A few months ago Sequoia Capital doused the ever ebullient Silicon Valley with a bucket of ice cold reality when it laid “good times” to rest. Today, one of Sequoia’s all time stars laid a big wreath on that grave in the pages of The Wall Street Journal. Google. And while it didn’t implicitly state that it might face tough times next year, comments by its CEO amount to a proverbial bear call which could mean bad news now only for Google but also for rest of the media and advertising sector.

“We have to behave as though we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal. It seems like a prudent move. But I see it as a big red flag and I think Schmidt is preparing us for what could be a terrible 2009. The WSJ says that Google executives have been preparing for slower growth for a year but “the economic crisis is forcing them to step up their efforts.”

According to conventional wisdom (and investors) Google is the best positioned company to survive and perhaps thrive in the current advertising slump. If the leader of the pack is feigning ignorance about its chances, what can one say about mere mortals.

I find it hard to believe that a company that keeps world famous economist like Hal Varian (who muses on economy and Google’s prospects often on the investor calls), doesn’t know. As a company Google collects enough data on a daily basis that it can take a fair pulse of the broader economy. Remember, they could accurately track the spread of flu across America just based on searches, so why can’t the track the economic-sentiment? Additionally it sells ads to everyone from mom-and-pop shops to consumer durable giants and it has a fair idea on the degree of tightness people are holding their billfolds. They have enough intellectual horsepower on campus to put two-and-two together.

Beyond Schmidt’s statement, one has to look at their other moves such as plans to slash 10,000 or so of their contractors, slowing cap-ex investments and killing off projects. These point to tough times for the company that has lived a lush life so far.

Projects that are too pie-in-the-sky are going to be killed. Schmidt calls it the “dark matter.” Google Lively and Google SearchMash are two of the many projects, which will soon not matter. Google is contemplating killing of Google Notebook and Google Audio Indexing as well. Google Page Creator has given way to Google Sites. In that vein, Google is going to prune overlapping products. No more the 20-percent time for pet projects for engineers, though it might come back once the economic wheel churns. These are smart and prudent moves even if they are prompted by desperate need to control costs and meet their numbers.

I know it might sound hokey but rich don’t stop driving their Aston Martins just because the price of gas is going up. They do so when they are not as rich! The same analogy holds for Google and its cost cutting efforts. Just remember how much of PR they milked out of their 20-percent philosophy. They are essentially eating a cow-pie on that. They wouldn’t be doing this unless things are really really and REALLY tough.

Google needs to keep its sales machine going at a time when it is facing the same malaise as that of broader market – slowing spending on marketing and advertising. There is some argument that Google is going to win because of their performance-based advertising system.

While that is true to some extent but what happens when the economy goes into a deep freeze? If you don’t have money to splurge on a large screen Plasma TV, there is little chance you are going to search for that, and fewer the opportunities for Google to sell more ads against those searches. Of course, if there is no intent to buy amongst the searchers, then there is less inclination to click on those ads as well. And that is not good news for Google.

Google, of course is going to try and meet its targets by taking more out of the pocket of its “adsense” partners and undercutting competitors. WSJ points out that the company is focusing heavily on display, mobile and other ad-opportunities, which can only mean bad news for their rivals.

Related: Why Silicon Valley Should be Worried

pWhen news came out that Conde Nast was launching its teen social media site a href="http://www.Flip.com" title="Flip.com"Flip.com/a, back in 2006, Staci a href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/junior-achievement-meets-conde-nast-new-site-for-ambitious-teen-girls" title="had a very"had a very/a pertinent question: "Can Conde Nast, which has been so good at matching demographics with ideas for print, create an online place appealing enough to catch and keep teen girls attention among so much competition?" Now as it has announced that it is closing Flip.com, the answer seems to be, unfortunately, no. The site will close down on Dec 16th, according to a note sent out to users, reported a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/the_state_of_journalism/flipcom_to_close_december_16_102210.asp" title="by FishbowlNY"by FishbowlNY/a. "If you have any flipbooks that you would like to save before this date, we suggest you print them. It's easy; go to the flipbook and click on the Print button just below it." How convinient... /p p Just a few months after the site's beta launch early last year, the company tied to retool it, and make it more about partnerships and working through other social networks like MySpace and Facebook. Even that didn't seem to have worked. Part of it has been its own internal bungling and key employee defection. Then, it didn't have a big traffic funnel to bring any kind of mass to the social net, and if anything, the key in such an effort is the network effect. /p p Conde Nast, which some thought to be the perfect magazine machine and almost immune to a downturn, is having a particularly tough time during these times: it has been slashing jobs across the board, including at Portfolio and Men's Vogue, as well as its online division CondeNet. Flip.com was run out of CondeNet, and its budget review finished just late last month...Flip's closure is likely a result of that review. What else will the company pull the plug on? Any ideas? And by the way, I stand by a href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-conde-nast-scales-back-portfolio-mens-vogue-layoffs-are-coming/" title="my earlier prediction"my prediction/a in October: "I wouldn't be surprised if Portfolio ends up being a special section with Wired magazine or New Yorker a year down the line." Now, it may come even sooner... /p pstrongRelated/strong/p ul class="related" lia href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-conde-nast-social-net-flip-tries-to-avoid-flop-with-partnerships-and-pr" title="Conde Nast Social Net Flip Tries To Avoid Flop With Partnerships And Promotions"Conde Nast Social Net Flip Tries To Avoid Flop With Partnerships And Promotions/a/li lia href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/hachette-to-launch-home-improvement-portal" title="Hachette To Launch Home Improvement Portal; CondeNet's Flip Opens Today"Hachette To Launch Home Improvement Portal; CondeNet's Flip Opens Today/a/li lia href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/condenets-teen-girl-site-flip-will-let-users-control-advertising/" title="CondeNet's Teen Girl Site Flip Will Let Users Control Advertising"CondeNet's Teen Girl Site Flip Will Let Users Control Advertising/a/li /ul p!-- iMark Logic Digital Publishing Summit, Thursday November 6, Westin Times Square. Insight and perspective from Outsell, Gilbane, Simon Schuster, BusinessWeek.com, more. Evening cocktail reception. Cost is complimentary. a href="http://content.adbureau.net/accipiter/adclick/CID=000010cb0000000000000000/SITE=PC_US/AAMSZ=PREMB_NEWS/relocate=http://marklogicdps.eventbrite.com/"Register now!/a/i --/p pa href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/pcorg?a=54CF3r"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/pcorg?i=54CF3r" border="0"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=XxF8O"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=XxF8O" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=zw3BO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=zw3BO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=W8Yro"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=W8Yro" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=zjLeO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=zjLeO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=yVshO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=yVshO" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/pcorg/~4/473172160" height="1" width="1"/

Tom Farber, a calculus teacher at Rancho Bernardo high school in San Diego, has come up with a unique way of covering district cuts to his supplies budget. He sells ads on his tests. "Tough times call for tough actions," Tom says. The price of an ad on a Mr. Farber Calc test is as follows: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, and $30 for a semester final. Most of the ads are messages from parents but about a third of them come from local businesses. Principal Paul Robinson says reaction has been "mixed," but adds, "It's not like, 'This test is brought to you by McDonald's or Nike.'" I see his point. Being a local business whore is much better than being a multinational conglomerate whore.pa href="http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1550206amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/12/02/1550206"/a/ppa href="http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1550206amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/TAHlIEsvCeJgR1Xqjuzi1IuiKYA/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/TAHlIEsvCeJgR1Xqjuzi1IuiKYA/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/8jZ48j_9mTw" height="1" width="1"/

Tom Farber, a calculus teacher at Rancho Bernardo high school in San Diego, has come up with a unique way of covering district cuts to his supplies budget. He sells ads on his tests. "Tough times call for tough actions," Tom says. The price of an ad on a Mr. Farber Calc test is as follows: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, and $30 for a semester final. Most of the ads are messages from parents but about a third of them come from local businesses. Principal Paul Robinson says reaction has been "mixed," but adds, "It's not like, 'This test is brought to you by McDonald's or Nike.'" I see his point. Being a local business whore is much better than being a multinational conglomerate whore.pa href="http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1550206amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/12/02/1550206"/a/ppa href="http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1550206amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/TAHlIEsvCeJgR1Xqjuzi1IuiKYA/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/TAHlIEsvCeJgR1Xqjuzi1IuiKYA/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/Do1EKicGcUk" height="1" width="1"/

LogLogics Patricia Sueltz heard a clear message about the economy from investors. But she already knows a thing or two about navigating through tough times.

LogLogics Patricia Sueltz heard a clear message about the economy from investors. But she already knows a thing or two about navigating through tough times.

div align="center"a href="http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews_pentax_km.php"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/12/12-1-08-pentax_k2000.jpg" alt="" //abr //div Pentax's a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/20/pentax-k-m-dslr-leaks-out-a-little-early/"K-m/a (or a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/22/pentaxs-10-2-megapixel-compact-k2000-for-first-time-reflexers/"K2000/a, as it were) may be geared towards beginners, but that's not to say it's lacking in the performance department. The DSLR was recently apprehended and tested at emPhotographyBLOG/em, and apparently they had a really tough time finding anything negative to say. In fact, it was deemed "another excellent addition to Pentax's DSLR range, seamlessly slotting in below the a href="http://www.engadget.com/tag/K200D/"K200D/a." With the combination of ease-of-use, mid-range features and a low price, critics found themselves in awe of the value proposition. It was also noted that the small size was appealing to those appalled by bulky high-end cameras, and the image quality is about as good as one could expect for under seven bills (with a lens). Don't take our word for it, though -- tap the read link and check out the drool for yourself.pFiled under: a href="http://www.engadget.com/category/digitalcameras/" rel="tag"Digital Cameras/a/pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/01/pentax-k-m-k2000-dslr-gets-reviewed-deemed-downright-excellen/"Pentax K-m (K2000) DSLR gets reviewed, deemed downright excellent/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.engadget.com"Engadget/a on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:13:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./ph6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/h6a href=http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews_pentax_km.phpRead/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/01/pentax-k-m-k2000-dslr-gets-reviewed-deemed-downright-excellen/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/forward/1387519/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/01/pentax-k-m-k2000-dslr-gets-reviewed-deemed-downright-excellen/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/s0GDXVbSm__8AS4kYm-Zl0VGQ40/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/s0GDXVbSm__8AS4kYm-Zl0VGQ40/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?a=nkG3AqLQ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?i=nkG3AqLQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?a=t5ynnLKi"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?i=t5ynnLKi" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~4/4e7rQeidqgE" height="1" width="1"/

Pentax's K-m (or K2000, as it were) may be geared towards beginners, but that's not to say it's lacking in the performance department. The DSLR was recently apprehended and tested at PhotographyBLOG, and apparently they had a really tough time finding anything negative to say. In fact, it was deemed "another excellent addition to Pentax's DSLR range, seamlessly slotting in below the K200D." With the combination of ease-of-use, mid-range features and a low price, critics found themselves in awe of the value proposition. It was also noted that the small size was appealing to those appalled by bulky high-end cameras, and the image quality is about as good as one could expect for under seven bills (with a lens). Don't take our word for it, though -- tap the read link and check out the drool for yourself.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Pentax K-m (K2000) DSLR gets reviewed, deemed downright excellent originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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pFiled under: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/plants-manufacturing/" rel="tag"Plants/Manufacturing/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/chrysler/" rel="tag"Chrysler, LLC./a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/ford/" rel="tag"Ford/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/gm/" rel="tag"GM/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/earnings-financials/" rel="tag"Earnings/Financials/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/uaw-unions/" rel="tag"UAW/Unions/a/ppa href="http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN3047458820081130"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/12/detroit_3_450.jpg" //abr /br /The president of the United Auto Workers union, Ron Gettelfinger, said in a recent CNN interview that U.S. automakers need to tell Congress they will limit corporate pay, bonuses and severance packages in return for more a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/24/house-passes-25-billion-loan-for-domestic-automakers/"government loans/a. Gettelfinger also said that the Detroit Three only need the loans to hold them over during these tough times. While the first statement from the union's top player seems like basic common sense, the second seems highly optimistic... especially when one considers the size of the industry and the depth of its issues. While no single event (or loan, for that matter) will likely turn around the downslide, all of those affected by the auto industry's potential demise will be interested in tomorrow's events. That's because Dec. 2 is the day House and Senate leaders told the automakers that they need to a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/20/aw-snap-congressional-democrats-undercut-compromise-bailout-bil/"submit a "credible restructuring plan"/a that's convincing enough to get Congress to open its wallet when it reconvenes next week./p p[Source: a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN3047458820081130"Reuters/a]/pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/01/uaw-wants-executive-pay-to-be-limited/"UAW wants executive pay to be limited/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.autoblog.com"Autoblog/a on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:32:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./ph6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/h6a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/01/uaw-wants-executive-pay-to-be-limited/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1386797/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/01/uaw-wants-executive-pay-to-be-limited/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/6kX0B5pjuOPL3hP9fwpCuge_nfY/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/6kX0B5pjuOPL3hP9fwpCuge_nfY/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=XN3dUxPy"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=XN3dUxPy" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=R30M54Y1"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=R30M54Y1" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~4/8BeLQXN4TPM" height="1" width="1"/

pAfter weeks of denials and a href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-huffpo-raises-15-million-expansion-in-face-of-high-cash-burn" title=""no comments,"""no comments,"/a political blog a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/" title="The Huffington Post"The Huffington Post/a has closed a $25 million third round funding from Oak Investment Partners, the company said in an e-mailed press release this morning. We a href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-huffpo-raises-15-million-expansion-in-face-of-high-cash-burn" title="reported earlier"reported earlier/a about a $20 million and above round with post-money valuation in the $110 million range. This probably puts it right at $115 million. /p p The company said it planned to use the proceeds to support general growth efforts and for "focused acquisitions." HuffPo also wants to build up its in-house ad sales team, as even the internet is succumbing to the wider economic turmoil. The three-year-old HuffPo had previously raised roughly $12 million from Softbank Capital, Greycroft Partners, co-founder Ken Lerer and Bob Pittman. /p p On the content side, the $25 million will go towards the jump-starting of a new investigative journalism initiative, expanding its video offerings and ba rollout of local versions of the HuffPo aimed at an unspecified number of cities/b. It already has a a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chicago/" title="Chicago-centric site"Chicago-centric site/a. The funding comes as HuffPo says farewell to what appears to have been a successful and long campaign season. With interest in politics expected to wane compared to the height of its election coverage, HuffPo hopes to become known for more than its left-leaning politics coverage, by building on its other sections, which include media, living, style and green. While broadening its content should attract more advertisers, this is a tough time on the local ad front, as Borrell Associates and other analysts have a href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-the-local-online-ad-locomotive-slows-little-or-no-growth-in-08-borrell" title="pointed out"pointed out/a that the growth in that area had and will continue to slow down considerably. /p p In conjunction with the funding, Oak Investment's Fred Harman is joining HuffPo's board. Harman said in a statement: "Much of the news media business needs to be reassembled online around an ad-supported model and the timetable for this has been accelerated, not slowed, by this economic down cycle." /p pstrongRelated/strong/p ul class="related" lia href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-huffpo-raises-15-million-expansion-in-face-of-high-cash-burn" title="Update: HuffPo Finishing On $20M Round, Oak and Others; $110 Million Valuation Ballpark"Update: HuffPo Finishing On $20M Round, Oak and Others; $110 Million Valuation Ballpark/a/li lia href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-huffingtonpost-raises-another-5-million-same-investors-including-pittma" title="HuffingtonPost Raises Another $5 Million; Same Investors Including Pittman"HuffingtonPost Raises Another $5 Million; Same Investors Including Pittman/a/li lia href="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/huffingtonpostcom-does-close-5-million-funding-led-by-softbank" title="HuffingtonPost.com Does Close $5 Million Funding; Led By Softbank"HuffingtonPost.com Does Close $5 Million Funding; Led By Softbank/a/li /ul p!-- iMark Logic Digital Publishing Summit, Thursday November 6, Westin Times Square. Insight and perspective from Outsell, Gilbane, Simon Schuster, BusinessWeek.com, more. Evening cocktail reception. Cost is complimentary. a href="http://content.adbureau.net/accipiter/adclick/CID=000010cb0000000000000000/SITE=PC_US/AAMSZ=PREMB_NEWS/relocate=http://marklogicdps.eventbrite.com/"Register now!/a/i --/p pa href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/pcorg?a=sw9xir"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/pcorg?i=sw9xir" border="0"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=ZmAMO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=ZmAMO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=2uEKO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=2uEKO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=9olCo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=9olCo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=53EvO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=53EvO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=SXJeO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=SXJeO" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/pcorg/~4/471328664" height="1" width="1"/

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 sectors it will still be tight."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="5"Another option is to join the temp-to-perm workforce, says Tom Hart, executive vice president at staffing firm Veritude. Staff augmentation services offer both businesses and employees more flexibility, he says./pp class="ArticleBody" page="5""There are so many good reasons to be flexible, even if all you've ever done is hold down permanent jobs," Hart says. "It gives you the opportunity to feel good about a potential employer, and for them to feel good about you. And you continue to collect a paycheck as you wait for things to get better."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="5"It could even be time to consider going back to school or changing careers, says Lore, especially if technology isn't exactly your life's calling./pp class="ArticleBody" page="5""Many people went into IT because they had strong analytical skills, not because they enjoyed the work," Lore says. "For them, a career change might be the best solution. Just because you have long legs doesn't mean you'll be happy as a Rockette."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="5"iContributing editor Dan Tynan has legs and knows how to use them. When not kicking, he tends the a href="http://www.dantynan.com/" class="regularArticleU"Tynan on Tech/a and a href="http://blogs.computerworld.com/tynan" class="regularArticleU"Culture Crash/a blogs./i/pp class="ArticleBody" page="5"bRelated articlesbr/ Special report: a href="http://www.infoworld.com/archives/t.jsp?N=samp;V=116848" class="regularArticleU"2009 IT career survival guide/abr/ Slideshow: 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/abr/ IT survivor: a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/12/01/49FE-it-job-survival-new-employment_1.html" class="regularArticleU" sys_contentid="118351" sys_variantid="388"8 signs it's time for new employment/abr/ /biTiming is everything when it comes to jumping ship. Here's how to tell if your company's prospects are sinking/ibr/ ba href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/10/08/41FE-tech-jobs-overseas_1.html?source=fssr" class="regularArticleU"For a promising IT career, go east, young techie/abr/ /biThe U.S. and Europe are slowing down, but hot tech jobs beckon in China, India, and Eastern Europebr/ /iba href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/16/42FEpromotions_1.html" class="regularArticleU"20 ways to get promoted in the tech industry/abr/ /biIf you agree that there's no such thing as an IT project, you may already be on your way up the ladderbr/ /ibSpecial report: a href="http://www.infoworld.com/archives/t.jsp?N=samp;V=115118amp;source=fssr" class="regularArticleU"Tech workers under fire/abr/ Special report: a href="http://www.infoworld.com/archives/t.jsp?N=samp;V=115118amp;source=fssr" class="regularArticleU"IT and the financial crisis/abr/ 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/abr/ /biNot all credentials will boost your career, so in tough times you have to choose wiselybr/ /iba href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/02/23FE-how-to-fire-IT-staff-skills-list_1.html" class="regularArticleU"The 30 skills every IT person should have/abr/ /biAn IT manager's guide on how to be better at what you do, no matter how experienced you arebr/ /iba href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/09/02/36FE-hot-it-jobs-skills_1.html" class="regularArticleU"How to keep your tech career afloat/abr/ /biAs outsourcing and downsizing continue, find out what skills and certifications will make you an IT survivorbr/ /iba href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/10/16/42NF-recession-proof-it-jobs_1.html" class="regularArticleU"Recession-proof IT jobs/abr/ /biBelieve it or not, some tech jobs are still in demand. Find out which ones employers need to fill/i/p/divbr style=clear: both;/ a href=http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=476450ea9a43dc82ae108978401439dbp=1img alt= style=border: 0; border=0 src=http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=476450ea9a43dc82ae108978401439dbp=1//a img src=http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=476450ea9a43dc82ae108978401439db style=display: none; border=0 height=1 width=1 alt=/

div class="rxbodyfield"p class="ArticleBody" page="1"If your company is headed for a fall, it's usually better to jump than to be pushed. Don't let yourself be blindsided by quickly dwindling company prospects. These eight signs are surefire indications that it is high time to update your r?sum? and start networking./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"bSign No. 1: Closed-door meetingsbr/ /b If all the conference rooms are booked or doors keep closing, the tide may be shifting toward cuts at your organization./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1""Pay attention to what your gut is telling you," says John Baschab, senior vice president at Technisource. "A lot of the time it knows what's going on, even if your brain doesn't."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"bSign No. 2: Strange facesbr/ /bIf you look around the lunchroom and all you see are strangers, your company may be surreptitiously replacing permanent staff with temps./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"bSign No. 3: Bad pressbr/ /b Forget the clich? about there being no so such thing as bad publicity. Bad press is a harbinger of tough times ahead./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"bSign No. 4: Back-burner feverbr/ /bIf projects previously billed as vital to the future of the company are being scaled down or put on hold, it's a good sign the future isn't as bright as it once was./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"bSign No. 5: Major decisions are delayedbr/ /b "When decisions that used to take a few days now take one or two weeks, that's a strong sign things are going bad," says Simon Stapleton, a tech careers coach and chief innovation officer at Skandia Investment Solutions./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"bSign No. 6: Your boss acts like she owes you moneybr/ /b She may know the ax is going to fall and can't tell you yet. It's usually better to ask if something is up, openly and calmly, says Nicholas Lore, career coach and founder of Rockport Institute./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"bSign No. 7: Slashed training budgetsbr/ /bIf your organization is no longer planning for the future, it may not have one./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"bSign No. 8: Slimmer sales forcebr/ /bIf your company is losing big clients or the sales force is being cut, that's a sure clue your employer is taking on water, says Tom Hart, executive vice president at staffing firm Veritude. "You don't want to be the last rat off that ship."/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"bRelated articlesbr/ IT survivor: a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/12/01/49FE-it-job-survival_5.html" class="regularArticleU" sys_contentid="118350" sys_variantid="388"7 tips for career growth in tight times/abr/ /biRecession fears have tech jobs in jeopardy. Here's how to outlast, outrun, and outsmart the competition/ibr/ bSpecial report: a href="http://www.infoworld.com/archives/t.jsp?N=samp;V=116848" class="regularArticleU"2009 IT career survival guide/abr/ Slideshow: 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/abr/ /ba href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/10/08/41FE-tech-jobs-overseas_1.html?source=fssr" class="regularArticleU"bFor a promising IT career, go east, young techie/b/abr/ iThe U.S. and Europe are slowing down, but hot tech jobs beckon in China, India, and Eastern Europebr/ /ia href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/16/42FEpromotions_1.html" class="regularArticleU"b20 ways to get promoted in the tech industry/b/abr/ iIf you agree that there's no such thing as an IT project, you may already be on your way up the ladderbr/ /ia href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/02/23FE-how-to-fire-IT-staff-skills-list_1.html" class="regularArticleU"bThe 30 skills every IT person should have/b/abr/ iAn IT manager's guide on how to be better at what you do, no matter how experienced you arebr/ br/ /i/p/divbr style=clear: both;/ a href=http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=3869ffefda2a6620ae98e3af25771a29p=1img alt= style=border: 0; border=0 src=http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=3869ffefda2a6620ae98e3af25771a29p=1//a img src=http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=3869ffefda2a6620ae98e3af25771a29 style=display: none; border=0 height=1 width=1 alt=/

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20081128PB200.html

"Compal Communications has received orders for two Windows Mobile-based PDA phones, codenamed the Alexander and Attila, from Motorola, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. While both PDA phones are supporting 3.5G and Wi-Fi technologies, the Alexander features a sliding-out QWERTY keyboard and the Attila features an iPhone-like touch panel, said the paper, which also noted that shipments of the two PDA phones are now set in the first quarter of 2009 instead of the fourth quarter of 2008 as originally planned."

According to a Commercial Times report, Motorola's Alexander and Attila won't make an appearance until Q1 2009. Leaks suggest the two aren't blessed with amazing features, so unless there are some hidden extras, Motorola will probably have a tough time pitting these against the competition.

The global financial crisis is cutting job opportunities abroad, but that is not stopping South Africans from seeking a better future overseas.