By Paul Thomson :: 10:41 AM
NASA and private space flight company SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 rocket off at 10:10 a.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to head to the International Space Station on a resupply mission.
NASA TV reported a problem with the rocket launch about 10 minutes after impact, but has not said what the exact nature of the problem is, or how it will affect the mission.
The Dragon capsule on board the rocket is packed with about 1,200 pounds of experiments and supply cargo for the astronauts aboard the space station. The plan was for the vehicle to dock with the station for about three weeks, and then return to Earth with about 2,300 pounds of cargo.
SpaceX, performed a resupply mission to the space station successfully in October of 2012, and is theonly commercial company to have ever performed this task. SpaceX has a $1.6-billion contract to carry out 12 cargo missions – this is the second mission of the contract.
Update: [10:47 Â AM]Â According to unconfirmed information, the problem may be one of two issues. First, that solar panels on the Dragon capsule did not deploy as expected, or secondly, that there is some issue with Dragon’s thruster pods.
Update: [10:52 AM] Tweet (below) from Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO confirms second possibility – issue with Dragon thruster pods.
Update: [10:55 AM]Â NASA and SpaceX will hold a joint press conference at 11:oo AM to discuss problem with launch.
Issue with Dragon thruster pods. System inhibiting three of four from initializing. About to command inhibit override.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2013
By Cynthia Herbert :: 9:33 AM
BlackBerry has pushed out its first OTA update for the Blackberry Z10
Available as a 150MB download, the new firmware is being made available due to consumer feedback and response after the first month of Z10 usage.
BlackBerry claims that is has made over 50 optimizations across the firmware to address complaints about battery life. Many users have noted, quite loudly online, that their new Z10 has been failing to make it through a full day on one charge. The company says that, “heavy users especially should see a longer average usage per charge cycle,” but no specific numbers or ranges of what to expect were given.
Besides improved battery performance, the company also addressed  low-light performance from the Z10’s camera, another point of frustration with users who thought the handset’s snapshots came out too dark. In addition to camera tweaks, BlackBerry also refined the browser’s video playback capabilities.
To receive the new update, Z10 users should see a pop up as a notification sometime in the next week or so, or can force the update manually by going to “Check for Updates†in the settings, under “Software Updates.” BlackBerry recommends updating over WiFi rather than a mobile data connection.
By Paul Thomson :: 8:58 AM
Microsoft is facing a huge (in the billions of dollars) fine from the European Union over its failure to ensure that new PCs running the Windows operating system allowed users to choose which web browser to install.
EU regulators could levy the fine as early as the end of this month, but the exact amount is not yet known. This will mark the second time that the company has run afoul of European antitrust regulations regarding its Internet Explorer browser.
Microsoft claims that a technical error led to Windows PC’s failing to display a browser selection screen that the company had agreed to activate on startup for all new computers. This was done following complaints that preloading Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser as the default browsing application amounted to anti-competitive behavior. A glitch in the deploying the system left 28 million PCs without the browser choice screen for more than a year.
In October 2012, EU regulators first warned Microsoft about this gaffe, and announced that the maximum fine that could be assessed was about  $7.4 billion. The final number for this error may not reach quite that high, but Microsoft has already paid close to $2 billion to the EU over other related antitrust matters.
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has already been penalized by the company’s board for this error – his bonus was cut last year. It remains to be seen if the company will take further punitive action against executives for this continuing problem.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 10:14 PM
Subscription DVD and streaming movie delivery service Netflix has decided to jump into the television awards arena with The Flixies, a new set of awards announced earlier this week that are designed to recognize the TV viewing habits of today’s current consumer.
The awards categories are a bit non-traditional, but then again, so is Netflix. They include ones like”Best Bromance,” “Best PMS Drama,” and the kids category, “Best Tantrum Tamer.” Read more…
By Paul Thomson :: 9:32 PM
Microsoft today announced the sale of its Atlas Advertising Suite product to Facebook for an undisclosed amount.
The deal was widely expected in the tech sector, and probably closed somewhere between $30 and $50 million. The sale is the last step in Microsoft’s failed acquisition of ad shop aQuantive, which included the Atlas tools as part of the purchase. Microsoft had purchased aQuantive in 2007 for $6.3 billion, shortly after rival Google closed on its DoubleClick deal.
Tom Phillips, senior director of communications for Microsoft’s advertising unit told USAToday that the sale “does not diminish our commitment to online advertising, in either display or search.”
A spokesperson for Facebook says that the social network hopes to make improvements to the Atlas platform by scaling its back-end metrics systems and enhancing its advertiser tools for desktop and mobile platforms. Improvements will also be made the user interface and overall functionality to improve the effectiveness of Atlas.
Microsoft employees who were formerly on the Atlas team will work from Facebook’s Seattle offices.