The first betas of Visual Studio 2010 are already introducing developers to a new and powerful concept of service modeling -- an incredible new way to make applications more scalable, as Microsoft's Oslo chief explained to BetaNews.

With the next 2010 edition of the venerable Visual Studio -- the betas for which are already being used by developers, probably even for some production work -- even in the Standard Editions, there will be a prominent and much-welcomed change that is already impacting the way they work. It concerns a concept that used to be virtually the private domain of organization's such as IBM's Rational division, and around which entire philosophies of work, workflow, and even life and living have sprung forth...though fortunately, Microsoft has more practical plans for it.

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As recriminations and talk of boycotts fly in the wake of the passage of California's Proposition 8, tech industries are turning up on both sides of the issue -- and technology may yet help focus further efforts.

Proposition 8 would amend California's constitution to state that the only marriages to be recognized in that state are between a man and a woman. Though it has not yet been officially ratified as votes await state certification on December 13, with over 96% of the vote currently tallied, 52.5% of respondents voted Yes. This despite active opposition from even California's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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At a WinHEC session in Los Angeles last week, bloggers report, just during last September, of the driver installations for Windows Vista automatically reported back to Microsoft, over 11% of install attempts for printer drivers failed.

Although no video was produced for this specific WinHEC session last Wednesday, Angus Kidman of APC and John Lister of Blorge both report that a table presented by Microsoft Senior Program Manager Chris Matichuk showed that 11.24% of all Vista-based printer driver installations automatically reported back to Microsoft, were failures.

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An international group formed in May to lay some ground rules for anti-malware testing has delivered a pair of documents setting forth basic principles.

The Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), which includes representatives from most of the major vendors on its membership roster, has published two documents setting forth fundamental principles (PDF available here) and best practices for dynamic testing (PDF available here).

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After almost doubling its number of HD titles over the past three weeks to reach a grand total of 1,100, Vudu has teamed up with Best Buy on a $299.99 bundling deal.

Streaming media service Vudu contended today that, with 1,100 HD titles, it now holds the "largest library of HD content" available for on-demand viewing.

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Based around what MySpace's Tom Anderson says are several years worth of user requests, the popular social networking site has rolled out the updated profile system that has been in beta since earlier this year.

The new profile improvements are based around four ideas: privacy, speed, customization, and Web standards. In Profile 2.0, the permissions to each section of a user's profile can be tailored, allowing certain users to see only sections of the profile. Sections can be hidden entirely or truncated to speed up load time, and layout can be tailored by dragging and dropping sections or by using pre-made layouts. Also, with the exception of the MySpace header and footer, the new profile pages are W3C compliant.

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A court has forced IBM exec Mark Papermaster to quit his new job at Apple, despite Papermaster's protests that he didn't violate a non-compete clause in his IBM contract.

A federal judge on Friday ordered Mark Papermaster, IBM's former guru of processors and blade servers, to leave his new position as head of engineering for Apple's iPhones and iPods until the dust settles around a suit by IBM accusing him of breaking a non-compete clause in his IBM contract.

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Yahoo-who? Microsoft and Sun Microsystems are getting together to more closely ally the Java Runtime Environment and Internet Explorer's search.

Microsoft announced on Monday that the MSN Toolbar will now be included in all US Java Runtime Environment downloads for Internet Explorer. That toolbar includes Live Search access, direct connections to Hotmail and Messenger, and buttons to take users to MSN content such as sports scores.

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AT&T today began the public beta phase of VideoCrawler, a search and organization portal for rich Web media.

Powered by Divvio's "click-2-crawl" rich media indexing technology, VideoCrawler does not host content, but rather creates searches for relevant items hosted on the increasing number of dedicated content provider sites and allows them to be viewed from AT&T's portal. AT&T claims its search base is currently over 1,600 sites.

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Developers seeking a complete functionality overhaul for future Windows Mobile-based smartphones may have to wait until late in 2010, as comments from Microsoft's CEO indicate the next WM version is just a refresh.

Last October 30, Motorola Mobile Devices CEO Sanjay Jha made an off-the-cuff remark during Motorola's quarterly conference call, saying his company was planning for Windows Mobile 6.5 in the second half of 2009. Effectively confirming that date, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last Thursday told analysts attending a conference in Melbourne, Australia, in conjunction with its carrier partner Telstra that the next wave of mobility features will be realized in Windows Mobile 6.5 -- not Windows Mobile 7 -- due in H2 2009.

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Picking up where Dash left off, navigation software company TeleNav has released its first connected GPS device, the Shotgun.

Two weeks ago, Personal Navigation Device maker Dash, which made a mobile wireless GPS unit, announced that it would be leaving the device market to shift its business toward pure software solutions, as the PND market's growth has slowed dramatically.

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Just last week, the US' second largest CE retailer announced it will close 155 stores and lay off around 17% of its employees in further attempts to lower operating costs. This morning, the second shoe officially dropped.

Since last week's announcement, Circuit City has said that vendor concerns about its liquidity and ability to pay for its purchases have "escalated considerably."

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The time is right for an IP-capable but phone-oriented network approach such as Panasonic's ECS, said an IDC analyst. To support the new system for SMBs, Panasonic will add more outside systems integrators, particularly in VoIP and IT.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are large in number, and they're looking for solutions that can help them deal with "the overwhelming volume of information for voice, data, IM, e-mail, voice mail, and e-mail," maintained an IDC analyst, speaking at the press launch of Panasonic's new Enhanced Communications Solutions (ECS).

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Norway continues its dispute with Apple on iTunes' incompatibility with competition. Because iTunes does not adhere to Norwegian interoperability guidelines, technically, Apple is engaged in illegal trade there.

After two years of inconclusive squabbling, Norway's Consumer Ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon said he is taking his government's ongoing dispute with Apple over iTunes' DRM incompatibility issues to Markedsrådet, Norway's state authority on fair market procedures.

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If any given piece of slang is dead when kids hear their parents using it, it's possible that social networking's stake in the heart is in place now that household appliances are getting into the act.

In a sense the situation's even worse than you'd think from that news. (After days of heavy rain in Seattle, this reporter would be thrilled if her sump pumps would communicate civilly with the storm sewers.) No, Moms Like Us, which Samsung advertises as "a social network for their Washers and Dryers that celebrates 'Life, Laundry and the Pursuit of Cleanliness,'" is demoralizing not because the machines are talking, but because of the view it takes of the humans who are in theory the boss of those machines.

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