SAP co-CEO Henning Kagermann allegedly held strong concerns at one point about the legal implications of buying TomorrowNow, the now-shuttered SAP subsidiary tied to a lawsuit filed by rival vendor Oracle.

Looks like Mars Phoenix (or Mars Phoenix's ghost) will have to wait another two years for a new companion—the Mars Science Laboratory, originally planned for a launch next year, has been delayed until 2011.

It goes to show that the economy's bad in space, too. But aside from budgetary overages, the MSL is one of the most advanced crafts ever to shoot for the red planet. It will be able to redirect its course late into the landing phase, and will actually touch down on a tether lowered from a hovering descent stage. On board will be the biggest science payload every to hit Martian soil, which will study past signs of water in four potential landing sites. [NASA]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers axed payrolls by 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years and far more than expected, government data on Friday showed, as the year-old recession hammered every corner of the U.S. economy.

The Mac community this week found itself debating an updated Apple Inc. Knowledge Base article that urged users to run antivirus software -- until the document was yanked. Computerworld's Michael DeAgonia breaks down the brouhaha down for you.