microsoft alleging that their hit video game “does not function with the Xbox 360, and to the contrary, attempted use of Halo 3 consistently causes the Xbox 360 to ‘crash,’ ‘freeze,’ or ‘lock up’ while the game is being played.” The suit also states that neither one of the two firms have done enough to fix the problems caused by the bad loads. “Many consumers have reported that the ‘Halo 3′ video game has caused their Xbox video game consoles to crash and remain totally inoperable after playing the ‘Halo 3′ video game,” reads a portion of the document.

Can you believe Xbox Live, the online arm of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console, turns five tomorrow? Neither can we. That being said, this is a shining example of an area where Microsoft held on to become a dominant force in a vertical category. To celebrate this crowning moment several announcements were made which should make things even more interesting.

For starters, Microsoft is giving away for free between 12:01 a.m. PST on Nov. 15 and 11:59 p.m. PST on Nov. 16 an Xbox Live Arcade game for download. Of even bigger interest to gamers, particularly fans of the original Xbox, is word of a free system update which will offer, among other enhancements, the ability to purchase and download original Xbox games. These Xbox Originals look to initially include Halo,” “Psychonauts,” “Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge” and “Fable,” among others.

Suppose you own a company that both Microsoft and Google want to own a part of. Who do you choose to do a deal with? Do you base your decision on which company you think will be the stronger in the future or just on who’s offering the most cash? This is the present dilemma that Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg is facing right now. Both Google and Microsoft are neck-and-neck with striking a deal that would see either one of the two online titans getting a 5-to-10 percent ownership with Facebook. The deal is expected to close sometime today or tomorrow.

The potential deal is likely to be huge for whomever gets it. Both Microsoft and Google are set up to capitalize on serving advertising to Facebook’s 34 million members. No one from either of the three companies is offering to comment about the deal but if the “The New York Times” is reporting that it exists, take it to the bank.

Microsoft said today it is launching a specially branded, limited edition Zune “produced in collaboration with Latin Grammy-nominated artists Wisin y Yandel.” This particular Zune will price around $200 and is for sale exclusively through Wal-Mart.

The Wisin y Yandel Zune is black, stylized and comes in in customized Wisin y Yandel packaging. It sports a 30 GB hard drive pre-loaded with the new Wisin y Yandel 19-track album, “Wisin vs. Yandel: Los Extraterrestres.” This portable media player has a three-inch color display and can store up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video.

Today Microsoft has officially launched the highly rumored Xbox 360 Arcade console at a reasonable $279 bundled with games and trying to pick up on the “entire family” of gamers and bring some more attention to the Xbox Live Arcade games.

“As families gather together this holiday, it’s the perfect time to launch a new low-priced, high-value Xbox 360 that plays games, TV shows and music for everyone to enjoy,” said Jeff Bell, vice president of global marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “In addition to offering an incredible all-in-one package for families to get right into the fun, the Xbox 360 Arcade system features the industry-leading Family Settings, which allow parents to control what their kids are watching and playing — and we know how important that control is to families around the world.”

Microsoft is working hard to be competitive with its rivals Sony and Nintendo in Japan’s market which has proven so far to be fairly difficult for them. Despite a stellar month in September for US Xbox 360 sales, the company has not faired as well with the Japanese market over the past year in keeping up with the home town’s PS3 and Wii game consoles. As the holidays are nearing the company is keeping pace and making moves with its console trying to spur some additional sales with an announced price drop for the Xbox 360 core system and the 20GB bundle.

Starting on November 1 in Japan, the Xbox 360 20GB bundle will start retailing for ¥34,800 ($306) which is a $44 cut from its previous price. The 360 core system will start going for ¥27,800 ($245) which gives it an $18 cut. Microsoft is also putting out a limited Value Pack for the console for ¥34,800 ($306) which comes with Viva Pinata and Forza Motorsport 2 titles but no HDMI cable.

After almost a year of trailing in console sales, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has finally pulled ahead of the widely popular Nintendo Wii marking the first time since the Wii’s launch last November that it hasn’t been number one. As anticipated by many, Microsoft pulled this off with a little help from the launch of Halo 3 which earned $170 million on its first day and $300 million its first week and ended up spurring a number of Xbox 360 sales along with it.

Those sales totaled 527,000 units of the console in the month of September which was a significant jump from the 276,700 sold the previous month. Nintendo was no slump for September either marking 501,000 Wii units and 495,800 handheld DS consoles. Both figures were also significantly more than in August.