Google Inc. is adding a free e-mail feature that may persuade more people to cut the cords on their landline phones.

The service unveiled Wednesday enables U.S. users of Google's Gmail service to make calls from microphone-equipped computers to telephones virtually anywhere in the world.

All calls in the U.S. and Canada will be free through at least the end of the year. That undercuts the most popular PC-to-phone service, Skype, which charges 1.2 cents to 2.1 cents per minute for U.S. calls. It also threatens to overshadow another free PC-to-phone calling service called MagicTalk that was just introduced by VocalTec Communications Ltd.

Phone and cable TV companies that provide Internet access should be barred from slowing down, blocking or charging to prioritize Internet traffic flowing over their regular broadband lines, Verizon Communications Inc. and Google Inc. said in a policy statement released Monday.

But the companies left room for broadband providers to charge extra to route traffic from premium services such as remote medical monitoring and smart-grid controls over dedicated networks that are separate from the public Internet.

New iPhone selling briskly as thousands line up for global launch amid shortage concerns

Apple Inc.'s newest iPhone was selling briskly Thursday as thousands lined up outside stores around the world to become among the first to own the device amid concerns of supply shortages.

The iPhone 4's launch began in Japan and sold out by early afternoon at the flagship store of Softbank, Apple's exclusive wireless carrier there. The launch moved across France, Germany and the U.K. before going on sale at 7 a.m. in each time zone in the U.S. Some stores abroad had midnight openings.

Space shuttle Atlantis is on its way home and on the verge of ending its flying career.

The six-man crew fired the braking rockets shortly after sunrise Wednesday. That put Atlantis on course for a 8:48 a.m. touchdown in Florida.

Mission Control gave the green light after monitoring storms that stayed a safe distance from Kennedy Space Center.

Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts surveyed their ship using a newly repaired instrument that scanned for damage Monday, two days ahead of their return to Earth.

The laborious inspection — the last one for the mission — was saved until Atlantis was flying free of the International Space Station.

Atlantis undocked from the space station Sunday, leaving behind a new 20-foot compartment loaded with supplies and six fresh batteries. It's scheduled to land Wednesday.

Image above: A blue and white part of Earth and the blackness of space are featured in this image photographed by an STS-132 crew member on the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Atlantis. Credit: NASA

NASA fueled space shuttle Atlantis on Friday for its final journey, a delivery trip to the International Space Station that will provide fresh batteries and extra room.

Atlantis was slated to blast off at 2:20 p.m. Everything was going well in the countdown and the weather was looking favorable. Forecasters were sticking with their 70 percent odds of good weather, but a NASA spokesman said that likely would improve as the morning wore on.

NASA tells astronauts to expect rain delays for Monday morning's landing back on Earth

NASA is already warning the space shuttle astronauts to expect rain delays as they get ready to come home.

Discovery and its crew of seven are scheduled to land Monday morning in Florida.

Shuttle commander Alan Poindexter said Sunday that it's always great to spend extra time in orbit. He doesn't mind if Discovery can't make it back to Earth until Tuesday. Mission Control says it will keep monitoring the weather, just in case the forecast changes.

Shuttle Atlantis undocks from space station after weeklong visit, supply dropoff

Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station early Wednesday, headed home with one astronaut eager to hold his newborn daughter for the first time and another who's been away from her young son since the summer.

The shuttle departed as the spacecraft soared nearly 220 miles above the Pacific, just northeast of New Guinea. Over the past week, the astronauts stockpiled the outpost and performed maintenance that should keep it running for another five to 10 years.

Astronomers have finally found a place outside our solar system where there's a firm place to stand — if only it weren't so broiling hot.

As scientists search the skies for life elsewhere, they have found more than 300 planets outside our solar system. But they all have been gas balls or can't be proven to be solid. Now a team of European astronomers has confirmed the first rocky extrasolar planet.

Scientists have long figured that if life begins on a planet, it needs a solid surface to rest on, so finding one elsewhere is a big deal.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Hoping to end a string of delays, NASA will try to launch the space shuttle Endeavour on Sunday on a mission to deliver the last piece of Japan's Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station.

Launch is scheduled for 7:13 p.m. EDT (2313 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Google Inc. is working on a new operating system for inexpensive computers in a daring attempt to wrest away Microsoft Corp.'s long-running control over people's computing experience.

The new operating system, announced late Tuesday night on Google's Web site, will be based on the company's nine-month-old Web browser, Chrome. Google intends to rely on help from the community of open-source programmers to develop the Chrome operating system, which is expected to begin running computers in the second half of 2010.

Microsoft Corp. has taken the rare step of warning about a serious computer security vulnerability it hasn't fixed yet.

The vulnerability disclosed Monday affects Internet Explorer users whose computers run the Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating software.

It can allow hackers to remotely take control of victims' machines. The victims don't need to do anything to get infected except visit a Web site that's been hacked.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The Internet is by far the most popular source of information and the preferred choice for news ahead of television, newspapers and radio, according to a new poll in the United States.

But just a small fraction of U.S. adults considered social websites such as Facebook and MySpace as a good source of news and even fewer would opt for Twitter.

More than half of the people questioned in the Zogby Interactive survey said they would select the Internet if they had to choose only one source of news, followed by 21 percent for television and 10 percent for both newspapers and radio.

STAFF REPORTS

HICKORYFear is a powerful and primitive human emotion. It alerts us to the presence of danger and was critical in keeping our ancestors alive.


Even today, hundreds of thousands count spiders and snakes top among their list of fears and phobias.

Do humans posses an evolutionary disposition to fear certain animals, or does something else generate fear responses in the brain?

The malicious Conficker Internet worm got more aggressive about trying to reach its creators Wednesday, but computer security researchers appeared correct in their predictions that the effects would be muted.

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California - A $273 million dollar satellite has been destroyed after it "failed to launch" early Tuesday according to officials with NASA.

Several minutes into the flight of the Taurus rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory spacecraft, launch managers declared a contingency after the payload fairing failed to separate.

Photo: NASA TV

CHAPEL HILL - It’s long been known that patients with sickle cell disease have malformed, “sickle-shaped” red blood cells – which are normally disc-shaped – that can cause sudden painful episodes when they block small blood vessels.

Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that blood from sickle cell patients also contains clumps, or aggregates, of red and white blood cells that may contribute to the blockages.

The study, published on-line April 18 in the British Journal of Haematology, marks the first time that aggregates made up of red blood cells and white blood cells have been found in whole blood from sickle cell patients. The study also shows how the red and white blood cells adhere to one another: the interaction is mediated by a particular protein, integrin alpha four beta one.

RALEIGH - In a surprising finding, researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that HIV can cause portions of the body's innate immune system, when stimulated, to actually increase the virus' replication. The finding could lead to a change in therapeutic strategies for HIV patients.

Dr. Gregg Dean, professor of immunopathology at NC State, led the research team. Dr. Shila Nordone, a research assistant professor in Dean's lab, collaborated on the study, which was published in the journal AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.

HICKORY - Flash back to the future for an evening of 80s favorites in stereo surround sound and mesmerizing laser lights projected on the planetarium dome at Catawba Science Center during Laser Retro, Thursday, April 17.

If you still have mix tapes with hits from bands like INXS, Duran Duran, The Cure, New Order, The Police, Eurythmics and Tears For Fears, then don’t miss this dazzling tribute to 80s rock and new wave classics. Total running time for Laser Retro is 48 minutes.

Laser Retro shows are in the Millholland Planetarium at 6, 7 and 8 p.m. Seating is limited.

Call ahead to purchase tickets and reserve your seat at (828) 322-8169.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - Cheers and shouts can be heard throughout the space center as Atlantis, carrying the STS-122 crew and Columbus Laboratory, roars off the launch pad into the mid-afternoon sky to begin the 24th mission to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Steve Frick commands a crew of six, including Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love and the European Space Agency's Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts. This is the first spaceflight for Poindexter, Love and Melvin.

During the 11-day mission, the crew's prime objective is to attach the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station, adding to the station's size and capabilities.

HICKORY - Catawba Science Center in Hickory, together with Appalachian State University (ASU) Math and Science Education Center, will offer a Marine Science workshop for area educators Feb. 8 and 9.

Leslie Bradbury and Jeff Goodman from ASU Math and Science Education Center will present the two-day workshop, targeted for elementary educators.

Learn how to incorporate Catawba Science Center’s new saltwater aquarium exhibits – including the shark and stingray touch tank – into classroom or homeschool curricula.

HICKORY - Are we alone in the universe?

Audiences can ponder this and other theories on the possibilities of alien life during S.E.T.I. — The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, now showing in digital format on the dome in Catawba Science Center’s Millholland Planetarium.

The prospect that we may not be alone has long been explored by movies, writers and scientists. However, there is no hard evidence of another living thing outside planet Earth.

S.E.T.I. explores all sides of this topic, from the discovery of planets around other stars and the feasibility of traveling to those stars, to the possibility of visits from UFOs and what aliens might actually be like, as well as the various methods that scientists are using to make contact.

Will we make contact in our lifetimes?

The impact probability for a collision of asteroid 2007 WD5 with Mars on January 30 has increased from 1.3% to 3.9%.

LOS ANGELES - A football field-sized asteroid is on a trajectory that will bring the rock very close to Mars on January 30th scientists announced on Friday after analyzing data.

Pre-discovery observations of asteroid 2007 WD5, taken on November 8, 2007 have allowed its orbit to be refined and the uncertainties for the late January Mars encounter have been improved.

The impact probability resulting from the recent orbit refinement has increased to a surprising 3.9% (about 1 in 25 odds). The uncertainty region during the Mars encounter now extends over 400,000 km along a very narrow ellipsoid that is only 600 km wide.