IT Executive news

• The POODLE flaw returns, this time hitting TLS security protocol

  08-12-2014 23:55
  
  Webmasters who patched their sites against a serious SSL flaw discovered in October will have to check them again. Researchers have discovered that the vulnerability also affects implementations of the newer TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol.The POODLE (Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption) vulnerability allows attackers who manage to intercept traffic between a user’s browser and an HTTPS (HTTP Secure) website to decrypt sensitive information, like the user’s authenticati
  
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• New owners of Nitel, Mtel, face a tough road to success

  08-12-2014 23:50
  
  It’s been a long road to the NATCOM consortium’s $252 million acquisition of Nitel and Mtel, but there’s also a long path ahead as the group tries win back public confidence and compete with private operators that have dominated Nigeria’s telecom market.The Nigerian government’s sale of the state-owned Nigerian Telecommunications and its mobile arm, Mobile Telecommunications, ends a decade of bickering over the sale of the company. NATCOM beat out other companies that were intereste
  
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• Full-Time IT Hiring is Gaining Ground, Finally

  08-12-2014 22:47
  
  The end of the year is sometimes seen as an ideal time to find a new job. You pick up your year-end bonus, enjoy the holiday parties, and then plot your exit for something new.
  This year, the odds of success in the job hunt appear to be improving for IT professionals with certain skills.
  The economy added 321,000 jobs overall in November -- and IT hiring was part of the upswing.
  David Foote, the CEO of Foote Associates, an IT labor analyst and research firm, said the number of new IT jobs st
  
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• Microsoft's Alt-OS Strategy Strikes Loyalists as Class Warfare

  08-12-2014 21:24
  
  Long-time Windows users may feel like second-class citizens as Microsoft continues to push its products and services onto alternate platforms, but the problem will clear up next year, analysts predicted today.
  "It's a question of whether Microsoft is sending a deliberate signal or just shipping things when they're ready," said Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research about Microsoft's new-found favoritism for Android and iOS. "The problem is that if you send a message to one group, you end up sending
  
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• Find 'Joe's turkey carving pics' with Facebook post search

  08-12-2014 21:20
  
  Nearly two years after introducing graph search, Facebook has added significant smarts to that functionality, letting users track down posts previously shared with them.Facebook users can now search for specific posts, including news articles, photos and videos. It’s a long overdue feature the company’s been working on since it announced the development of “graph search” in January of 2013.Graph search was conceived to let people search for content posted on Facebook using plain Engli
  
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• Power company plugs data center directly into high-voltage grid

  08-12-2014 21:10
  
  A power company in Arizona is building a data center that plugs directly into its high-voltage transmission grid, a first of its kind project that could cut the cost of providing compute services and avoid the need for unsightly new power lines.Data centers, like most other buildings, typically connect to the grid far downstream from where power is produced. But the utility in Phoenix, called Salt River Project, is building a data center at one of its power stations directly on top of a high-
  
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• Academics urge FCC to enforce net neutrality on case-by-case basis

  08-12-2014 21:00
  
  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should weigh in on net neutrality and encourage its sister agency, the Federal Communications Commission, to back away from calls to regulate broadband like a public utility, a group of 32 academics said.Instead of reclassifying broadband as a regulated common carrier, the FCC should look to the FTC’s antitrust enforcement practices and examine potential net neutrality violations on a “case-by-case basis,” said a letter from the academics organized by t
  
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• Users Will Soon Opt First for Smartphones and Tablets, Not Laptops and PCs

  08-12-2014 20:42
  
  There’s a persistent debate going on in the IT industry over whether smartphones and tablets will replace laptops and desktops in coming years, especially in the workplace.
  Market research firm Gartner on Monday issued a bold prediction that by 2018, more than half of all users will use a tablet or smartphone first -- instead of a laptop or desktop -- for all online activities.
  Gartner said all online activities, which seems a bit of a stretch when it comes to the workplace, where many com
  
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• Google wants Windows server applications to run on its cloud

  08-12-2014 20:35
  
  Google has made a series of announcements aimed at helping Microsoft customers run Windows workloads on Google’s cloud.Microsoft License Mobility is now available for Google Cloud Platform, Google said Monday in a blog post. This allows customers using SQL Server, SharePoint and Exchange on-site to migrate those applications to Google’s cloud without paying Microsoft additional licensing fees. This feature also applies to customers who hold a perpetual license, Google said. Using Microsof
  
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• The CIO's Top 3 Priorities for 2015

  08-12-2014 19:57
  
  I often hear how the emergence and rapid proliferation of new technologies makes a CIO’s list of priorities longer every year. In 2015 the biggest trend is the continuing digitization of the enterprise – the transformation of physical processes and business models into digital. This trend is driven by the rapid digitization of consumer habits and behaviors. For example, 65 percent of consumers today use their phones to research products while in stores, according to one study. This is on
  
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• Apple Shows Us Unrealistically Interesting Things to Do With iPad Air 2

  08-12-2014 19:52
  
  There’s always something funny about tablet ads that show people doing all sorts of unique and creative things with their iPads – Apple’s latest, released on Sunday, includes:
  Building an iPad into a motorcycle
  3D printing design (or something)
  Agricultural plot location tracking
  Making a surfboard
  Running some kind of diagnostics on a car engine
  Designing a tattoo
  Throwing a pumpkin off a building
  It’s hard to tell, but I think there are a few people in an ultra-brief shot toward th
  
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• Knowledge Vault helps CIOs stay in control of cloud-based email and storage

  08-12-2014 19:40
  
  For CIOs and IT departments that are concerned about losing control as more applications become cloud-based, analytics company Knowledge Vault offers some relief, starting with in-depth monitoring of Office 365 usage.The growing popularity of hosted services has started to change the way IT departments work. But one thing that remains the same is the need to keep track of who has access to what and how data is being shared, according to analytics company Knowledge Vault, which Monday general
  
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• Microsoft, Accenture try to ease the path to the hybrid cloud

  08-12-2014 19:25
  
  To help organizations better organize their cloud assets, Microsoft and integration firm Accenture have released a package designed to make it easy to integrate in-house IT operations with Microsoft Azure cloud services.The package is designed to “help enterprises more easily move into cloud technologies,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture chief technology officer. “Our large enterprise clients tell us the hybrid cloud is where they need to be. They need the combination of private and publ
  
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• UK court to review legality of fast-tracked surveillance law

  08-12-2014 19:20
  
  A surveillance law that was rushed through by the U.K. government will be reviewed by the country’s High Court to determine if it violates human rights.The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014, also known as DRIPA, was adopted in July by the U.K. government, after the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) invalidated EU laws requiring communication providers to retain metadata. The EU court said those laws seriously interfered with fundamental privacy rights. Since the U.K. law that
  
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• Robot Lends a Hand to Speed Up Mosaic Artwork Production

  08-12-2014 18:03
  
  You can hear the whirring of the robotic arm as you enter the office. They call it Arty, and it works nonstop all day, picking and placing colorful, smooth tiles into 12-by-12-inch squares. A worker stands behind Arty and feeds the tiles into the machine. Then he picks up each square when it’s done to shake all the tiles into place.
  This is Artaic, a Boston-based startup that manufactures beautiful mosaic designs similar to those made throughout history. But the way this company creates it
  
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• Startup Trustev Wants to Fix Internet Comments with Digital Fingerprinting

  08-12-2014 18:01
  
  Trustev's main business is in what it calls "digital fingerprinting" -- an anti-fraud technology for e-commerce that can identify known credit card scammers and block them so thoroughly and completely that they would need an entirely new computer to mess with the business. Would-be fraudsters get turned away, and real customers don't even know they're being screened. (Radio Shack already uses it to protect online transactions.)
  Today, Trustev is expanding its digital fingerprinting business
  
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• 'Agent Carter' Gets New TV Spot Ahead Of Premiere - The Fandom Post

  08-12-2014 17:48
  
  'Agent Carter' Gets New TV Spot Ahead Of Premiere
  The Fandom Post
  It's executive produced by Christopher Markus, Steve McFeely, Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Jeph Loeb. Plot concept: It's 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the ...
  
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• Attackers knock PlayStation Network offline for hours

  08-12-2014 17:25
  
  Many gamers couldn’t access Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) for hours on Sunday evening after an apparent attack against the service. The PlayStation Store was also reportedly affected.Sony Computer Entertainment America acknowledged the service disruption, saying via its official PlayStation account on Twitter that “we are aware of the issues some users are experiencing, and are working to address them.”Several hours later the company posted a new message advising users who had diff
  
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• Google Offers $20 Play Store Credit with Chromecast

  08-12-2014 16:26
  
  Google wants the Chromecast to be your one and only streaming stick this holiday season. The company recently launched yet another limited time offer to sweeten the deal for prospective Chromecast buyers. From now until December 21, anyone who picks up a Chromecast from Google Play or participating retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy will get a $20 credit for Google Play Movies.
  That's on top of the two other deals you can get if you buy your Chromecast from Google Play: two free months of
  
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• Court Sentences Ex-Apple Manager to 1-Year Prison Term Over Kickback Scheme

  08-12-2014 16:25
  
  A former Apple manager who pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks from Asian iPhone and iPod accessory suppliers was ordered to start serving his 366-day sentence in federal prison in February, more than four years after his arrest.
  Paul Shin Devine, 41, was also told to pay nearly $4.5 million in restitution, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag and other federal officials announced Friday. He must report to the U.S. Marshall Service on Feb. 19, 2015 to begin his jail time.
  Devine, a global supply man
  
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• Vodafone blocks Chaos Computer Club site, fueling 'Net censorship concerns in UK

  08-12-2014 16:20
  
  Vodafone UK isn’t letting its customers access the website of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), one of the oldest and largest associations of computer hackers in Europe.It’s not clear why the mobile operator has blocked the ccc.de website since late last week, but the CCC believes it’s because its site has been misclassified in the Internet filtering system used by Vodafone.Since its founding in 1981 in Berlin, the CCC has highlighted security risks in technology affecting a large number o
  
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• Samsung packs more speed, endurance into 850 Evo consumer SSDs

  08-12-2014 16:15
  
  Samsung is promising faster, more durable and error-free solid-state drives with 850 Evo, which are its first consumer storage devices based on homegrown 3D memory technology.The 850 Evo will come in storage capacities of 128GB (US$99.99), 250GB ($149.99), 500GB ($269.99) and 1TB ($499.99). The drives, which will be available later this month, can be plugged into SATA storage slots in laptops and desktops.The biggest advance in 850 Evo is the use of 3D V-NAND memory technology, which gives th
  
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• Samsung Adds 3D NAND to its Most Affordable SSD

  08-12-2014 16:13
  
  Samsung today said it has added its 3D VNAND technology to its lowest-cost consumer SSD, an advancement that raises the drive to a level that should attract gamers and power users.
  The new 850 EVO SSD is a follow-on to the 840 EVO released last year. The predecessor used 2D planar NAND, but the new 850 version uses NAND stacked 32 layers high in a 7mm height form factor drive.
  
  Samsung
  
  Samsung's new 850 EVO SSD.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• BrandPost: What Do I Do with My Azure Cloud Anyway?

  08-12-2014 15:44
  Every day, another PC Connection customer comes to us and asks how to leverage the cloud for one of their workloads. Our cloud team regularly works with organizations that are looking for a hybrid cloud solution to help them meet growing capacity requirements—often in an environment that’s already reached its maximum capacity. Outgrown, over-taxed data centers (and, in some cases, computer closets) have many IT professionals listening closely to what our experts are doing with Microsoft A
  
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• Top 10 States for Tech Workers Willing to Relocate

  08-12-2014 14:29
  
  Best States for IT Job RelocationsWould you move for your dream job? Dice.com reports that over the last year, more than 300,000 job seekers have indicated they'd be willing to relocate for the perfect job opportunity. But where are those opportunities? While there are some no-brainers on the list (California, for example) there are also some surprises (where's Washington?) Based on the number of job applications from nonlocal technology pros, here are the top 10 most desirable relocation states
  
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• Former Commissioner Neelie Kroes lands job attracting startups to the Netherlands

  08-12-2014 14:20
  
  Proving that there is life after the European Commission even if you are 73 years old, Dutch former Commissioner Neelie Kroes is to take on a role as special envoy for the startup scene in the Netherlands.After 10 years as a European Commissioner, Kroes will devote the next 18 months to strengthening the international position of startups in the Netherlands and persuading innovative foreign startups to move their businesses there. Her job is to establish the Netherlands as the best country in
  
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• Uber banned in Delhi after rape by driver

  08-12-2014 14:05
  
  Uber has been banned from operating any transport service in Delhi by the city’s transport department, after one of its drivers was charged with raping a female passenger over the weekend.Earlier on Monday, Madhur Verma, Delhi’s deputy commissioner of police, said the police served notice to Uber in connection with investigations of the rape.Verma said the police was checking whether the ride-hailing company had neglected in its background check of the driver, even as news reports claimed
  
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• Why Ad Tech Consolidation Is Good for CIOs

  08-12-2014 14:00
  
  In just a few short years, advertising technology has become one of the fastest growing areas in the tech world. There are now hundreds, maybe even thousands, of ad tech companies vying for a piece of the digital marketing pie, but few are self-sustaining businesses.The crowded space of startups building tools and solutions for ad management, analytics, targeting and optimization is ripe for consolidation. As companies run out of capital or drag on without appropriately evolving in this oppor
  
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• How to Pick the Best Browser for Your Enterprise

  08-12-2014 13:59
  
  Knowing which browser to deploy in a large company is no easy task. The default option is Internet Explorer, but many users balk at this older, more cumbersome browser that seems to attract the most malware. Google Chrome gets most of the attention these days (as proven by a growing market share) and Mozilla Firefox offers good compatibility and speed. To determine which browser is the best for business, it’s important to keep tabs of the latest improvements. Here’s a look at the Big 3 wi
  
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• In Threat Assessment, the ‘Who’ Matters

  08-12-2014 13:35
  
  We’re a bit perplexed by the attention being given to the hack of Sony Pictures. It’s not that the hack doesn’t deserve attention; it was potentially devastating from a business and operations standpoint, and companies that are hacked should not try to bottle up that information.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Why the iPad is Anything But Doomed

  08-12-2014 13:30
  
  Tis the season to dis the iPad. What’s going on exactly? How could a product that has been such a huge success, the leader of Apple’s march to the “post-PC” era, suddenly seem like week-old turkey leftovers?
  Over the past few years, the iPad has steadily expanded into domains traditionally dominated by laptops. The iPad is now the primary or only computing device for a significant segment of the mobile market. More and more, people on the go are leaving their laptops at home, taking
  
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• Cisco's Top 10 Innovations Over the Years

  08-12-2014 13:30
  
  30 years of CiscoCisco Systems turned 30 this month. Over the past 30 years, the company has been one of the most innovative companies not only in networking, but also the broader IT market. Cisco has leveraged its innovation as a way of moving into new markets and capitalizing on market transitions. Here are the top 10 Cisco innovations since its inception.AGS Multi-Protocol Router, 1986Cisco’s first product was actually the “Massbus-Ethernet Interface Subsystem,” an interface card made f
  
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• Wanted for Hire: Engineers With Ideas of Their Own

  08-12-2014 13:00
  
  It’s a playground for engineers inside the new offices of Cambridge Consultants.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• The 5 Worst Big Data Privacy Risks (and How to Guard Against Them)

  08-12-2014 13:00
  
  The collection and manipulation of Big Data, as its proponents have been saying for several years now, can result in real-world benefits: Advertisements focused on what you actually want to buy; smart cars that can call for an ambulance if you’re in an accident; wearable or implantable devices that can monitor your health and notify your doctor if something is going wrong.
  But, it can also lead to big privacy problems. By now it is glaringly obvious that when people generate thousands of d
  
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• How One Firm Makes Beer and Basketball Better

  08-12-2014 13:00
  
  Building its U.S. presenceUK-based Cambridge Consultants recently moved its U.S. headquarters to Boston, where it plans to expand headcount from 30 people today to more than 100 over the next three years. "We're looking for engineers of all different disciplines -- software engineers, mechanical engineers, electronics engineers, program managers,” said David Bradshaw, a director at the 54-year-old product development and technology consulting firm. Read on to see some of the highlights of the
  
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• Microsoft Office for iOS Reviews: The Ultimate in iPad and iPhone Productivity

  08-12-2014 12:45
  
  Microsoft’s new version of Office for iOS unifies the user experience across all devices—great and small—and opens the door to free editing and content creation, regardless of whether you have an Office 365 account.
  Our reviews of the new Microsoft Office for iOS suite, which includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, show how the ultimate productivity tools have squeezed onto smaller screens with surprisingly little compromise.
  Word for iOS: Word for iPad was (and is) an excellent iOS word
  
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• Digital SOS: How Technology Can Save the USPS

  08-12-2014 12:30
  
  Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night can compare with the challenges currently facing the United States Postal Service. Email continues to have a crippling effect on the centuries-old agency: The volume of first-class mail, or stamped mail, plummeted by 2.8 billion pieces in 2013.
  A congressional mandate requiring the USPS to make regular payments into its future retirees' health benefits fund contributed to a staggering $5 billion net loss in the government's last fiscal yea
  
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• Kakao Talk adds secret chat feature amid privacy worries

  08-12-2014 12:05
  
  Chatting on Kakao Talk will become more secure with a new hidden chat feature that has end-to-end encryption for all messages.Secret Chat is a chat room that requires messages to be read with a decryption key stored in a user’s mobile device, Daum Kakao, the South Korea-based operator of the service, said in a release.That means the messages cannot be intercepted by outsiders, even if they’re going through servers, it said.Users can initiate Secret Chat with others and keep them open even
  
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• Data From Wearable Devices Could Soon Land You in Jail

  08-12-2014 12:00
  
  While that fitness band or smartwatch you own may help you get in shape or never miss an appointment, the data it collects is now also fodder for criminal or civil litigation.
  In what's thought to be a first-of-its-kind civil lawsuit, a personal injury lawyer in Canada used data from a Fitbit wristband in an insurance fraud case to support his client's claims.
  Previously, insurance civil suits relied on physician examinations and not historical data collected from a wearable. Flickr
  
  Fitbi
  
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• Book Review: Brain Gain: How Innovative Cities Create Job Growth in an Age of Disruption

  08-12-2014 12:00
  
  There’s a new book out that could serve you personally, and might save your community at the same time. It’s Brain Gain: How Innovative Cities Create Job Growth in an Age of Disruption (2014) by Robert Bell, John Jung, and Louis Zacharilla.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• 5 Ways to Prepare for Internet of Things Security Threats

  08-12-2014 12:00
  
  For businesses and consumers alike, the Internet of Things is helping create smarter, more efficient devices. For enterprise IT and security professionals, it’s also creating a headache.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• 15 Essential Open Source Tools for Windows Admins

  08-12-2014 12:00
  
  15 essential open source tools for Windows adminsImage by iStockphotoMicrosoft admins seeking solid server-side tools know the mothership offers a mother lode of solutions for supporting Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, SharePoint, and so on. But for those with an eye on the bottom line or looking to branch out in supporting their Microsoft-based server room, plenty of free, open source tools from both Microsoft, via CodePlex, and third-party providers are available. Given Microsoft�
  
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• Facebook welcomes Chinese regulator to US, even as site remains blocked

  08-12-2014 09:40
  
  Facebook is still blocked in China, but its CEO Mark Zuckerberg was happy to welcome a top Chinese Internet regulator to the company’s offices, where he again put his Mandarin language skills to use.Lu Wei, the head of China’s Cyberspace Administration, was in the U.S. where he recently visited Facebook’s campus, a government-run news site said on Monday.Zuckerberg spoke with Lu in Mandarin Chinese, putting to work the same language skills that he showed off back in October in a recorde
  
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• Uber under scrutiny in Delhi after driver charged with rape

  08-12-2014 08:35
  
  Ride-hailing company Uber is under scrutiny in Delhi after police arrested one of its drivers for allegedly raping a female passenger.The Delhi police has served Uber a notice to join the investigations, Madhur Verma, deputy police commissioner, said Monday.The police are investigating among other things whether Uber was negligent in checking the background of the driver, including his license to run a “public service vehicle” as required by Delhi rules, Verma said in a phone interview.Th
  
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• How Does Three Percent Sound? - IT Jungle

  08-12-2014 05:35
  IT Jungle
  How Does Three Percent Sound?
  IT Jungle
  "It is useful for the IT executive who is preparing a budget for a CEO and saying. 'I would like a 3 percent increase in my salaries because this is what we need to pay to be competitive.'" Variations will occur based on geography, industry, and more ...
  
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• North Korea denies involvement in 'righteous' Sony hack

  08-12-2014 00:00
  
  North Korea’s government has denied any involvement in the attack on Sony Pictures, but in a Sunday statement indicated that it’s not necessarily unhappy that it happened.In a statement, the country’s powerful National Defence Commission, which controls North Korea’s armed forces, said it had no knowledge of the attack. The network of Sony Pictures was attacked two weeks ago and hackers have subsequently released gigabytes of corporate documents, some containing personal details on em
  
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