Another key Republican calls for H-1B cap hike
There has been no rush by employers for H-1B visas since the recession began, but there is an increasing rhetorical push in the U.S. House to raise the visa cap.
At a special hearing by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in San Jose, Calif. Monday on high-tech growth policies, its chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), called for a liberalization of the H-1B cap.
Issa said that "there seems little doubt that federal policies and regulations have played a large role in hampering growth." Among other things, he cited the H-1B visa cap in his prepared remarks. Read more...
Toshiba to launch Android tablet in June
Toshiba will launch its first tablet computer in late June in Japan and at around the same time in global markets, the company said Wednesday.
With the tablet, Toshiba will kick off an attempt to gain a 10 percent share of the global tablet market by 2013, said Masaaki Oosumi, president of Toshiba's digital products and services unit, at a Tokyo news conference. The company is one of the oldest and most well-known names in laptop computers, so its entry is likely to further raise competition in an increasingly active market for tablets. Read more...
Fedora dons the new Gnome
The next version of Fedora will be the first major Linux distribution to use the radically updated Gnome as its default desktop interface.
This OS, whose beta version was released Tuesday, will also feature a reworked boot loading system.
"Fedora 15 has some pretty large feature changes," said Jared Smith, who is the Fedora project leader, noting that, by way of comparison, Fedora 14 had more fine-tuning, under-the-cover changes. Read more...
Hands on: BlackBerry PlayBook tablet — released before it was ready?
Because of its association with the BlackBerry brand, Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook will appeal to businesspeople, but on arrival it lacks many corporate must-haves, such as email and 3G wireless data connectivity. In fact, it feels like it was rushed to market.
The PlayBook's rubberized surface has a silky feel to it; I prefer it to the naked plastic or aluminum that most tablets use. However, at 5.1 by 7.6 by 0.4 in. and weighing 15 oz., the device feels chunky for a 7-in. tablet -- it's thinner but 2 oz. heavier than the 7-in. Samsung Galaxy Tab. Read more...
Oracle-Google case could be decided by November
The judge hearing Oracle's Java patent lawsuit against Google hopes to get the case wrapped up before the end of November, he said Wednesday, but it won't help his cause that the U.S. patent office has agreed to reexamine Oracle's patents in the case.
Lawyers for Oracle and Google came before Judge William Alsup at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Wednesday for a so-called claims construction hearing, where the two sides argue over how language in the patents should be interpreted.
Scott Weingaertner, an attorney for Google, told the judge towards the end of the hearing that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to reexamine Oracle's Java patents. Read more...
US Woman Pleads Guilty to Selling Counterfeit Software
A Michigan woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge related to selling more than US$400,000 worth of counterfeit software on a website, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Jacinda Jones, 31, of Ypsilanti, Michigan, pleaded guilty to one count of willful copyright infringement in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the DOJ said. Read more...