open

It may have the same general shape as its predecessor, but the iPhone 5 is taller, thinner, and lighter. And thanks to a redesigned case and interior, the device is easier to take apart and repair.… Read more

Siri was useful on iOS 5, but it often felt like it should be capable of more. With iOS 6, Siri has gained some new capabilities, all of which are nice additions to the personal assistant on iOS.

Siri can now make reservations, give you movie info, keep you up-to-date on sports, launch apps, and post to Twitter and Facebook on your behalf. Let's start by taking a look at the process to make a reservation using Siri.

Twitter and Facebook

Before the U.S. Open tennis tournament began this week, I had never heard of 18-year-old Laura Robson (@LauraRobson5), even though she won an Olympic mixed doubles silver medal in London this summer.

To me, the women's game is dominated by the Williams sisters, Serena (@SerenaWilliams) and Venus (@VenusesWilliams), and a revolving cast of mostly unmemorable Russian players, except for Maria Sharapova (I couldn't figure out her official Twitter feed -- can you? Her site has a social section, but it only lists a Facebook account).

But 89th-ranked Robson, who sent former champ Kim Clijsters packing in … Read more

Months after Hewlett-Packard originally announced the open-source version of WebOS, the beta version of the platform is on its way out the door.

Today's release includes two environments for developers. The first is the desktop build, which is said to provide "the ideal development environment" for designing the WebOS user experience with more features and integrating other open-source technologies on the Ubuntu desktop.

Some of those new features include support for core apps such as Calendar and Contacts as well as third-party Enyo apps.

The second is the OpenEmbedded build for porting WebOS to new devices. It'… Read more

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