Can anyone tell me what the name of the "<" symbol is? There's got to be a more technical name than the "less-than" symbol.. and its not a caret... so what is it?

< < < < <

Actually it is Less Than or a left bracket.

A bracket is [

I need <

[], <>, {}, even () are all colled brackets. Yes the first example is mostly referred to as brackets, the second set are generally considered mathematical operators, referred to as Less Than and Greater Than. The 3rd set are called French brackets and the last are called parentheses but sometimes (rarely) referred to as brackets.

{} = French brackets
{} also = braces

{} also = braces

I thought braces where what the brits call suspenders or what make orthodontists rich ;)

I thought braces where what the brits call suspenders or what make orthodontists rich ;)
Hahahahahaha you funnee!!

From Wikipedia (under "bracket") --

Curly brackets or braces { }

Curly brackets (also called braces, or "squiggly brackets") are sometimes used in prose to indicate a series of equal choices: “Select your animal {goat, sheep, cow, horse} and follow me”. They are used in specialized ways in poetry and music (to mark repeats or joined lines). The musical terms for this mark joining staves are accolade and “brace”, and connect two or more lines of music that are played simultaneously. In mathematics they delimit sets. In many programming languages, they enclose groups of statements. Such languages are therefore called curly bracket languages. Some people use a curly brace to signify movement in a particular direction.

Presumably due to the similarity of the words brace and bracket (although they do not share an etymology), many people casually treat brace as a synonym for bracket. Therefore, when it is necessary to avoid any possibility of confusion, such as in computer programming, it may be best to use the term curly bracket rather than brace. However, general usage in North American English favours the latter form. The term curly braces is redundant since no other type of brace exists. Indian programmers often use the name “flower bracket”.

Curly brackets are often used in internet communities and through instant messaging to indicate hugging.