Firefox is rekindled with faster, slicker revamp

The non-profit Mozilla Foundation hopes to up the heat on Microsoft after launching a faster, revamped version of its popular Firefox internet browser.

Firefox 1.5, which is available as a free download from www.Mozilla.com, will aim to build on the success of last year’s Firefox 1.0, which won a cult following among users who say the software is slicker and more secure than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), the market leader.

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New entry in orbital launch business ready for first flight

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - A newly developed rocket designed to break into the orbital launch business with low-cost service waited on a Pacific atoll Friday to make its maiden flight.

The Falcon 1 had been scheduled for launch Friday from a pad on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands but the launch was bumped back to 1 p.m. PST Saturday because of preparations for a missile defense test launch, said El Segundo-based rocket builder SpaceX.

The rocket's payload is a satellite for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Air Force Academy. FalconSat-2 will measure space plasma phenomena, which can impair space-based communications.

The Falcon 1 rocket is the first in what is intended to be a family of launch vehicles from SpaceX, the latest enterprise of Elon Musk, whose previous endeavors include PayPal, the online payment service now owned by eBay.

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