Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) landed safely in Florida early Friday, gliding in under sunny skies to wrap up a successful 11-day delivery mission to the International Space Station. NASA currently plans to fly only five more shuttle missions. The final mission for Atlantis (STS-132), is scheduled for May 2010.

The US Space Shuttle is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches. After the Shuttle’s retirement, a new Orion spacecraft (left) is planned for first manned launch in 2014.

In the meantime, all crews traveling to and from the International Space Station will have to do so on board Russian Progress spacecraft, supply vessels from Europe or Japan, or American commercial spacecraft including the the SpaceX Dragon and Orbital Science Cygnus.

Elon Musk, CEO and founder of SpaceX, provided an update on Falcon 9 launch preparations at Cape Canaveral for SpaceFlightNow, and set odds for success on the low-cost booster’s maiden flight early next year.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket has nine main engines and will carry the Dragon spacecraft (below) which has already arrived at the company’s launch pad. The Falcon 9’s second stage is finishing up testing in Texas before being shipped to Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral.

The Falcon 9 is being built to haul supplies to the International Space Station. The Dragon spacecraft, developed by SpaceX for NASA, will conduct up to 12 operational cargo delivery flights in a contract worth $1.6 billion.

NASA also awarded eight missions by Orbital Sciences using their spacecraft called Cygnus. launched with Orbital’s Taurus 2 rocket which launches from Wallops Island, Va. The Taurus 2’s first flight isn’t scheduled until March 2011, at the earliest.

Musk said the Falcon 9 launch won’t happen before early February, 2010 but the high-tech tycoon cautioned not to read into target dates.

“I definitely want to be clear about any dates that are specified by SpaceX because it’s often mischaracterized in the media as SpaceX delays again or some nonsense like that,” Musk told Spaceflight Now. “The only thing we can really predict with some degree of accuracy, at least, is when the rockets will get to the launch pad.”

Boeing and Lockheed Martin are also getting into the commercial space transport business with Planet Space, developing Sliver Dart, an autonomous hypersonic craft and space-traveling UAVs along with SpaceDev’s Dream Chaser.

NASA manages the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program with agreements totaling $500M for commercial cargo transportation demonstrations with another $50M towards commercial crew development initiatives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

ReadWriteWeb has 5 Mobile Apps to Be Thankful For if You Are Flying.

This one almost slipped by. In case you’re looking for a simple and yet highly durable mobile phone, you might want to check out the Motorola Quantico. According to Motorola, this device was built to survive and designed to let you thrive. It features a tough-as-nails exterior and form factor characterized by chrome, glash, mesh and rubber forging. Certainly a perfect mobile companion especially if you sport a rugged lifestyle.

The Motorola Quantico promises to spare you of the woes when accidentally getting your phone soaked into water. It can practically withstand up to one meter submersion to water for 30 minutes. This is due to the Quantico’s rubber overmold and sturdy gripping textures. For extreme pressure, temperature, dust, shock, vibration and blowing rain, the Motorola Quantico was tested to get pass through all of those having passed military specifications.

To make it easier for you to make calls where ever you may be, the Motorola Quantico has a side ported audio speakers that gives you clear and uninterrupted sound. It also has some nice speakerphone capabilities giving you more chatting options.

Other key features of the Motorola Quantico include integrated Bluetooth, and GPS4 which gives you accurate access to location-based services including turn-by-turn navigation. It even has dedicated external buttons to give you special features even when the phone’s flip is closed.

Now, here’s a quick rundown of the Motorola Quantico’s specs – MMS, SMS, IM, Email / BREW 3.1.5 messaging, 2.2” 176×220 65 display, H.263, H.264, MPEG4, WMV v9 video capture/playback, AAC, AAC+, AAC+ Enhanced, AMR NB, MIDI, MP3, WAV, WMA v9 audio support, 1.3MP camera with fixed-focus, 8GB MicroSD, 5.8 hours talk time / 18.6 days stand-by time.

via Motorola

Get an accurate credit report, free and easy.

Your credit report is a totally crucial compilation of information about you. It lists a variety of personal identifiers, such as your Social Security number, your date of birth, current and current addresses, even your current employer. It also can show present and past loans you may have had, credit cards, mortgages and all other reported debts. It will show the current status of those accounts, whether they’re up-to-date, overdue, paid in full or in collections at the moment. Any public information available, such liens, judgments, bankruptcies, even criminal convictions against you, is also recorded in the file. For this reason, employers, lenders, persons selling cars and many other situations, you are going to need an accurate credit report. It always helps if you can see your own report beforehand, so you can know exactly what others are seeing about you. In fact, as far as the competitive job market goes, having a credit report is just as important as having a resume. A credit report is the new background check. We recommend CreditReport.com for the best free credit report available.

Your credit file will register the importance of your overdue accounts, whether they are past due, or if they were charged off by the lender. Whenever you apply for a loan or other type of credit, your record is ordered and examined by the potential creditor. The report rates your financial status and the creditor uses it to help them decide the likelihood of your repaying the borrowed funds.

Your credit score, or rating, is a number between approximately 150 and 900 that summarizes your creditworthiness. The credit reporting agencies use a complex formula which compiles all of the information in your credit file to determine your score, which is used as a “picture” of your credit health. The formula takes into account your payment history, the number and age of open credit lines that you have, how long you’ve had a credit history, the types of credit accounts you have, the total credit that you have available and how much of it you’ve used, and the number of inquiries there are on your report. Your credit score has a direct impact on your future borrowing ability. A low score may disqualify you out-of-hand from receiving a loan. Or, you may be required to pay a higher rate of interest because your score portrays you as greater risk to the lender.

The items listed in your credit file can have a positive, negative or neutral rating. Items which are negative, such as overdue or charged-off accounts, may remain on your report for seven years. Bankruptcies can continue to be recorded in your file for up to ten years. However, many consumers are not aware of the fact that if you apply for a job that pays $75,000 or more, or apply for credit or life insurance in the amount of $150,000 or more, any negative items on the credit report that’s used in conjunction with that job or credit application can be older than the limits listed above.

With the proliferation of identity theft, and the fact that errors in credit files are quite common, it’s wise to check your credit report occasionally. The simplest way to obtain your report is to order a copy online. It’s best to get one from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, since the information contained in their reports of you can vary somewhat. Also, if you’ve been denied credit, employment, rental housing, or insurance based on your credit report, you have the right to obtain a free report from the agency that supplied the information within sixty days of the denial.

Your credit report shows your entire financial standing on paper. Creditors, employers, insurance companies, and child support agencies can obtain your file. Income notwithstanding, you are judged almost solely on the basis of the information contained in your credit report. It therefore makes sense to ensure that your file contains accurate information, and portrays you in as good a light as possible. Don’t get caught off guard– get your free credit report today!

Making broadband Internet access universally available is this century’s version of building highways or extending railroads coast-to-coast, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday (pdf).

FCC head, Julius Genachowski, said there were three reasons to improve broadband deployment and adoption numbers:

1. Broadband is crucial to our nation’s economic success.
2. Broadband helps tackle national challenges like education, health care, energy, and public safety.
3. Broadband allows citizens to engage their communities and representatives more effectively.

According to a report released last week by the FCC (pdf), the use of broadband varies greatly among different demographic groups in the United States.

For example, nearly 90 percent of families with incomes of $100,000 or higher subscribe to broadband services, compared with 35 percent of families with incomes of $20,000 or less. Rural households are less likely to subscribe than urban households.

Julius Genachowski said broadband is “a critical infrastructure challenge of our generation.” As part of the federal stimulus package, the FCC is charged with creating a plan — due in February — to make broadband available everywhere in the country. The stimulus money also includes $7 billion in grants for broadband access, and the recipients will be announced soon, Genachowski said in a speech at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

The FCC Report on Broadband Gaps (pdf) summarizes the situation with lots of charts and graphs. Mobile operators around the world are seeing a huge growth in traffic, reports C/Net. By 2014, mobile devices are expected to send and receive more data in one month than in all of 2008.

The FCC is creating a National Broadband Plan, due in February, that “shall seek to ensure that all people of the United States have access to broadband capability and shall establish benchmarks for meeting that goal.

Looking for a great deal on a laptop, phone or electronics? BlackFriday.info and bfads.net compile 2009 Black Friday ads, while Google News has links to the latest stories.

• Apple resellers launch Black Friday sales early
• Amazon’s Black Friday HDTV deals include Panasonic plasmas
• Gizmodo’s Friday Door Busters
• Engadget Black Friday Roundup
• Target, Walmart, and Amazon Black Friday Ads
• C/NET: Rating the Black Friday laptop doorbuster deals
• PC Magazine: More Black Friday Doorbusters
• PC world has 7 Hot Black Friday Laptop and Netbook Deals
• NY Times: Phone Deals From a Store You Have Never Heard Of
• Techbargains list the current hot items
• Woot has one deal per day.
• Walmarts Black Friday Ad

Ustream has reportedly launched a version of its Ustream Viewer for Android, on the Android Market, free of charge (although I don’t see it yet).

Viewer gives users the ability to access any Ustream footage on their mobile. The Android viewer app works on both 3G and Wi-Fi networks, unlike the iPhone viewer app, which only streams over Wi-Fi.

Ustream has already released its Broadcaster app, which allows you to stream video footage live from your phone to the web.

Ustream launched the iPhone version of the viewing app last January, when it was downloaded 113,000 times in 24 hours. The iPhone doesn’t have a Broadcaster app, because Apple won’t approve them, notes TechCrunch. Qik and a handful of others have been kept off the iPhone because of this.

Aside from the new Nokia 7230 phone that was announced yesterday, Nokia is also bringing another phone to the U.S. mobile market come Q2 of 2010. This time, it’s another slider phone dubbed – Nokia 6700. This mobile handset comes in six fresh and vivid colors namely – pink, red, petrol, blue, aluminum, lime and purple and boasts of a compact size with modern design and aluminum finish. You won’t have a hard time slipping the Nokia 6700 into your pocket.As simple as it may sound to be, the Nokia 6700 is actually a powerful mobile phone equipped with a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. So, it’s like having a medium-range point-and-shoot camera with a mobile phone function when you are using the Nokia 6700. You can also capture VGA videos at 15fps with this camera. What’s more? You can edit the photos you’ve taken right on the phone itself before uploading them directly from the camera menu. Uploading is also a breeze using the phone’s 3G connectivity.

Nokia has just announced the new slider phone – Nokia 7230 with colorful looks and solid set of features at a very affordable price. To be released sometime in Q1 of 2010, the Nokia 7230 will have a price tag of around EUR 100. The Nokia 7230 offers quick access to various social networking communities as well as great photo capturing features thanks to its 3.2 megapixel camera. Photos you’ve taken can be viewed on its 2.4-inch display. The Nokia 7230 also provides fast 3G connectivity as well as quick access to email and instant messaging.

A nice feature of the Nokia 7230 is an illuminating light that tells you if you have miss calls or incoming messages from your friends.

The Nokia 7230 also supports Nokia Ovi store, giving you quick access to media sharing sites such as Ovi Share, Flickr, Facebook and more.

Additional features of the Nokia 7230 includes an FM radio, MP3 and AAC ringtones, Bluetooth, phonebook with a maximum of 2,000 entries and support for Nokia Xpress Audio Messaging as well as MMS.

The Nokia 7230 is a WCDMA 850/1900/2100 and 900/1900/2100 phone and also supports GPRS/EGPRS network connectivity. It comes with a 320×240 TFT screen and provides you with up to 14.3 days stand by time and 4.1 hours talk time. It runs S40 mobile platform. The Nokia 7230 comes with a 2GB microSD card.

via Nokia

By the end of this month, Chinal Mobile will earn the distinct honor of being the first mobile carrier worldwide to sell Dell’s latest product – the Dell Mini 3i smartphone.  This new smartphone boasts of mult-touch feature and is geared to leverage China Mobiles new Ophone and Mobile Market platforms. The Dell Mini 3i will run on China Mobile’s Ophone open source platform, enabling it to provide services such as pre-loaded 139Mail email service, Fetion chat and digital maps for navigation and other services being offered by China Mobile.

Key  features of the Dell Mini 3i include a large 3.5-inch widescreen that displays high-quality photos and videos.  The smartphone also supports various e-mail platforms as well as office productivity software. For entertainment, the Dell Mini 3i boasts of quick access to China Mobile’s Mobile market suite of services including access to downloadable games, productivity tools, wallpapers, ringtones and apps.

The Dell Mini 3i also features various phone personalization features including MP3 ring tones, icons, shortcuts, and various widgets including sports, stocks, news and weather tickets.  It also has GPS navigation, a 3. megapixel camera with zoom, auto-focus, flash, video capture and photo-editing capabilities. The phone also supports email, IM, MMS, and SMS functionalities.

Specs-wise, the Dell Mini 3i boasts of Bluetooth, GPS, microSD card support, mini USB connectivity and a 3.5-inch nHD display with 640×360 resolution. The Dell Mini 3i is a Quadband GSM/EDGE phone.

Source: Business Wire