1,500 Yahoo staff out the door by Christmas

1,500 Yahoo staff out the door by Christmas

Yahoo is expected to tell 1,500 mainly US employees today they will be out of work by Christmas.

The internet search company announced the layoffs in October as part of a cost savings plan after releasing poor third-quarter results.

Since then, managers have been working to identify exactly which jobs would be cut to meet the £244m a year savings target.

Affected employees will accrue holiday credits, receive benefits and remain on call until mid February, but will stop work today, according to Silicon Alley Insider.

Yahoo has suffered a $30m loss in value since out-going chief executive Jerry Yang rejected a buyout offer from Microsoft in February.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

MS Ireland blocks redirection 'hack' - eventually

MS Ireland blocks redirection 'hack' - eventually

Surfers attempting to visit Microsoft's Irish website via Microsoft.ie on Tuesday morning were greeted with a defaced page instead.

Hackers sprayed digital graffiti bragging that Microsoft Ireland had been hacked by the previously unknown "Terrorist crew". The message, which contains greetings to other hackers, as is the custom with defaced websites, did not arise through a direct attack on Microsoft's site itself.

Rather, the miscreants succeeded in somehow re-routing the redirection page from Microsoft.ie to the main site.

Read the whole story here.

-Ken

VMware to bring virtualisation to mobile phones

VMware to bring virtualisation to mobile phones

Well-known virtualisation software provider VMware is set to break new ground with virtualisation coming to mobile phones through the new VMware Mobile Virtualisation Platform (MVP.)
Using technology obtained in the acquisition of Trango Virtual Processors in October 2008, VMware MVP is intended to help handset vendors reduce development time, and to get their mobile phones to market faster. Additionally, VMware say, end users will benefit by being able to run multiple profiles on the same phone – for instance, one for personal use and one for work use. Fundamentally, VMware MVP is a thin layer of software embedded on a mobile phone which will separate applications and data from the underlying hardware just as VMware’s full-blown products separate operating systems and file spaces from underlying hardware.

The complete article is at...

Download limits to disappear

Download limits to disappear

Internet users will no longer have to worry about download limits thanks to new technology, it has been claimed.

Broadband expert Thomas Newton, from UK Web Media, said that data-intensive services like the BBC's iPlayer have been causing problems.

He said that customers have had 'to pay extra for exceeding fair use policies and, in some extreme cases, temporarily lose access to broadband services altogether'.

Read the whole article here.

-ken

Guns N' Roses internet marketers?

Guns N' Roses internet marketers?

Guns N' Roses may have released their first album in over a decade this year - but it would appear they have been working on their internet marketing skills in the meantime.

The Chinese Democracy album has been constantly delayed over many years, which led to drinks company Dr Pepper offering a free can of their signature brand to everyone in America if it was released in 2008.

It was, and Dr Pepper said it would go through with the offer, which would be available online - until its website crashed due to heavy traffic.

Read the whole article here.

-ken

IT departments confident of delivering their projects next year despite recession

IT departments confident of delivering their projects next year despite recession

UK IT departments are confident about the delivery of their projects over the next 12 months despite the economic challenges ahead, according to a survey of 500 firms from Cisco.

The research investigated the key IT objectives being set by businesses and assessed the challenges ahead in achieving those goals.

The study identifies "reality gaps" between aspirational goals and the ability to achieve objectives, by exploring the IT departments' alignment with overall business performance, and the concerns expressed by IT professionals in achieving their goals.

The findings show high levels of confidence from corporate IT departments, with 68% of organisations confident of meeting their goals in 2009.

Read the whole article...

IT directors fear their staff most when it comes to security

IT directors fear their staff most when it comes to security

No matter how many policies and training schemes are in place at firms, basic human error still poses the most likely threat to a company's IT security, say IT directors.

Network security firm Clavister commissioned a YouGov survey of 212 IT directors and found that 86% believed that the most likely cause of IT security issues came from their employees.

They said the reasons for this were down to staff ignoring, not being made aware of, or not being sufficiently trained on security policies, as well as making mistakes or committing industrial espionage.

The findings show that 31% of IT directors believe the most likely cause of IT security issues is staff consciously ignoring security policies, and 37% say they are down to human error.

Read the whole article...

Windows 7 Beta 1 available from January

Windows 7 Beta 1 available from January

Microsoft plans to release the first beta of Windows 7 http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/10/30/232947/microsoft-takes-the-wraps-off-windows-7.htm, the successor to Windows Vista, as early as next January.

Developers attending a series of US developer events from this month through to early February are being told in a blog they will get a copy of the operating system.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

Will a Linux Certification Help You Get a Linux Job?

Will a Linux Certification Help You Get a Linux Job?

Will a Linux certification help you get a Linux job? The answer is: "Probably." There are a host of Linux certifications. They range from the high-end Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) and Novell's Novell Linux Certified Engineer (NLCE ) to ones that are appropriate for entry-level Linux system managers, such as the Linux Professional Institute's entry-level LPIC-1. Each are meant to show that those who have them are Linux professionals of one level or another. How much help are they though when it comes from turning your Linux expertise into a Linux job? David Stokes, a certification manager for Sun's MySQL division, said, "I like to see the LPI or Red Hat certs but that is not a requirement. You do need to find out how many Linux/Unix systems they setup, managed, or have used to eliminate the home hobby-level candidate. Next find out how long, what level of experience, and what type of problems...

Did McAfee Drop the Ball?

Did McAfee Drop the Ball?

Three London hospitals whose computer systems were infected with a relatively old worm are now almost back online. Around 5,000 PCs at St Bartholomew's, the Royal London Hospital and The London Chest Hospital were hit in mid-November by an infection of Mytob, a worm that e-mails itself to other PCs and can be used to put other malicious software on a machine...The PCs did have antivirus software made by McAfee installed. McAfee, which received a sample of the Mytob strain infecting the hospital's PCs, said its up-to-date products do have the have the right signature to detect the worm. McAfee offered no comment.

Read the whole story at PCWorld.com.