open

Cloud openness, and what "open" means exactly in the context of cloud computing -- whether on-premise or in a public cloud--are hot topics at the CloudOpen conference, which is being held by the Linux Foundation in San Diego this week. CloudOpen is a new event being run in parallel with LinuxCon.

That those on stage and in the audience at this event favor openness is hardly news. Nor is the fact that an open cloud is a challenge that goes beyond open source. During a panel moderated by Red Hat's John Mark Walker, Greg DeKoenigsberg of Eucalyptus … Read more

LinkedIn is so 2011.

In the red-hot market for skilled software engineers, companies looking to make great hires are discovering that relying on traditional services that showcase candidates' work histories -- but not their actual work -- is a great way to miss out on the best available talent.

These days, there's a new game in town -- GitHub, a place where hiring managers and recruiters alike are increasingly turning to find not just the potential employees who look best on paper, but the ones that actively (and publicly) demonstrate their capabilities.

Last month, Andreessen Horowitz, one of the … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Late afternoon testimony sent Samsung's lawyers scrambling to come up with a quick way to explain what was unquestionably the shortest time from any expert witness on the stand.

Apple called upon Massachusetts Institute of Technology marketing professor John Hauser to display the results of a survey claiming that Samsung consumers would pay anywhere from $39 to $100 for Apple's patented features -- the same ones Samsung has been accused of infringing in the trial between the two tech giants.

After what was mere minutes on the stand showing just a single slide with … Read more

One of the Internet's most popular social networks pushed its doors wide open today -- Pinterest has started open registration.

This means users can sign up for an account without having to wait for an invite, the company said in a blog post. Before today, people had to request an invite from Pinterest or be invited by a friend who already had a Pinterest account. Invites allowed the site to control the volume of new users so that its servers were not overwhelmed, according to Pinterest.

Now, the site can handle any new traffic that comes its way.

"… Read more

If you use the Google search box in Firefox or the address bar in Chrome, which doubles as a Google search box, for Web searches, you will notice that the results page opens in the tab you are currently viewing. If you are conducting some extensive online research, you might find it easier to keep track of your search results if each time you searched the results opened in a new tab. For Firefox, you will need to get into the inner working of your browser, while Chrome requires an extension.

For Firefox, open the browser and type about:config … Read more

Verizon Wireless is no longer allowed to block apps that allow people to use their 4G LTE smartphones as Wi-Fi hotspots. And the carrier will pay the Federal Communications Commission a $1.25 million fine, the government agency said Tuesday.

The FCC has been investigating Verizon's business practices for the last 10 months to make sure that its 4G LTE service complies with so-called open access rules that were established as part of the 700 MHz spectrum auction in 2008. Verizon is using this spectrum to offer its 4G LTE service.

During its investigation, the FCC found that Verizon … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Samsung argued in court today that any similarities between its products and Apple's are just the result of doing business in the electronics industry.

"We're not standing here telling you ladies and gentleman of the jury that the iPhone wasn't commercially successful. It was an inspiring product to everyone, including the competition," Samsung's lawyer Charlie Verhoeven said. "But being inspired by a product and seeking to make better products is competition."

"It's not copying," he said.

Samsung's legal team proceeded to go into detail … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Apple began day two of the trial between it and Samsung with opening statements depicting it as an underdog that came into the phone industry and changed the game.

Harold McElhinny, a partner at Morrison Foerster representing Apple, kicked off the case by saying the company had bet the farm on the iPhone in 2007, and competitors (though particularly Samsung) proceeded to copy it, leading to big profits and lost sales on Apple's part.

"Apple had absolutely no name in the field, no credibility. (The iPhone) was an entry that had it gone bad, … Read more

There was one big thing that was missed in all the hype surrounding Facebook's earnings report today: Open Graph. Announced at f8 2011, the new class of social apps is responsible for all the "frictionless sharing" you've been seeing on the social network lately. During the investors call today, Facebook co-founder and CEO Zuckerberg unveiled that every day, almost 1 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook via Open Graph.

I would estimate this is coming from some 5,000 Open Graph apps (back in March, Facebook had 3,000). Because Open Graph essentially means … Read more