After an intense week of news here in the US and around the world the weekend was relatively calm and I imagine very welcomed to many.  Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been impacted in anyway with all the happenings last week.

Some of those tragedies make tech news seem small in comparison however, the world does move on and so we move back into the realm of what is happening in the technology corners of the world.

New Private Rocket Launches Into Orbit On Maiden Voyage – The commercial rocket from Orbital Sciences had a few launch delays, including one caused by an umbilical detaching from the second stage, that required flexibility to get the private rocket launched but they did finally see it climb into orbit on a flawless launch Saturday.  Orbital Sciences is one of the commercial companies that has been contracted by NASA to delivery cargo to the International Space Station.  They launch from NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The launch was visible along the North East coast of the US.

Using Microsoft Two-Factor Authentication with your Xbox LIVE account – Last week Microsoft flipped the switch and activated the option for your Microsoft Account to be protected using Two-Factor Authentication (TFA).  Some devices do not yet have built in 100% compatibility with TFA but Microsoft has provided the ability to establish a App Password to use in those situations.  Of course your Gamertag is tied to your Microsoft Account so in this post Xbox Lives’ Major Nelson explains how to use that with your Xbox 360.  BONUS: Still need to set up TFA on your Microsoft Account? Visit our friend Mauro over at Pureinfotech for step by step instructions on how to do that.

Former Hostgator employee arrested, charged with rooting 2,700 servers – This one is scary – especially as a HostGator customer myself.  This guy was on the job for about 5 months and his backdoor work was discovered the day after he was fired. The files were found on over 2,700 HostGator servers but according to the company there is no evidence it was ever used for any purpose.  I wonder why this took over a year to become public, especially as a HostGator customer, and I wonder if anyone impacted get notified about the intrusion?

I hope everyone has an awesome week. Stay safe and take care.