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The planned overhaul of the European Union’s copyright laws has been set back by a month as a public consultation was extended.
The European Commission had asked for feedback by Feb. 5, but following strong lobbying from all sides, has decided to extend that to March 5. The internal market department said that some interested parties had asked for more time to finalize and submit their contributions. The E.U. faces problems with the cross-border provision of services. Not all online services are available to consumers in all member states. In some instances, even if the “same” service is available in all E.U. countries, consumers can’t access the service across borders. “They can only access their ‘national’ service, and if they try to access the ‘same’ service in another member state they are redirected to the one designated for their country of residence,” reads a Commission document.
The consultation comprises 80 technical questions leading some critics to say that it is beyond the understanding of the average citizen.
Question 11 asks if the provision of a hyperlink leading to a work or other subject matter protected under copyright should be subject to the authorization of the rightholder. Question 12 asks if viewing a webpage “where this implies the temporary reproduction of a work protected under copyright on the screen and in the cache memory of the user’s computer should be subject to the authorisation of the rightholder.”
Other questions ask respondents if they have faced restrictions when trying to resell legally-purchased digital files such as MP3s or ebooks.
“It is a well known fact that these types of consultations are often only answered by the ‘usual suspects’, namely advocacy organizations that closely follow the copyright discussions and hence do not feel daunted by the extreme technical nature of the questions,” said Caroline De Cock, coordinator of the Copyright for Creativity Coalition (C4C).
LIBER, an organization that represents the library community, has also created a guide to help people answer the consultation. “Responding to the consultation is critical because its outcomes will affect anyone who works with researchers, or who cares about future library services and access to cultural heritage,” said the organization in a statement.
The consultation has since received thousands of responses. Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said on Twitter on Friday that there had been “strong interest” in the consultation.
He was scheduled to make a presentation on the subject on Wednesday, but that is now thought to be postponed.
Meanwhile the European Parliament is expected to formally adopt Tuesday a new law on collective management for copyright and related rights and multi—territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online uses in the E.U. Although the Commission says this Collective Rights Management Directive is a welcome step in the right direction, it says the consultation is necessary in order to further improve copyright for the Internet Age.
IDG NEWS SERVICE – Google Now is moving out of the lab and onto the desktop in the beta version of Chrome.
Starting this week, Chrome beta users can view Google Now “cards” within the notifications area on Windows, Mac, and Chrome OS. The cards should show up automatically if you’re already using Google Now on Android or iOS, and have signed into Chrome with the same Google account.
Google Now is a virtual assistant that tries to anticipate the information you want, such as the weather, traffic, travel details, and upcoming reservations. Much of that information is based on activity from your Google account. For example, Google Now can detect flight confirmations in Gmail and notify you about any delays; it can also look at your Web searches to infer what breaking news topics you’d be interested in.
The service first launched for Android in 2012, making its way to the iPhone last April as part of the Google Search app. There have been hints of a desktop version since early last year; last month, it finally launched as an experimental feature—not enabled by default—within Chrome Canary. While the feature rolls out to the Chrome beta channel this week, it’s already available through theChrome dev channel.
The arrival of Google Now is the search giant’s biggest step yet toward a convergence of Chrome and Android. Google has said that it won’t merge the two platforms anytime soon, but that it wants to have a more consistent experience across both platforms. Along that line, Google recently started letting Chrome developers create standalone Web apps for Android.
Having Google Now in Chrome could be useful for certain things, such as traffic on your upcoming commute or reminders of when to leave for your next appointment. But it could also be a nuisance for less important things such as sports scores.
If you’d rather not see Google Now notifications, click the bell icon in your notification area (lower-right corner in Windows, upper-right on Macs), then click the gear icon in the Notifications Center and uncheck the “Google Now” box.
IDG NEWS SERVICE – If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, might the folks in Cupertino be pleased when they see the latest version of North Korea’s home-grown operating system?
Version 3.0 of Red Star Linux presents users with a radical refresh of its desktop design, one that closely resembles Mac OS X. The new look replaces the Windows 7-like desktop that was used in version 2.0 of the software. The Korea Computer Center (KCC), a major software development center in Pyongyang, began developing Red Star about a decade ago. Version 2 is 3 years old and version 3 appears to have been released in the middle of last year.
The world has gotten its first look at version 3 thanks to Will Scott, a computer scientist who recently spent a semester teaching at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST). The school is North Korea’s first foreign-funded university and many of the lecturers come from overseas.
Scott said he bought the operating system at a KCC dealer in the capital city and the screenshots he provided were of the basic version 3 software without any modifications.
While most North Koreans are restricted from accessing the Internet, many can get access to a nationwide intranet through universities and public libraries. The intranet offers websites for domestic institutions and is heavily skewed towards offering information, educational materials such as PDF versions of books and scientific papers, and government propaganda.
Red Star Linux includes a web browser based on Mozilla that has been re-branded “Naenara,” or “My country.”
It also includes a copy of Wine, a Linux application that provides an environment under which Windows software can be run.
Is longer a secret, it’s been over a decade since Windows XP came into being. It’s true, time has changed; newer technologies has been introduced, even the guys up there are already getting tired of it. Yet, I want to stick with Window XP.
What you are asking for is quite a difficult one. Microsoft has already decided to end it’s support for the OS come April, 2014 and to continue using it, will open your PC to various security vulnerability. Psst! Listen to my brief advice and implement it with caution. I really understand why you might not be able to give up your Windows XP. Your business may depend on a specialized application that won’t run on Windows 7 or 8. Or you may not be able to afford a new PC and your old one isn’t powerful enough for an upgrade. Perhaps you’re just stubborn.
Reluctantly, I’m going to advise you on protecting a Windows XP computer after Microsoft’s updates stop. But I give this advice with a warning: This is not perfect protection. You’ll be better off giving up on XP.If you absolutely can’t or won’t give up XP, consider disconnecting that particular PC from the Internet. Use it the old-fashioned way: as a truly personal computer with no connection to the outside world. Then buy another PC or a tablet for email and browsing.
If that isn’t practical, follow these suggestions to make your XP computer more secure:
Get a full security suite: A simple antivirus program won’t be enough. Buy a heavy-duty suite with a two-way firewall and exploit protection in addition to antivirus. I like Kaspersky Internet Security, but there are several solid security suites, as we found in our recent roundup.
Get a second opinion: Now that you have a powerful security suite, don’t trust it. Augment your regular antivirus program with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free. Run it once a week to scan for malware that your suite may have missed.
Use Firefox or Chrome: An out-of-date browser is an open door for malware, and any version of Internet Explorer that runs on XP is very out of date indeed. But the latest versions of Firefox and Chrome can still run on your machine.
Protect your browser: Scripts are a dangerous malware delivery system, and the right browser add-ins can block them. And yes, you can tell the add-ins to make exceptions and allow scripts from sites that you trust. If you use Firefox, install NoScript Security Suite. For Chrome, go with NotScripts.
And remember that eventually, the security suites and browsers will stop supporting XP, as well. This can’t go on forever.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mHXbQ4PeNLI?feature=player_embedded On Sunday night, about 110 million people turned on their TVs to watch a series of lavish, expensively produced 30-second skits interspersed with live footage of men throwing a ball around. Fox Sports charged up to $4.5 million for each ad spot this year, with companies like Anheuser-Busch, Chevrolet, and Pepsi coughing the record-breaking figure. But one of the most notable ads was created by a 15-person tech startup called GoldieBlox, which makes engineering toys for little girls. The San Francisco-based company announced four days ago that it won Intuit’s Small Business, Big Game challenge, landing one of the year’s most coveted advertising spots.
(GoldieBlox’s Super Bowl ad also helps distract from its legal battle with the Beastie Boys, who are suing the company for using an unauthorized parody of “Girls.” The Super Bowl ad played a cover of “Cum Feel The Noize” by Slade that was, presumably, licensed and paid for.)
It’s extremely unusual for such a small company to advertise during the Super Bowl, but what makes GoldieBlox’s spot, which features a hoard of little girls turning their boring pink toys into a rocket and launching it into space, especially interesting is that it serves as an antidote to the outrageous sexism constantly on display in each Super Bowl’s commercials. Of course, it also gives Intuit a chance to boost its image without having to figure out how to make a commercial about tax software interesting.
It’s still too early to tell which ads will make this year’s list of the worst offenders, but based on Twitter reactions, SodaStream and Volkswagen are in the running to earn that dubious distinction. Here’s a list of last year’s creepiest spots, including Carl’s Jr’s desperate attempt to make fish sandwiches sexy.
Some consolidation in the world of mobile commerce. Monitise, a UK-based company that works with the likes of Visa to build and roll out mobile payment solutions, has acquired mobile commerce technology provider Pozitron for $100 million in an all-share deal. This is about inorganic expansion: Pozitron is based in Istanbul, Turkey and is most active in its home market and the Middle East, two regions where Monitise has been less strong.
Other acquisitions at Monitise to push geographic expansion have included Clairmail in 2012 for $173 million to expand into the U.S. market. It’s not the only one: in 2011, Visa acquired Fundamo for $110 million to expand into Africa and other developing world markets.
“This acquisition of Pozitron further reinforces our leading position as a global technology enabler at the heart of the Mobile Money ecosystem,” Monitise Group Chief Executive Alastair Lukies said in a statement. “It comes at a time when we are seeing increasing demand for interoperable Mobile Money services as payments become more digital by the day, not only in Turkey, Europe and the Middle East but also around the world.”
Mobile payments is still a relatively nascent part of the world of commerce. In the U.S., although there were some $4.6 trillion in transactions made in 2013, only around $150 billion were made via mobile devices, according to the Electronic Transactions Association. The thinking here is to tap into the already-strong market ($150b being nothing to sniff at) while positioning for a time when mobile will hold a much larger share.
Pozitron says that it works with some 30 enterprises in telecoms, retail and pharmaceuticals with Turkish Airlines, eBay, ING, BNP Paribas, GlaxoSmithKline and Hepsiburada.com (“Turkey’s equivalent to Amazon”) among its customers, along with a number of large, regional banks. For its part, Monitise says some 24 million consumers use solutions based on its technology, which lets them ‘bank anywhere’, ‘pay anyone’ and ‘buy anything’. Some $50 billion in transactions pass through its systems every year.
Pozitron, founded in 2000, is not your typical startup in Silicon Valley fashion: it had no venture backing (“no VCs” in the words of Monitise’s spokesperson) and is being acquired as a “profitable, debt free” company, but with only $3.8 million in cash. One of its biggest shareholders was it co-founder and CEO, Fatih İşbecer, who now becomes CEO, Middle East & Africa at Monitise. All 130 employees are coming over along with the deal.
It’s a very good news story for the startup scene in Turkey all the same. With the country seen as the doorway to doing business across the Islamic world, VCs like Earlybird are now jumping in with two feet: the Berlin-based investor recently closed a $130 million fund to back startups in Turkey and Central and Eastern Europe.
The details of the deal lay out that the $100 million will only be payable after three years: Monitise will pay £24 million initially based on Monitise’s closing share price of 66.5p on Friday 31 January, 2014, and will then give a three-year earn-out of up to £36 million based on achieving “aggressive” performance targets.
We got an information from a reliable source that IBM is currently looking for a program manager for Central East West Africa and North Africa Diversity. Applicants must attain the qualifications stated in the job details below.
Job description
The Diversity Program Manager has responsibility for engaging with the Country General Manager, HR Leader, the broader HR team and Diversity stakeholders to define the diversity business case; to formulate the strategy and oversee actions that deliver results in line with the global diversity and inclusion strategy; to understand and implement all Equal Opportunity (EO) compliance requirements that are in line with IBM global strategy and local country/region legislation. In this role the individual is responsible as the geo focal point for planning and hands-on executing on all global and local constituencies/ EO focus areas as they relate to CEWA(Central East West Africa) and NA(North Africa).
Key Responsibilities
To maintain a close relationship with the HR team on Diversity and EO related matters
Ensure the Diversity and EO Strategy is executed in line with Diversity and EO Function expectation
Provide Subject matter expert (SME) support to council executive sponsors for internal and external diversity meetings
Provide SME support for Diversity-related EO compliance requirements to local management team
Facilitate and support Business Resource Groups
Where applicable, manage and support the Global work-life fund dependent care programmes
Accountable for constituency/ focus area budget allocation /tracking/forecast and assessing return on investments
Accountable for Management Self-Assessment (MSA) submission and EO/business controls documentation. Ensure tight Business controls execution and to comply with IBM internal control requirements
Provide diversity metrics as required by clients with support from CEE(Central East Europe)/MEA(Middle East Africa) Diversity Leader
Develop a full-year Diversity event schedule in collaboration stakeholders
In collaboration with the region and country teams manage branding in marketplace including events, awards, advertising, board appointments, government recognition at an Country level
Ensure integration of diversity into all core HR Functions: recruiting, Business and , Technical Leadership, Recruitment, Learning and other Talent programmes
Requirement
Bachelor’s Degree
At least 3 years experience in Client management – to build collaborative relationships with key clients to drive positive outcomes for diversity and inclusion strategy in CEWA and North Africa
At least 3 years experience in Strong project and programme management techniques
At least 3 years experience in Implementing HR Programs and Policies and Strategies
At least 3 years experience in analysing financial reports related to diversity spending and analyse employee data as applicable to prioritised Diversity areas
At least 3 years experience in EO compliance legislation in CEWA and NA is essential. Demonstrated ability and experience to plan and execute Diversity-related initiatives to mitigate compliance risk
English: Fluent
Preferred Requirement
At least 4 years experience in Client management – to build collaborative relationships with key clients to drive positive outcomes for diversity and inclusion strategy in CEWA and North Africa
At least 4 years experience in Strong project and programme management techniques
At least 4 years experience in Implementing HR Programs and Policies and Strategies
At least 4 years experience in analysing financial reports related to diversity spending and analyse employee data as applicable to prioritised Diversity areas
At least 4 years experience in EO compliance legislation in CEWA and NA is essential. Demonstrated ability and experience to plan and execute Diversity-related initiatives to mitigate compliance risk
IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. 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.
Part of the problem with any powerful technology is how it is perceived. It might be something that is too early for its time or it may just need those years of development and use for the market to catch up to its potential. That is true of graph databases like Neo4j, which now has a new graphical interface that helps people map relationships between different people, places or things.
There is one simple way to think about graph databases, said Emil Eifrem, CEO of Neo Technology and one of the original developers of the graph database technology. And that is to explore how graph databases treat relationships as first-class citizens. The knowledge is all about relationships. When more connections are made, the view fills out. Graph databases find the relationships, the missing pieces that help form connections.
Graphs databases are still known by relatively few people, but they are gaining acceptance as the use cases increase. The reasons are clear when you consider how much data is now getting created. With that scaling comes a growing demand for new types of analytics capabilities.
Graph databases are becoming more popular for the varied amounts of data they aggregate and analyze. They treat everything as a node. That might be things like a street light or people. The properties of a graph database describe the nodes. A graph database also has “edges” that connect the nodes and properties, defining the relationship between them. The value is derived when analyzing the patterns between the nodes and the properties.
Neo Technology has put a heavy emphasis on the user interface to make it more accessible and easier to query and build graphs from large data sets. It took the developers 10 years to get to Neo4j 1.0, said Eifrem. They built it to be fully transactional and ACID compliant, meaning transactions are processed reliably. But it lacked a decent user interface. So that became the focus as they developed the 2.0 release.
In this new version, the goal is to make it possible for developers to create their own recommendation engines using visual guides and simple queries. Cypher, the query language, has been updated and streamlined, making it more accessible to someone like a business analyst. It also now supports labels that refer to subsets of nodes in a graph, introducing a form of schema into the technology. This means that the data can be indexed better, allowing the developer to tell the database more about the data. https://www.youtube.com/embed/qbZ_Q-YnHYo?feature=player_embedded
Snap-Interactive uses Neo4j to build social graphs that find the patterns in the data to recommend potential matches on dating sites. Graph databases also apply to network and data center management. A cloud infrastructure, for example, is a connected system. The shape of the data can help track the root cause analysis of a data center outage.
Neo4j is the most popular graph database, said Matt Aslett, a research director for data management and analytics at 451 Research. But these are early days and there are competitors like Objectivity and established providers such as Teradata that have layered a graph capability to its Aster database.
Orchestrate takes a different approach, Aslett said. They are doing it in reverse. They have a single API that allows the user to sync multiple databases with its service that has a graph capability. It does not layer on top of the existing database. Instead, it syncs with the existing database. In Orchestrate they get the graph capability, which is connected to the pre-existing database.
Time To Visualize
Data has been locked up in rows and columns on a spreadsheet for years but that has to change as we increasingly need to visualize what the data means. There is just too much of it for our minds to comprehend unless it is shown in some way through pictures and graphics.
The visualization in Neo4j helps show the relationships between different data sets that you can’t get by only looking at the code. This visualization capability is supported with Cypher, the query language developed by Neo4j. Each query represents an interaction that is shown in the visualization.
Traditional SQL engines are not meant to collect data and seek out relationships. They are instead designed more for transaction-oriented systems. Graph databases handle the loads with far more ease as they model, store and query the data. Everything is connected. A relational database will often deteriorate in performance over time as the data set grows. It may be a result of joined tables or queries that rely on joins. This can make it quite slow as opposed to a graph database that is densely connected and easily queried.
As sensors become more widely used in wearables such as Google Glass, the demand for graph databases will increase. It will be important to correlate the data from any number of sensors that might be in a house, a car or city street. There will also be the need to analyze increasing amounts of text from medical records, contracts, etc.
It will be a long time before relational databases ebb into oblivion. But their role is no longer universal. Graph databases are here to stay and for now Neo4j is setting the standard for the rest of the market.
“There is a tipping point but that will take some time,” Aslett said.
If you are residing within Australia, Nigeria, India, Russia or anywhere else around the world, wanting to own a U.S bank account or localized accounts in EURO, CHY, GBP and JPY. The Payoneer service is a secure and convenient service that allows you to send and receive funds globally.
This is nothing like PayPal or the likes. These are fully functional bank accounts in your name. You can withdraw your funds from an ATM or make payments online with your Payoneer debit card.
Payoneer debit card
As a resident of Nigeria (or any other country) you can own a U.S Checking Account that provides you with a US collection account that can be used to receive payments from US companies directly to your Payoneer account.
These payments can be withdrawn using your Payoneer debit card or used to make other payments online.
Payoneer Global Payment Service
Furthermore, Payoneer allows account holders to own, receive and make payments in other localised currencies using the Global Payment Service.
There are two types of receiving accounts:
Local receiving accounts – let you get paid by local bank transfer from companies in different countries as if you had a local bank account in that country. Receiving local accounts include:
USD Receiving Account (United States)
EUR Receiving Account (Europe)
GBP Receiving Account (United Kingdom)
CHY Receiving Account (People’s Republic of China)
JPY Receiving Account (Japan)
Wire (SWIFT) receiving accounts – let you get paid by wire transfer worldwide. You can use wire (SWIFT) receiving accounts to receive payments from companies located in countries where local receiving accounts aren’t supported.
Payoneer Debit Card
Payoneer allows you to receive ACH / Direct Deposit transfers from cooperate organizations such as eBay, Fiverr, Amazon, Upwork, etc. The debit card makes it easy and convenient to perform various transactions online such as purchasing or paying for services online and can be used in any ATM globally that accepts MasterCard.
You can request for a separate debit card for all your currencies. Depending on your location, your debit card is shipped between 2-5 weeks.
Setting Up your Payoneer Account
Creating a Payoneer account is easy. You can start by simply creating an account on the Payoneer website. But the easiest method to get your account approved and verified is going through a third party.
Co-operations such as Amazon, SeoClerks and Fiverr allows you to receive funds through your Payoneer account. Hence, providing you with a unique link to setup of your Payoneer account. In this tutorial, I will be walking you through on how to setup your U.S bank account and get your Payoneer card using Infolinks.
A scanned copy of a government-issued ID (any of Driving licence, Passport, National ID or Voter’s Card will be fine)
Setting Up your Infolinks Publisher’s Account
Infolinks is a media advertisement partner that allows you to share advertisement revenue by implementing the infolinks publisher code on your website or blog. If you don’t already own one, proceed to Gmail to create a free email account. Then visit Blogger.com to start a free blog powered by Google.
When all is set, proceed to Infolinks Publisher’s account setup, and enter your website/blog (e.g. website.blogspot.com) address in the specified input box. FIll the remaining info and complete the setup by implementing the Infolinks code on your website/blog (See how to add custom widget on Blogger to add your Infolinks code on the Blogger platform).
Request your Payoneer Debit Card
I believe you have already setup your email address and created an Infolinks publisher’s account. Now, proceed to your Infolinks payment setting:
Enter your contact details and click next
Select Payoneer pre-paid debit card as your payment method
Immediately beneath this area, you will find a notification box prompting you that no Payoneer account is associated with your infolinks account. Kindly, follow the Creat account link and fill the form at the Payoneer website. This process will require your email address and a government issued ID. If you do not have any of driving licence, national id or passport you can select National ID and use your voters’s card later.
Note: Ensure that your billing address is valid and correct. To be on the safer side, visit the nearest post office to get details of your mailing address.
At this point a confirmation message will be sent to your email. Sit back and wait for 2-5 business days for your Payoneer account to be reviewed and approved.
Once your account is approved you will receive a congratulation email!
Your Payoneer Debit card will arrive your mailing address within 2-5 weeks. Once you receive it, you can proceed to your Payoneer account to view your status and activate your card.
Setting Up your U.S Bank Account
A free U.S checking account will be created for you the moment your debit card request is approved. This account is used to receive payments from US companies directly to your Payoneer account.
Check your email inbox for an email from [email protected] containing the following message:
Dear FirstName,
Welcome to the Payoneer US Payment Service.
This service provides you with a US collection account that can be used to receive payments from US companies directly to your Payoneer account!
Your US Payment Service information: BANK NAME: Bank Of America ACCOUNT TYPE: CHECKING ACCOUNT #: ***-***-***-***-***-*** ABA # (Bank Routing Number): ####-##### Please Note: Your US Payment Service has not yet been verified. In order to ensure that payments you receive are funded to your account without delay, you’ll need to verify your service by completing the following steps:
Click here to complete the US Payment Service Questionnaire Click here to submit a copy of your government-issued photo ID
Kindly, follow the links provided in the email to submit your US Payment Questionnaire and a scanned copy of your government-issued photo ID respectively.
Wait for a message similar to this one:
Congratulations! Your U.S Bank Account is ready to be used. You can use this account to receive funds from various U.S co-operation including Paypal and Amazon.
Need Help?
If you want us to help you setup your U.S Checking Account or request for a Payoneer debit card. Contact us here.
The global innovation company headquartered in Armonk, NY is looking for an IT Specialist/Architect for it’s branch in Lagos.
The job is available for holder of Technical Diploma and equivalent. Full job details are provided below.
Job description
Lab Services IT Specialist /Architect Enterprise Content Management : SWG (Soft Ware Group)Services specialist with deep skills in one or more of the following areas : SWG Services specialist with deep skills in one or more of the following areas : WebSphere Application Server, MQ, Message Broker/WebSphere Enterprise Service bus (IIB) or equivalent product area, The person should have experience performing complex installations, Tuning, troubleshooting, architecture, solutioning, estimation, scoping, implementation, client communication
The candidates should executed a minimum of one project in any one of the above products or equivalent non IBM Product Should be willing to travel at short notice, will involve upto 50% travel Local pay scale Experience in banking and telco domain will be desirable
Responsible for the solution construction, implementation and systems integration, delivering high quality solutions to clients in response to varying business requirements. Tasks performed include integrating hardware, software, and network solutions. Identify project requirements, developing solution delivery, which may include vendors and subcontractors. Apply their IT Specialist skills in an internal or external customer billable services and implementation environment. IT Specialist – Technical Solutions Support Specialist Responsible for the support of solutions, implementation and systems integration, delivering high quality solutions to clients in response to varying business requirements. Tasks performed include integrating hardware, software, and network solutions. Identify project requirements, developing solution delivery, which may include vendors and subcontractors. Apply their IT Specialist skills to support the operation and maintenance of customer solutions. Responsible for providing IT services in a billable project/engagement or providing technical support in a sales organization. As an individual contributor or member of a team, performs a technical role in support of the solution construction, implementation, and system integration in a technology/industry specialty or product sales. The IT Specialist assists in delivery of high quality solutions to clients in response to specific business requirements. Develops technical skills and absorbs professional knowledge quickly. Performs assigned technical tasks including study, analysis, programming, product installation. The IT Specialist has specific product, technology, or industry-related specialized skills and works with proposals, requirements, designs, implementations and production projects/engagements. May use tools to analyze and implement portions of a customer solution.
Required
Technical Diploma
At least 1 year experience in Basic Understanding of the zOS Platform
At least 1 year experience in 1st line support to zOS customers
English: Fluent
Preferred
At least 2 years experience in Basic Understanding of the zOS Platform
At least 2 years experience in 1st line support to zOS customers
IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. 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.Apply Now or View Company’s Profile
Starting from December last year, Google has acquired at least six robots companies or companies creating technologies used in the development of robotics. The acquisition of Boston Dynamic (the creators of Big Dog) on December last year and the recent acquisition of DeepMind Technologies has made a few people to wonder about Google’s actual intentions for buying all those robots.
Former Google Android lead and current Google Robot Guru Andy Rubin‘s list of acquired companies reads a bit like a baseline robot kit:
While we are well aware of Google’s interest in self-driving cars, the robot end-game is unclear. Sure, you can build an army of C-3POs, but for what?
Well, robots are excellent at repetitive tasks, like changing the settings on millions of computers so that they have Google.com as their home page and Google as their default search engine. Would these Google Robots invade homes to make the change or would Google offer it as a service? Send us your computer and our robots will “fix” them.
No one knows. Until then, I offer you the comic guesswork above.
Microsoft’s cloud chief, Satya Nadella, will lead the company as its next chief executive, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Microsoft’s board is “preparing to name” Nadella chief executive, Bloomberg reported Thursday afternoon. Nadella, whose official title is executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, had been one of the front-runners in the race to replace current chief executive Steve Ballmer, who said last August that he planned to step down within a year.
But the board is also considering replacing Bill Gates as chairman of the company, Bloomberg reported, ousting the company’s co-founder and possibly replacing him with John Thompson, Microsoft’s lead independent director. If Gates is to go, as PCWorld suggested last year, it would remove two of Microsoft’s iconic employees from the software giant.
The problem with replacing Ballmer or Gates, is that no one executive at Microsoft has traversed the range of the company’s products, which include consumer businesses like the Xbox, cloud services such as Azure, the company’s Windows business, server and development services like Visual Studio, and an emerging mobile business, too.
Nadella, 44, is an Indian-born engineer with degrees in electronics, computer science (from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee), and business administration (from the University of Chicago). Nadella has worked since 1992 at Microsoft, and is credited with launching BizTalk, Microsoft’s Commerce Server, and Microsoft’s Office Small Business products.
However, Nadella is most famous for having overseen Microsoft’s online initiatives, where he transformed Windows Live Search into Bing. The market share for Microsoft’s search offering stands at 18.2 percent, according to Microsoft’s recent earnings.
One problem that naysayers point to: Nadella has no experience as a chief executive, unlike internal rivals like Tony Bates, who ran Skype, and external candidates like Alan Mulally of Ford, who took himself out of the running in early January, saying he was committed to Ford.
So far, Ballmer’s commitment has been to a “devices and services” strategy. If Nadella is named CEO, its unclear whether he’d commit to that direction. On the other hand, his track record indicates that he can fulfill at least one half of that strategy.
Zynga plans to buy U.K.-based game developer NaturalMotion for about $527 million while cutting 15 percent of its own workforce.
The San Francisco-based Internet game company said it is buying NaturalMotion for hit games including CSR Racing and Clumsy Ninja. It will pay $391 million in cash, plus about 39.8 million shares, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.
Zynga’s shares closed Thursday at $3.56, making the shares worth about $142 million.
Zynga will also cut 314 employees to help reduce costs and focus its work, CEO Don Mattrick wrote in a blog post. The company “wanted to create strong, dedicated teams that could succeed at the right size in relation to 2014 and beyond,” he wrote.
Zynga, founded in 2007, made its name with the casual Internet games Farmville and Words With Friends and went public in 2011. But last July, Zynga said it had lost almost half its daily game players and would get “back to basics.” Mattrick replaced founder Mark Pincus as CEO, though Pincus remains chairman. A layoff announced last June affected 520 employees.
Also on Thursday, Zynga reported revenue of $176 million for the fourth quarter of last year, down from $311 million in the same quarter a year earlier. That resulted in a loss of about $25 million, or $0.03 per share. The company narrowed its loss from nearly $37 million a year earlier.
Privately held NaturalMotion is based in Oxford, England, and has offices in London and San Francisco.
Have your friends recently texted you about spam originating from your Yahoo Mail account? If so, that may be because you (and many of your friends) were hacked.
Yahoo acknowledged Thursday that attackers now own an undisclosed number of usernames and passwords to Yahoo Mail accounts. In a blog post, Jay Rossiter, the senior vice president in charge of Yahoo’s platforms and personalization products, wrote that the attackers had most likely hacked an external, third-party database and obtained the information there.
“We regret this has happened and want to assure our users that we take the security of their data very seriously,” Rossiter wrote.
Yahoo did not say how many accounts had been compromised, nor when the attacks had taken place. However, the company says it began notifying users that the attacks had taken place, and had begun using second sign-in verification to allow users to re-secure their accounts. Users who have been affected, unsurprisingly, will be asked to change their password, and may receive an SMS text to that effect, Yahoo said.
Yahoo said that it was working with federal law enforcement to find the culprits and would take further precautions to prevent this from happening again.
Finally, Rossiter stated the obvious: “In addition to adopting better password practices by changing your password regularly and using different variations of symbols and characters, users should never use the same password on multiple sites or services,” he wrote. “Using the same password on multiple sites or services makes users particularly vulnerable to these types of attacks.”
In December, Yahoo Mail went down for several days, stranding about 1 million users of the service without email—or word from the company. While the outage began on Monday, it was Friday before CEO Marissa Mayer apologized on behalf of the company.
However, this week Mayer touted Yahoo Mail and services like Flickr as “a strong foundation for revenue growth,” even as that revenue fell by 6 percent compared with a year ago.
Ericsson a popular telecom operator in Nigeria, the world’s leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators and the leader in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile technologies has thrown the door wide open to job seekers who are searching for a secured and reliable job offer.
The Job seeker within Nigeria must meet the requirements stated below to earn a chance to work with Ericsson Nigeria as Sourcing Category Manager Job stage 6.
Job Details
Req ID: 5541
Job Summary
The Sourcing Category Manager shall develop cost effective Ericsson wide category strategies that are based on cross-functional requirements and business needs in both Regions and Business Units. The Category Manager is accountable for supplier business intelligence, benchmarking practice and category market knowledge, establishing a cost effective and competitive market place that optimizes Ericsson’s supplier business. The role is also responsible for the Preferred Supplier List and internal compliance to it. Through requirement alignment and opportunities from Sourcing and stakeholders, sustainable solutions fulfilling stakeholder requirements, policies, laws and regulations shall be secured.
Responsibilities & Tasks:
Define and implement cross-functional strategies
Define and secure implementation of a preferred supplier list
Define and implement applicable category targets
Create cost effective and sustainable category business solutions
Optimize category team performance
Develop the category business model and define best practices
Position Qualification
Core Competences
Leading and supervising
Working with people
Relating and networking
Persuading and influencing
Analyzing
Adapting and responding to change
Behavioral Competences
Commercial Acumen & Skills
Communication Skills
Ericsson portfolio knowledge
Facilitate diversity and awareness
Financial acumen and skills
Fundamental Leadership Competence
Knowledge sharing and collaborative skills
Leadership through cross functional networks
Market insight
Presentation skills
Team working skills
Minimum Qualififcation & Experience Requirements
At least 5 years of relevant experience
A first academic degree or equivalent qualification
Preferred Qualification & Experience Requirements
Business understanding
Change and Improvement Management Skills
Local laws and Regulation knowledge
Negotiation and argumentation skills
Sourcing practice, process and strategy knowledge
Note: Primary country and city: Nigeria (NG) || Other/Not Applicable || Lagos || SalesStratMkt&ComMgtApply Now or View Ericsson’s Profile
Techcrunch – Dell continues making bets on Android in its computing lineup with a new $129 device that brings Google’s mobile OS to any TV or display with HDMI input. The new stick runs Android Jelly Bean, also supports MHL connections (mobile high-def) and offers Bluetooth and mini USB for mouse, keyboard and other device connectivity.
In addition to onboard connectivity for Bluetooth, the new Dell Wyse Cloud Connect also offers 802.11n dual-band Wi-Fi and the standard Google Play store for Android software. It’s an enterprise and business focused device, however, and also has Dell’s Wyse PocketCloud software preloaded to help it act as a virtual terminal for remote computers.
This is, in effect, supposed to be the long-vaunted and sought-after thin client PC you can carry with you in your pocket that still manages to provide access to all your files, software and communications back home. Of course, that doesn’t mean it can’t also provide entertainment options to business travellers, since it’s capable of full HD output and should be able to easily run Netflix’s Android app.
That “multi-core” Cortext-A9 ARM SoC might not be the most muscular mobile processor in the world, but Dell does specifically tout its HD and 3D graphics abilities in its specs sheet. It has 8GB of onboard storage, and 1GB of RAM, plus a micro SD slot that supports up to 72GB of additional space.
Based solely on surface impressions, you could do far worse in a pocket computer for those gruelling weeks on the road if you’re a frequent business traveler. It’s interesting to see Dell move in this direction, effectively taking a page out of the playbook of devices like the Ouya and the Gamestick but cutting out all the nonsense and painting it with a business brush.
Weirdly, more than anything else over the past half decade at least, this makes me want a Dell computer. Go figure.
Motorola Mobility is being sold to Lenovo, in a deal worth $2.91B. Google is divesting itself of the handset division it purchased for $12.5B in 2011, but it will keep some of the assets — including patents.
“Google will maintain ownership of the vast majority of the Motorola Mobility patent portfolio, including current patent applications and invention disclosures,” says Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside. “As part of its ongoing relationship with Google, Lenovo will receive a license to this rich portfolio of patents and other intellectual property. Additionally Lenovo will receive over 2,000 patent assets, as well as the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio.”
When Google purchased Motorola Mobility, much of the discussion swirled around whether it was buying it simply to own a hardware pipeline on which to deliver its Android juice — or whether it wanted patents for protection. The answer, as is typical, lay somewhere in the middle. Though the Motorola patents never turned out to by incredibly effective winning solo battles against Google’s patent enemies, they did work as a part of a larger tactic which has seen Google aligning itself via cross-licensing with OEMs like Samsung.
One segment of the statement today by Woodside was interesting:
Since being acquired by Google in 2012, Motorola has transformed itself, focusing on solving real consumer problems and providing amazing experiences built on a foundation of pure Android. The result has been Moto X, Moto G, and a reinvigorated Droid line. Together, these devices have won over consumers and critics alike and helped re-establish the Motorola brand around the world.
Indeed, Google’s purchase and investments in Motorola did raise the flagging manufacturer’s profile significantly over the intervening years. They have several well-received smartphones on the market and have made a lot of noise about technology innovations in wearable computing and DARPA-think-tank-director hires.
TechCrunch – Yesterday Naoki Hiroshima, an Echofon developer, posted an article about how he lost his extremely short Twitter handle @N in an extortion scheme. Hackers compromised his GoDaddy account with social engineering (calling and lying to an account rep), gaining access to his email on a personal domain.
They said that they gained access via a similar call to PayPal, who the hacker claimed gave them the last 4 digits of Hiroshima’s credit card. They then used that CC info to convince GoDaddy that they were the owner of the domain, and reset his login information.
They used that data to leverage Hiroshima into giving them — under duress — his low-character-count Twitter user name @N. This, it turns out, was the point of the entire affair from the beginning.
PayPal has since investigated and claims that it never gave out Hiroshima’s credit card number or any other personal information — though it does acknowledge there was an attempt to get the info. So, that leaves a question about whether the hacker was lying about where it got Hiroshima’s card numbers — but it doesn’t change the fact that the hack happened.
And it leaves an even bigger question. The hack is pretty well documented and it appears evident that the end result was fairly straightforward extortion. So why hasn’t Twitter simply given Hiroshima his @N username back?
Twitter, for its part, will only tell us that it is still investigating the matter.
We spoke to Hiroshima about the ordeal, and exactly how it went down. He notes that it’s highly improbable for the hacker to have gained access to his account without credit card numbers somehow, and that they claim it was via PayPal. He also says that he feels he did everything normally expected to prevent this kind of thing, but that the methods used by the hackers side-stepped any additional efforts he might have taken like two-factor authentication.
“[Two factor authentication] can’t prevent this from happening again,” says Hiroshima. “GoDaddy allowed the guy to reset everything over the phone. As long as a company only uses the last 4 digits of a [credit card] to verify [identity], this will keep happening. They should ask multiple questions.”
GoDaddy has said that it is investigating but has not responded to a request for further comment.
The vector for the attack, in the end, was the weakest link in many security procedures: people. A well documented attack on Wired writer Mat Honan last year was predicated with relatively similar tactics. The target of Honan’s attack was also a low-character Twitter account.
The question about what can be done to improve security in these matters is a long-running one. There have been some changes like two-factor authentication being offered by more vendors — but sloppy procedures like allowing account resets with credit-card numbers (especially partial ones!) remain commonplace.
And the fact is that many of these ‘hacks’ don’t take any special technical knowledge. They just require a methodical and bold operator that is willing to pick up the phone and follow a script.
Hiroshima also notes that many of these systems are designed to make it easy to change things by phone, but nearly impossible to revert them afterwards.
“They should design the system so that reverting should be easier than changing,” Hiroshima says. “That the attacker changed something was something that can happen, the problem is, i couldn’t revert the change. If someone updated something and someone else said “no” immediately after, what’s the chance of the latter guy is the attacker?”
As far as why Hiroshima’s Twitter account hasn’t simply been ‘given back’ to him — the answer likely lies in the fact that he felt so threatened by the hacker’s access to his accounts that he ‘gave’ the account over willingly. Had he held out and waited for them to cause more damage or take over the account by main force or another feat of customer service manipulation — it would have been a much simpler matter. It would have been stolen and could be returned.
Now, because the account was ‘transferred’, it’s a much murkier affair and Twitter will likely have to do a more due diligence before it takes any action. So Hiroshima will probably get @N back, but it will take a bit.
It’s worth noting that Twitter appears to have banned the @N account at the time of this writing, so the gears are turning.
Techcrunch – TechCrunch has confirmed reports that Lenovo is buying Motorola Mobility from Google. This is the division within Google that the company purchased in 2011 for $12.5 billion. Motorola Mobility will go to Lenovo for $2.91 billion.
Of that $2.91 billion, $1.41 billion will be paid at the close of the deal. $660 million will be comprised of US cash and $750 million in Lenovo ordinary shares. The remaining $1.5 billion will be paid in the form of a three-year promissory note. Google will maintain ownership of the vast majority of the Motorola Mobility patent portfolio. Lenovo will still receive 2,000 patent assets and the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark.
According to a separate report published by Reuters, Lenovo is being advised by Credit Suisse Group while Lazard Ltd advised Google on the transaction.
“As part of Lenovo, Motorola Mobility will have a rapid path to achieving our goal of reaching the next 100 million people with the mobile Internet. With the recent launches of Moto X and Moto G, we have tremendous momentum right now and Lenovo’s hardware expertise and global reach will only help to accelerate this,” said Dennis Woodside, CEO, Motorola Mobility, in a released statement.
According to our source, Google wanted to dump the asset for some time. The company had to hold off selling the division for tax reasons.
Motorola Mobility’s performance has yet to live up to its purchase price. Since Motorola split and its consumer division went to Google, it has been a constant source of red ink. Motorola lost quite a lot of money: $248 million in the last quarter alone. Google sums this well, noting that the loss was “-21% of Motorola Mobile segment revenues.” Motorola lost $192 million in the year-ago quarter, so the trend here isn’t positive.
Google previously sold off the cable box division of Motorola Mobility for $2.4 billion.
This comes just weeks after Google purchased the hot hardware startup Nest. Since then, Nest’s role in the budding conglomerate that Google is turning into has been widely speculated about. With Motorola gone, Nest’s superstar team that includes many former Apple engineers seemingly has an empty playground.
It seems this complete’s Lenovo’s quest for an established cell phone business. It was rumored back in October that the company submitted a bid for BlackBerry. That deal clearly didn’t pan out.
Simply buying its way to the top worked for Lenovo in the past. In 2005 Lenovo purchased IBM’s personal computer division for $1.25 billion. That purchase alone caused Lenovo to be the world’s third-largest computer maker. But, using the established brand, Lenovo scaled the PC division to become the largest shipper of PCs in the world. In the last months of 2013 Lenovo overtook HP.
Just last week, Lenovo announced a plan to buy IBM’s x86 server business for $2.3 billion.
As the dust settles on this deal, it’s clear that Google took a large loss on its venture with Motorola Mobility. Google acquired an established brand with a vast portfolio of patents, a mature distribution system and a knowledgeable manufacturing arm. Even after pouring money and resources into the historic American brand, Google couldn’t make lemonade with Motorola. Maybe Lenovo, the now-leader in personal computers, will have better luck.
The recent series of internet modem dominant in West Africa and South Asia is the Huawei E303 Data Card. The data card has quickly being adopted by network service providers in those countries due to it’s high speed HSDPA/3G internet features.
Taking a closer look at your brand new data card will reveal that the IMEI is somewhat similar 86************ which contrasts with the 35*********** IMEI found on the older internet modems. This contrast is the major reason why you cannot calculate your unlock code using Universal MasterCode Calculator, old DC-Unlocker or any of the code unlocker you have used in the past.
In this tutorial I will walk you through the steps on how to unlock any of the recent internet modem, including MTN NG, Airtel NG, Huawei E303 Glo Bolt, Airtel E173 and Etisalat internet modem using DC-Unlocker. Huawei E303 Glo Bolt Internet Modem can be unlocked for free using this method.
Things you will Need
To begin the process of your modem unlocking, you will need the following items:
A working PC of course, with internet facility.
DC-Unlocker Client Version 1.00.1084 or later – Download now.
An account on DC-Unclocker with at least 4 credits.
After you have downloaded DC-Unlocker on your computer. You need to buy unlocking credits from their website. However, before purchasing unlocking credits, you need to confirm the number of credits required to unlock each modem.Unlocking E303 data cards should cost you 4 credits, but in the case of other models, you can check here to confirm the amount of credit needed to unlock them.
Unlocking Huawei E303 Data Cards
If everything is set, connect your USB Modem with the supported sim card. Allow the dashboard installation.
Disconnect to the internet and plug your USB Modem with a different provider SIM. And insert your modem to the USB port.
After some seconds, you should see a popup window requesting for the unlock code. Click the Cancel Button and exit the modem dashboard.
Locate and install dc-unlocker_client-1.00.1084.exe on your computer. Next, find the icon on your desktop and run as administrator.
Choose what “manufacturer” that your modem is. i.e. Huawei Modems
Click the magnifying glass, and it will search for plugged USB modems.
Once the modem is detected, Click on Server and enter your account details.
Go to Unlocking menu, and click on Do Job.
Wait till the unlocker program says that, unlock is successfully done.
Of course, you can use this method to unlock ZTE modems, all Etisalat, Glo, Airtel and MTN modems, just follow similar steps to the ones above.
Payment Worries for Nigerians
The payment processors available in DC-Unlocker’s are currently not supported in Nigeria and most countries. However, the company has dealers in over 50 different countries worldwide. The official dealer in Nigeria is Gurutech and charges N2,500 for DC-Unlocker credits.
If you have no intention of going through the so many long process involved in modem unlocking, or you cannot afford the N2,500 price tag from the Nigerian dealer. You can sit back and lets do the job for you. Click here for more details.