In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video as well as VP8 video when the user has installed a VP8 codec on Windows.

As we said at MIX recently, when it comes to HTML5, we’re all in. This level of commitment applies to the video codecs that IE9 will support as well. We are strongly committed to making sure that in IE9 you can safely view all types of content in all widely used formats. At the same time, Windows customers, developers, and site owners also want assurances that they are protected from IP rights issues when using IE9.

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) RIA Services for Silverlight is one of those. On May 17, Microsoft delivered the final 1.0 release of that code, which adds support for Silverlight 4 and Visual Studio 2010.

WCF RIA Services simplifies the traditional n-tier application pattern by bringing together the ASP.NET and Silverlight platforms. RIA Services provides a pattern to write application logic that runs on the mid-tier and controls access to data for queries, changes and custom operations. It also provides end-to-end support for common tasks such as data validation, authentication and roles by integrating with Silverlight components on the client and ASP.NET on the mid-tier.

This post describes three new features that have been added to the Managed Package Framework (MPF) version 10.0 in Visual Studio 2010. These features are available to anyone developing extensions in managed code for Visual Studio 2010. To get started building extensions for Visual Studio, start by visiting the Visual Studio Extensibility Developer Center on MSDN and then go and download the Visual Studio 2010 SDK.

To use these features, your extension must reference the assembly Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.10.0.

 new community site has recently launched that allows you to download Visual Studio 2010 themed images that you can use for your Windows desktop background.  You can visit the site here: http://vs2010wallpapers.com/ In addition to browsing and downloading Visual Studio themed wallpapers, you can also submit your own into the gallery to share with others.

Browsing Wallpaper Images

The site has dozens of wallpaper images that you can browse through and choose from.  They range from the cool and abstract:

As developers we often spend a large part of our day staring at code within Visual Studio.  If you are like me, after awhile the default VS text color scheme starts to get a little boring.

The good news is that Visual Studio allows you to completely customize the editor background and text colors to whatever you want – allowing you to tweak them to create the experience that is “just right” for your eyes and personality.  You can then optionally export/import your color scheme preferences to an XML file via the Tools->Import and Export Settings menu command.