The space shuttle Endeavour blasted off from the Kennedy Center Feb. 8 on one of NASA's most anticipated missions to the International Space: The delivery of the Tranquility node, the final module of the U.S. portion of the space station. Tranquility will provide additional room for crew members and many of the space station's life support and environmental control systems. Attached to the node is a cupola, which houses a robotic control station and has seven windows to provide a panoramic view of Earth, celestial objects and visiting spacecraft. eWEEK takes a look at NASAs latest mission. (All photos courtesy of NASA.)
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The Apple iTunes Store received its 10 billionth song download, and a lucky Johnny Cash fan in Georgia winner of the Apple iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs contest has a $10,000 iTunes gift card headed his way.
- One lucky Apple iTunes customer and Johnny Cash fan has $10,000 worth of songs in his future. Apple announced Feb. 25 that Louie Sulcer, of Woodstock, Ga., was the winner of its iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs contest, as his purchase of Johnny Cashs “Guess Things Happen That Way” was...

From its executives being charged for privacy violations in Italy, to formal complaints from Microsoft-supported entities in Brussels and Google's joust with China over a hack, Google is facing adversity from many fronts in the first two months of 2010. Moreover, many adversaries want to paint Google as the next Microsoft. This is probably not the start to the year the company envisioned, but Google has to deal with each issue with care lest it suffer additional blows to its image, let alone its business.
- News Analysis: When you're the hottest team in town, everyone is gunning for you. No, we're not talking about Major League Baseball's defending world champion New York Yankees, even as we look forward to the 2010 baseball season. We're talking about Google. Through the first two mo...

With the cost of data breaches continuing to go up, the need to properly secure your database has never been clearer. Locking down the database layer, however, is no simply task. There are a number of different aspects that must be considered and steps database administrators should take. In discussions with eWEEK, experts from database security firms Guardium -- now part of IBM -- and Application Security served up some tips for enterprises to keep in mind to secure their data.
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SAP is announcing its SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand software, offering analytics and reporting tools to casual business users who otherwise might not have the experience or skills necessary to leverage business intelligence in their daily workflow. SAP has increasingly focused on the SMB segment as a way to increase its revenue stream, a move mirrored by its competitors such as Oracle. The announcement comes on the heels of a substantial management shakeup at SAP.
- SAP is unveiling its SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand platform, a platform for what the company described as quot;casual BI (business intelligence) users currently underserved by products on the market. quot; Using SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software, users can combine data from multiple ...

Microsoft and Panasonic announced an agreement that would give the electronics maker access to Microsofts Extended File Allocation Table technology, which allows consumer electronic devices to manage larger files. In addition, Panasonic also obtained a patent license for FAT32 long file name technology. Microsoft originally launched its exFAT licensing program in December 2009. A more generalized IP licensing program, started in 2003, has seen Microsoft enter into more than 600 licensing agreements with companies ranging from Apple to Hewlett-Packard.
- Microsoft and Panasonic announced an intellectual property licensing agreement Feb. 25 that will give the latter access to Microsofts exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) technology. In theory, Panasonic will be able to leverage exFAT, which allows flash memory devices to manage larger files...

In response to a lawsuit filed by Microsoft, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against 277 Internet domains associated with the notorious Waledac botnet.
- Microsoft is using the law as a weapon to take down the Waledac botnet. According to the company, a federal judge in Virginia issued a temporary restraining order Feb. 22 to cut off 277 Internet domains associated with Waledac in response to a complaint filed by Microsoft. The legal maneuver...

When it comes time to discuss Microsoft's intentions on the Web, that discussion always turns to Google. How will Microsoft compete against the search juggernaut? What can it do to stop Google's rise in Web advertising? They are valid questions that, so far, Microsoft hasn't been able to adequately address. But there is more to fear on the Web than just Google. Microsoft is slowly, but surely, realizing that the Web is the future of its operation. More and more applications are moving to the Internet. Consumers are even going to the Web. At this point, the company has no choice but to compete online in every space it can to ensure that, going forward, it isn't left behind by Web powerhouses. But as it engages the Web, it's also faced with more competition. And the idea that Google is the only online company that Microsoft needs to worry about is quickly forgotten. Here are 10 Web companies that Microsoft needs to fear most as it continues to move its services online.
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iPhone and Android smartphone users have been found to be surprisingly similar when it comes to application downloading habits, says a new report from AdMob. Its survey also found that Android users are predominantly male, and iPod touch users wont be running for president any time soon.
- Apple users have been said to be a breed apart, but a Feb. 25 report from AdMob reveals that the behavior of Apple iPhone and Google Android platform users is “remarkably similar” when it comes to mobile applications. AdMob conducted opt-in surveys with consumers using devices that run the ...

Google Feb. 24 said it is advancing six features in its Gmail Labs and retiring five, a sign the company's programmers are dutifully keeping up with user interest or lack thereof in the experimental tools. If nothing else, Google's Gmail team is watching what the 176 million Gmail users are doing in the Webmail app. What will be interesting to see is the interplay of Gmail Labs features with the Gmail-hosted Google Buzz application, which leverages Gmail contacts to build a social network of conversations. Google Buzz already leverages the same keyboard shortcuts and formatting tools as Gmail.
- Google Feb. 24 said it is advancing six features in its Gmail Labs and retiring five, a sign the company's programmers are dutifully keeping up with user interest or lack thereof in the experimental tools. Graduates include Search Autocomplete, Go To Label, Forgotten Attachment ...

An LG smartphone running Microsofts newly introduced Windows Phone 7 Series may arrive as early as September, Engadget is reporting. Reporters at its China sister site are said to have received details from LG executives, at a Lunar New Year celebration in Hong Kong.
- The first LG smartphone running Microsofts Windows Phone 7 Series may arrive as early as September, according to a report from Engadget. Reportedly, members of its sister site, Engadget Chinese, had a sitdown with LG executives in Hong Kong who indicated that the date likely wouldnt be as l...

A car-sized fuel cell-based power plant, known as the Bloom Energy Server, could power up to 100 U.S. homes and fit in the driveway.
- As the green energy movement works to keep momentum in the United States, a Silicon Valley-based startup known as Bloom Energy emerged after nine years of closely guarded research to unveil the Bloom Energy Server, a solid oxide fuel cell technology, which provides distributed ...

Aimed at cost-conscious businesses, Citrix GoToManage is anintegrated web-based platform for controlling unattended IT infrastructure. The company also announced a partnership with Carpathia Hosting.
- Citrix Systems online division announced it was entering the IT Management sector with the launch of GoToManage, an integrated web-based platform for monitoring, controlling and supporting attended or unattended IT infrastructure. GoToManage is aimed at small to medium-size busine...

Passlogix offers cost-conscious businesses the open architecture v-GO Universal Authentication Manager (v-GO UAM), an authentication solution that enables Microsoft Windows to accept any identification device for logging on.
- Provisioning and authentication process specialist and developer of the v-GO Access Accelerator Suite, Passlogix, announced v-GO Universal Authentication Manager, a strong authentication solution that enables Microsoft Windows to accept any identification device for logon – inclu...

Salesforce.com reported fiscal 2010 revenue of $1.3 billion as it continues to benefit from the rapid expansion of the on-demand enterprise software market. Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff said Salesforce.com's portfolio of cloud sales, service, application development products and its new Chatter business collaboration platform should allow his company to enjoy strong growth for years to come.
- st1\:* Salesforce.com continued to reap rewards from the rapid growth of the enterprise cloud software business as it reported record full year revenue for fiscal 2010 of $1.3 billion, a 21 percent year-over-year increase. The company's total $1.4 billion run rate made Salesforc...

Analysts at Gartner and IDC say new Intel and AMD processors are fueling a recovery in shipments of x86 servers from the likes of HP, Dell and IBM. Intels “Nehalem EP” Xeons and AMDs “Istanbul” Opterons in 2009 helped kick-start the momentum that rolled into the fourth quarter, and new processors from both chip makers this quarter will continue the growth into 2010.
- A week ago, executives with both Hewlett-Packard and Dell, while talking about their latest quarterly financial numbers, pointed to the increase in x86 server sales in the final few months of 2009. HP saw a 27 percent revenue increase in its industry-standard server business in the quarter, whi...

Sometimes you need a little help getting from points A to B, something a number of developers realized when they began designing navigation apps for the iPhone. Many of these apps take advantage of the GPS chipset embedded in the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3G S, which allows for turn-by-turn directions and easy viewing of local points of interest. Other apps, including Google Earth, focus primarily on actual maps as opposed to step-by-step directions. Many of these apps attempt to justify their high costs with that GPS integration and high-quality renderings, as well as a host of secondary features such as lane assistant. For those who dont want to spend quite so much on apps, or dont need that many gee-whiz features, a few of these options are notably cheaper.
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Apple could introduce an Explicit category to its App Store, as suggested by developers who saw a tab for adult-themed apps appear briefly as a primary category in the iTunes Connect system. Whether Apple was testing code or yanked the category after news leaked remains to be seen. Apples head of worldwide product marketing Philip Schiller indicated in an interview with The New York Times that the company had pulled controversial apps from the App Store in response to complaints.
- Apple could be considering an quot;Explicit quot; category for apps sold in its popular App Store, according to online reports. Such a category could potentially allow the company to sidestep outside concerns over some of its third-party developers' products while continuing to collect revenue f...

Parallels Server for Mac/Bare Metal Edition runs virtual machines on an Xserve machine so businesses can standardize on the Apple platform and still run Windows and Linux-based applications if they desire.
- Virtualization software maker Parallels said Feb. 24 that it is expanding its product line by adding a new hypervisor specifically designed for Apple's Mac OS X and Xserve server. Parallels Server for Mac/Bare Metal Edition runs virtual machines on an Xserve machine so businesses can standardi...

A posting on the company Website implied that OpenSolaris may soon be end-of-lifed. However, there's no need for app developers and IT managers to worry: Oracle says it is not killing off the freely downloadable community version of Sun's Unix-based Solaris enterprise operating system anytime soon.
- Was a posting on the Oracle Website published Feb. 24 titled quot;End of Service Life Status for OpenSolaris Operating System quot; simply unclear on the concept, or was it a hint that Oracle is planning to drop the Sun Microsystems-developed open-source operating system entirely? Industry f...