open

Google today is "taking a stand on open source and patents," vowing not to sue anyone on specified patents unless first attacked.

The company, which today announced its Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge, said to start with, it has identified 10 patents related to MapReduce, a model for processing large data sets. It has pledged not to sue any user, distributor, or developer of open-source software based on patents related to MapReduce.

Duane Valz, Google senior patent counsel, said in a blog post that Google wants to ensure open source software remains open:

Many options exist for users who want to save files for access while away from their computer. OpenDrive for Mac provides a sizeable amount of storage space without cost, and has the features expected of a storage program.

Available as a free version with a limit of 5GB of storage, OpenDrive for Mac also comes with monthly paid options for personal and business use with additional storage, including unlimited use. The program's native installer places it directly in the applications folder, but does require the acceptance of a user agreement. There is little to the interface with the exception … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- How Facebook knew a man was gay before anyone else did .

- NYC subways deploy a touch-screen network, complete with apps and Wi-Fi.

- Man who got porn site logos tattooed on his face now somehow regrets his decision.

- Lululemon pulls popular yoga pants for revealing too much.… Read more

Unlike Chromebooks from Samsung, Acer, and HP, the Google-designed Pixel has both high-end hardware and a high-end price tag. On this week's episode of Cracking Open, I go inside the Pixel and show you why it's easy to service, but nearly impossible to upgrade.… Read more

Microsoft is continuing a push to turn its Kinect motion-sensing game controller into a natural user-interface device for PCs, by sharing samples of the Kinect for Windows code under an open source license.

The idea is to give developers the opportunity to reuse the code and help Microsoft figure out how to improve it, Ben Lower, Kinect for Windows developer community manager, wrote in a blog post last week.

The company has posted 22 samples -- including code for face tracking, its skeletal viewer, and slideshow gestures -- in C#, C++, and Visual Basic. The code is available under an … Read more

The Ubuntu Touch operating system is being ported to more than 20 types of smartphones and tablets.

The developer preview of the Linux-based OS was released for the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 smartphones and Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets last week.

And developers are working to port the OS to a far greater range of devices, including the Asus Transformer series, HTC One handsets, the LG Optimus 4x HD, the Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Note and S series, and Sony Xperia phones. They're also working on ports for the Nexus S and Nexus One devices.

The … Read more

When Microsoft built the Surface Pro, the designers packed the power of an ultrabook in the body of a tablet. Unfortunately, they also made the device nearly impossible for a typical consumer or even an in-house tech to service and repair. On this week's episode of Cracking Open, I take you inside the Surface Pro.… Read more

Ars Technica reports that a new online petition has been created to request that Apple bring the ZFS file system to OS X, along with support for the more advanced OpenGL 4.3 libraries.

ZFS is a relatively new file system format, which Apple hinted at supporting in developer builds of OS X 10.5, and was expected to debut in Snow Leopard; however, the company ended up dropping support for the format following disagreements with Sun Microsystems. The support for ZFS has since fallen to several third-party efforts such as the open-source MacZFS project.

Though Apple's native HFS+ … Read more

Google's Nexus 4 offers a pure Android experience on an unlocked device, at a great no-contract price. It's also fairly easy to disassemble and hides a bit of a hardware secret inside.

Full TechRepublic teardown gallery: Cracking Open the Google Nexus 4

The Nexus 4 has a 4.7-inch IPS display (1,280x768-pixel resolution at 320 ppi), 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, 2GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel main camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, and it comes in 8GB and 16GB versions.

Given its hardware specifications, the Nexus 4 can definitely hold its own against other high-end smartphones. And with its support for NFC and wireless charging, LG's handset is even a step ahead of many devices. What the Nexus 4 doesn't have is LTE support -- at least not officially.

Overall, it's well-built, feels sturdy in your hands, and is fairly easy to take apart.… Read more