Hindered by a failure to sell large numbers of digital music players, Microsoft is singing a new Zune. A few weeks before releasing a new version of its MP3 player called Zune HD, Microsoft is taking extraordinary steps to court software developers to create applications for the device.

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Over the past three decades, a few titanic rivalries have defined the technology industry’s megatrends, ultimately determining which products eventually end up in consumers’ and companies’ hands. Now, adding to the annals of competition that include Microsoft’s (MSFT) clashes with Apple (AAPL) in the ’80s, IBM in the ’90s, and Google (GOOG) in this decade, the new defining rivalry in tech may be between Google and Apple.

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It was a week after the annual Allen & Co. mediafest, and Barry Diller, the fabled former Hollywood mogul and chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), was eager to chat. Just back from his trek to Sun Valley, Idaho, to join Herb Allen’s annual convocation of moguls, Diller was talking about content and how, despite all the hoopla over the mass of online video that folks are watching, the whole notion is hopelessly unprofitable unless the media world can figure out a way to get people to ante up for what they now get for free.

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The big news out this week in the venture capital market is the launch of Andreessen Horowitz, a new $300 million venture capital fund co-founded by Marc Andreeseen, a tech visionary who founded Netscape Communications, the startup that triggered the Internet tsunami. Raising $300 million for a first time fund is an incredible achievement in today’s depressed capital-starved economy. How did Andreessen and his long-time business partner and co-investor Ben Horowitz pull it off?

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On a warm spring evening in Iraq this April, months before Iranians made global headlines with angry Twitter posts, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and several other American tech leaders sipped wine with Barham Salih in the garden of his Baghdad home. Dorsey urged Salih to start using the microblogging service to publicize the inner workings of the Iraqi government. “The people of Iraq and the media will follow you,” said Dorsey.

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On June 6, Palm (PALM) will release the Pre, a smartphone many hope will fuel a resurgence of a company long since fallen from grace. But numerous miscalculations and missteps endanger this hoped-for turnaround.

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Comedian Jim Gaffigan has a suggestion for preparing a Hot Pockets frozen entrée: “Take out of package. Place directly in toilet.” Gaffigan is not a big fan of Hot Pockets.

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A question: If you have 347 followers on the Twitter microblogging service, what are the chances that they’ll click on the same online ad you clicked on last night? Advertisers are dying to know.

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Companies are scrambling to silence errant messages while exploiting social networks.

Zachary Weiner, the CEO of Chicago boutique ad agency Luxuryreach, has had quite a time in social networking land of late. Recent adventures include employees twittering about how demanding Weiner is, how hung over they feel, and how “totally not into” the client they are.

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Readers of Adventures in Babywearing, a blog for parents, got an up-close look at the Ergo, a $135 embroidered baby carrier in a shade called “organic blue” in a May 14 post on the site. Blog operator Stephanie Precourt was impressed.

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David Lin is traveling lighter for business lately. Ever since the software marketing exec bought an iPod Touch, he’s often able to leave his notebook computer behind. “My goal is to replace the laptop,” says Lin, vice-president for marketing at Denali Software, makers of electronic design-automation software.

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Where celebrities go, fans follow. The truism applies as much in social media as in the real world, David Karp noticed after famous artists began using his blogging service Tumblr. As a result, encouraging celebrities to set up accounts on the site has become “absolutely part of our road map and our business plan,” Karp says. In fact, he recently hired a full-time employee to help high-profile users design and manage their blogs.

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To say Palm has a lot riding on the Pre smartphone is an understatement. Amid stiff competition from Apple (AAPL) and Research In Motion (RIMM), Palm’s very survival may hinge on the success of the device, expected to reach Sprint Nextel (S) store shelves no later than June 30.

And while it’s hard to predict demand for the Pre, preliminary analysis suggests Palm (PALM) will make a healthy profit from the units it does sell.

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Neal Patterson likens the current scramble in health information technology to the 19th century land rush that opened his native Oklahoma to homesteaders. Cerner (CERN), the large medical vendor Patterson heads, is jockeying for new business spurred by a $19.6 billion federal initiative to computerize a health system buried in paper. “It’s a beautiful opportunity for us,” the CEO says.

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Apple (AAPL) and Verizon (VZ) are in talks for the carrier to distribute an “iPhone-lite” device and a “media pad,” with one of the devices to be launched sometime this summer, BusinessWeek is reporting. As a Verizon subscriber, I wish I could believe this story, but we have several reasons to think it’s just a negotiating ploy aimed at getting more concessions from AT&T (T) as it tries to hold onto its iPhone exclusive.

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