UK IT staff spared as RBS slashes costs

UK IT staff spared as RBS slashes costs

The Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to cut thousands of jobs as part of a restructuringthat will see it scale back operations and reduce operational costs by £2.5bn.

But UK IT workers could be spared as the bank focuses on its retail operation in Britain.

RBS reported aloss for 2008 of £8.13bn before write-offs, which are significant. The government has agreed to inject up to £25.5bn into the troubled bank.

There is speculation that the bank could cut more than 20,000 staff as part of its restructuring. RBS will now focus on the UK retail banking market, so the country will avoid the majority of cuts.

Read the rest of the article here.

-Ken

Single Google search uses 1,000 servers

Single Google search uses 1,000 servers

Google has reportedly admitted that a single Google search engine query uses 1,000 servers in 0.2 seconds.

The admission by Google fellow Jeff Dean, in a keynote session at WSDM 2009, may alarm those campaigning for greener datacentres.

According to Jeff Dean, while both search queries and processing power have gone up by a factor of 1,000 over ten years, latency has gone down from around 1000ms to 200ms.

Another significant change, said Dean, has been holding the complete search index in memory. This has resulted in 1,000 machines being used to handle a single query, compared to just 12 previously.

This revelation may be embarrassing for Google, which has defended its ecological record in the past, claiming a single Google query takes just 0.0003KWh of energy and that its datacentres are the world's most efficient.

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Facebook 'withdraws' data changes

Facebook 'withdraws' data changes

The founder of Facebook says the social network will return to its previous terms of service regarding user data.

In a blog post Mark Zuckerberg said the move was temporary "while we resolve the issues that people have raised".

Users had complained after new terms of service seemed to suggest Facebook would retain personal data even if someone deleted their account.

Originally defending the changes, Mr Zuckerberg had said it was to better reflect how people used the site.

He had said the changes were made to ensure that if a user deleted his or her account any comments or messages he or she had left on a friend's Facebook page would not also disappear.

Read the rest of the article here.

To follow on from this thread.

Schools complain about standardised BSF IT

Schools complain about standardised BSF IT

Camden School for Girls says its London borough's school building programme would have replaced its ICT with poorer facilities

The school, which is in need of physical renovation, was told that if it didn't sign up, the Building Schools for the Future deal for the whole borough would be delayed, reports the Guardian.

Anne Canning, the headteacher, said: "Without question we felt we had no choice. Partnerships for Schools (PfS, the government body overseeing BSF) would look for the next local authority, which was more attractive to market, we were told. The implication was, you can pull out, but if you do the whole of Camden will not proceed within this round."

The school has invested heavily in ICT since 2000. When it was told it would have to outsource its ICT to a private company managing a network for schools across LB Camden, its management wanted to know what the benefit would be to the students.

"We...

'Prison-like' conditions for workers making IBM, Dell, HP, Microsoft and Lenovo...

'Prison-like' conditions for workers making IBM, Dell, HP, Microsoft and Lenovo products

Chinese factory workers are working in prison-like conditions for 41 cents an hour to make computer parts for IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Dell, a report claims.

US organisation the National Labour Committee (NLC) found 2,000 workers at the Meitai factory work an average of 74 hours a week, for a base wage of 64 cents an hour. This drops to 41 cents an hour after room and board is removed.

The workers, mostly young women aged from 18 to their mid-20s, are not allowed to talk, listen to music, look around them, put their hands in their pockets, or go to the toilet unless it is an official break.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

Facebook's New Terms Of Service: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content.

Facebook's New Terms Of Service: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."

Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.

Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in...

Microsoft, Nokia offer app stores

Microsoft, Nokia offer app stores

The success of Apple's AppStore for iPhone and iPod Touch has prompted two major rivals to follow suit.

Handset giant Nokia and Microsoft have announced their own versions of the online markets for mobile device application software, or apps.

From May, Nokia's Ovi Store will offer apps as well as multimedia content specific to a user's location.

Microsoft's new "Windows Phones" will feature Windows Marketplace, launching in the last quarter of 2009.

Read the whole article here.

Compliments to GiddyG for the find

-Ken

Join New Zealand Internet blackout protest against insane copyright law

Join New Zealand Internet blackout protest against insane copyright law

New laws that arrive in New Zealand on 28th February mean anyone *ACCUSSED* three times of copyright infringement gets their internet connection disconnected. No court+jury required. In protest of this insane and draconian law, New Zealanders are doing a blackout protest - changing avatars to black, and websites to black.

If you have any form of copyright infringement you can stand to lose your Internet connection. That includes things such as Avatars for forums, which are so common and hard to find copyrights on sometimes. Also if your have any form of "Internet service" your an ISP, but what constitues an internet service? Apparently Schools, libararies, even sharing your net connection at home could mean your an isp!

What's more, under the new law, anyone who provides any form of services over the Internet is an ISP. That means libraries, councils, schools, businesses,...

Nigerian web scam bilked Utah out of $2.5M

Nigerian web scam bilked Utah out of $2.5M

Thieves apparently used a Nigerian-based scam to steal $2.5 million from the Utah treasury, covering their tracks by using intermediaries and a church address.

A Salt Lake Tribune review of the names listed in a search warrant as receiving or transferring money have names of African origin or connections to that continent. Michael Kessler, president of Kessler International, a forensic accounting and investigation agency in New York City, said the thieves appear to have used a simple scam that originated in Nigeria about five years ago.

The Utah theft is the first time he's seen a government victimized.

"Their IT people should have known better," Kessler said after reviewing a copy of the search warrant Thursday. "It sounds like any kid could have done this."

In one case investigated by Kessler's firm, thieves used computer software transmitted by e-mail to monitor financial information input by the chief financial...

Software and communication skills in demand

Software and communication skills in demand

Software programming skills are still in demand despite companies cutting back IT spending. But programmers must have strong communication skills if they are to secure work

Last week the monthly Recruitment & Employment Confederation and KPMG UK Employment Report saidkey programming skillsare in short supply despite a sharp drop in IT vacancies.

UK businesses need more permanent staff with .net, C#, and PHP, said the research. Temporary staff with CNC programming skills are in high demand.

The financial services sector, which has been hit hard by the recession, is still looking for people with the right skills, according to Philip Treleaven, professor of computing at University College London (UCL).

UCL launched a PhD course in Financial Computing this month. Graduates will carry out research using niche skills such as programming for algorithmic trading.

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