links for 2010-05-04: IBM acquires Cast Iron Systems; Scaling open-source; Browser market share; Software patents are good ... for lawyers; Google's cash; Open Data; Android on your TV

• IBM acquires Cast Iron Systems - IBM making more of a push into the Cloud.  Another set of thoughts.
• Open-source support: Can it scale? - "Enterprises turned to open source to shave money in the economic downturn and are staying with it now to drive greater innovation and productivity."
  
• Browser market share: IE drops below 60% - Every browser other than IE shows a growth trend (Opera interestingly seems to have plateaued though), particularly Chrome.
• Browsers: Does minimalist win the race? - ZDNet speculates on why IE is losing share and Chrome is gaining.  A few quotes: "Tech geeks aside, people are more interested in web content than they are the browser" and "... Chrome just kind of blends into the background".
  
• Patent Litigation Weekly: MobileMedia's Unusual Patent Infringement Campaign - Give it away free or let folks use it for free to get adoption, then swoop in and sue.  Nice.
  
• Google at a loss for what to do with cash? - They'd have to do a lot of acquisitions to spend $26.5B!
• The Future of Open Data - Some interesting ideas.  I have to admit that I've run across data sets where I have made changes or cleanup and what Stephen describes would work better than just sharing the Google Spreadsheet I've done in the past.
• Ready for Android on your ... TV? - Not really a surprise as TV's are a natural for being connected and a platform for new types of apps.

links for 2010-03-12: Patents and Startups; Economics 101; Strange Maps

• What Apple's and Microsoft's patent threats mean for start-ups - Interesting read spawned from Jonathan's blog on the subject.
• Economics in One Picture - Classic.
• Strange Maps - A bunch of interesting ones.  Did you know that the farthest you can get from a McDonalds in the lower 48 is 145 miles?

links for 2010-03-03: USPS and Saturday delivery; Apple vs HTC and Google

• U.S. Postal Service Seeks to Raise Rates, End Saturday Delivery - It would be a bummer to lose a day of mail, but I can understand the rationale.
• Can you patent protect a user interface? Apple files lawsuit against HTC - "It’s a bad scene right now. The social value of patents was supposed to be to encourage innovation - that’s what society gets out of it. The net effect is that they decrease innovation, and in the end, the public loses out."
• Apple's Smartphone Rivalry with HTC Heats Up - More background on HTC.