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I love the band Styx in a non-ironic way. That's why I was delighted to stumble upon this curious
ukulele cover of Styx's "Come Sail Away" by Uke enthusiast Sirant who lives in China. He looks like
quite a character....br style="clear: both;"/ a
href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=bc81dc0ff80626037f32ba61a6841252p=1"img alt=""
style="border: 0;" border="0"
src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=bc81dc0ff80626037f32ba61a6841252p=1"//a img
src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=bc81dc0ff80626037f32ba61a6841252" style="display:
none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/
Baofeng Gets $15 Million; Chinese video software company that is “like the
Brightcove of China” gets funding round led by Matrix Partners China and IDG. (paidContent)
The FeedRoom Acquires ClearStory; white label video provider completes
acquisition of digital asset management firm. (emailed release)
Will.I.Am Tops Truveo’s Most-Searched List;Yes We Can the most
searched for viral video of 2008, Obama’s victory speech most searched live video moment.
(Truveo)
MediaFLO Looking to Expand its Mobile TV; company expects to get a boost from
the digital TV transition and is mulling moves to other platforms as well as branded channels
like Victoria’s Secret TV. (Broadcasting & Cable)
Actor’s Strike Won’t Impact OldTeeVee Like the Writers’
Strike; many TV shows are covered under the AFTRA union, which already has a deal with
the studios. (The L.A.
Times)
VCs Still Investing in New Media Ventures; despite economic downturn, money
still going to startups in the space, but investors want proof that revenue can be generated.
(TVWeek)
The Simpsons Skewers Apple; Lisa falls for all things
“Mapple” while Krusty complains you can’t watch movies on a screen that small.
(The
Apple Blog)
centerimg title="BenQ Joybook Lite U101 Netbook " style="MARGIN: 0px" alt="BenQ Joybook Lite U101
Netbook " src="http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2008/12/benq-joybook-lite-u101.jpg" border="0"
//centerbr / pBenQ joins the netbook game with its Joybook Lite U101, featuring a 10.1" display
with LED backlight, while the 16:9 aspect ratio ought to satisfy those who love watching movies
while on the go. Gotta love strides that netbook manufacturers are making, especially in terms of
screen size - 10.1" ought to be large enough for everydays tasks without ending up with a permanent
squint. The Joybook Lite U101 is available in Taiwan at the moment, and will commence shipping to
China from this week onwards. No word on a Stateside release though./p pPermalink: a
href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/12/benq_joybook_lite_u101_netbook.html"BenQ Joybook
Lite U101 Netbook/a from Ubergizmo (a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com"US/a, a
href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/fr"FR/a) | a href="http://www.uberbargain.com/"Good deals/a | Hot: a
href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/11/blackberry_storm_review.html"Storm Review/a/p
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They were originally created to a href="http://www.nfsa.gov.au/img/china.gif"maintain consistency
in color, greyscale, and fleshtones/a. Lab technicians a
href="http://www.juliebuck.com/portfolio/photos/girlsonfilm.htm"posed them/a, projectionists a
href="http://garagesalecineaste.blogspot.com/2007/04/china-girls.html"collected them/a, and the
general public a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6j5ZeZnZ8s"wasn't supposed/a a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmNyj3lyHm8"to see them/a. After they were consigned to
obsolescence by digital technology, they became a a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea-zdydsnZA"found/a a
href="http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/07.21/00-girls.html"object/a for a
href="http://www.geraldpeary.com/essays/ghi/girlsonfilm.html"artists/a and a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCp41Z6Brng"filmmakers/a. What no one can agree on is a
href="http://www.cinematography.net/OriginsOfChinagirl.htm"how they got their names/a. Ladies and
gentlemen, I give you a
href="http://accelerateddecrepitude.blogspot.com/2005/10/countdown-to-ecstasy-china-girls.html"China/a
a href="http://pullquote.typepad.com/pullquote/2005/09/flicker_chicks.html"Girls/a. br /
pimg id="image53250" src="http://img.xataka.com/2008/12/meizu-m8.jpg" class="centro" alt="Meizu M8"
//p pTras una larga espera que ha durado casi dos años, las primeras unidades del
strongMeizu M8/strong empiezan a estar disponibles para pruebas, y algunos blogs chinos ya han
podido testearlas. No se trata de l versión final definitiva, pues aún hay
algún problema de emsoftware/em, pero sirve para conocer sus especificaciones oficiales y el
funcionamiento./p pCon un diseño externo inspirado claramente en el iPhone, igual que el de
su interfaz que a
href="http://www.xataka.com/2008/11/24-meizu-minione-m8-demostracion-en-flash"pudimos ver hace poco
en flash/a, el strongMeizu M8/strong quiere ofrecer una experiencia similar a la del
teléfono de Apple, pero funcionando con Windows CE. Y por lo que cuentan parece que lo
consigue.br / !--more--/p pLa pantalla tiene un tamaño de 3.4 pulgadas y ofrece una
resolución de 720 #215; 480 píxeles. Es una pantalla de tipo multitáctil, lo
que le permite realizar gestos con ambos dedos para controlar algunas de las acciones del
teléfono. El teclado es similar al del iPhone, funcionando en span class="caps"QWERTY/span
en modo vertical, y, aunque es raro siendo un teléfono chino, no incorpora reconocimiento de
escritura./p pEl reproductor multimedia que incluye el strongMeizu M8/strong imita de nuevo el
interfaz del iPhone, pero dispone de soporte para muchos más formatos. Para audio es
compatible con span class="caps"WMA/span, span class="caps"WAV/span, MP3, span
class="caps"APE/span, span class="caps"FLAC/span, span class="caps"AMR/span y span
class="caps"AAC/span, mientras que en vídeo lo es con span class="caps"AVI/span, MP4, 3GP,
span class="caps"WMV/span, span class="caps"MPEG/span, span class="caps"MKV/span y span
class="caps"FLV/span./p pimg id="image53251" src="http://img.xataka.com/2008/12/meizu-m8-2.jpg"
class="centro" alt="Meizu M8" //p pLa cámara de fotos tiene una resolución de 3.2
megapíxeles y dispone de autoenfoque. Por los ejemplos que se han podido ver de los
resultados parece que su calidad, al menos al aire libre y con luz suficiente, es bastante buena,
aunque como en la mayoría de móviles flaquea en el interior y con poca luz./p pLa
cantidad de aplicaciones incluidas en el strongMeizu M8/strong no es demasiado alta y entre ellas
encontramos una calculadora, un calendario, un bloc de notas, un cronómetro y alarma,
además del navegador, reproductor, visor de fotos,... No hemos podido encontrar que
navegador web utiliza el teléfono./p pComo punto extra, la batería es intercambiable
y puede cargarse a través del puerto span class="caps"USB/span del ordenador. En contra, el
strongMeizu M8/strong no dispone de conectividad 3G, solo span class="caps"GPRS/span, y no queda
muy claro que incluya Wi-Fi, un fallo grave en caso de confirmarse./p pEstará disponible en
dos versiones, igual que el iPhone, una con 8 GB de capacidad y la otra con 16 GB, aunque
habrá que ver si Meizu es capaz de ponerlo a la venta fuera de China sin que Apple haga nada
por evitarlo./p pVía |Â a
href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=ensl=zh-CNtl=enu=http://publish.it168.com/2008/1129/20081129000101.shtml"it168/a./p
pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/OubRGEXNufjLksAmmPziuqEyTnY/a"img
src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/OubRGEXNufjLksAmmPziuqEyTnY/i" border="0"
ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a
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href="http://feeds.weblogssl.com/~f/xataka2?a=L5ipXj37"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/xataka2?d=153" border="0"/img/a /divimg
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/xataka2/~4/wtuNo4lhS5I" height="1" width="1"/
pimg src="http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/news2001/21304/2008_12_01_dk.jpg" align="left"
hspace="5"/China-based game developer NetDragon Websoft has announced that it has reached an
agreement with Electronic Arts to license the company's Dungeon Keeper IP for a 3D MMORPG. The
agreement includes all themes, characters and game content seen in the classic PC strategy game
released in 1997. As part of this agreement, NetDragon will develop the title, and also gains the
exclusive license to operate and distribute Dungeon Keeper Online throughout the Greater China
region, including .../p pmap name="google_ad_map_Xgq8Tn1U4H4CQfWOAXOaw5deV1g_"area shape="rect"
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coords="384,10,453,23"//mapimg usemap="#google_ad_map_Xgq8Tn1U4H4CQfWOAXOaw5deV1g_" border="0"
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Quote: The world's 'oldest' stash of cannabis has been unearthed inside a remote tomb in China.
The 789 grams of marijuana is thought to be about 2,700 years old and appears to have been buried
next to a shaman, according to The Star.
Favourable conditions means the stash still has its green tint, although possibly disappointed
researchers said its lack of odour told them immediately it wasn't still good to smoke. Metro.
div class="rxbodyfield"p page="1" class="ArticleBody"The#160;a
href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/11/26/Mumbai_terrorist_attacks_dont_deter_technology_companies-IDGNS_1.html"terrorists
that attacked various locations in south Mumbai/a#160;last week used digital maps from Google Earth
to learn their way around, according to officials investigating the attacks./pp align="right"a
href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?"
target="_blank" /img
src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?"
width="336" height="280" border="0" alt="" align="right"//a/pp page="1"
class="ArticleBody"Investigations by the Mumbai police, including the interrogation of one nabbed
terrorist, suggest that the terrorists were highly trained and used technologies such as satellite
phones, and global positioning systems (GPS), according to police./pp page="1"
class="ArticleBody"b[ Keep up on the latest tech news headlines at a
href="http://www.infoworld.com/news/?source=fssr"InfoWorld News/a, or subscribe to the a
href="http://www.infoworld.com/newsletter/subscribe.html?source=fssr"Today#39;s Headlines
newsletter/a. ]/b/pp page="1" class="ArticleBody"Google Earth has previously come in for criticism
in India, including from the country#39;s former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam./pp page="1"
class="ArticleBody"Kalam warned in a 2005 lecture that the easy availability online of detailed
maps of countries from services such as Google Earth could be misused by terrorists./pp page="1"
class="ArticleBody"Indian security agencies have#160;a
href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/05/HNgoogleearthsecurity_1.html"complained that Google
Earth exposed Indian defense/a#160;and other sensitive installations. Other nations, including
China, have made similar complaints regarding military locations./pp page="1"
class="ArticleBody"However the places attacked by terrorists last week did not come under the
category of defense or sensitive installations. The information available to the terrorists on
Google Earth about the locations they attacked is also available on printed tourism maps of Mumbai.
The locations included two hotels, a restaurant, a residential complex, and a railway
station./p/divbr style=clear: both;/ a
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0; border=0 src=http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=05da8174856c19751f01ee89cd33adf2p=1//a img
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Conocí a Angeles Espinoza hace bastantes años. Aunque bastantes veces no comparto
su opinión este
relato sobre el ojo por ojo en Irán me parece excelente. Además es una persona
increiblemente valiente. La ley del Talión es como una concepción diferente de la
justicia, la justicia como venganza. Creo que en el mundo existen tres tipos de entendimientos
sobre lo que es la justicia, la europea, que es la justicia como reeducación, la
norteamericana, la justicia como castigo, y la islámica, la justicia como venganza. Me
quedo con la nuestra aunque se que a veces produce enormes injusticias. Un buen ejemplo es la de
el caso de el violento que le dejan salir de la cárcel para visitar a su novia y mata
a ella, casi mata a su ex esposa y hiere gravemente a unos vecinos. Ese tipo no tendría
que haber salido nunca de la cárcel.
Termino con este increible relato:
Sentenciado a la ceguera con ácido
Un tribunal iraní ha condenado a un hombre que dejó ciega a una mujer al arrojarle
ácido a la cara a perder la vista de la misma forma. La sentencia, que puede recurrirse,
se ha pronunciado a instancias de la víctima, quien durante dos años fue tratada en
España de las graves quemaduras que sufrió.
Según la prensa iraní, Majid Movahedí, de 27 años, atacó con
ácido a Ameneh Bahramí en noviembre de 2004, cuando la muchacha, a la que
conocía de la universidad, rechazó su propuesta de matrimonio. “Quería
que fuera mía para siempre”, justificó el agresor, que no mostró
arrepentimiento.
“Sólo pido que el culpable corra la misma suerte que yo”, manifestó por
su parte Bahramí ante el tribunal. Aunque los cirujanos españoles lograron
reconstruir su rostro, la mujer perdió la vista. Si la condena se ejecuta, Movahedí
recibirá 20 gotas de ácido en los ojos porque a su víctima le parece
“salvaje” que le arrojen el líquido corrosivo como él se lo hizo a
ella.
La justicia iraní, basada en la sharía o ley islámica, aplica la pena del
talión en los casos de daños físicos intencionados y a instancias de la
víctima, que puede perdonar el castigo a cambio de una compensación
económica.
Las organizaciones de derechos humanos iraníes denuncian a menudo la crueldad de estas
penas, que en los últimos años se han hecho más frecuentes. El
sábado, el Tribunal Supremo suspendió una nueva condena a lapidación
pronunciada pocos días antes por un juez de Shiraz.
Lo que yo me pregunto en un caso así es quien es el empleado del gobierno iraní que
tiene que ponerle las 20 gotas de ácido en el ojo. ¿O es alguien de la familia de
la víctima? Es como el trabajo de verdugo. ¿Quién puede hacer ese trabajo,
ya sea en USA, China, o Irán y volver a cenar con su familia a su casa?
Chinese company, QiGi, is offering consumers one thing so many of its competitors don't: choice.
The i6 officially supports Android and Windows Mobile. Unfortunately, dual-boot isn't an option -
you have to pick one OS and stick with it until you choose to install the other. OSes aside, it
packs a Marvell 624MHz processor, 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM, a 2.8" QVGA (240 x 320) touch screen,
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 2.0-megapixel camera. Of course, you're probably never going to see
this one outside of China. Still, if you had such a device, which OS would you choose and why?
So I spent 100 bucks on a top of the line Griffin FM Transmitter for my touch. i'm sure you know
how it works: one end plugs into cigarette lighter in car and other goes into ipod. you tune into
the frequency it sugggests and bobs your uncle. I tried it out. Here's what i like:
1. ability to change tracks without touching the ipod. it has buttons on the cigarette lighter
charger piece to let you do thid.
2. it charges the touch
3. It has good cable length so if i have saved a road map on my touch, i can bring it up to face
level and have a quick look at directions
a little dissapointed with
1. i had a 4 year old ipod mini before the touch and used it in the car with a cheap 5 buck casette
adaptor from china. The sound quality of this is better then the fm transmitter. There is just more
oomph from it. The car has a good stereo system and i am 99.9% sure my fm transmitter is in perfect
working order (i.e. not a fault one)
In your experience, do casette adaptors provide better sound quality then wireless fm
transmitters?
I am still gonna use the fm transmitter over the casette simply because i can change tracks without
touching the ipod. And when i have a passenger in car i will use the casette adaptor so they can
change track on the touch
Thanks
Sonny
ps. don't reply with "what is a cassette" cos you will make me feel really old :p
psmallNick Farrell a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/"the Inquirer/a, Monday 1 December 2008.
10:18:00/small/ppi Australian Great Rabbit Proof Fence plans failing /i/ppTHE AUSSIE government's
plans to build a Great Internet Rabbit Proof Fence are floundering with even kiddie welfare groups
saying it is a jolly bad idea. The Aussie government thought that it would protect children by
mimicking the censorship antics of Communist China but, much to its surprise, has found.../pimg
width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.theinquirer.net/c/554/f/7127/s/279868b/mf.gif'
border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a
href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Even child welfare groups don’t
want web
censorshiplink=http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/12/01/children-welfare-groups-web"
target="_blank"img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd
valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Even child welfare
groups don’t want web
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target="_blank"img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0"
//a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a
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src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/24193178597/u/89/f/7127/c/554/s/41518731/a2.img" border="0"//a
China's manufacturing output fell sharply in November, figures show, just the latest sign that the
global economic slowdown is impacting on its economy.
psmallNick Farrell a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/"the Inquirer/a, Monday 1 December 2008.
10:00:00/small/ppi Named and shamed in China /i/ppCHINESE INTERNET search outfit Baidu has said it
will overhaul its operations after being named and shamed by the government for allowing unlicensed
medical services to buy high search rankings to win more customers. State television pilloried the
company for letting the unlicensed services pay for prominent positions on its.../pimg width='1'
height='1' src='http://feeds.theinquirer.net/c/554/f/7127/s/279775e/mf.gif' border='0'/div
class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a
href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Baidu bribed to allow unlicensed
medical
serviceslink=http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/12/01/baidu-bribed-allow-unlicensed"
target="_blank"img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd
valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Baidu bribed to allow
unlicensed medical
serviceslink=http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/12/01/baidu-bribed-allow-unlicensed"
target="_blank"img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0"
//a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a
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src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/24193176681/u/89/f/7127/c/554/s/41514846/a2.img" border="0"//a
div class="rxbodyfield"p class="ArticleBody" page="1"Working in today's cutthroat economy has
become a lot like the old joke about two guys being chased by a grizzly bear. One guy stops to take
off his work shoes and lace up some sneakers./pp align="right"a
href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?"
target="_blank" /img
src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?"
width="336" height="280" border="0" alt="" align="right"//a/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1""Are you
crazy?" says Guy No. 2. "You can't outrun a bear."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1""I don't have to
outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you," Guy No. 1 quips./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"And
with high-tech firms laying off a
href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/24/19683-tech-layoffs-and-counting/" target="_blank"
class="regularArticleU"nearly 20,000 workers in the past month/a alone, outrunning the other guy is
fast becoming the survival mode for IT./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"b[ Check/b bout InfoWorld's
a href="http://www.infoworld.com/archives/t.jsp?N=samp;V=116848amp;source=fssr"
class="regularArticleU"2009 IT career survival guide/a to find out a
href="http://www.infoworld.com/slideshow/2008/11/181-where_it_jobs_a-1.html?source=fssr"
class="regularArticleU"where IT jobs are headed/a. ]/b/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"Here are
seven tips for outlegging the competition and surviving the downturn with your job intact. What you
find here may come off as common sense, but when it comes to keeping ahead of the guy in the
cubicle down the hall, common sense just might be all you need to gain an edge. After all, how
often do you see your coworkers demonstrating common sense these days?/pp class="ArticleBody"
page="1"bIT survivor tip No. 1: Roll up your sleeves -- and cheer up, damnitbr/ /bThe good news?
You can survive in today's tight economy. The bad news? You may have to log longer hours and take
on less-than-exciting projects./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"Start by taking notice of the
projects that get the most attention from management and ask to be a part of them, advises Betsy
Richards, director of career services at Kaplan University./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1""Ask to
be transferred to a critical area, or volunteer for extra duties to support these activities,"
Richards says. "You'll be viewed as an employee who goes the extra mile while inoculating yourself
against expendability when the pink slips get handed out."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"More than
just work harder than the next guy, you have to look like you're working harder, says Simon
Stapleton, a technology careers coach who calls himself "the IT industry's answer to Indiana Jones"
(but without the bullwhip). Show up before your boss gets in and leave after he or she leaves. Skip
the long coffee breaks and work through lunch./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1""My best advice is to
roll your sleeves up -- literally," says Stapleton, who's also chief innovation officer at Skandia
Investment Solutions, a U.K.-based financial services firm. "Pick up the pace when you walk around
the office. Carry a clipboard. Your determination to help your company succeed will show in your
body language. Now is the time to display the visible signs that you're busting your ass."/pp
class="ArticleBody" page="1"And if you can, do it with a smile./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1""IT
people tend to be grumps," notes Curt Finch, a formerly grumpy software programmer who's now CEO of
Journyx, a maker of Web-based time- and expense-management software. "The No. 1 thing is having a
positive attitude. The glass-half-full guys, the optimists, the ones who say, 'Sure, we're in a
tough situation, but here's how we're going to get through it' -- those are the people I want
around me during a recession."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="2"bIT survivor tip No. 2: Show off your
mad skillz -- or get some, fast/b/pp class="ArticleBody" page="2"The most reliable path for
self-preservation is to become the in-house expert on topics vital to the business./pp
class="ArticleBody" page="2""You need to be the one everyone comes to when they have a question
about a particular topic or technology," says Nicholas Lore, career coach and founder of Rockport
Institute. "When you're the person everyone goes to, you become indispensable."/pp
class="ArticleBody" page="2"b[ For/b ba deeper look at training well worth your while, see "a
href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/11/24/48FE-tech-certifications-high-demand_1.html"
class="regularArticleU"Hot tech certifications in a cool job market/a" ]/b/pp class="ArticleBody"
page="2"Similarly, if you have skills that cross departments or systems, you're less likely to be
canned than Johnny One-Note in the cubicle down the hall./pp class="ArticleBody" page="2"Be
versatile, advises Colin Strasser, CEO of U2i, a software consulting firm. "If you've been doing
nothing but Java for 10 years, try Python or Ruby. If you've been working under Windows, do some
work with Linux."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="2"According to a survey by Robert Half
International, Web developers with social-media savvy or a
href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/102308-tech-skills-in-demand.html" target="_blank"
class="regularArticleU"expertise in technologies such as .Net, SharePoint, Java, and PHP/a will
continue to be in high demand. Help-desk pros with knowledge of a wide range of systems are also
more likely to hold onto jobs./pp class="ArticleBody" page="2"Ask your HR department if the company
offers training programs or reimburses tuition costs, says Kaplan's Richards. You may also be able
to obtain low-cost continuing education from professional organizations or user groups./pp
class="ArticleBody" page="2"If those options aren't available, you can still expand your expertise
relatively cheaply, notes Iman Jalali, director of sales and marketing at Train Signal, vendor of
IT training materials. For around $400, Train Signal helps you get up to speed on topics such as
Windows Server 2008 or VMware ESX./pp class="ArticleBody" page="2""Some people feel like if they've
been in the same business for 25 years, it's a badge of honor," says Jalali. "In IT, that could
mean you'll lose your job tomorrow. Everyone needs to stay up to date, or risk being replaced by
someone who's up on all the newest technologies."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="2"bIT survivor tip
No. 3: Remember, it's just business/b/pp class="ArticleBody" page="2"You know how in Mafia movies
the hit man always says, "It's just business," right before he whacks his best friend?/pp
class="ArticleBody" page="2"Well, it is just business. And you need to know how the business makes
money and what projects or systems are essential to that mission -- and get yourself assigned to
them./pp class="ArticleBody" page="2""Look at how your company is making its profit," says Finch.
"You have to become indispensable to the success of that effort through adding real business value.
Demonstrate through your timekeeping and meetings and activities that this is primarily what you
are working on. Short-term revenue is more important than long-term in a down economy."/pp
class="ArticleBody" page="2"Getting the feeling your department needs to reduce head count? Come up
with a plan for how to do it while keeping the lights on, and produce metrics to show how much
money these cuts will save. If there's a line being drawn, you want to be standing on the same side
as the CFO and the CEO, says Dave Taylor, co-founder of Sparxent, an IT management solutions
vendor./pp class="ArticleBody" page="3"In other words: You're no longer a techie helping the
business; you're a businessperson who uses tech to boost the bottom line./pp class="ArticleBody"
page="3""Transition your focus from technology to business value and business needs," advises Shane
Aubel, co-founder of IT consulting firm Accent Global System Architects. "The more tangible,
quantifiable results you offer, the more indispensable you will be. The business is the customer,
and what the customer wants, the customer gets."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="3"bIT survivor tip
No. 4: Work the numbers/b/pp class="ArticleBody" page="3"Metrics are your friend. If you want to
prove you're vital to the survival of your company, you better have the digits to back it up./pp
class="ArticleBody" page="3""IT people need to become experts at marketing themselves internally,"
says Sparxent's Taylor. "They need to provide more targeted and more detailed reports on where the
IT dollars are spent; they need to put metrics in place to report on whether IT projects have
generated ROI or not; and they need to be much more transparent in reporting on whether they've
achieved the metrics or not."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="3"b[ Getting/b bahead is still possible.
Check out "a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/16/42FEpromotions_1.html"
class="regularArticleU"20 ways to get promoted in the tech industry/a" to find out how. ]/b/pp
class="ArticleBody" page="3"In other words, be proactive. Don't wait for the CFO to call you on the
carpet to explain where all the money went, says Taylor. Know down to the dollar how much it costs
to provision applications or provide level-one support -- and then suggest ways you can reduce
it./pp class="ArticleBody" page="3""You need to be able to say, 'We just deployed Office 2007, and
it took an average of 43 minutes to install on every users' desktop at a cost of $180 an hour, so
it costs more to provision Office than it did to pay for the license,'" Taylor says. "When you have
that kind of detail at your fingertips, the CFO realizes you're focused on getting the company what
it needs at the lowest possible cost."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="3"Tying your projects to
company profits is essential, adds Finch. You want to work on the projects that bring in the most
revenue or save the most money./pp class="ArticleBody" page="3""Companies always want to cut
failing projects and unprofitable customers first," he adds. "If you do have to cut people, you
want to be able to do it with a scalpel and not a chainsaw."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="3"bIT
survivor tip No. 5: Be a peacock, not a turtle/b/pp class="ArticleBody" page="3"Now is not the time
to crawl under your desk and hide until the scary man with the pink slips goes away./pp
class="ArticleBody" page="3""The biggest trap people fall into during a downturn is to try and fly
under the radar until it all blows over," says Nina Buik, president of HP's Connect user group.
"Now is the time to show how you can make a difference. Be the person in your organization who
sends an e-mail to the CIO saying, 'I've got a great idea I need to share.' You'll stand head and
shoulders above the rest."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="4"If you don't sell yourself, nobody will.
But when you blow your own horn, sound less like a marching band and more like Miles Davis./pp
class="ArticleBody" page="4"One of the best ways to promote yourself is to get other people to do
it for you, says John Baschab, senior vice president at Technisource./pp class="ArticleBody"
page="4""People are always looking for anecdotal evidence of your performance," Baschab says. "If
you're on the help desk and someone sends you an e-mail thanking you for your help, ask them if
they can send a copy to your boss. When you get verbal kudos, get them written down and sent to the
right place."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="4"The praise of others is always worth more than
self-puffery, agrees Buik. "But your boss may not know about all the little things you do. Take a
win you've helped generate for the company, find someone else involved in it, and ask them to write
it up for you and post it on your LinkedIn profile. Then offer to do the same for them."/pp
class="ArticleBody" page="4"Reminding your bosses all the wonderful things you've done is a start,
but it isn't enough. You need to keep putting your hand up for new projects that keep revenue
flowing./pp class="ArticleBody" page="4""What you did last month is a lot less relevant than what
you're going to do next month," notes Finch. "It's all about the bottom line. You could be Albert
friggin' Einstein and still get fired if they have nothing for you to do for the next three
months."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="4"bIT survivor tip No. 6: Schmooze it -- or lose it/b/pp
class="ArticleBody" page="4"Everyone hates a suck-up. And yet the world is full of them, so they
must be doing something right. The people who are retained in a downturn aren't always the most
competent, notes Lore. They're often the ones who are the best liked and know the right people./pp
class="ArticleBody" page="4""You've got to network inside your own company," says Lore. "Make sure
the senior people know who you are, the contributions you've made, and that they like you. Create a
wider circle, so other people start talking about you. Very often, techs are shy about being
forward with senior people in the company. This is not the time to be shy."/pp class="ArticleBody"
page="4"Although the clich? is that geeks are notoriously bad at social interaction, these are
skills that can be easily learned, says Lore. In fact, he adds, they're the same skills found in
books that teach nerds how to pick up girls -- mimic your boss's body language, speak in the same
tones, talk about the things they're interested in, and so on./pp class="ArticleBody"
page="4"Joining user groups and professional associations will expand your network, exposing you to
new skills and potential employers, notes Buik. Donating your tech skills to worthy organizations
can also raise your profile./pp class="ArticleBody" page="5""IT experts who volunteer their time to
upgrade the network for a nonprofit tend to gain positive press and build name recognition in their
locality," says Ari Kaplan, author of "The Opportunity Maker," a book on creative networking and
business development./pp class="ArticleBody" page="5"Online networks such as LinkedIn can help,
too. "Don't just put a little bit of information in there," says Buik. "Sell yourself. Tell
everyone within three feet of you what you're trying to do. If you're looking for new
opportunities, let everyone know."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="5"Just be sure to use social nets
wisely. Building up your r?sum? on LinkedIn is a good idea; sending your zombie to attack your
boss' zombie on Facebook is probably sending the wrong message about how you spend your time at
work./pp class="ArticleBody" page="5"bIT survivor tip No. 7: If all else fails, move to
Australia/b/pp class="ArticleBody" page="5"Now is not a good time to be job shopping. Even if
there's a photo of your boss next to the Wikipedia entry for "jerk," it's generally better to grit
your teeth and stick it out until the economy recovers. But if the worst happens and you get
downsized, you still have options -- like relocating to Australia, for instance./pp
class="ArticleBody" page="5"b[ To see what IT skills are in demand around the globe, see a
href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/10/08/41FE-tech-jobs-overseas_1.html?source=fssr"
class="regularArticleU"InfoWorld's guide to outsourcing yourself/a. ]/b/pp class="ArticleBody"
page="5""A raft of big projects is keeping the local IT market relatively buoyant, and demand for
skills remains solid," notes Peter Acheson, COO of Australia's largest IT recruiter, Peoplebank.
"There will still be strong demand for IT skills in the market here in 2009 -- in fact, in some
sect
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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