The way to Facebook employees’ hearts is through ‘dogfooding’

Nikita Prakash, 24, joined Facebook a year ago. As a part of the ad integrity team her job is to ensure that ads on Facebook comply with company policy. But apart from the work she is paid for, Nikita spends hours on Facebook, voluntarily testing it. She has filed 150 bugs in the past six months - almost a bug a day. "There is no bigger thrill than knowing that your work affects the end user," she says. Nikita is doing what in tech parlance is known as 'dogfooding' or the act of getting employees to use/test the products the company builds. It comes from the colloquial 'eating your own dogfood'.

Globally, most technology companies 'dogfood' their own products - for instance when they need to work the bugs out of their creations. But Facebook is doing more than just that. It is also using dogfooding as a tool to engage and retain its employees, most of whom tend to be in their early twenties and impatient. Dogfooding provides instant gratification, makes youngsters a part of the decision-making process: both factors critical to retaining the young and restless workforce.

"Dogfooding is one of the best outlets that we can provide for young, enterprising intelligent minds. It binds them to the product and the company very strongly," says James Mitchell, head of the Hyderabad office, Facebook. "In the entire Facebook ecosystem dogfooding is a medium to let your voice be heard and for it to matter," he adds.

Facebook using 'dogfooding' to retain and engage employeesAt Facebook, 'dogfooding' gained prominence as it shifted towards 'mobile first'. It needed all employees to use the mobile apps and provide feedback. Facebook has 5,299 employees globally and a little over a 100 in India. Of its 1.15 billion global users, India accounts for 82 million.

What works to Facebook's advantage is that its 20-somethings are already in the groove. "They love the Facebook platform and are active users. Dogfooding is up their alley," says Shweta Shukla, head of HR. Shomir Dutt, a product specialist at its Hyderabad office explains the three parts of dogfooding. "There is general dogfooding like testing the hashtag that Facebook introduced; another form is where employees get together and try and hack a product for a couple of hours, and finally, there is market-specific dogfooding - these are products that are released for the India market."

One suggestion that resulted in a change while dogfooding was localising the registration for India users: DDMMYY format for India while for the rest of the world, it is MMDDYY. "Collective wisdom is very powerful," says Shukla. The way Facebook designs its employee roles is that classically, an employee will spend 50% to 60% of the time doing things that are predictable. The remaining 30% to 40% is not defined: employee involvement in dogfooding can well constitute part of this.

"Plus, Facebook has offices around the world and dogfooding keeps us all connected and more importantly, involved," says Mitchell.

Globally, the company puts in a lot of effort around soliciting input from the different offices and teams. This cascades down making dogfooders responsible and feel invested in the company, he adds.

Microsoft needs to work like a startup again

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has said that the computer giant had to reinvent itself to avoid being "old and tired" as his company struggles to keep up in the mobile devices sector.

"We're finding ourselves having to start up again," Ballmer said at a conference in Rome where he announced Italy had become the first country in which Microsoft phones were outselling iPhones.

"Unless you're constantly inventing something new, you're old and tired. Today we're having to remake ourselves," Ballmer told his audience.

Referring to the success of Microsoft against rival Apple's iPhone in Italy, he quipped: "I don't know how long it's going to last."

Ballmer was a classmate and friend of Bill Gates from their days at Harvard University in the 1970s.

He took over from Gates in 2000 but earlier this year said he will step down by August 2014.

When Ballmer took over, Microsoft was the undisputed tech sector leader, and the world's largest company in market value. But in recent years it has struggled as consumers began to move from desktop and laptop PCs to mobile devices.

Facebook, Google top earners from online ads

Google and Facebook are reportedly the top leaders to cash in the online advertising, leaving the rest of the digital advertising firms with no growth. 

Market analysts indicate that in 2012, online advertising in the US grew 15.5%, to $36.6 billion, and the two big Silicon Valley giants grab much of that growing pile of cash. 

An analyst with data tracker Pivotal Research, Brian Wieser said that excluding Facebook and Google, who take up most of the share, there is almost no growth, New York Post reports. 

Pivotal indicates that out of the $19 billion spent on search, the largest areas of online advertising, Google has an estimated 95% share. 

The report said that while spending in the digital space has grown exponentially, one-time stalwarts AOL and Yahoo! have been left on the sidelines. 

According to Pivotal data, keeping aside Google and Facebook, display and traffic acquisition costs (TAC), web advertising stands at just $12.4 billion, constituting an annual growth rate of just 1%, the report added.

Smartphones can identify you by your touch

Move over, passwords. US-based scientists have developed a new software that can enable your touchscreen smartphone to identify you simply by the unique way you tap and swipe on the device.

The software, Silent-Sense , developed by Cheng Bo and his colleagues at the Illinois Institute of Technology, has demonstrated 99% accuracy in tests.

It uses the phone's built-in sensors to record the unique patterns of pressure, duration , fingertip size and position of each user when interacting with their phone or tablet, Bo said.

Machine learning algorithms then turn this information into a signature that identifies the user — and will lock out anyone whose usage patterns do not match, New Scientist reported.

The system's accuracy can be further enhanced by enabling the smartphone's accelerometer and gyroscope to measure how much the screen moves when you are jabbing at it.

They can also pick up on your unique gait as you walk while using the screen.

In tests, a group of 100 users were told to use the smartphone's touchscreen as they would normally.

SilentSense was able to identify the smartphone's owner with 99% accuracy after no more than 10 taps. Even with an average of 2.3 touches, the software was able to verify the user 98% cent of the time.

The software stops checking the smartphone user's identity when apps and mobile games are being used. However, to maintain security, it automatically switches on whenever more sensitive applications, such as email or SMS, are accessed, the reaserchers said.

Gmail preferred by terrorists: Ex-NSA chief

Former CIA and NSA chief Micheal Hayden has said Gmail is the most preferred email service for communication among terrorist outfits.

According to a Washington Post report, while defending the alleged snooping programmes sanctioned by the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA), Hayden said that Gmail is used by terrorists worldwide.

Hayden also suggested that the origins of internet in the US partially justifies the NSA's conduct as much of the web traffic goes through American servers and the government takes a picture of it for intelligence purposes.

The response of the former NSA chief may not go down too well with the tech companies who maintain the NSA's snooping is costing them their customers abroad. Earlier this year, a report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) predicted US cloud service providers would lose out on $21.5 to $35 billion over the next three years due to recent revelations.

Hayden was quoted as saying that US could be fairly charged with the militarization of the World Wide Web as the NSA's Tactical Access Operations (TAO) is mandated with hacking foreign targets to steal data and monitor communications. It also develops programmes that can damage foreign computers and networks using cyberattacks.

The US government's surveillance programmes have been severely criticized after whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the methods and the extent to which the alleged snooping is done on citizens.

The US government is known to intercept citizens' web and phone data and the tech giants, including Yahoo, Google and Microsoft among others, have been continuously petitioning the government to allow release of NSA data requests publicly.

Google wants you to click “Incredible India”

Google and the Ministry of Tourism want you to shoot the images that show the life, culture and places within India, and share them on a Google+ page. The company and the ministry have joined hands to launch a photo contest, which invites people from across the world, and especially in India, to share their best clicks that reflect the essence of India. 

The contest will run for the next few weeks and winners will be declared at the Delhi Photo Festival, which is slated to start from September 27. Sources told TOI that the contest would be formally announced in the coming days. 

While there is no cash reward for winning entries, sources said that the winners would be offered a week-long trip to any location of their choice within India by the tourism ministry. It will be an all-expenses paid trip.

The official Google page for the contest is already online and accessible. To participate, contestants will have to share their images on their page at Google+, a social networking site, and tag their posts with #IncredibleIndia hashtag. Once tagged, the images will appear on a special web page created by Google for the contest. 

Tourism ministry will select 10 photos that have received the highest number +1 votes on the social media site. After that it will pick three top photos from the list and declare them winners. 

Google will not play any role in deciding the winners.

'Illegal' online investment schemes under Sebi scanner

A large number of 'guaranteed-return' schemes, being promoted through emails, websites, blogs and social media platforms, have come under regulatory scanner for luring gullible investors to unauthorised investment products promising huge returns. 

Those under the scanner include entities offering "double your money" schemes in 2-6 years, sure-shot "inside information" investment tips, astrological stock market predictions, attractive portfolio management services, and "partnerships" in future's big business ideas. 

These include traditional businesses like retail, real estate and bullion, as also new-age business ideas like carbon credits and renewable energy, while guaranteed returns are being promised after eventual listing of such ventures. 

Certain traditional-looking investment schemes are also being promoted through Internet by entities suspected to be linked to those already having faced regulatory action by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), sources said. 

Some of the barred entities, including a large player engaged in a long-running regulatory battle, are suspected to have taken to the credit cooperative society route to garner money from the gullible investors with promise to double their money in a few years, they added. 

To avoid regulatory glare, the operators of these schemes, possibly being run through front entities, are not using the traditional modes to promote their business and are mostly using closed member groups on websites, blogs and social networking media platforms. 

However, Sebi has received numerous complaints about such schemes and has begun looking into the matter through its own technical systems to track the Internet and social media platforms, as also through use of its newly granted powers. 

SMSes and emails are also being used in a big way to promote such fraudulent schemes and products, but many of these messages and mails have found their way to the regulatory and enforcement agencies. 

While the unauthorised credit cooperative schemes, having a size of Rs 100 crore or more, can be probed under Sebi's Collective Investment Scheme regulations, the entities promising unrealistic returns and offering "sure-shot" investment tips can face action under the Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Regulations.

Google 'kills' perk that gave users Gmail, Gtalk

Internet search titan Google's much-talked about perk -- '20% time' for employees - has effectively ceased to exist. According to news website Quartz, the famous perk which allowed Google employees to work on personal projects one day a week, is no longer available. This is according to former Google employees Quartz spoke to.

The '20% time' perk has resulted in the development of several popular products, such as Gmail, Google Talk, Google News and Adsense, among others. Google began shutting down the '20% time' scheme by requiring its employees to seek permission before working on personal projects, the report says. This has now been followed by the company's top management asking supervisors to discourage managers from approving any 20% project.

Also, as per the company's new productivity metric, it is assumed that the employees are working on their primary responsibility 100% of the time.

As per Quartz, "The end of 20% time at Google fits with other moves made by CEO Larry Page since he took over in January 2011. Six months after he took the reins, Page announced that Google would adopt a more wood behind fewer arrows strategy that would put more of Google's resources and employees behind a smaller number of projects."

Google Labs, one of the places known for experimentation at the company, has also been shut down since Page took the helm. The company presently works on experimental projects at the Google X lab, which has resulted in products like Google Glass, driverless cars and Moto X phone.

Hacker who exposed Facebook bug to get reward from unexpected source

A man who hacked into Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page to expose a software bug is getting donations from hackers around the world after the company declined to pay him under a program that normally rewards people who report flaws.Khalil Shreateh discovered and reported the flaw but was initially dismissed by the company's security team. He then posted a message on the billionaire's wall to prove the bug's existence.

Now, Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm BeyondTrust, is trying to mobilize fellow hackers to raise a $10,000 reward for Shreateh after Facebook refused to compensate him.Maiffret, a high school dropout and self-taught hacker, said on Tuesday he has raised about $9,000 so far, including the $2,000 he initially contributed.He and other hackers say Facebook unfairly denied Shreateh, a Palestinian, a payment under its "Bug Bounty" program. It doles out at least $500 to individuals who bring software bugs to the company's attention.

"He is sitting there in Palestine doing this research on a five-year-old laptop that looks like it is half broken," Maiffret said. "It's something that might help him out in a big way."

Shreateh uncovered the flaw on the company's website that allows members to post messages on the wall of any other user, including Zuckerberg's. He tried to submit the bug for review but the website's security team did not accept his report.He then posted a message to Zuckerberg himself on the chief executive officer's private account, saying he was having trouble getting his team's attention."Sorry for breaking your privacy," Shreateh said in the post.The bug was quickly fixed and Facebook issued an apology on Monday for having been "too hasty and dismissive" with Shreateh's report. But it has not paid him a bounty.

"We will not change our practice of refusing to pay rewards to researchers who have tested vulnerabilities against real users," chief security officer Joe Sullivan said in a blogpost.He said Facebook has paid out more than $1 million under that program to researchers who followed its rules.

Hackers' latest tactic to attack US news sites

Hackers promoting the Syrian Electronic Army simultaneously targeted websites belonging to CNN, Time and The Washington Post on Thursday by breaching Outbrain, a firm which publishes content recommendations on those sites. 

That resulted in some WashingtonPost.com and Time.com customers being redirected to the website of the Syrian Electronic Army when they clicked on the content from Outbrain, said Outbrain vice president Lisa LaCour. The CNN International site briefly displayed a headline that said "Hacked by SEA," she said. 

The Syrian Electronic Army is an online group that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has been linked to several high profile attacks. They include one on the Associated Press' Twitter feed in which a bogus message was sent out about explosions at the White House.  

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Twitter blocks Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu's account

Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu had his Twitter account suspended on Thursday for "aggressively following" other users, just hours after it was launched. The ex-archbishop's @TutuLegacy account racked up hundreds of followers in its first hours of use.

"Some have described Twitter as a blessing in the hands of retired members of the clergy. There is no space to ramble," Tutu tweeted before his account was blocked. His foundation expressed dismay at the decision.

"Twitter has not explained how following 30 people could be construed as 'aggressive following'," it said in a statement. The foundation suggested "the number of people who followed @TutuLegacy in a short space of time," may have also been to blame.

"I hope the powers that be at Twitter find it in their hearts to fix the problem and let us communicate again," Tutu's daughter Mpho said.

"We need to reassure all those people who started following us today that this is the real deal!"

Cyber trail helps nail thief who taunted victims on Facebook

Suvabrata Sanyal, 25, was so chuffed with himself following a Rs 25-lakh heist he had pulled off in April, he sent Facebook friend requests to the elderly couple he had robbed.
That one online activity was enough for the police, who by then had hit a dead end in the probe, to pick up his cyber-trail and arrest him at his Kolkata house on Friday.
Sanyal, who joined retired marine engineer Deepak Raut's Vashi house as a domestic help on April 23, escaped with cash and valuables worth Rs 25 lakh after spiking the kheer he served Raut and his wife Amita on April 30.
After they arrested Sanyal and were bringing him back to Mumbai, the police officers couldn't help but ask him why he would do something so stupid. It turned out Sanyal's motive was to taunt and mock his victims. He also was curious that the police had not picked up his trail.

"He first said he had sent the requests to make fun of his victims," said Ramesh More, inspector, Vashi police station. "He also said he was surprised that the police were not looking for him even three months after the incident. He wanted to check if they had filed a police complaint at all."
For three months after the incident, the police were unable to find any clues leading to Sanyal. Worse, the Santacruz-based agency that had referred Sanyal to Raut, 69, did not have any information about him. Nor had they verified his permanent address.
On July 24, a worried Raut approached the police with another piece of information. That morning he and his wife Amita, 65, had received Facebook friend requests from Sanyal. His son in the US and daughter who lives in Pune also received similar requests.
As though to show them it was for real, Sanyal was also changing his profile picture every 10 minutes. "As soon as Mr Raut told us about this bizarre act, we found his e-mail ID and gave it to the cyber cell for tracking," said Inspector More. "They immediately started picking up Sanyal's internet activity from all over Kolkata. We then found out he was accessing the internet from his mobile phone."
Convinced that their man was in Kolkata, the Vashi police got in touch with the Kolkata Crime Branch. Soon, the Kolkata police narrowed down Sanyal's location to one house in the Behala area. But they now had another problem in their hands.
Living in the house was a family of four - a woman in her late 50s, a girl in her 20s and two men around 25 years of age. The problem was the men were twins. They looked the same, and their demeanour was the same. Even the way they dressed was the same - in flashy colours.

"We knew the house, but could not move in on the first day," said More. "If we grabbed the wrong twin, the other may have gotten away. But thankfully, Sanyal was accessing the internet on his mobile. We decided to wait till he ventured far from his house so we could get confirmation through his phone location. On one instance, when we were sure it was Sanyal who had come out, we nabbed him."
During interrogation, Sanyal said he thought he could get away if he kept changing his location and was always far from Mumbai. He had no idea that accessing the internet through the mobile could help the police trace him. So, he stayed with his uncle in Bhubaneshwar for a few days before heading to Kolkata, where he first stayed with his friends. "Only when he moved to his mother's house in Behala did the police get a fix on his location as he was always on the internet," said More.
On Friday, the police produced Sanyal at a Mumbai court, which sent him to police custody till August 13. The police said Sanyal had spent the cash, but the valuables were with one of his friends in Kolkata.
As for the Rauts, they are relieved that finally they can sleep in peace, more than the fact that the thief has been caught. "Ever since he sent that friend request, we have been having sleepless nights," said Deepak Raut. "Whenever the doorbell rang we would be scared. We were not only worried about us but were also scared for our daughter who stays in Pune as he had sent a request to her also. We are now at peace."

India unlikely to meet cybersecurity workforce target

India is unlikely to meet the target of creating a workforce of 5,00,000 cybersecurity professionals in next five years due to lack of infrastructure and investment, an official of security firm EC-Council said. The country is lagging behind in its fight in cyberwarfare which has adopted innovative ways to attack governments and organizations causing huge financial losses, Jay Bavisi, the president of EC-Council, which is a major global certification and training organization in information security domain, said. On the government's cybersecurity policy, which was launched early this month, he said that India is "extremely late" on framing the policy.

"Cybersecurity policy is a great vision statement but I don't think India has got a tactical plan," Bavisi said at an event here today.

"India does not have the environment. It is yet to be created. I would be pleasantly surprised if India meet the target (of creating workforce)," he said.

The National Cyber Security Policy aims at creating a work force of 5,00,000 professionals in the next five years and build cybersecurity training infrastructure through public-private participation. He said that the US, which put in a lot of resources to create cybersecurity professionals, is seeing an annual growth of 15% in trained workforce. There is a need to involve academia like universities, impart training, set up labs and foster competition to deal with cybersecurity issues which is entirely missing in the country, he added. India is ranked ninth on Kaspersky's list of countries with the highest percentage of computer attacks. However the number of cybersecurity professionals in the country is very low, he said. Bavisi said that many of government websites are still exposed to threats as proper investment has not been made to find a long term solution. According to official data, more than 1,000 government websites were hacked in the last three years.

"When a government website is got hacked they call professionals who fix the problem. But they have no budget to carry on. They have no budget to hire right people, to train them and defend their websites," he said. It is evident that the best way to solve the cyberplague is by introducing a cybervaccine programme that is needed to start at all levels of society through combative education plans, he said. EC-Council (International Council of E-Commerce Consultants) is one of the world's largest certification bodies for information security professionals. EC-Council is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in various information security and e-business skills.

How mobile phones are making your bicycle 'smart'

It has happened to many a bicyclist: the car beside you suddenly cuts into your path or passes close enough for you to feel the heat of its exhaust on your leg.
A big part of avoiding those close calls is being noticed, but for years bicyclists' only defences were bright clothing, battery-powered incandescent bulbs and the cheery ching-ching of a traditional bicycle bell.
Now that's changing. Thanks to improved LED lights, microchips and smartphone technology, bicycles can have loud horns, brake lights, turn signals and all manner of lighting.
You can spend a few hundred dollars on a bike headlight alone these days. At just under $300, the Taz 1200 from Light and Motion in Monterey, Calif., is said to put out one-third more light than the average car headlight and is good for riding on roads and on dark trails.
But for the average street biker there are more affordable options.
Virtually all of today's LED headlights and taillights for bikes have static and multiple flashing modes activated with the push of a button. Add to that a blue flashing light from BikeBrightz Ltd. in Toledo, Ohio and the guy pedaling home after work in the dark could be mistaken for a squad car. Strap the light bar anywhere on your frame, and at $15 each, you can vary your colour scheme. It also comes in "mean green," "rocket red," "powerful pink" and "mellow yellow."
And then there are the lasers.
In England, Emily Brooke is bringing her Blaze Bike Light to customers in September. The Blaze projects a green image of a bike rider in front of the cyclist, making it possible for nighttime drivers to see the glowing image even if the rider is in a blind spot.A price has not yet been set.
The single-speed and customizable fixed-gear bikes, which cost $325 and up, do have drawbacks, though. They don't shine as brightly in low light as they do in total darkness. Their glow fades in time.

Internet driving users to share more information

Increased use of digital communication is making people to lose their inhibitions and "overshare" information online, a new study has revealed. 

"Sharing itself is not new, but consumers now have unlimited opportunities to share their thoughts, opinions, and photos, or otherwise promote themselves and their self-image online. Digital devices help us share more, and more broadly, then ever before," author Russell W Belk (York University) wrote. 

Blogging beckons us to tell all. YouTube's slogan is Broadcast Yourself. Social media sites ask us "What do you have to share?" 

Consumers can rate books, movies, or restaurants online and engage with other consumers on forums and on the websites of sellers like Amazon, Yelp, or IMDb. 

The possibilities for sharing online are endless and many of the most popular websites and smartphone apps are devoted to sharing. 

While a limited number of people see our physical selves, a virtually infinite number of people may see our online representations of ourselves. 

Appearing literally or figuratively naked online can come back to haunt consumers in future school and job applications, promotions, and relationships.

"Due to an online disinhibition effect and a tendency to confess to far more shortcomings and errors than they would divulge face-to-face, consumers seem to disclose more and may wind up 'oversharing' through digital media to their eventual regret," the author said. The study is published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Government bans consumer complaints website

A website that allows consumers to post un-moderated complaints against companies, products and services have been banned in India. When web users access the site www.ripoffreport.com, they are greeted by a message telling them that "access to website (is) blocked".

TOI tried to open the website on Airtel and MTNL networks but in both cases the internet service providers (ISPSs) blocked the access. The website was, however, accessible using a proxy server located out of India, clearly indicating that it has been banned here.The blocking of RipOffReport was first reported by Medianama.

The consumer complaints website has been blocked just weeks after Indian government ordered ISPs to cut off access to several adult forums and file storage sites. However, unlike the previous methods used to ban websites, it seems ISPs (or the government) are using a different method on this occasion. Earlier, ISPs used a list-based system to block websites, which was not particularly strong and easy to bypass.

They also generally informed the users that the website has been blocked as per a court order or on the directives of Department of Telecom.On this occasion, the method used to block the website seems less susceptible to hacks and is unlikely to be circumvented with ease.

Currently, it is not clear why RipOffReport, which is controversial because it allows anyone to attack a company or product without providing any substantive proof, has been banned. It could be due to a court order or on the basis of a complaint filed with Department of Telecom.

Typically, Indian government does not provide any explanation on why it has banned a particular website. Sources told TOI that in most cases even ISPs are not provided this information. They are just served an order telling them to block websites.

How to stop receiving ads on Gmail

Google users have been irked with the site sending them advertisements through emails in the Gmail account which appear along the legitimate emails. According to the Huffington Post, Google has recently included the feature of sorting emails as per their content in Primary, Social, Promotions and other categories and puts all the ad mails into its designated place. 

However for those who want to get rid of ad emails from their inbox, they can simply click the 'X' on each ad to remove it and Google , as it records the ad response behaviour, will soon realize the kind of ads a user does not want. 

Additionally, one can also click on the gear in the top-right on the main Gmail page and under the menu, click on 'Configure inbox' and just uncheck the box next to 'Promotions' and if wants to get rid of Gmail's new tabs altogether one can uncheck all of the boxes except 'Primary'. 

The report added that when the Promotions tab is disabled, the ads would still show up in the inbox and Google will show the ad one way or another.

SIM Cards Are Hackable And Researchers Have Found The Vulnerability

With the NSA leaks going full force it probably won't sound like news at all that a German cryptographer claims to have hacked a SIM card. But that's never been done before (as far as we know . . .) so it's kind of a big deal, and shows that millions of phones are potentially vulnerable.

The founder of Security Research Labs in Berlin, Karsten Nohl, studied the encryption methods in thousands of SIM cards to figure out how a hacker could find the card's unique 56-digit access key. The vulnerability he discovered could impact as many as 750 million phones and would open them to call surveillance, fraudulent purchases and even a type of identity theft. Nohl told Forbes:
Give me any phone number and there is some chance I will, a few minutes later, be able to remotely control this SIM card and even make a copy of it.

In addition to compromising access keys, Nohl discovered a flaw in the ""sandboxing"" technique that keeps sensitive data separate on SIM cards. By sending a binary SMS to a number of phones, he can collect data that eventually allow him to break through the encryption on some of the phones. Each vulnerability Nohl identified only applies to certain SIM cards, but in the wrong hands they could endanger a large percentage of the SIM cards in use right now.

Though Nohl isn't officially presenting his findings until the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on July 30, he did share them with the GSM Association. A spokeswoman, Claire Cranton, told the New York Times:
We have been able to consider the implications and provide guidance to those network operators and SIM vendors that may be impacted.

Definitely sounds like they're on it, and totally trust enormous mobile providers like AT&T and Verizon to act quickly and nimbly in resolving this issue.

Looking for a job? Smartphone apps to help you

Finding a job is not easy but a range of smartphone and web apps are designed to customize employment searches and even provide information on the competition. 

Free apps such as SimplyHired, Indeed, and Monster, for iPhone and Android devices, provide job opportunities through a keyword search, and web-based apps, including TwitJobSearch and TweetMyJobs, will scour Twitter for opportunities and send job alerts through the social network. A new free iPhone app called TheLadders takes a different approach and sends a list of job opportunities to users based on their employment profile and career goals.

"One of the big frustrations for job hunters is that they go online to apply for a job and they don't hear back. It's a black hole," said Alex Douzet, chief executive and co-founder of TheLadders, headquartered in New York. TheLadders uses algorithms to pick out the 50 best jobs for a user based on location, current title, preferences, seniority, areas of expertise, industry and salary goals.

"By doing this what we're creating is a new job discovery mechanism that ... actually matches you to opportunities that are relevant to your profile," he explained. Job seekers browse opportunities by tapping on a listing to reveal information about the position, company and requirements. Premium users, who pay $25, can also see how they compare to other unnamed applicants who use the app in terms of salary and education. When a user deletes a job opening it helps the algorithm learn the user's preferences. By indicating they "like" a potential job, the user's profile is sent to the recruiter. Last week Nokia released a new job app for Windows phones called JobLens. It uses augmented reality, which overlays information on the real world as viewed through the device's camera, to show users job openings in their neighborhoods.

"Knowing proximity to a job is critical in assessing whether it's the right opportunity," said Bryan Biniak, vice president and general manager of global partner and app development at Nokia.

"We're all trying to find the right work-life balance, and minimizing your commute is an important consideration. Augmented reality gives job seekers this insight," he added. JobLens aggregates job postings from popular job search sites including LinkedIn and Indeed. It also connects with social networks to display any personal connections to the company. TheLadders' Douzet advises job hunters to be focused, realistic and to apply early because after 72 hours of a job being posted on TheLadders, the chances of hearing back from a recruiter drop by 50 per cent.

Aircel launches Fuccha Pack for college students in Delhi

Aircel has launched Fuccha Pack, an exciting product for the college students in Delhi. This product will benefit students with discounted voice calls, data and text services.The Fuccha Pack is available for Rs 149 and it will offer 333 local & STD calls, Aircel to Aircel (Local) at 10p/min, Aircel to Other (Local and STD calls) at 50p/min, free 1500 local and national SMS, 1GB of 2G data and full talktime in the next recharge of Rs 51 and above.

Anil Gupta, Regional Manager - North, Aircel, said, "The new sessions at colleges in Delhi are beginning and we are targeting the students to offer this exciting product. Aircel's 'Fuccha Pack' will enable the college students to savour the benefits of voice, text and data services at affordable prices."

Recently, Aircel launched STD pack at 25p/min in Delhi and full talktime on a recharge of Rs 100 and above.