Microsoft's Ozzie unveils invisible cloud 
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) venture into cloud computing will be successful if most people don't even know it is there, the executive in charge of the initiative said on Tuesday.
The software company's new Windows Azure service, set to be launched on January 1, will run customers' applications on its servers and provide capacity through its massive datacenters, helping websites stay up through spikes in demand which might otherwise paralyze them.
"For consumers, the best result of cloud computing is that they don't notice it," Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, said in an interview at the company's annual developers conference.
Faster Forward: 'Unfriend' goes into the books
Yesterday, the Oxford University Press announced its 2009 Word of the Year: "unfriend."
For the dwindling minority of Internet users who haven't at least looked at a social-networking site like Facebook, the verb refers to the act of removing somebody from your "friends list" -- the contingent of people whose news appears when you log into the site.
The OUP, publisher of the New Oxford American Dictionary, chose that verb for its clarity and relative novelty:
Atlantis heads to space station
SPACE SHUTTLE
Atlantis heads to space station
The space shuttle Atlantis rocketed into orbit Monday with six astronauts and a full load of spare parts for the international space station.
Astronauts inspect space shuttle in case of damage
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts scoured their ship Tuesday for any signs of launch damage while pursuing the International Space Station.
Atlantis and its crew of six will hook up with the space station Wednesday.
After waking to their first full day in orbit, the astronauts pulled out a 100-foot, laser-tipped inspection boom to check the shuttle's thermal shielding, routine work before arriving at the space station. The right wing was scanned first.
In-orbit inspection scheduled for space shuttle
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Atlantis is circling Earth in pursuit of the International Space Station.
Atlantis and its crew of six will hook up with the space station Wednesday. In the meantime, the astronauts will pull out an inspection boom Tuesday and check their ship's thermal shielding. They will be on the lookout for any damage that might have occurred during liftoff the previous day.
NASA officials say a quick look at the launch images shows nothing to be worried about. Tuesday's survey will provide additional data. The space agency has been extra cautious ever since the Columbia disaster six years ago.
NASA launches shuttle Atlantis to space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis lifted off its seaside launch pad on Monday, loaded with spare parts to keep the International Space Station flying after the shuttles are retired next year.
NASA's fifth and final flight of the year began at 2:28 p.m. EST when Atlantis' twin booster rockets ignited, sending the 24-year-old ship through partly cloudy skies to begin its 31st journey into orbit. Docking at the space station was scheduled for Wednesday.
The shuttle carries nearly 30,000 pounds (13,610 kg) of equipment, most of which is too big to be launched by the Russian, European and Japanese cargo ships expected to keep the station supplied after the shuttles are retired.
Shuttle Atlantis Lifts Off for 11-Day Mission
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The shuttle Atlantis vaulted into orbit Monday and set off after the International Space Station, carrying 15 tons of spare parts and equipment as a hedge against failures after the shuttle fleet is retired next year.
“We’re looking for the long-term outfitting of station,” said the shuttle commander, Col. Charles O. Hobaugh of the Marines.
With Colonel Hobaugh and Capt. Barry E. Wilmore, a Navy pilot, at the controls, Atlantis’s twin solid-fuel boosters ignited with a blast of fire at 2:28 p.m., Eastern time, instantly pushing the winged spacecraft away from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
Shuttle mission to extend life of space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Atlantis was poised for launch on Monday on one of the final missions to outfit the International Space Station so it can remain flying long after the shuttles are retired.
Liftoff of Atlantis and its six-man crew on the last shuttle mission of the year is scheduled for 2:28 p.m. EST (1928 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Forecasters predict a 70 percent chance that the weather will be suitable for launch.
NASA plans to end the 30-year-old space shuttle program next year, bowing to long-standing concerns about safety and the expense associated with maintaining and flying Atlantis and its two sister ships, Discovery and Endeavour.
Shuttle to Haul 27000 Pounds of Spare Parts
The space shuttle has often been called a pickup truck to orbit, and the next flight of the shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to launch Monday afternoon, lives up to that description.
The Atlantis is lugging up to the International Space Station a cargo bay full of spare parts, including a couple of refurbished gyroscopes, pumps, tanks for ammonia and nitrogen and piece called the “trailing umbilical system reel assembly” for the railway system that moves the station’s robotic arm.
“These are the highest priority spare parts for station,” said Eve Stavros, the payload flow manager of Boeing, which built the American portions of the station. “This flight is really the first flight of the last series of flights to stage spare parts up there.”
Geeky 'tweeters' to report on space shuttle launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Fingers will be flying when space shuttle Atlantis blasts off Monday: About 100 of NASA's geekiest fans will be on hand, pecking away at iPhones, BlackBerrys, laptops and other Twittering gadgets.
They plan to let loose with electronic messages — provided they aren't so swept away by the afternoon liftoff that they fall uncharacteristically silent for a moment or two.
"I'll be uploading stuff as it happens," promised Steve Wake, 38, a computer programmer who flew in from Denver. "On launch day, who knows? I may be too excited about everything else to even think about doing that stuff. When it's over with, I'm sure I will."
