Facebook Overtook SouthWest Airlines as the Best Employer in US

Facebook employees think their company is a fantastic place to work. In fact, among users of the jobs site Glassdoor, Facebook was the top-ranked U.S. employer for 2010, scoring a rating of 4.6 out of 5.

Those smug smarties from Palo Alto (disclosure: my husband works there part-time, so I can say that with certainty) say they love the openness and cooperativeness of internal Facebook culture, according to Glassdoor (also the free food and commuter shuttles).

This is the first time Facebook has made the Glassdoor list. In second place is Southwest Airlines (which was last year’s winner), followed by Bain & Company, General Mills and Edelman, respectively.

As for other tech companies, SAS Institute placed No. 7, Overstock.com was No. 9, and CareerBuilder No. 11. Apple was No. 20 and Google No. 30.

Meanwhile, in more surprising news, Glassdoor reports that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is actually more popular now than founder Jerry Yang when he was in the top spot. Bartz has an employee approval rating of 56 percent, compared to 34 percent for Yang when he left.

Other comparisons: HP CEO Léo Apotheker has 62 percent approval, compared to Mark Hurd’s 34 percent when he left, and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has 71 percent approval, compared to Randy Falco’s 13 percent approval when he left.

The most popular tech CEO is Apple’s Steve Jobs, with a 97 percent approval rating. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Eric Schmidt are both at 96 percent.

The Top-50 List, here we go:

Best Jobs 2010 - Still a Great Time To Be In IT?

An interesting question that may somehow inadvertenly emerge from graduates' or freshman's minds, "What is the best job in the world?" The latest list from CNNMoney.com "Best Jobs in America 2010" offers some encouraging news which seems to be sufficient to respond to this question. There are great nuggets throughout this article and as a whole - the write-up shares a vast amount of information. Here are some highlights I cited out for the IT field:

• Software Architect is listed as the Number One job for with a 10-year job growth forecast of 34%.
• Database Administrator is listed as Number Seven job with a 10-year job growth forecast of 20%.
• Of the Top 100 jobs, 27 were IT-related
• Of the top 25 jobs, 7 were in the IT field.
• A variety of IT-related job roles are present on the list - security, development, consultant, engineer and many more, including IT trainer at #79.

Far more interesting stories in the following, more to name few: List of Top Pay Jobs, List of Low Stress Jobs, List of Society-benefited Jobs and so forth.

Check it out! CNNMoney.com

Alright, Should I be pleased as choosing the IT as the head start of my career? Hmm..maybe yes, maybe not. Stay tuned. :)

IBM High School Will Churn Out IT Pros

Earlier this week, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the City University of New York and IBM are creating a computer science-focused school in the city that spans from grade 9 to 14 (students leave with an associate's degree). The high school, which will be the first to go through grade 14, has a valuable guarantee for students: graduates will be first in line for jobs at IBM.

But graduating students will be equipped to do far more than work at Big Blue, says Stanley Litow, IBM's Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs. "The idea is to create a new [educational] model for science, technology, engineering, and math--areas where companies are aggressively hiring. If you look at hiring requirements, you won't see a huge amount of difference in a lot of entry-level IT jobs." So students will, theoretically, have the skills to work any entry-level IT position.

Students will be chosen to attend using the standard New York City lottery system--one third of selected students will be below grade level, one third will be at grade level, and one third will be above.

IBM will be directly involved in building the school's curriculum. Litow imagines that the company will bring employees into the classroom and offer mentorships for students and teachers, among other things. "The assumption is that we bring expertise to the table," he says.

Ultimately, IBM wants to use the materials developed at its New York City school in other locations--even in already-existing high schools and community colleges. "We would start with New York City, but will look towards developing materials in way that other school systems around the country could have access," Litow explains. Big Blue High: coming soon to a town near you.

Source: Fast Company

My Voice: It's really interesting to hear that one of the world most historical IT company dedicate itself into the education field to attract and cultivate more and more Greeks devote themselves into 'Binary World'. It merely the most simple and direct way to provide desperate youths who interested in the amazing computing world with the best study environment to dig into what they really love during the early age.

Zuckerberg Soars up Forbes List of Richest Americans

If Mark Zuckerberg had a dollar for every user on Facebook ... oh wait, he does. He has lots of dollars for every user on Facebook.

Zuckerberg's net worth surged by US$4.9 billion over the past year, to $6.9 billion, putting him at number 35 on the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans, which was released Wednesday. That was up from 135th place last year.

The Facebook founder's wealth was swelled by private equity deals that put the company's value at about $23 billion, Forbes said. His education is listed on the site as: "Dropout, Harvard University." Oops? Is it?

Zuckerberg wasn't the only person to profit handsomely from the growth at Facebook, which sailed past its 500 millionth user in July. Dustin Moskovitz, who left Facebook in 2008 but retains a stake in the company, is on the list for the first time, in 290th place, with a net worth of $1.4 billion. He's also the youngest person on the list, at 26. (Forbes says he's eight days younger than Zuckerberg.)

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin also made the Top 400 for the first time, with personal wealth of $1.15 billion.

Another Harvard dropout, Bill Gates, retained his place at the top of the list, expanding his wealth by $4 billion from last year to $54 billion. Larry Ellison has to be content with third place again, behind investor Warren Buffett. Ellison's Oracle empire has helped him to amass a fortune of $27 billion.

Other tech leaders in high places include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who share 11th place with $15 billion each. Steve Ballmer and Michael Dell each slipped two places on the list, to 15th and 16th, with fortunes of $14 billion and $13.1 billion, respectively.

The rich got richer this year overall, Forbes said. The top 400 earners in America had a combined wealth of $1.37 trillion.

By the way, the 'official' movie of the founder of Facebook will going to hit the box office soon , who are on the waiting list with me? Check it out: The Social Network :D

iPad refresh due first quarter of 2011 (Really?!)

Despite the usual denial from Apple, it seems as though they are on target to release the sequel to this years biggest tablet, the iPad.

Some of the Taiwan based component suppliers of Apple revealed they believer the shipments for the second-gen iPad will begin next year, according to DigiTimes. With that in mind, it would indicate to us that Apple will announce the iPad at the end of Q1 2011.

DigiTimes publication reported that four iPad suppliers, TPK Touch Solutions, Wintek, Cando and Chimel Innolux were in the process of completing validation by Apple for "ultra-thin, glass-based touch panels". With those terms used, it would seem that the next-gen iPad could've been on the treadmill this last few months and maybe lost some weight, maybe starting to look a bit thinner too.

There was a report a week ago, based on a conversation with an "Apple insider" that stated they were releasing a new version of the iPad for the holiday season. It would include a video camera for it's video conferencing over Wifi, FaceTime. The Apple insider added: "A version of the tablet device with a built-in video camera and support for the new FaceTime video conferencing standard has already progressed to the advanced testing stages, according to a person with proven knowledge of Apple's future product plans".

He also noted: "The publication also noted that "although Apple's historical product cycles would beg to differ, that person familiar with the company's plans claims that as of last month, there was an ambitious push inside Apple to verify the refresh for a possible launch ahead of this year's holiday shopping season."

Well, we all can sit here and debate the existence of knowledge about an upcoming product, with the millions sold in iPad's, Apple would be crazy not to release another. So the questions are, will it look the same? will it include a camera? will it be lighter/smaller? will it cook and clean for me?

The usual questions will be answered very soon. By the way, products' improvement always be a good idea to go with but not the case for a guy who just got his iPad in hot hands now @@ (Ok, it's me)

Source: TweakTown

Imagine Cup 2010 Finals: Malaysian Teams Are En Route to Victory

It might have took them lots of efforts to reach there but we are pretty sure that every single of those sacrifices are totally worth it. Our own Team HDC of APIIT- UCTI are currently in the running to win top honors and cash prizes worth thousands of Ringgit after being chosen as one of the grand finalist in Software Design category of the annual Microsoft-sponsored Imagine Cup 2010 Finals in Warsaw, Poland.

They were not alone though as other Malaysian teams that accompanied them to Warsaw have also been doing quite well in a number of Imagine Cup-related events. One of them is Team Hypo of TAR College who has managed to secure 3rd place in Windows Phone 7 “Rockstar” Award while another one, Team TEC4Life of USM is one of the six finalist of the Envisioning 2020 Award.

Team HDC will be presenting creation - a health and dietary application called Project Apple - for the last time this coming Thursday, in front of a live audience at Warsaw Opera House which will determine their final standings at the event. I would like to wish them good luck and all the best! Really desire to be one of them! I will strive for it next year! Imagine Cup 2010, wait for me!! :D

Malaysia Boleh? MAS shows us something A-OK.

While Apple iPad gradually floods everywhere of our life, something really ignite my mind with a question, is iPad really needed and useful? I think here is one of the proofs which show us that iPads have been popularly used in our Malaysia Airlines.

Let your fingers do the flying with MHkiosk

With MHkiosk, now you can access a full suit of services from Malaysia Airlines on the iPad, from booking a flight to finding out the status of your missing baggage. Taking advantage of the revolutionary iPad’s multi-touch screen and application designed for the device, the MHkiosk is easy and a joy to use.

With paperless booking and no administrative charges, it’s good for both the planet and your pocket too.

Features offered

• Book a flight
• Check in and choose your preferred seat*
• Find out your flight status
• Check flight arrival and departure times
• Check the status of your lost baggage
• Enjoy deals and offers exclusive to MHkiosk

MHkiosk snippets

Graphene chip could hit 1,000GHz, make your Core i7 feel totally inadequate- From MIT

8GHz (with the help of liquid nitrogen) not quick enough? Leave it to the folks at MIT to make sure your zaniest desires are well taken care of. As research forges ahead on graphene, carbon nanotubes and buckyballs (remember those?), gurus at the university have discovered a breakthrough that could eventually lead to microchips that make existing silicon-based CPUs weep. In fact, the research could lead to practical systems in the 500 to 1,000 gigahertz range. The magic all ties back to advancements on a graphene chip known as a frequency multiplier, and while the nitty-gritty of all this is far too complicated for the layperson to grasp, all you really need to know is this: finally, you can rest assured that you'll one day own a chip capable of handling Universe Simulation.

According to a report issued by the MIT news office last week, the research findings will be discussed in a paper in the May issue of Electron Device Letters. They also were described last week at the American Physical Society meeting by Tomas Palacios, assistant professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS).

Graphene is a form of pure carbon that was identified in 2004. It's essentially a one-atom-thick honeycomb lattice of carbon. Since the discovery of graphene, researchers at various institutions have been exploring possible uses for the substance. Palacios believes it will play a key role in future electronics.

While frequency multiplication technology is used in current electronics, these systems generate noisy signals and require significant filtering and power, according to the MIT news service. The graphene chip uses only a single transistor and its output is clean, requiring no filtering.

Palacios, the professor of EECS, said the technology could be commercialized in a year or two. The research is being funded by the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology and by the Interconnect Focus Center program, and is being followed both in the federal government and by private-sector chip companies.

Looking ahead, MIT's researchers are trying to develop a way to grow graphene wafers suitable for use in electronic manufacturing.

WordCamp Malaysia 2010 is coming to town!

If you are a blogger or have at least tried to blog before, the WordPress (WP) name should not be foreign to you. One of the most popular blog publishing software around, it has attracted so many users from all over the world; from first timers up to the likes of real world publication giants such as New York Times and ZDNet.

With such huge amount of users, it is natural that at certain point of time, these users would like to made contact and mingle around with each other. This is where WordCamp comes into the picture and for the first time ever, a WordCamp will be held here in Malaysia this coming 22nd May 2010 at Cititel Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur.

WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.

WordPress is an open source blog publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL which can also be used for content management. It has many features including a plugin architecture and a templating system. Used by over 2% of the 10,000 biggest websites, WordPress is the most popular blog software in use today.WordCamp Malaysia 2010 is jointly organised by Interunix, Grok, WP Design Studio & Kreative Themes

So, all bloggers and WP users, what are you waiting for? Log on to WordCamp Malaysia official website (http://www.wordcamp.my/) for more details!

(Source: Lowyat.net)

Maxis implements HSPA+ on its 3G network

Maxis announced that they are deploying High-Speed Packet Access+ (HSPA+) into its network that would enable download speed up to 21Mbps (theoretically). For a start, users in selected areas of Klang Valley and Johor Bahru will experience significant improvement in download speeds.

The new HSPA+ network will consist of High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA). Maxis claims that its HSPA+ network can support speeds of up to 10–15Mbps in environments with good coverage. But, the operator did not release any details on the upload speeds.

Maxis said that the new technology is available to selected users on a trial basis and will be widely available to Maxis customers during 2010, however the company did not disclosed the exact date. When we can get the faster internet service? Regarding the before experience, let's us wait and wait for it^^

A picture show that the improvement of the wireless internet broadband technology:

Nokia First Mini Notebook Unveiled!

Yes,prior rumor had been finally disclosed after the Nokia just unveiled their first mini notebook - Booklet 3G to the market on monday.

Coming with the immense technology potiential of Nokia,Booklet 3G can be a netbook with high-speed mobile broadband and Wi-Fi connectivity, and a GPS receiver.Nokia claimed that the Booklet 3G should run for up to 12 hours on one battery charge. It weighs 1.25 kilograms, has an aluminum chassis and is slightly more than 2 centimeters think.

Otherwise,like most other netbooks on the market, it contains an Intel Atom processor and will run Windows -- although Nokia isn't yet ready to say which version of the OS(I think mostly will come along with Windows 7).It also builds in with a HDMI port which support to output to the larger LCD with an outstanding graphic performance.

The company is clearly hoping to take advantage of its brand and its mobile phone distribution channels to compete in the cutthroat netbook segment, according to market research company CCS Insight.

Nokia said the move into the portable computing market is a natural evolution for the company. The launch of the device has been rumored for several months.

Already interested?It can't be hurry.Detailed specifications, market availability and pricing, will be announced at Nokia World on Sep. 2, Nokia said in a statement.Just stay tune and wait for it^^

NEC Computers - Become History Soon

The nowadays tough economic environment made a majority of companies closed their doors,stopped their sales,NEC Computers will be the next one soon.

Last week,the company claimed that NEC Computers will merely step by step withdraw from the international PC market from now untill July 2009.Obviously,NEC Computers will be disappear after July 2009 and we can't have the chance to buy any NEC Computers PC product on the market too.

More information can just refer to here.

India Starting their 10USD Netbook Program

India had started a 10USD netbook project today(3 February 2009) for improving their million students computing ability purpose.R.P. Agrawal,senior secretary of India high education,claim that 10USD netbook will be available on six months later.After the period of testing,the netbook will be surely selling at 10USD and it will be a great convenient for the parents to buy a netbook to their children.Otherwise,The India's government had already supported 0.9billion USD into this project.

However,the detail of the 10USD netbook is still rare now.According the rumor,10USD netbook will be have 2GB RAM and support for the wireless network(is it crazy?10USD include those?),but it is still a guess and the India had never reveal the original 10USD netbook look before.

How will be a 10USD netbook look like?Even a 4GB pendrive has expensive than it?No idea on it,seem like such a joke(As the OLPC,Intel's 300USD notebook programs all fail together,how can we trust this incredible 10USD netbook program?)~Haha! Let's look torward about it!

Say Goodbye to Seagate's 5years warranty

Seagate,the world's biggest memory storage manufacturer,just announced that the company will be making some important changes to its limited warranty terms for selected drives. The warranty period for consumer electronics (Seagate Barracuda 7200 included),notebook (Momentus 7200 and Momentus 5400 included) and personal storage bare drives sold to Seagate Authorized Distributors will be changed from 5 years to 3 years that will starting effect after 3 January 2009.

"We have identified the opportunity to offer our customers warranty terms that we believe are in line with industry standard warranty offerings, and that better align to the requirements of our partners and customers."the company says.

Seagate believes that the new warranty period and terms will better reflect current industry standards. Meanwhile,Seagate also claim that it isn't a step backward in terms of demonstrating their confidence in the quality of Seagate products.

However,Seagate enterprise class drives and Seagate and Maxtor external retail products that have 5-year warranty periods will not be affected by this change.Please take a look at the Seagate Warranty Matrix for more information.

In my opinion,actually this changes of the Seagate mabye mostly due to the tough economic environment nowadays.Cutting their product's warranty period from 3 years to 5 years will be take a big save for company.In addition,it is quite strange to the Seagate harddisk on selling market now.Originally,the most difference of Seagate and Maxtor(One of the hard drive manufacturer that under Seagate company) harddisk is their warranty period,Seagate had given a 5 years and Maxtor is 3years.But after change,there are totally same between Seagate and Maxtor hard drive.How do Seagate attract customer pays more for buying a same function and same warranty drive if compare with Maxtor?

CES 2009: IT festival!

Oooops..The annually International Consumer Electronics Show 2009(CES 2009) had already exhibiting at Las Vegas Convention Center,USA from 8 January to 11 January!

Every year of this time , there will be a flood of IT product had been release at CES.
Certainly,CES 2009 is not at all surprising,there are revealing a lot of revolution and cool stuff.
Still waiting for?I will step by step introduce they in the following thread!Just check out for it!

*[Continue]Sony will release new VAIO!

As continue my previous post that Sony getting reveal a new product , now Sony surely post up this news on its Japan official website(http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/).According this website,it has show a new promote theme on its index and claim that will come out a new VAIO mobile soon.It seem like that Sony new VAIO mobile will be a small size notebook such as UMPC and MID , we can really know that it can be put into a envelope(Oh?Copy from Macbook Air?)refer to its advertisement.I think that will be break up this "secret" on the coming CES2009.

iPhone Nano come?

This is the picture that show like a iPhone and iPhone Nano promote advertisement.
However,it is a picture that come from MacRumors-a website that talk about Apple news and it show that the iPhone Nano will reveal soon,mabye the MacWorld 2009 expo.

However,I think this rumor seem like a faith after here got a XSKN had already selling iPhone Nano Case.In addition,here also come a rumor from MacWorld UK and Daily Mail.The Daily Mail claims the new device will retail at up to £150 for pay-as-you-go customers and will be available exclusively from O2 in the UK.

“A cut down version, with the candy bar shape of iPod nano music players, would be a huge hit as a Christmas gift,” an industry insider told the Mail.

Here some picture for XSKN iPhone Nano Case:

There are so much of rumors that seem like true,how do you think?Will iPhone Nano will release?Anyway,hope Apple will no give a disappointment to everyone.

Undersea Cable Broken!Again～

“It is the second time this year that trans-Mediterranean cables to Europe have been cut, knocking out Web and telephone access for many in the Middle East. The earlier cut, in late January, was apparently caused by a ship’s anchor. The cause of the cuts wasn’t yet known. A French repair crew began fixing damaged undersea lines.” WSJ.com


*Click picture for enlarge~

Apparently, the underwater cables that carry most of our Internet traffic have broken again.

"It is thought that 65% of traffic to India was down, while services to Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Taiwan and Pakistan have also been severely affected.

Earlier this year, the same line was damaged in the same area - off the Egyptian coast - although only two lines were snapped then."

Twice in a year? That's got to be a new record. Repair works are already underway though, so expect the usual smooth flowing Internets back on track soon.

What thing will the SONY promote about?

Sony New Zealand website suddenly come out a count down advertisement:http://www.sony.co.nz/vaio/thewaitisover/
According the advertisement,it say that on the 9/1/2009 will reveal a revolution laptop and emphasize it will be a new product that let our change the way look at laptops.

It look like quite attractive news,what thing will SONY reveal?Lets look forward to it,only 16days ago~Hope it will no let every enthusiast disappointed.

AMD finally come to join Netbook market

After netbook release into the IT market , it had got a successful sales as its inexpensive and portability.However , among all the netbook that already available on the market,there are only build with Intel Atom N270 processor or some few unit with VIA processor.

Now,AMD finally really want to burst into Netbook market fight with Intel Atom on 2009 Q1.According AMD development roadmap, it show that new AMD netbook processor will call "Yukon" and it will control its TDP（Thermal Design Power) below 25W.It is the first try that AMD haven't did before.Beside "Yukon",AMD may continually release the next generation netbook platforms "Brazos" in the year of 2011."Brazos" platforms will contain a processor "Ontario" with a new core name "Bobcat".In addition,"Brazos" platforms will support DDR3 and PCI-Express G2 also.

AMD roadmap shows future Conesus and Geneva ultraportable chips

AMD Congo and Yukon ultraportable platforms

Furthermore,when come to 2011,AMD will decide release a totally new platform "Sabine" with base on "LIano"APU on notebook and desktop platform.Its chipset will support DirectX11,DDR3 1866 ram and PCI-Express G2 with a new SB900 southbridge chip.Refer to a AMD engineer say, this new platform"Sabine" will have a big increase in the computer graphic performance and more longer lasting than before when using at portable computer product.