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Here’s some good news for owners of LG’s G3 smartphone: Your phone will be among the first to get an update to Android 5.0 Lollipop. Assuming you live in Poland, anyway.
According to the company, it will roll out an update to Lollipop to G3 users in Poland this week, and release the update “[in] other key markets in the near future.” LG didn’t specify what it means by “near future,” however, so it could conceivably take anywhere from a few days to a few months for it to make it onto LG phones here in the US. The story behind the story: Fragmentation may not be the fatal flaw that some expected it to be with Android—it’s a non-issue for many people most of the time, and it’s arguably one of Android’s strengths in that it’s resulted in a wide variety of hardware and software options. But updates are one area where fragmentation still becomes an issue. Ironically, enthusiasts who bought Google Nexus devices because of the promise of speedy Android updates are watching third-party phones land Lollipop first.
The Lollipop waiting game continues
And so we wait. Despite the limited release of LG’s upcoming Lollipop update, though, there are some signs that we’ll start to see some updates soon. On Friday, Motorola published–then pulled —release notes for its Android Lollipop update for the second-generation Moto X. This seems to suggest that Motorola is close to having an update, but you’ll have to wait at least a little longer.
But if you’re feeling daring—and have a compatible Nexus device, the Sony Experia Z, or the Samsung Galaxy S3—the folks at XDA Developers have cobbled together a jury-rigged build of Lollipop for you to try. It’s a potentially buggy build, though, and installing unofficial builds can be a challenge, so it isn’t for the faint of heart.
The leader of Europol’s European cybercrime center said those hiding behind the anonymous communication encrypted system facility, Tor should not consider themselves invisible – at least from the European cybercrime center.
Coordinated raids by law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and 16 European countries have closed hundreds of underground websites, including dozens dealing in weapons and drugs, and led to the arrest of 17 people.
The raids took place on Thursday and were the biggest so far against sites running on the Tor network, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and Europol, which cooperated on the action.
Tor is an encrypted system that facilitates anonymous communication. It has plenty of legitimate uses, particularly for evading surveillance in countries with authoritarian governments, but its use by criminals has caused controversy. Police have increasingly been targeting underground websites on Tor, and Thursday’s raids are the latest in that work.
Troels Oerting, head of Europol’s European cybercrime center, said criminals using Tor have long considered themselves beyond the reach of the law, but that’s no longer the case.
“We can now show that they are neither invisible nor untouchable,” he said in a statement. “The criminals can run but they cant hide.”
The list of shuttered sites included names such as Blue Sky, Hydra and Cloud Nine, and the DOJ said they dealt in drugs, fake currency, stolen credit card data and fake ID documents. Executive Outcomes dealt in firearms and shipped worldwide, Fake Real Plastic sold counterfeit credit cards, Fake ID sold fake passports and Fast Cash and Super Notes Counter sold counterfeit Euro and U.S. currency in exchange for bitcoins, authorities said.
The first hint of the raids came on Thursday, when police in the U.S. said they had arrested the alleged operator of Silk Road 2.0, a website allegedly used to sell illegal drugs, computer-hacking tools and fraudulent identification documents. At the time they didn’t say that the arrest was part of a larger action.
“As illegal activity online becomes more prevalent, criminals can no longer expect that they can hide in the shadows of the dark web,’” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, in a statement. ”We shut down the original Silk Road website and now we have shut down its replacement, as well as multiple other dark market sites allegedly offering all manner of illicit goods and services, from firearms to computer hacking.”
But despite the assertions of Oerting and Bharara, it still remains incredibly difficult for law enforcement to discover who is behind a Tor website. The same safeguards built into the system that keep the identity of a dissident secret from a government also help criminals stay anonymous. Typically, a true identity is discovered because of a clue such as an email address that has inadvertently been left in the open.
What if you are giving a chance to live your life again? Or should I say, what if you are giving a chance to see what Windows computers look like 25 years ago?
Let me walk you back to somewhere within 1992 and 1995 and unveil the hilarious Window that never was, Windows 93
Windows93 might not have existed as a Microsoft Windows series. But if Microsoft released an operating system in the chasm between Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 it might look something like Windows 93, an interactive art project by Jankenpopp and Zombectro that you can try right in your web browser.
The experience of the OS is hard to put into words—it’s Windows imagined in some parallel universe, with plenty of retro homages to the weird OS quirks of yore.
The hard drive defragger comes with a funky MIDI beat so head-bobbingly enticing that you’ll wonder why it wasn’t implemented in the first place. Perhaps familiar to some, a horribly sad “Virtual Girl” can sit on your desktop, though instead of flirting or stripping via 16-bit animation, this one lays there as lifeless as a paper doll. You can watch a video of Star Wars right on your desktop (the catch: it’s rendered in ASCII). And then there’s the “Totally not a virus. Trust me..im a dolphin” icon that’s pretty much a must-click, harkening back to the good old days when viruses were as much about pranking you as they were stealing your data. Though, for the record, that virus is nowhere as devastating as the army of Clippys that will randomly show up.
It’s surprising just how deep you can dig in Windows 93, thanks to content like GameBoy emulators and pixel editors that have actually been pulled from various sources across the web. I spent a shameful amount of time giggling nostalgically, until suddenly, a beach ball of death showed up on my screen. At first, I figured it was just another one of Windows 93’s jokes until, moments later, Chrome froze and then crashed.
Oh how far we’ve come in the last 20 years!
You can experience the thrill of Windows93 for yourself. Try it here.
Conventional wisdom suggests that the vast majority of mobile malware cases impact Android devices. Or at least that those who do not jailbreak their iPhones are safe most threats — even Apple CEO Tim Cook has bashed Android for “dominating” the mobile malware market. Yet a new virus found in China by US-based researchers could herald the first serious security threat to Apple devices.
A report from Palo Alto Networks (hat tip The Verge) claims that a new family of malware is getting past Apple’s settings to potentially infect secure (i.e. not jailbroken) iOS devices using infected software for Macs. Dubbed ‘WireLurker’, it was found in the wild in the Maiyadi App Store, a third-party Mac store in China, where it is said to have infected 467 apps. Infected versions of these programs have been downloaded more than 350,000 times and are likely to have affected “hundreds of thousands” of users, according to Palo Alto Networks. Apple tells us that it has blocked infected apps from working — the company’s full statement is at the bottom of this post.
The malware works by repacking legitimate Mac applications. Once downloaded to a Mac, that software will then install malicious and third-party applications on any iOS device that is connected to the infected machine using a USB cable. What’s most interesting — or, indeed, worrying for Apple customers — is that once on an iOS device, WireLurker reportedly uses a range of sophisticated techniques to modify existing apps for malicious purposes.
While the aim of its creators is not clear yet, Palo Alto Networks reports, WireLurker has been found to steal “a variety of information” from inside rewritten apps. Since it surfaced in China, it is targeting Alibaba’s hugely popular Taobao shopping and AliPay payment apps — where a phone owner’s credit card and bank details are retained — but the security firm says the way it operates could usher in a “new era” of malware for Apple devices.
In particular, Palo Alto Networks says it is “the first in-the-wild malware to install third-party applications on non-jailbroken iOS devices through enterprise provisioning.”
The security firm recommends its own product to help prevent WireLurker, but — as ever — the best pieces of advice are to avoid downloading apps from third-party sources, and use officially approved USB cables. The former is more difficult in China, where third-party app store are well established and hugely popular — though that’s more the case for Android than Mac or iOS.
The full report from Palo Alto Networks has additional advice for Apple customers in the enterprise space, who could be most at risk given WireLurker’s characteristics.
Apple says it has taken action against the infected apps in China:
We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we’ve blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching. As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources.
Are you an Android horror game addict? Or you just didn’t get enough of Halloween night and still want images that will scare you to death? Be careful of what you wish for, here are 5 most scariest of horror Android games. Don’t be ashamed to curl up in a ball in the corner. These Android horror games will scare the pants off of even hardened gamesters.
Real time horror games are something you are not likely to find in any of the Play Store’s top game charts. It’s nothing to be worried about, really: A lot of people would prefer to be chased by a nice looking ‘monster monkey’ in Temple Run than to face the real terror in Android horror games.
As horror as horror games sounds, most gamers still prefer the suspense, and don’t need swarms of disfigured monsters creeping at them at all times to have fun. Meanwhile, others want exactly that. In that light we have tried to strike the balance between the thrill-seekers and the ones who just want a creepy enough game that is simply incompatible with poorly-lit environments.
The good thing about this list is that the games are free and risk free: If they scare you hard enough, you might as well uninstall them and try board games.
Last week the CEO of Apple Tim Cook wrote a public essay for Bloomberg Businessweek, in which he proudly proclaim that he considers “being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.” The essay has attracted mix reaction from media, customers & fans alike. Hence, EwtNet has taken to the tab once more to analyze how Cook’s real sexuallity will fare among different cultures.
“The world has advanced to the point that (sexuality) is a total nonissue,” said Gerald Storch, a former CEO of Toys R Us. “Ten years ago, CEOs might have kept it closer to the vest because of consumer backlash.”
As much as I would like to sit back here, agree with Gerald Storch and write ‘who cares?’ I know everyone cares. Even those who ‘don’t care’ care so little about it that they take time out to tell us how little they care! It seems that they care a great deal about making sure we understand how little they care. This could be such a noissue in California and few other states in the US but Apple is a globally recognized company in the world. Remember, for all the personal attachment we have to the company’s products, Apple is still a publicly traded company that must answer to shareholders. Sales and profits rule on Wall Street, not a leader’s sexual orientation. And lets face it, in some countries Cook could be facing a 15 years jail term for his public declaration or worst still a death sentence.
“Apple is a business, not a social group,” said Billie Blair, a management consultant who advises several boards of directors. The only way a board would care about a CEO’s sexual orientation if it somehow drove away customers and sales and profits fell, she said.
“Then the board would be forced to look at the issue,” Blair said. “It’s not about the sexuality of the CEO but rather what the CEO’s sexuality does to the business.”
In Cook’s case, absolutely nothing. Apple’s products may continue to fly off the shelf for the foreseeable future in the US. Consumers don’t care about Cook’s sexuality as much as they care about the battery life and design aesthetics of the iPhone 6 and fancy Apple Watch. But doubts still hovers on how far Apple products will fly in other part of the world in light of this event.
Do you really believe people in over 79 countries of world where homosexuality is outlawed doesn’t care about Cook’s sexuality? I don’t think so. I wouldn’t be surprised to see laws against buying apple products in Nigeria and most African countries.
In the United States where Apple products are more dominant, anti-sodomy laws were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003, but they are still on the books in 13 states: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Conservative state legislators refuse to repeal the laws and, in some cases, police still enforce them. Reportedly, in the past few years more than a dozen LGBT people were arrested for violating those laws, but the arrestees were freed because prosecutors won’t seek convictions based on defunct laws.
Acceptance of the LGBT community has come a long way since 2007. Thirty-two states offer legal same-sex marriage; courts have overturned gay marriage bans in another five states. The U.S. Supreme Court also gutted a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples.
“We are already moving in the right direction,” said Selisse Berry, founder and CEO of the advocacy group Out & Equal. “Hopefully, (Cook’s announcement) will be a tipping point” for corporate America.
Even so, whether today’s executives and employees choose to come out will still largely depend on a person’s individual circumstances and a company’s particular culture.
Cook was brave enough to come clean and as hopes, his decision could make the road a little less treacherous for gays and lesbians in the workplace.
“If hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy,” Cook wrote.
Editor’s note French Robotics: French RoboticsLaetitia Vitaud is a blogger, coach, and teacher of U.S. politics in France and is passionate about the digital transition of our economy.
The French still dream of humanoid robots and electric sheep. Swedish TV series Real Humans, broadcast on French-German TV channel Arte, seduced a surprisingly large audience in France. The president himself proudly promotes flagship robotics projects. Nao is one of those flagship robots, an autonomous programmable humanoid robot developed by French company Aldebaran Robotics. The same company also created Romeo, which was exhibited in Lyon earlier this year.
Romeo is supported by Paris business cluster Cap Digital and is destined, like Real Humans’ fictitious “hubots” to help the elderly and the sick regain some form of autonomy.
These are the types of robots used to showcase France’s engineering prowess. Yet a few extra decades will still be necessary to produce robots that can perform half as much as a human maid.
NAO Robot (Source: Aldebaran Robotics,
NAO Robot creator, under a CC-BY-3.0 license)
What’s been known as “Moravec’s paradox” is the fact that high-level reasoning and calculation require little computation, whereas low-level sensorimotor skills require huge computational resources.
“It is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult-level performance on intelligence tests or playing checkers, and difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and mobility.” Or as Steven Pinker famously put it: “The main lesson of 35 years of AI research is that the hard problems are easy and the easy problems are hard.” This is why no robot can yet perform all of our domestic chores. iRobot’s Roomba can only vacuum the floor and will never empty the dishwasher.
Humanoid robots are a showcase, not a business. Robots shouldn’t be expected to look human, but to do the “hard” things their own way. The dedicated specialised machinery used in our modern factories (particularly in high-wage countries), fascinating though they may be, are not so new nor are they very French (one immediately has Germany in mind), but French robotics has been conquering warehouses with an increased mastery of “hard” sensorimotor skills.
Balyo‘s Co-founder Raul Bravo had this vision in 2005: “Logistics is a sector that really needs robotics.” Little did he know that in 2012 Amazon would spend $775 million to buy Kiva Systems, a U.S. company that produces mobile robotics fulfillment systems for Amazon to use in its warehouses.
Balyo’s MoveBox doesn’t look impressive nor does it look human, but it is replacing human workers in warehouses. It is designed to make any fork-lift truck into a fully autonomous vehicle. The potential market hasn’t yet been fully explored: In Europe alone, more than a million fork-lift trucks are used to move pallets in warehouses, all of which could become automated! The really promising element is that no ground infrastructure is required to use these tools.
Like warehouses, parking lots are cleared areas dedicated to one purpose. These areas can be made more efficient with robots. German company Serva Transport Systems developed an automated parking system: “279 automated parking spaces at Düsseldorf Airport can now be used via patented robots.”
In France, two researchers, Clément Boussard and Aurélien Cord, have been working on their own version of that system: Stanley Robotics is developing a solution that would be lighter and more flexible (and cheaper) than Serva’s sophisticated system, something that reminds more of Balyo’s MoveBox.
Stanley Robotics “Optipark” doesn’t require any modification of existing infrastructure and the solution can be deployed in any parking lot. The potential market in crowded urban Europe seems limitless. And parking solutions could be an entry point to the larger market of driverless vehicles.
But can these robotics firms really boost the French industry and economy? France’s industrial decline has proved particularly dramatic in the past decade. Robotics doesn’t seem to have changed anything, and the number of factories has dwindled drastically in France. The share of the industrial sector in the country’s added value dropped from 18 percent in 2000 to 12.5 percent only in 2011 and lags far behind that of Germany (26.2 percent) or Sweden (21.2 percent). In the 2000s, France’s export market share plummeted while Germany’s grew. The French industry has seen no other option but to crop its margins, which fell from 30 percent to 21 percent (meanwhile Germany’s margins went up).
There seems to be a stark contrast between the dynamism of France’s high-tech and robotics entrepreneurs and the catastrophic results of the French industry and its under-equipped factories. There are clearly too few robots in French factories; there are five times as many industrial robots in German factories as in France. German companies have invested an extra $12 billion each year while the French cut their investment by $5 billion. No integration has happened between French startups and the industrial giants that could make good use of their output. It’s as if the industry was worlds apart from the tech scene.
Former Minister of “Industrial Renewal” Arnaud Montebourg did try to create fruitful interactions between the world of innovation and the industry. In September of last year his 34 “industrial action plans” were designed by the government to boost France’s industrial sector by bolstering the country’s most competitive and innovative industries. Connected devices and robotics were identified as a source of future wealth for the nation and regularly promoted by the Ministry with special events called “Les objets de la nouvelle France industrielle“. Montebourg’s “New Industrial France” aimed to combine the actions of public actors and private companies to help the emergence of future French innovation.
Even if these plans had not been abandoned with the change in minister, one can doubt the efficacy such measures could have had. French ministers often only pay lip service to the idea of disruptive innovation, but in effect only protect the incumbents and business as usual.
The construction of bridges between France’s innovative startups and its fast-declining industry is not likely to come only from the French government but rather mostly from private initiatives and improved financing fluidity. Investment Fund Robolution Capital aims to do just that. Bruno Bonnell and his partners at Orkos Capital raised €80 million this year to invest in French (and European companies) and boost the industry in the process. “Robotics will emerge as an industry unto itself that will impact all sectors of the economy,” they say.
French economist Robin Rivaton in a widely discussed note titled “Relancer notre industrie par les robots” (how robots can help reboot the French industry) argues that factories reflect a country’s economic wealth and that mastering one’s production is a matter of economic strategy. He is convinced that industrial robots offer a path to re-industrializing France. Robots can help the French “insource” its industrial activities and restore its margins.
There’s no knowing whether France’s industrial decline can still be reversed. But promoting cool French robots can’t do any harm, can it?
Scientists have discovered a way to find your vein before poking around half a dozen times to find the spot. The Australian Red Cross Blood Service is using a near-infrared vein light device that locates blood to study whether being able to locate hard-to-find veins will result in reduced anxiety and thus make it more likely these types of donors will come back and donate again.
The Blood Service says it will test 300 first-timers and 600 returning blood donors between ages 18 and 30 on different devices from two separate Australian providers. The hope is that if this works for younger donors, they will become lifelong contributors to the Red Cross.
The vein visualization device works by waving a near infrared light source over naturally deoxygenated hamoglobin in the body. The deoxygenated hemoglobin absorbs that light and your veins show up in glowing green. The machines should be safe unless you stare directly at them (so don’t do that). They can also be adjusted for individual differences.
Here’s a little more about how the technology works:
Today the CEO of Apple Tim Cook wrote a long essay on Bloomberg Business Week magazine in which he proclaim that he considers “being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”
Below is an extract from Bloomberg Business Week published on the 30 October, 2014.
Throughout my professional life, I’ve tried to maintain a basic level of privacy. I come from humble roots, and I don’t seek to draw attention to myself. Apple is already one of the most closely watched companies in the world, and I like keeping the focus on our products and the incredible things our customers achieve with them.
At the same time, I believe deeply in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, who said: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ” I often challenge myself with that question, and I’ve come to realize that my desire for personal privacy has been holding me back from doing something more important. That’s what has led me to today.
For years, I’ve been open with many people about my sexual orientation. Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I’m gay, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way they treat me. Of course, I’ve had the good fortune to work at a company that loves creativity and innovation and knows it can only flourish when you embrace people’s differences. Not everyone is so lucky.
While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.
Being gay has given me a deeper understanding of what it means to be in the minority and provided a window into the challenges that people in other minority groups deal with every day. It’s made me more empathetic, which has led to a richer life. It’s been tough and uncomfortable at times, but it has given me the confidence to be myself, to follow my own path, and to rise above adversity and bigotry. It’s also given me the skin of a rhinoceros, which comes in handy when you’re the CEO of Apple.
The world has changed so much since I was a kid. America is moving toward marriage equality, and the public figures who have bravely come out have helped change perceptions and made our culture more tolerant. Still, there are laws on the books in a majority of states that allow employers to fire people based solely on their sexual orientation. There are many places where landlords can evict tenants for being gay, or where we can be barred from visiting sick partners and sharing in their legacies. Countless people, particularly kids, face fear and abuse every day because of their sexual orientation.
I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.
I’ll admit that this wasn’t an easy choice. Privacy remains important to me, and I’d like to hold on to a small amount of it. I’ve made Apple my life’s work, and I will continue to spend virtually all of my waking time focused on being the best CEO I can be. That’s what our employees deserve—and our customers, developers, shareholders, and supplier partners deserve it, too. Part of social progress is understanding that a person is not defined only by one’s sexuality, race, or gender. I’m an engineer, an uncle, a nature lover, a fitness nut, a son of the South, a sports fanatic, and many other things. I hope that people will respect my desire to focus on the things I’m best suited for and the work that brings me joy.
The company I am so fortunate to lead has long advocated for human rights and equality for all. We’ve taken a strong stand in support of a workplace equality bill before Congress, just as we stood for marriage equality in our home state of California. And we spoke up in Arizona when that state’s legislature passed a discriminatory bill targeting the gay community. We’ll continue to fight for our values, and I believe that any CEO of this incredible company, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, would do the same. And I will personally continue to advocate for equality for all people until my toes point up.
When I arrive in my office each morning, I’m greeted by framed photos of Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. I don’t pretend that writing this puts me in their league. All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I’m doing my part, however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick.
What do you like most about your old BlackBerry device? What if BlackBerry has improved those features for you?
A top row of navigation keys! A trackpad! The BlackBerry is back, baby, with the BlackBerry Classic!
Well, that’s how BlackBerry hopes you’ll react, anyway, with the announcement of the BlackBerry Classic on the company’s website on Tuesday. Chief executive John Chen promised the “things you remember about BlackBerry that made you better are better than ever with BlackBerry Classic”.
“Innovation is a word that gets used too often and carelessly. Innovation is not about blowing up what works to make something new – it’s about taking what works and making it better,” Chen wrote in a blog post. “In that sense, BlackBerry Classic represents the kind of innovation BlackBerry – and you – strive toward every day.”
And while Chen didn’t reveal what those features would be, exactly, he gave some hints: the trackpad, the navigation screen, a larger, sharper screen, and “all the best productivity and collaboration features on any mobile device, including the BlackBerry Hub and our all-new BlackBerry Blend.” Users can sign up to hear more about the new Classic on a dedicated site, which also promises “Navigation buttons that do more than ‘go home’,” a physical keyboard “with no rival,” and a central repository for all of your messages. The site also has a partial image of the new phone.
The Bold, of course, arguably marked the beginning of the gradual decline of the BlackBerry—not so much because of any great deficiencies of the phone, but because of the rise of the iPhone and its associated app strore. Google’s Android soon followed, and developers latched on to the new, lucrative opportunities. As of July 2014, BlackBerry had only 2.4 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, in fourth place behind Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.
With nothing to lose, Chen and BlackBerry have rolled out a new release of the BlackBerry OS, as well as a partnership to bring many popular Android applications to the BlackBerry platform. BlackBerry recently launched the Passport, a square phone that the company is pitching at professionals.
Could you see yourself buying a BlackBerry again? Would a touchpad be the answer to those who prefer a large phone but prefer to use it with one hand? Let us know in the comments.
Why this matters: Having failed to attract new converts, BlackBerry is hoping to reinvigorate whatever fan base BlackBerry still has. At one time, it owned the smartphone market. So a combination of nostalgia and innovation is an obvious next step.
Engineering firm Wood Group Kenny is currently recruiting for a Lead Pipeline Engineer on a rotational basis located at their offices in Lagos, Nigeria.
The successful candidate will provide –Accountability: Job role is independently accountable for staff and support arm of the Wood Group Dover (Lagos) Office. Basic Functions: Responsible for design, specification and services related to piping systems and piping layout including piping material selection, piping material line classes, standard and specialty piping components, pressure, weight and thermal analysis of pipeline systems, vibration analysis and pipeline support systems. Principal Responsibilities: With Local autonomy, establishes and maintains the technical standards within the discipline. Sets strategic and tactical direction with regard to policy/procedures, work force staffing, and budgeting. Participates in decisions regarding the acquisition and execution of engineering and/or Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) contracts, and supporting business acquisitions & preparation of technical proposals. This is a management level position with full responsibility for hiring decisions, staffing levels, budgets, salary administration, and career development of assigned personnel within an engineering discipline. May supervise several subordinate supervisors or team leaders, including discipline lead engineers on EPC projects.
Job Requirements
A broad range of Pipeline Engineering skills particularly in the oil and gas processing industry in both the onshore and offshore environment. Well versed with national/international standards. Be able to create results and a local organization in line with corporate vision, through sharing of engineering knowledge within the region and creation of the engineering people of the future in the African Region Good English spoken & written and clear communicator Excellent presentation skills:
Good Interviewing Techniques and Skills
Team Player
Excellent Coaching and Mentoring
Sharing Lessons Learned between Regional Projects
Local Negotiation and problem Solving
Focused Drive
Emotional Intelligence (Culturally Adept)
Trusted Influence
Systems Thinking
Willing to Travel (Africa)
No Visa Restrictions
15-20+ years’ experience in engineering (onshore and offshore projects)
Performing a similar role in the past an advantage and involved in developing of engineering offices from inception.
Knowledge of WGPSN/WG Management Systems
Licensed/Chartered Professional Engineer (advantage) with associated undergraduate Degree in Engineering.
How To Apply
Please quote job reference IRC in all correspondence relating to this position.
Internal applicants must discuss their application with their line manager prior to applying.
Online applications only – no email applications
You can submit your application online via this page. You can also access several other engineering job opportunities at Rigjobs.
This evening at a Wall Street Journal technology conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that in its first 72 hours, Apple Pay activated 1 million cards.
That figure indicates that Apple Pay is picking up traction outside of the technology, early-adopter set. Apple Pay competes with rival offerings from Google, among others, alongside traditional payment methods. Paying for goods with your smartphone, still nascent in the Western market, could grow quickly: Given smartphone penetration in the United States and other developed nations where this sort of transaction system remains new, Apple has the potential to quickly scale its new product.
The possible revenue for Apple is not trivial. The company picks up 0.15 percent of transactions, or 15 cents per $100 dollars in payments. That isn’t much on a per-transaction basis, but it could quickly add up for the company worth more than $600 billion. If its smartphone userbase adopts its Pay technology, the product could bring in fresh top line for Apple, a company looking for a new hit.
Of course, 1 million cards is a fraction of the total number of saved credit cards that Apple has via its iTunes and long-standing app businesses, implying that it could enjoy continued quick growth. How large its payment volume will grow in the meatspace remains to be seen.
What does your dream job look like? Does it include working for a globally recognized technology and innovation firm? IBM is about to make your dream a reality.
The tech-savvy company headquartered in US is looking to add a data solutions specialist to their branch in Lagos, Nigeria. Data Solutions Sales Specialist is responsible for developing Storage Brand/Product solutions that address client’s business needs (both industry and business) and delivers client value while supporting Storage brand specific business strategies.
Required
Bachelor’s Degree
At least 4 years experience in Unix Brand Sales in the Region
At least 3 years experience in Implementing Account/Territory Planning
At least 4 years experience in Leading Channel Development
English: Fluent
Preferred
At least 5 years experience in Unix Brand Sales in the Region
At least 4 years experience in Implementing Account/Territory Planning
At least 5 years experience in Leading Channel Development
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. You can apply directly for this job position on this page or read more about IBM here.
As usual, EwtNet is keen on bringing to your notice the most mouth-watering of all jobs openings. And what other company would you rather work for, other than MasterCard?
With the company seeing off competitions from Interswitch and Visa, partnering with Payoneer and extending their dominance in Africa, MasterCard has set sights on employing a new employee to play the role of corporate communications leader in Africa.
The jobholder will be based in Johannesburg, South Africa or Lagos, Nigeria, he or she will report to the Communications Manager: Africa. This individual will lead all communications functions across two divisions – South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa – including: External and Media Communications, Social and Digital Communications, Internal Communications, Corporate Social Responsibility and Event Management.
Responsibility
Tell the MasterCard Africa story at a global level, both internally and externally. This includes writing error-free, on-message content tailored to a wide range of audiences and channels including blog posts, newsletters, media releases, speeches, briefing documents, internal employee stories, social media posts etc.
Lead MasterCard’s communications strategy and media presence across Africa. Work with the Communications Manager: Africa, the MEA Communications Vice President, senior management, country mangers and business unit leads to devise and implement successful communications programs at local and pan-African levels, allocate resources and direct execution.
Manage MasterCard’s PR Agencies in Africa including day to day management, development of strategy, overseeing contracts and budgets, continuously scope for better vendors, etc.
Work with Marketing to put in place a solid social media communications platform to ensure optimized share of voice for MasterCard in social networks across Africa and effective two-way communication therein.
Manage major South African, Sub-Saharan and African events especially those attended by the Region’s President or by senior visiting executives like the MasterCard Africa Knowledge Forum, World Economic Forum Africa, African Banker Awards, etc. This includes creating high-level briefing packs, scheduling senior executive meetings, managing PR agencies, etc.
Lead and implement MasterCard MEA’s strategic and interactive employee communications and engagement programme in Africa, using all existing internal communications channels to ensure the company’s African story is well told within MasterCard.
Conceptualize, plan and manage employee events including year-end functions, team off-sites, town halls etc.
Lead employee volunteering efforts by identifying charitable causes, coordinating with NGOs and mobilizing employees.
Support the Communications Manager: Africa and MEA Comms VP to ensure structures, personnel (internal and agency), resources, workflow, and communications processes are in place to deliver a solid pan-African strategic plan against the SA and Sub-Saharan African business objectives and the MEA Communications strategy.
Required Skills & Expertise
Distinguished track record as a high achieving communications executive with a demonstrated capacity to build and execute communications programmes that support business growth within a dynamic and changing corporation.
Superb writing skills and the ability to simplify complex topics.
Excellent project management skills and the ability to effectively collaborate across countries and business units.
Team player who will work well with senior business and functional leaders of MasterCard South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Keen understanding of the African scene beyond just media and into culture, economy, socio- politics and development agenda.
Educated to degree level, with a minimum of six years’ experience in corporate communications – either in-house or at a public relations agency.
Journalistic experience an advantage.
You can apply for this job using the online job portal found here. Feel free to refer your friends to this page if you have anyone capable of fitting into this role.
On Friday of last week, Google boss Larry Page sent out a memo to staff that Sundar Pichai – the man responsible for Android, Chrome, and Google Apps, will be taking on the responsibility of even more Google products. These products include Maps, Search, Research, Commerce, Ads, Infrastructure, and Google+.
Page said that the move would help free up more time for him to focus on bigger projects, such as new products and strategies for the corporate, while Pichai puts his concentration on the already-existing business units. Such a move like this makes most believe that a move like this is putting Pichai steps closer to getting the top job of Google, and he will most likely be taken over the seat when Larry Page decides he’s done.
Pichai was born Pichai Sundararajan in the Indian city of Chennai (formerly Madras) in 1972 and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from IIT-Kharagpur in West Bengal, a Master’s degree from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After a brief spell at management consultants McKinsey & Company, Pichai held various positions at Applied Materials before joining Google in 2004 as a product manager. He originally focused on Google Apps but later took responsibility for Chrome and Chrome OS, too. After Andy Rubin left the Android team in March of last year to concentrate on Google’s robotics ambitions, Pichai also added the mobile OS to his responsibilities, and has been the public face of the division ever since. – history source from theregister.co.uk.
What do you think of this move by Mr. Page? Comment below with your opinions.
Today (10/26/2014) WeeShare! re-branded, it’s new name now “hubshr” and it’s new url www.hubshr.com. The changes began earlier in the morning, and were in active development up until late in the evening. The original post from the hubshr news blog: “WeeShare! will no longer be WeeShare! Hi, nice to meet you, my new name is hubshr. hubshr.com to be exact! … is what the website WOULD say to you if it COULD talk. Anyways, I’ve been wanting to do rebranding on the name of WeeShare! (now hubshr – remember!) for quite some time, so I decided to do it while it was still small. hubshr is also now a top level domain, we are now a .com! You can still access hubshr by using weeshare.ws but the main domain will be hubshr.com forever now. Along with this, our logo and icons have changed to – just a different name and font however. This re-brand was for our name and domain only; I will admit I was thinking about theme color changes as well but black is the color of sophistication and luxury: which is what I believe transparent and open-source social networking is like. So, enjoy the new name and ease of domain!” With that, the official Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ pages for the online service made changes. The homepage of the website was re-styled as well, with a new “modern” look (picture below). As another additive to the re-brand, the support of third-party videos was added to the website as well.
New logo
New singe-letter icon
The 1st promotional image for the new named service
The brand new homepage shows you the info of the service and a nice, quiet motionimage of New York City.
If your dream job is to work with Hewlett-Packard or HP, here is good news for you: The American multinational information technology corporation is looking for a technical consultant to take charge of its Printing and Personal Systems department in Lagos.
The company announced the vacant position on their official job site yesterday, hoping to find applicants with the following qualification:
Bachelor’s Degree in IT related discipline (graduation from 2013 onwards)
1 year of experience in a similar position
Ability to design and propose PC and Mobile client architectures and solutions for customers.
Current knowledge of computer client technologies, hardware, Operating systems, Deployment and Management solutions
Broader knowledge of the IT industry, technical directions and IT solutions.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Good presentation Skills
Good level of Technical English
Ability to search out knowledge and self-train.
Ability to build and maintain strategic customer relationships
The person in this position is expected to carry out the following responsibilities:
Provide technical in depth technical presales support to customers and sales team in multiple computing product and solution areas.
Act as trusted advisor to customers based on in depth understanding of the industry and the customer’s unique business strategy and drivers.
Build and develop relationships with key technical influencers, decision makers, and top executives.
Actively participate in ongoing account planning with the PPS salesperson in opportunity analysis, technical deal qualification and competitive analysis
Proactively promote, propose and help ensure delivery of computing full portfolio of products, solutions and services to customer and account team.
Maintain positive total customer experience (TCE)
Technically support sales account team in competitive tenders.
Support the sales team in creating and proposing the right solution and answering the technical sections and aspects of tenders, RFI and RFP customer requests.
Providing closed-loop feedback to product divisions.
Maintain and manage a competitive and appropriate level of technical and professional competence.
Regular reporting of activity and results.
You can apply directly for this job by visiting the job page. Click Apply and create a free account. If you have no interest in this job, kindly help a friend by sharing this page on social Facebook, Twitter or anywhere your friends are. GoodLuck!
It’s been over a month since Twitter came after Twitpic over the service trademark, threatening to remove the service’s access to Twitter’s API. Today, CEO Noah Everett has announced that they have reached an agreement with Twitter that will let them stay alive – but a mare survival.
And in a somewhat happy turn of events, Twitpic has announced that it has reached an agreement with Twitter to keep Twitpic photos and links alive, giving Twitter control over the domain and the full photo archive.
However, the agreement also states that Twitpic will no longer be taking any new photos or data and will exist in a read-only mode. Apps on the App Store and Google Play have been removed, but users will still be able to log in, delete content or the account itself, and export and/or download data.
This comes after a “roller coaster ride” of the past few months. In September, Twitpic founder and CEO Noah Everett announced that the service would shut down after Twitter came after the service over the Twitpic trademark, threatening to remove the service’s access to Twitter’s API.
“This came as a shock to us since Twitpic has been around since early 2008, and our trademark application has been in the USPTO since 2009,” Everett wrote in a blog post.
Shortly thereafter, rumors circulated that Twitpic might be bought in order to save the service and the data that lives on it, until Everett once again admitted defeat and announced that he had given up on finding acquirers.
It’s with a heavy heart that I announce again that Twitpic will be shutting down on October 25th. We worked through a handful of potential acquirers and exhausted all potential options. We were almost certain we had found a new home for Twitpic (hence our previous tweet), but agreeable terms could not be met.
According to the blog post from today, which you can read below, it seems Everett won’t be staying on at Twitter or Twitpic.
Today marks the end of a difficult battle for Twitpic, whether it’s a happy or sad ending.
First off I want to say thank you to everyone who has used Twitpic over the years and for your patience with us over the last couple of months. As you know it’s been quite the roller coaster ride. We weren’t able to find a way to keep Twitpic independent. However, I’m happy to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to give them the Twitpic domain and photo archive, thus keeping the photos and links alive for the time being. Twitter shares our goal of protecting our users and this data. Also, since Twitpic’s user base consists of Twitter users, it makes sense to keep this data with Twitter. What this means for Twitpic users:
Twitpic will no longer be taking on new photos or data (the site will be in a read-only mode)
The iOS and Android apps have been removed from the app stores and will no longer be supported
You will still be able to login to your profile to delete content or delete your account on Twitpic.com
You can still export and download your data / photo archive on Twitpic.com
This will be my (@noaheverett) final chapter with Twitpic, and again I want to say thank you for allowing me to be a part of your photo sharing memories for nearly seven years. It has been an honor.
Heads up! In what feels like a throwback to the late 90s/early 2000’s, Microsoft has discovered one helluva bug in Microsoft Office. Executed properly, the bug could be exploited to take over your entire system running just about any version of Windows.
You can find Microsoft’s full disclosure on the bug here, but here’s the bulk of what you should know:
This bug is being exploited in the wild, though Microsoft only knows of “limited, targeted attacks” so far
It affects Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows RT. XP isn’t mentioned as Microsoft no longer supports it — but yeah, it’s probably affected too.
If executed properly, the exploit gives the attacker the same permissions on your system as whatever type of user you’re currently logged in as. If you’re an admin, that means full admin rights — code execution, app installs, etc.
If you have Window’s User Account Control feature enabled, it’ll throw up a prompt asking if the file is okay to execute. If you aren’t 100% sure that the file is legit, avoid doing so.
The bug is part of PowerPoint’s OLE system, which lets you embed things like spreadsheets into a presentation. It’s supposed to be fairly well sandboxed; alas, it looks like someone found a gap.
Microsoft says that hacked presentations e-mailed to users and hacked presentations sitting on the web are potentially dangerous. The short version: avoid all but the most-trusted PowerPoint presentations right now.
So just how gnarly is this bug? Says Microsoft (emphasis ours):
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
But should you panic?
Nah. Do a few things things, and you should be safe:
1) Play it smart about what presentations you open
2) If you’re on a build of Windows that has User Account Control as an option, enable it (it should be on by default, in most cases.) This won’t fix the bug outright, but it’ll throw up a big permissions prompt that’ll remind you not to open mystery files.
3) Check out this advisory page from Microsoft, which offers up a temporary patch until Microsoft finalizes a security update.
Think about your first tweet. Mine was sent from a desktop, but I’m sure plenty of people sent their first tweet from a smartphone.
But before you can ever send a tweet, you have to sign up for an account. And, of course, you have to type out an actual message. Only then can you press that little blue Tweet button and begin your Twitter journey. The Queen, however, does things a bit differently.
In her first tweet, she promoted the opening of the Information Age exhibition at the Science Museum, signing the tweet with her official signature: Elizabeth R. The R stands for Regina, which is the Latin for Queen.
The tweet was sent from the British Monarchy’s official account, which has over 750,000 followers. At the time of writing, the tweet has more than 20,000 retweets and almost as many favorites.
It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R. — BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) October 24, 2014
There was some controversy over whether or not the Queen actually typed out the tweet herself, as videos of the occasion only show her strolling up to an iPad on a lectern, removing a glove, and pressing a single button. However, pictures taken before show her typing on an iPad. Still, TweetDeck shows that the tweet was sent from an iPhone, as you can see in the picture below.
The British Monarchy told the Verge that this discrepancy was due to “processology” (whatever that means), and insisting that the tweet was sent personally by the Queen. They even tweeted about it.
Personally, I don’t mind if the Queen has someone else type out her 140-character knowledge bombs. After all, Ashton Kutcher can’t even handle the pressure and he leads no empires.
