Computer&internet

Google ranked world’s most attractive employer, again

Internet search giant Google has been ranked as the best company to work for by management and engineering graduates in two separate surveys, which term the company the world’s “most attractive employer” of 2011.

According to the survey conducted by global employer branding firm Universum, Google has been ranked at the top of its 2011 list of the top 50 global businesses and engineering companies to work for – the third year in a row.

The search giant has been dubbed the most attractive employer by more than 160,000 people from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, the UK and US looking for the right place to work.

“For the last three years, we have been seeing Google leading the pack and it will take a strong player with a clear talent strategy to steal this number one spot,” Universum Head (Research and Consulting) Lovisa Ohnell said.

The search giant is followed by auditor KPMG, where most B-Schools students want to work, while engineering graduates picked tech giant IBM as their second choice.

For engineering students, software giant Microsoft is the third choice, followed by car-maker BMW (fourth), chip-maker Intel (fifth), electronics company Sony (sixth), tech firm Apple (seventh), GE (eighth), Siemens (ninth) and consumer goods group Procter & Gamble (10th).

The other technology firms that were favoured by engineers are HP, Cisco, Oracle, Nokia, Dell, and Lenovo.

“The software industry is highly dependent on its human capital, hence the efforts to attract and retain the brightest minds in the world,” Universum Global Account Director Carlo Duraturo said.

“There’s a new working culture paradigm today – the relaxed and creative office – and part of it we owe to this industry. Generation Y feels very comfortable working in this new environment and it’s clearly reflected in the attractiveness of the software industry,” Duraturo added.

Meanwhile, in the list of top 50 employers for business students, KPMG is followed by rivals PwC, Ernst & Young and Deloitte at third, fourth and fifth spot, respectively.

In addition, B-Schools students seeking the best employer ranked Microsoft sixth in the list, followed by Procter & Gamble (seventh), financial services entity JP Morgan (eighth), Apple (ninth) and financial services major Goldman Sachs (10th).

Among the other notable names in the list, soft drink major Coca-Cola figured at 12th position in the list, while Citi occupied 29th place and beverages firm PepsiCo bagged 30th place in the list for business students.

“The talent market for business career-seekers is being dominated by the professional services firms, known for being great places to launch a career, and by companies that offer a new working culture in a dynamic environment,” Ohnell added.

However, irrespective of the rankings, the top 50 global employers for business and engineering students are very similar, showing that strong employer brands transcend many skill and industry groups.

Notably, financial service organisations such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are becoming more attractive to engineering career-seekers, while traditional IT companies such as Apple, Intel and IBM have gained ground in the business rankings.

Overall, US multinational companies dominated Universum’s list of the best companies for management (28) and engineering (26) graduates to work for. Germany is the second-most represented country in the list, with six companies named as management graduates’ top picks index and eight by engineering graduates.

Thai Prime Minister’s Twitter account hacked

Thailand’s first woman Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s ‘Twitter’ account has been hacked, a government spokesperson said.

According to government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng, Prime Minister Shinawatra’s account was hacked into Sunday morning, and the Information and Communication Technology Ministry is investigating into the matter.

In fact, Ms. Yingluck’s Twitter account has been used to post questions about her competence, particularly in regard to her handling of the recent floods that killed some 40 people and rendered nearly 1.5 million people homeless.

At least eight false tweets accused her of cronyism and various failures. One questioned her promise to give tablet computers to school children, suggesting she concentrate on education reform instead.

“This country is a business. We work for our allies, not for the Thai people. We work for those who support us, not those who differ with us,” another read.

The final post read: “If she can’t even protect her own Twitter account, how can she protect the country?”

Ms. Yingluck won a clear victory in July, but is accused by her critics of being a puppet of her brother, former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was thrown out of office in a 2006 military coup.

YouTube lessons

With the growing reach and popularity of the Internet, YouTube has much to offer learners. Besides a mind-boggling range of topics, tutoring is on a one-to-one basis. And it’s for free, writes GEETA PADMANABHAN

A techie group told me about The Khan Academy. “Check out the Salman Khan YouTube lessons,” they said. “This Salman engages students across time-zones without ever appearing on the screen.” I logged on.

Khanacademy.org has impressive stats. Some 77,331,379 lessons delivered, a library of over 2,400 videos covering everything from arithmetic and physics to finance, and history, with 180 practice exercises. There are brain teasers, tips on the credit crisis. GMAT problems? Check. IIT JEE? Check. Plate tectonics? Check. It’s a growing collection of very popular free lessons.
Khan Academy

With an impeccable Harvard and MIT educational background, Khan developed his tutoring hobby when a younger cousin was having trouble with sixth-grade math. It was a hit, requests grew, and tired of repeating the explanations for family and friends, he created videos and posted them on YouTube. These morphed into Khan Academy, a one-man show of videos posted from his bedroom.

Each clip lasts a digestible 10+ minutes. His disembodied voice (he never appears on camera) thinks aloud and writes the equations and arguments in differently-coloured script. “It feels like someone’s over your shoulder talking in your ear, as opposed to someone at the blackboard who is distant from you,” said Khan, once a “California hedge-fund manager by day and math geek by night,” but a full-time YouTube lesson-developer now.

Khan’s “voice-in-the-head” style of teaching may be a big draw, but the medium itself has many built-in pluses. It’s an attractive concept: short lessons that can be played over and over with P-in-P. A clever teacher can use YouTube lessons to advantage, starting from getting the students to listen. She can put together a playlist of YouTube videos on a single subject for continuous viewing, create quiz videos for instant feedback, make a “test review” video that students can study the night before the big test, and embed quizzes on a class blog or site so students can watch a video and complete the quiz at the same time. She can assign watching/creating videos as homework, giving herself the much-needed time to spark discussions in class. Completed assignments/discussions can be uploaded on the class YouTube channel, for future reference. YouTubers can implement something teachers have long recognised — there are many ways to explain a topic and there is more than one way to test student understanding. Imagine logging on to four different videos, all explaining the concept of number patterns in different ways. It is 1:1 tutoring.

Unlimited content, all free (YouTube.com/EDU). Some of the lessons are downright substandard, but you wouldn’t want to miss lectures from MIT, UC Berkeley and, of course, Khan Academy on differential calculus, quantum physics and introduction to Computer Science. Lectures from world-known teachers are accessible anywhere, anytime. For English usage, expressions and grammar, you’d certainly want to listen to Jennifer at JenniferESL. She gets my vote.
Some minuses

With more Internet users and broadband, YouTube and other video-clip (Google Video, Vimeo) lessons will become popular. But don’t discount the downside. Sound quality is sometimes poor, pronunciation and slang could put you off. Choose your videos well, and encourage teachers to create content that is tailored to your particular student community. There’ll be a big “thank you” from rural students when they discover the English learning possibilities on YouTube.

But the very reach of these free YouTube lessons should get us thinking. “Any video clip that shows “how” stuff works is usually better than just plain text,” said Datla V Reddy, GM @ KU Education Digital India, a U.S.-based company focussed on K-12 Curriculum Development, Learning Management Systems and Teaching Services. “It ensures that students get to see it visually, allows for better understanding and recall.” Some of them, like those from Khan Academy have achieved cult status, but should they be the sole way of learning? “They might blunt holistic learning as videos are usually one-dimensional and not interactive. Also in an uncontrolled environment like YouTube, there is no control on the educational accuracy of the video uploaded and hence may lead to occasional wrong learning,” he warned.

For a video lesson:

* Decide on a particular topic that your class would enjoy.

* Find YouTube URLs for videos on the topic.

* If you do not have an Internet connection in class, go to Keepvid, download the video to your computer for use in the class.

* Introduce the video in class. Distribute a vocabulary hand-out. Make sure to include the URL of the YouTube video.

* Watch the videos together. In a computer lab, students can pair up and watch videos repeatedly. Students can then work on the quiz sheet in small groups or in pairs.

* For homework: In groups of four to five students, students should find a short video of their own to present to the class.

Facebook redesigns profiles, adds ‘timeline’

Facebook is dramatically redesigning its users’ profile pages to create what CEO Mark Zuckerberg says is a “new way to express who you are.”

Mr. Zuckerberg introduced the Facebook “timeline” on Thursday in San Francisco at the company’s f8 conference for some 2,000 entrepreneurs, developers and journalists. The event is also being broadcast to more than 100,000 online viewers.

The timeline is reminiscent of an online scrapbook, with the most important photos and text that users have shared on Facebook over the years. It’s Facebook’s attempt at growing from an online hangout to a homestead, where people express their real selves and merge their online and offline lives. The timeline can go back to include years before Facebook even existed, so users can add photos and events from, say 1995 when they got married or 1970 when they were born.

Mr. Zuckerberg took the stage after a humorous skit, in which actor Andy Samberg impersonated him. The real Mark Zuckerberg looked considerably more playful and at ease than he has in past events, suggesting he is growing into his role as the public face of Facebook.

But he quickly got down to business as he introduced the timeline as “the story of your life all your stories, all your apps and a new way to express who you are.”

Expanding on its ubiquitous “like” buttons, Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook will now let users connect to things even if they don’t want to “like” them.

“We are making it so you can connect to anything you want. Now you don’t have to like a book, you can just read a book,” he said. “You don’t have to like a movie; you can just watch a movie.”

Google launches mobile payment platform

Internet search titan Google has launched ‘Google Wallet’, an application that enables users to make payments through their phone.

Google, which had first announced the application in May this year, said the application will initially be available only on the Nexus S 4G phone, with Sprint.

“We have been testing it extensively, and today we are releasing the first version of the ‘app’ to Sprint. That means we are beginning to roll out Google Wallet to all Sprint Nexus S 4G phones through an over-the-air update-just look for the ’Wallet’ app,” Google Vice President of Payments Osama Bedier said in the company’s official blog.

Google Wallet enables users to pay with their Citi MasterCard credit card and the Google Prepaid Card, which can be funded with any of the existing plastic credit cards.

Early adopters, who would set up Google Wallet on their phones before the end of the year would add a $10 free bonus to the Google Prepaid Card.

Besides, Google said it will add Visa, Discover and American Express to its payment system that could enable their cards to be added to future versions of Google Wallet.

“Our goal is to make it possible for you to add all of your payment cards to Google Wallet, so you can say goodbye to even the biggest traditional wallets,” Bedier added.

How to Choose a Badoo Profile Address

If you like meeting new people all over the world or in your local area, then Badoo is the right community for you. Badoo is an online community that first launched in 2006. You can share photos, upload videos, promote yourself, and share your life to other members on Badoo. The best feature is that you have control over your audience.

Instructions

• Know that you must be 18 years old. This is for your own safety because there may be some material on Badoo that is not suitable for individuals that are underage.
• Decide what email address you want to use. Pick an address that is valid–your email address will be your profile address on Badoo.
• Fill out the registration form. The form will ask for your email address, a password for Badoo that must be at least five characters long, your first name, your last name, gender, date of birth and location.
• Read the “Terms of Use” section. It is important that you familiarize yourself with the rules and regulations. Badoo reserves the right to change any material that they feel violates their terms at any time.
• Verify your email address. An email is sent to the address you provided when you click “Become a Member.” Badoo will send you a link in the email that will verify your information. Once the verification is complete, you are a member of Badoo.

Tips & Warnings

• Never give out your personal information to someone that you don’t know.

Are you looking for happiness then visit us Wisdom

How to Add Contacts at Badoo

Badoo is a great online community that lets you promote yourself to others in your local area and across the world. As a member of Badoo you may be wondering how to add contacts to your profile. Fortunately, Badoo makes the process very easy.

Instructions

• Sign in. Once you log into your account click “Browse.” This allows you to search other member’s pages. A blue box on the right side of the “Browse” page allows you to narrow your search. When you find someone that you want to contact, all you have to do is click their username to access their profile.

• Go to your contact page. Whenever you send or receive a message from a Badoo member, that person is automatically added to your “Recent Contacts” folder. The only thing this requires is that you make contact with someone or someone makes contact with you.

• Send and receive messages through Badoo’s messaging system. Access this is thorough a members profile or your “Recent Contacts” folder. A green box links you to the messaging system in each member’s profile. Click the “Chat with Messenger” link and leave a message. If someone leaves you a message, you can find a link in your “Recent Contacts” folder under each contact.

• Move recent contacts into a folder. Badoo will delete any contacts in your “Recent Contacts” folder after thirty days. If you want to save a contact, then you have to move them into another folder. You can use various folders on Badoo.

• Add contact to “Friends” folder. When you visit someone’s profile and you want to add them as a friend there is a link on their profile page. Click the “Add to Friends” link. Fill in the box that pops up and the contact moves into your “Friends” folder.

How to Create a Multilog at Badoo

Badoo is an online networking website that allows users to share your life with the world, or only your close friends. A multilog is the place you enter your information, post pictures and videos. Entering a new multilog on Badoo is easy, and you just might have fun networking with your friends and making new ones.

Instructions

• Register for a free account at Badoo.com and log into the website. Look for the “Create New Entry” at the top of the page and click on it.

• Enter a title that describes the entry. You will be able to make multiple entries to your multilog, which is very similar to what many people know as a blog. Therefore, you might make an entry to your multilog about a party you are throwing this weekend, or telling your friends about the vacation you had last month.

• Write your entry in the large box. Tell everyone all the details you want to include. Make it interesting and don’t leave anything out. If you set your multilog to “public,” many people will be reading it.

• Add pictures and video if you want by clicking the “Add Photos and Videos” link at the bottom. A box will pop up that allows you to select a photo or video that is currently stored on your computer.

• Click the “Create Entry” button when you are finished. On the following page, you can view your entry and the URL for your entry so that you can share with your friends. On the left hand side of the page you will also be able to see, at any time, how many people have viewed that entry during the current month.

How to Organize Badoo Contacts

London is the base of operations for Badoo, an online social networking community. It allows its members to socialize on a local and global level. As a member you can be in contact with various types of people. Organizing your contacts may be the best way to manage them.

Instructions

• Go to your contact page. Once you enter your profile page click the “Your Contacts” link. This allows you to organize and manage your contacts. You can also view who has been in contact with you.

• Create a new folder using the link on the right side of the screen. After you click on the link you have to give the folder a name. Badoo will save the folder and add it to the other folders under “Recent Contacts.”

• Move contacts around. Your contacts appear in the center of your contacts page. There is a drop screen to the far right of each contact. Use the drop screen to sort the contact into the folder that you want.

• Click “OK.” Another screen pops up if you select the first section of folders in the drop screen of your contacts. Fill the form out accordingly and then click “OK”. If you pick the second section of folders, the contact is automatically shifted to the selected folder.

• Sort your other contacts. Work through all your other contacts the same way as the previous steps. This will help you manage your contacts and keep track of your friends. If you accidentally move a contact to the wrong folder, then simply use the drop screen to the right of the contact and choose the correct folder.

 

How to Write a Badoo Entry

If you are looking to share your life with the world, then Badoo is the site for you. Members from all over the world post their profiles on the site in order to connect with other users. Share your thoughts by writing your own Badoo blog entry.

Instructions

• Sign in or sign up for Badoo. If you have never registered as a member, you need to do this first before posting a new Badoo entry. After filling out a registration form and confirming your email, you are ready to log in.

• Find “Create New Entry” at the top of your Badoo homepage. You’re then redirected to a very simple entry form.

• Give the blog entry a title and tell your story. At the top of the page, Badoo provides some writing suggestions, but you can post anything that you want.

• Upload a photo or video to include with the entry. You can make people feel as though they shared the experience with you by adding photos to your entry. You can typically fit a couple of pictures in your Badoo entry.

• Change your privacy settings. Before you submit the new entry, decide who can view your entry. You can allow access to members only, friends only or no one besides yourself.

• Edit or delete your Badoo entry from your profile page. If you want to see other members’ entries, visit their profiles.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember to check often for comments to your entries. You can also post comments to other member’s entries.
• Don’t post any raunchy or explicit pics with your Badoo entry. This violates the site’s terms of use policy.