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What does the battle of the bulge have to do with cloud computing? It's an instance where the technology may provide us with a productive path. Read more »

Amazon's first ever cloud-computing conference, re: Invent, sought to convince CIOs that the company's cloud is now robust enough to produce enterprise-level workloads from a reliability, security and performance standpoint. Here are the highlights from last week's conference, and what Amazon must do to stay apace with its competitors and prove its longevity as a standalone business. Read more »

The same Moore's law trajectory that has turned smartphones into pocket computers has led to the rise of appcessories. These devices are anything from thermostats to remote controls, and they can be controlled by a smartphone or tablet. The advancement of these products is creating new ways in which companies can differentiate products as well as encouraging the development of new application programming interfaces that mobile developers can tap into. Read more »

The OpenStack project has over the past few months consolidated its lead and is headed in a positive direction. Mid-October saw the OpenStack Summit conference in San Diego, and there have been a series of big customer wins and deployments. Indeed, the fall season has been like a coming-out party for the open-source cloud-management solution, with more maturing services announced from partners. To be sure, anyone contemplating a move to it should carefully consider some of the alternatives, too. But with so much news around the project, it’s worth noting which areas are currently looking up for OpenStack and what to consider when using it. Read more »

Government support for solar development looks positive for the next three years, and the prospects for a wind PTC extension are better than ever. But economics will weigh heavily in the federal government's actions within the renewable-energy sector, and cleantech will need to lobby hard to be heard. Read more »

The focus of this year's GigaOM RoadMap Conference was on design and the user interface, and how those are critical to succeeding in a connected world. During the event, attendees took time to consider important strategic issues, from what UIs will look like after Siri to where the IPO market is today and how it could affect early-stage companies. We've gathered some of the key takeaways from these sessions and other parts of GigaOM RoadMap to provide a brief analysis on how companies and devices will best connect with users in the future. Read more »

The political campaign market is being disrupted by mobile democracy platforms that integrate the mobile web, SMS, and big data to connect citizens with candidates and causes. Read more »

Using big data to improve U.S. health care standards is a promising concept. In reality, widespread change is likely decades away. Read more »

A connected workplace and the cloud are reshaping the identity-management landscape. Read more »

Expect complex virtual apps, a true virtual network, and lots of talk about pricing in the coming months. Read more »