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OpenTable gobbles up Foodspotting for $10 million

OpenTable, a company that provides online restaurant reservations, has acquired Foodspotting, a site and apps that let users post photos of the food dishes they encounter at eateries.

The companies announced the deal today, saying that OpenTable will pay approximately $10 million in cash to acquire Foodspotting. The acquisition comes after Foodspotting inked a deal with the restaurant-reservations company to share user photos of food dishes in OpenTable listings. OpenTable didn't say what its plans are for Foodspotting, but it did say the photos are a "taste" of what to expect.

Still, Foodspotting users won't lose … Read more

How to participate in the open-government movement

Four years from now, the government will still be partisan, public agencies will still operate out of public view, and citizens will still be excluded from participating in the decisions made by their representatives at all levels of government.

But just maybe, when the 45th president takes the oath of office in January 2017, political factions will be more willing to compromise for the good of everyone, agencies at all levels of government will be more transparent, and our elected and appointed representatives will be more willing to listen to and act upon our opinions and ideas about the challenges … Read more

GeeksPhone reveals Firefox OS phones for developers

A small Spanish startup called GeeksPhone has started selling phones that let developers get a taste of Mozilla's new Firefox OS.

GeeksPhone announced two 3G phones for the browser-based operating system, the lower-end Keon and higher-end Peak. The phones, while geared for programmers rather than mainstream customers, make Mozilla's open-source mobile OS a lot more real, since programmers will be able to develop apps as well as to debug and advance the underlying operating system.

Firefox OS is Mozilla's ambitious attempt to build an operating system that brings more openness to the walled gardens of Apple's … Read more

Time Warner Cable, Netflix at odds over 'Super HD,' 3D

Time Warner Cable and Netflix are reportedly talking to each other about partnering on the streaming provider's content delivery network (CDN), but the cable provider isn't too pleased about the service.

Speaking to Multichannel in an interview published yesterday, a Time Warner Cable spokesperson criticized Netflix for only delivering its higher-quality high-definition service, Super HD, and 3D videos to customers whose cable providers have signed up with Netflix's Open Connect.

"While they call it Open Connect, Netflix is actually closing off access to some of its content while seeking unprecedented preferential treatment from ISPs," the … Read more

Zuckerberg's vision realized: One graph to rule them all

Mark Zuckerberg's vision for a world in which people are connected to each other for all time has remained unrealized, despite his best efforts with Open Graph and Timeline. But with Graph Search, he may have finally found the last piece of the puzzle.

"Our mission is to make the world more open and connected," the Facebook CEO said last year at the TC Disrupt conference. "We do this by giving people the power to share whatever they want and be connected to whoever they want, no matter where they are."

In Zuckerberg's world, … Read more

OpenCandy brings the bucks to desktop software

LAS VEGAS--If you want to make money off of apps, you must develop for mobile, right? Wrong, says SweetLabs' Chester Ng, who points to his company's success with its OpenCandy project to help developers earn a living.

The problem is both cultural as well as logistical, Ng said in an interview outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. Desktop software, especially on Windows, has a long history of being developed as freeware. But pitching a secondary software purchase to the user during the installation process had been poisoned, he said.

"The problem is that developers don't like the … Read more

Netflix brings 3D, 'Super HD' video to some customers

After months of rumors, Netflix has finally announced a "Super HD" streaming option as well as a handful of 3D additions to its video library. Super HD is Netflix's higher-quality version of its standard 1080p HD format.

But there's a catch: Only Netflix customers who are signed up with ISPs that use Netflix's Open Connect network will have access to both Super HD and the new 3D titles. Netflix debuted Open Connect in June, saying it could lower costs and improve content delivery.

"Leading-edge ISPs around the world such as Cablevision, Virgin Media, British … Read more

Circuit Playground plushies a perfect post-Xmas toy for hacker kids

It's a little late for Christmas presents, but if you throw a little time-machine action into the mix, this might be the perfect gift for the hacker kid in your life: Circuit Playground plushies.

The plushies are the newest product from Adafruit Industries, a leader in the open-source hardware world and the maker of a wide range of products for hackers young and old. Led by Entrepreneur magazine's entrepreneur of the year Limor Fried, Adafruit has a long history of promoting the do-it-yourself movement, and giving those who play and work in it the tools they need. … Read more

Tether your phone wirelessly with Open Garden app

In a pinch and need a data connection on your tablet or laptop? You can use Open Garden to sneak a connection from your smartphone without needing to tether. Setup is easy, but the connection has enough hiccups and jumps to sometimes be more frustrating than it's worth.

Before you can use Open Garden, you have to download another program for your desktop. Once you set up the network, your gadgets will connect automatically whenever they're nearby. It can even work through NFC if your phone has it. However, owners of modern phones can have a more reliable … Read more