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Business intelligence functionality has made its way into cloud computing as Panorama Software on Thursday unwrapped PowerApps.
Calling it "analytics as a cloud-computing service," the company said PowerApps goes outside a previous deal with Google that brought analytics and reporting to Google Docs.
"When we started developing this project with Google we had to build an analytics engine, and that is essentially PowerApps....

Astronauts manhandled refrigerator-sized but weightless racks into Japan's new Kibo research laboratory on Thursday while two crewmates ducked outside the International Space Station to bolt on cameras and other gear.
The spacewalk, which began just after 11 a.m. EDT 210 miles above Earth, was the second of three planned during U.S. space shuttle Discovery's ongoing construction and servicing call at the space station.
The shuttle, which arrived on Monday, carried...

Two astronauts stepped outside the international space station Thursday for a spacewalk to spruce up the orbiting outpost's newest room — a $1 billion Japanese lab.
Space shuttle Discovery crew members Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan Jr. planned to set up two TV cameras around the Kibo lab's robotic arm. They will also remove thermal covers from the robot arm and do...

SAKKARA, Egypt - Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Thursday he had identified a badly eroded pyramid south of Cairo as that of the 5th Dynasty Pharaoh Menkauhor, who ruled Egypt in the 24th century B.C.
The identification by Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, could end the long controversy...

HOUSTON - Both the inside and outside of the international space station's newest room are getting spruced up.
Space shuttle Discovery astronauts Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan Jr. headed back outside for their second spacewalk in three days to outfit Japan's billion-dollar Kibo lab, which was delivered by the shuttle.
Their objective: to...

Big ideas come in small packages. In the case of Shewanella bacteria, the parcel is microscopic. But this tiny microbe could hold the keys to alternative energy production, toxic waste cleanup and, most surprising of all, how human bodies work.

One of the most versatile types of bacteria around, Shewanella can live on land, deep inside the Earth, or underwater. As...

HOUSTON - Both the inside and outside of the international space station's newest room are getting spruced up.
Space shuttle Discovery astronauts Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan Jr. are headed back outside for their second spacewalk in three days to outfit Japan's billion-dollar Kibo lab, which was delivered by the shuttle.
Their objective: to set up TV cameras around Kibo's robotic arm. They...

It's been said that necessity is the mother of invention. But if that lean lady is baby mama to our creative ambitions, then surely the daddy of invention is that unforgiving bastard named Deadline.
You know him: He's the guy forever hovering over your shoulder shouting, "Hurry up! You haven't got much...

Mark Milliman lives north of Boulder, Colo., and his family's home is situated in a bit of a valley. Lovely location, but lousy for cell phone reception inside the house.
He was a perfect candidate for help from a device known as a femtocell, a sort of small cellular tower in...

Windows XP is dead ... long live Windows XP. You may have heard that as of June 30 , you're no longer able to buy the operating system or obtain support for it. But that isn't quite the case. In fact, you'll be able to buy XP on certain mainstream PCs at least until January 31, 2009, and possibly beyond. The...

Humans started wearing shoes about 40,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought, new anthropological research suggests.

As any good clothes horse knows, the right outfit speaks volumes about the person wearing it. Now, anthropologists are tapping into that knowledge base, looking for the physical changes caused by wearing shoes to figure out when footwear first became fashionable.

Turns out, clothes really...

If the buzz among attendees of last week's Google I/O conference in San Francisco revealed a common thread, it was that the search giant's ongoing push for developer mindshare remains intriguing, though rife with questions and concerns.
And though growing pains are to be expected, the tenor of the talk on the conference floor highlighted notable misgivings about the direction Google is...

Turkmenistan has begun allowing private citizens to connect to the Internet, the latest sign that the reclusive Central Asian nation is opening up.
The country's only Internet provider, Turkmentelekom, said Thursday that it has been connecting up to 20 homes daily since the start of the week, mainly in the capital Ashgabat. It said it has a waiting list of 2,000 people.
"As...

The head of British-Russian energy company TNK-BP has been summoned by Russian authorities for questioning as part of a tax probe, the company said Thursday, amid a battle for control of the firm.
Robert Dudley "has been requested for questioning with regard to tax matters pertaining to OAO TNK activities in 2001-2003,"...

This story was updated at 7:21 a.m. EDT.

HOUSTON — Two astronauts are set to venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) later today to add camera eyes to the orbiting lab's newest Japanese room.

Spacewalkers Mike Fossum and Ron Garan will don their NASA-issue spacesuits and step into space at about 11:32 a.m. EDT (1532 GMT) to attach a pair of video cameras to the...