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Microsoft is offering the first look at the company’s latest .Net and Visual Studio releases.
The company has announced the newest versions of both developer tools, known as .Net Framework 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. No official release dates for either product were given.

Team working will be the main focus for Visual Studio 2010. Microsoft plans to upgrade the collaboration and testing tools for the development suite, along with introducing a new modeling tool that is designed to allow non-technical users to model and understand the way in which a new application may function.

"With Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0, we are focused on the core pillars of developer experience, support for the latest platforms spanning client, server, services and devices, targeted experiences for specific application types, and core architecture improvements," said Soma Somasegar, senior vice president of Microsoft’s developer division.

View: Vnunet

Microsoft has released a press statement urging Congress to reconsider its bailout decision, saying government action is "vitally important."

Brad Smith, Senior Vice President and General Counsel released the following statement:
"Microsoft strongly urges members of the U.S. House of Representatives to reconsider and to support legislation that will re-instil confidence and stability in the financial markets. This legislation is vitally important to the health and preservation of jobs in all sectors of the economy of Washington State and the nation, and we urge Congress to act swiftly.”

Microsoft shares fell 8.72% on Monday as Apple plummeted 17.92% on fears of profit margins. The U.S. House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion bailout plan by a vote of 228 to 205. The bailout plan is believed to be required to secure the future and stability of Wall Street.

View: Microsoft PressPass

Microsoft has gradually started rolling out the Windows Live Hotmail Wave 3 update but at some point in October every Hotmail user will have access to the new version. Part of the update are a new, clean look with themes support (not unlike the Windows Live Messenger Scenes in 9.0), a more convenient contact picker and overall faster performance.

Back in August there was some talk of bringing back WebMessenger to Hotmail, but from what we’ve seen there’s currently only the presence of Messenger Display Pictures at (see screenshot). The new About page promises more advanced Messenger integration starting early 2009:

"IM through Hotmail. See if your Messenger contacts are online and say "Hi!"

Community member Arkon was lucky enough to be one of the relatively few to have his Inbox updated to the new and much anticipated Windows Live Hotmail Wave 3 public beta, and he has much to share. Many notable changes include the integration of that spiffy “Scenes” picture that we’ve seen in messenger, the link “Manage Newsletters” that currently doesn’t work, and a new interface when selecting a contact to send an email to.

Explore the screenshots to see those features along with several others.

Sources:
http://www.mess.be/
http://www.geeksmack.net/?p=125

Despite the turmoil in the worldwide financial markets, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer believes the company has what it takes to weather the storm.
Speaking at the Churchill Club last week, Ballmer was questioned on internet advertising and said "Thank goodness! We have a chance to grow" in a market that Microsoft does not dominate.

"As I travel and talk to people in the industry, I would say given the current circumstances, people still see a certain buoyancy in the market," he said.

When questioned on Live Search Ballmer believes Microsoft has improved the relevance of its results in an "amazing fashion."

"I think the opportunity is great," Ballmer said. "Frankly speaking, if anyone is going to provide real competition … I think Microsoft might be unique in providing that competition."
Microsoft is due to unveil its long term strategy on cloud computing and its Windows Live services at its Professional Developers Conference in LA next month. The company will also unveil the next version of Windows, Windows 7.

Intel is claiming that its Core line of processors has allowed for $2bn in savings since release.
First introduced two years ago, the Core chips were touted by Intel in part for their low power consumption in the face of ever-climbing energy rates.
A company report estimates that since their release, the Core desktop, notebook and server chips have allowed for some 20 Terawatts less energy being used by the processors over the previous line.

Intel then divided this by an average energy cost of $0.10 per kilowatt hour to claim a $2bn energy savings from the chips.

"All the while we’ve been delivering these performance improvements, we have also been able to reduce the energy used by our microprocessors," wrote Lorie Wigle, general manager of Intel’s eco-technology program office.

Energy savings have become a major selling point for all major chipmakers in recent years.
Both Intel and chief rival AMD have touted faster and more efficient processors of late, fuelled by smaller manufacturing processes and the use of more efficient materials.

View source: vnunet

News Corp’s MySpace launches a new online music service on Thursday, aiming to loosen Apple’s grip on the US music industry and challenge all other online rivals. The service, MySpace Music, also aims to come to the aid of a music industry reeling from the continued slide in CD sales. MySpace Music is viewed by the music industry as an alternative to prior partnerships, most notably, its pact with Apple’s Steve Jobs. Label chiefs have long grumbled that Apple’s iTunes service is primarily designed to funnel profits back to Apple’s iPod and iPhone devices at the expense of the music industry. But so far, no contenders have managed to dent iTunes.

The big three labels – Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group – together own about 40 per cent of MySpace Music joint venture. “Ultimately, it gives us some skin in the game,” says Rio Caraeff, Universal Music Group’s executive vice president of digital. “It gives us a voice in the ongoing development of the business.”

EMI had been the lone holdout, but joined the group at the last minute. Sony ATV and independent music group The Orchard are also participating. Chris DeWolfe, MySpace chief executive, says he wants MySpace Music “to be the biggest music catalogue in the world”. Some 5m artists already own profile pages on MySpace.

The company believes it can better connect to its 120m global visitors, 65 per cent of whom already stream music on their profile pages, with a more integrated and flashier interface that gives members access to the catalogues of these artists rather than the handful of songs they can currently upload.

If you’re living in a part of the EU that has yet to be reached by broadband internet access, then help could be at hand from the European Commission.

The European Commission is about to begin a review of the communications services available to EU citizens and, if it finds a majority of them use broadband, then it will likely mandate that it must be made available to everyone.

EU Rules called the Universal Service Obligations cover what member states must provide to citizens. When usage of any service passes 50 per cent of the EU, that service is considered essential and must be made universal.

The scheduled review has been brought forward because Commissioners realised that the rapid growth of broadband will probably hit the threshold before long.

Should that happen, telecoms companies across Europe could be forced to expand their networks to even the most remote areas as early as 2010.

At the same time, the minimum speed considered acceptable is likely to be raised from the current 28.8Kbit/s. It’s nice, but how about a slice of that Japanese 1Gbit/s pie, eh?

View: TechRadar

Astronaut Zhai Zhigang became the first Chinese man to walk in space on Saturday, clambering out of China’s Shenzhou VII spacecraft in a technological feat that Beijing wants the world to marvel at.

"I’m feeling quite well. I greet the Chinese people and the people of the world," Zhai said as he climbed out of the craft, his historic achievement carried live on state television.

Zhai, the 41-year-old son of a snack-seller, unveiled a small Chinese flag, helped by colleague Liu Boming, who also briefly popped his head out of the capsule.

Zhai re-entered the spacecraft safely after a walk of about 15 minutes, marking the high point of China’s third manned space flight, which has received blanket media coverage.

Full article @ Reuters.com

Nokia Corp. is expected to unveil a high-profile touch-screen phone, known by gadget aficionados as the "Tube," at an event on Thursday, according to industry analysts.

In launching the device, the world’s largest handset maker by shipments takes its stab at Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which set off a wave of copycat devices that attempted to emulate its sleek user interface. Nokia is the last of the major handset makers to put out a touch-screen cellphone.

"Nokia is under enormous pressure to deliver something that’s good," said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner Inc. "People have been waiting for this for over a year now."

Full article @ The Wall Street Journal

The provisional launch date of space shuttle Atlantis on its STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope has been postponed from 10 to 14 October due to the knock-on effects of Hurricane Ike.

Ike forced the closure of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, resulting in a "lost week of training and mission preparation". NASA will confirm a concrete launch date for Atlantis on 3 October.

The delay has also affected the intended launch of Endeavour, due to carry the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Station on 12 November on mission STS-126. This is now slated for a 16 November blast-off.

STS-125 - the last mission to Hubble - extends to 11 days, during which the Atlantis crew (Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory C. Johnson and Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Megan McArthur) will carry out five spacewalks.

Full story @ TheRegister.co.uk