Skype and Amazon are hiring in Silicon Valley... Other companies WANT to hire ... and Microsoft wants to hurt Sony just a little bit more. All on this week's Update. Microsoft's latest acquisition, Skype, is going to stick to its plans to hire hundreds of people in Palo Alto. The company's going to maintain its own offices rather than move into Microsoft’s campus in Mountain View. Also, Skype says it will continue to invest in Silicon Valley. Amazon's also looks to be hiring in California. Lab126, the subsidiary that works on Kindle and other tablets, is supposedly renting “lots” more office space in Cupertino. The company's reportedly working on a full-blown tablet and maybe a smartphone. A new kind of brute-force recruiting is emerging. Engineering talent is so in demand that large companies are acquiring small companies not for their products or ideas but for the warm bodies they employ. The buzzword is acqhiring. So says The New York Times. Big companies and small ones just keep saying they can't find enough good tech people. So, they'll give them everything from free iPads to entrepreneurship lessons to attract them. Start-ups in particular are looking for people. Total job openings at venture-backed startups in Silicon Valley have risen to 3,609 from 1,739 in April 2008. Elsewhere in the U.S., they rose 69 percent in the same period. And, finally, in case you haven't heard: Microsoft’s trying to put a little bit more of Sony’s blood on the floor. If you're a student and spend $799 or more on a Windows 7 PC, get an Xbox. Free. Interesting timing. Not only because most colleges are into summer slow-down mode right now, but also because Sony’s PSN is still having problems. Amazon just cut the price on one of its Xbox bundles, and, Best Buy pushed Xbox in its last week's Sunday newspaper flyer. Striking someone when they’re down. Not sportsmanlike, as Roy Batty once said. But it sure is effective. Roy  Batty Photo: Villians Wikia