While Microsoft has announced the release date for the long-awaited Windows 7, Microsoft has decided that it will release the RTM (release to manufacturers) version on July 13, 2009 – the same day as the WPC09 (Worldwide Partner Conference), to be held in New Orleans, according to Geeksmack.

The RTM version is the final version, meaning that this version is set to be the smoothest and mostly bug-free than the Release Candidate and the Beta versions. Partner connections like TechNet and MSDN are set to get their hands on the RTM version shortly after.

And what about you, those who don’t have access to those partner connections? Someone might put up a torrent of it so you can download it.

Windows 7 is set to reverse the trend after the disastrous Windows Vista and its PR, and many of the beta testers are happy with the new changes, including performance improvements and new features. While there will be at least six versions of the product, only Home Premium, Professional (which is like Business, just renamed) and Ultimate versions will be out to the public – but Ultimate will be the harder one to find in retail markets.

Local police have confirmed that a 26-year-old female Apple Store employee has been shot in an armed robbery that occurred at the Apple Store Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia, in the back service entrance. The suspect has been said to rang a doorbell at the service entrance and shot the employee as she opened the door.

The employee suffered a wound to her right shoulder, and was sent to hospital where she is now in a stable condition, but her injuries have not been considered as life-threatening.

The Washington Post has said that only two employees were at the store, with the other employee calling the police after hearing the gunshot. The robbery happened 15 minutes after the store opened, at 10:15 am, with thirty or so customers inside the store and at least a dozen employees inside, according to a customer talking to the newspaper.

According to WTTG5, a Fox affiliate, the suspect has been said to be a “skinny black male in beige clothing. They say he may have had a fake beard.” He is also said to be between the ages of 35 and 45, wearing a dark baseball cap, and fled on foot.

Any person with information about the shooting or the suspect is asked to call the police.

Security footage may be released to aide the investigation in the shooting.

The latest revision to the code that makes up the entire Web is set to drop codec requirements that would set specific formats (codecs) on video and audio files that could allow people to distribute multimedia easier as browsers fight over which format should be the standard.

The main five browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera) have not been able to agree on the specific format that all browsers will support, according to the editor of the new HTML5 specification Ian Hickson from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

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Apple is working round the clock in fixing a security hole in the iPhone operating system that could allow an attacker to remotely have root access to the device and install and run unsigned software code that could potentially allow your iPhone to be part of a botnet.

The new security hole was found by Charles Miller, security researcher and co-author of the Mac Hacker’s Handbook, at the SySan Conference in Singapore, according to a report by Computerworld. He, however, has left no description on the attack, citing an agreement with Apple not to disclose it.

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While Apple is reported to be in talks with China Unicom to offer the iPhone in China, where it hopes to get the device sold in that country within the next year or so; talks of a trademark dispute over the word “iPhone” could be a hurdle in selling the device.

The company, Hanwang Technology, owns the trademark “i-phone” – and that could make it illegal for Apple to sell the phone under that name.

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3 Mobile, thanks to their merger with Vodafone Australia to create Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA), has previously said that the iPhone 3GS is coming to their network in July, and now, we know the exact date on when that is happening.

The date, confirmed to be on July 17, 2009, will see phones to be sold through 3 stores, their dealers, 3 direct and via their website. While the date has been confirmed, pricing is said to be “announced closer to the launch date”.

“Since we announced that 3 mobile would be selling the iPhone 3G S we have been inundated with customers who have pre-registered their interest in this device,” Nigel Dews, CEO for VHA, said in a press statement. “Our commitment is to give our loyal customers the great value and benefits they deserve and have come to expect from the 3 brand.”

Users can pre-register their interest at their website at http://www.three.com.au/iphone.

With 3 having the iPhone 3GS on sale, this brings Australia the only country that has the iPhone to be available on all major carriers, with many other countries being locked to one (or two) carriers. While Telstra signed to them directly, Optus and Vodafone were helped by their parent companies’ regional deals with Apple. 3 and Virgin Mobile (owned 100 percent by Optus) scored the iPhone thanks to their links to Optus (for Virgin) or Vodafone (for 3).

In the US, it is currently under the AT&T network, with rumours that Verizon could possibly be the second carrier; while New Zealand iPhone users are using the Vodafone network, thanks to a regional deal. Vodafone, in New Zealand, is the one out of three mobile carriers in that country, with the other one being Telecom NZ and the newly-launched 2degrees.

In what has been a turbulent week for The Pirate Bay, they have launched quietly their anonymous virtual private network, IPREDator, to the public. The new network, like we reported before, hopes to give you anonymous access to the internet, so the ISPs won’t be able to trace your steps.

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Users of the Pirate Bay should be happy to find out that a user deletion interface is set to be built today, as many users have asked for their account to be removed after news of the Pirate Bay was being sold to Global Gaming Factory X AB, a Swedish software distribution company.

Bowing to pressure, users have asked to delete their accounts over the fears that their logs could be handed over to the RIAA and other international anti-piracy organisations; despite the Pirate Bay says that no personal data will be given to the new owners.

“We also want to point out that we have no logs of anything, no personal data will be transferred in the eventual sale (since no personal data is kept). So no need to be worried for safety,” one of the Pirate Bay admins wrote in a blog post.

“We understand that you’re upset. But we have reasons to do this that we cannot ignore. We need to keep the site going and this is the only working alternative. We cannot finance the growth of the site anymore and we cannot back down.”

“The only way is up and this the only route to that place,” the writer continued.