$2.5 billion Mars rover departs Earth

"We are in cruise mode," he concluded. "We have commanded the spacecraft and we are in short in two-way and are getting navigation data. The injection was first rate.... That's about it from me. A very happy guy."

Not to be outdone by Apple, Best Buy is offering some enticing deals on the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Windows laptops are as well on sale.

Apple's iPhone and iPad helped make mobile devices a key driver of Thanksgiving and Black Friday e-commerce this year, according to a report from IBM Coremetrics.

In part three of a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Microsoft's new phone software, Ina Fried takes a look at Redmond's massive testing operation.