After a journey of 10-months and more than 400 million miles, Phoenix is set to arrive at the Red Planet just before 8 p.m. EDT this Sunday, beginning its study of water and possible conditions for life in the Martian arctic. Brent Shockley, Phoenix Configuration and Information Management Engineer, noted on the mission blog, that the Phoenix remains in good health and the navigation team is having daily meetings to evaluate the trajectory of the spacecraft to determine whether a final trajectory correction maneuver will be required on Saturday night.

Posted by Zoov on 24 May 2008
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Researchers and analysts are calling on the federal government to fund a study of the potential health risks of carbon nanotubes — the building blocks of nanotechnology. A study out of the University of Edinburgh that was released this week showed that some forms of the nanotubes can cause cancer much like asbestos does. The study shows that long, thin multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which look like asbestos fibers, actually behave like asbestos and can cause cancer of the lung lining.

Posted by Zoov on 24 May 2008
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Microsoft said Friday that it was ending a project to scan millions of books and scholarly articles and make them available on the Web, a sign that it is retrenching in some areas of Internet search in the face of competition from Google, the industry leader. The announcement, made on a company blog, comes two days after Microsoft said it would focus its Internet search efforts on certain areas where it sees an opportunity to compete against Google. On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled a program offering rebates to users who buy items that they find using the company’s search engine.

Posted by Zoov on 24 May 2008
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GameStop, a leading video game retailer, has decided that it will no longer stock Microsoft’s Zune players, citing poor sales. And while I don’t quite agree with my fellow-blogger Don Reisinger that this is the beginning of the end for Zune, it’s hard to see any silver lining in the news. Microsoft’s entry into the consumer electronics space came with a thorny channel problem. Microsoft sells the vast majority of its products through PC makers, who bundle Windows (and often Office and other software) on new PCs, and through well-established partners who specialize in selling to large organizations and businesses. Microsoft had a retail channel for selling Windows and Office upgrades and other consumer products (like Money, Encarta, and keyboards and mice), but for the most part these products were sold through computer specialty stores like CompUSA. To succeed in capturing a broader audience, Microsoft had to broaden its retail channel.

Posted by Zoov on 24 May 2008
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