when can we expect the update?
First, I'm working on it several hours per day, since Thursday. The decision was finalized on Tuesday, but I couldn't start right away.
For the PoS part of the code I have completed what I call the core "identity" code, which essentially establishes and validates the root of the Merkle tree upon loading the block indices.
After that, I need to put in code that can load both PoS blocks and PoW blocks, the latter for backwards compatibility. The same will be done with transactions within the blocks. Then I need to write a little code that makes sure it only generates backwards compatible blocks until the official point of conversion, which is a specific block.
Finally, I have a few hours of work on "cosmetics" (strings that say "42" in the Qt gui and command-line client, which is what you use if you are a miner or enter commands in the debug window).
I'll post updates here as I hit each milestone. I'm hoping to make some real progress this weekend.