employees

In an effort to capitalize on the rising popularity of smartphone apps, Microsoft is now allowing their employees to moonlight as self-directed entrepreneurs to help improve the image of the company in the mobile market. To make smartphones that ... house their Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system more marketable in an industry dominated by iPhone and Android-based devices , Microsoft is planning to offer their prospective customers more apps than any other smartphone on the market. App Rules Relaxed in Light of Development While an admirable endeavor, putting the plan into practice still ... (view more)

The Lower Merion School District (LMSD) laptop spying saga continues to unfold. District investigators have finished their investigation, concluding that web cameras were activated by school district employees about 80 times in the past two school ... years, capturing nearly 56,000 images of students, their homes and copies of the programs or files running on their screens. Laptop Took Photos While Student Slept The system was allegedly used by LMSD officials to track lost and stolen laptops. However, the lawsuit filed on behalf of Blake J. Robbins by his parents claims that the teen's school- ... (view more)

With the death of Michael Jackson now being investigated as a potential homicide, a number of cyber "walls" have been erected to keep the new online records confidential. However, coroner investigations now report that several vulnerabilities exist ... in the two computer systems where the death investigation reports of Jackson are currently stored. An Inside Job The problem is much more serious than the potential for a hacker to access these restricted files from a remote location. Rather, employees are being given unauthorized access to these secretive reports despite being told that this ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed that it will go forward with previous plans to cut a significant portion of its staff. The company has now terminated 5,000 employees since the beginning of the year. Back in January, Microsoft announced plans to shave off ... about seventeen per cent of its global workforce. It immediately slashed 1,400 jobs that month, and planned to spread the remaining 3,600 or so over the next 18 months. However, with the recent announcement Microsoft also revealed it had already reached the 5,000 mark -- far ahead of schedule. No Security for MS Workers "As we move forward, we will ... (view more)

Shocking news for long-time gamers this week, with reports that Ziff Davis publishing will end production of its popular magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM). In addition, it has sold fan-favorite web site 1up.com to UGO, which in turn has ... terminated the gaming page. At first, news that UGO had acquired the site didn't seem all bad for 1up.com employees. UGO chief executive officer J. Moses told the media that the acquisition of 1up.com would allow his company "to expand our base of quality content and represents a major step forward in UGO's mission to become the leader in the games ... (view more)

They say curiosity killed the cat. Well, apparently it also gets Verizon Wireless workers canned. According to reports, several employees for the popular cellphone provider were suspended under suspicion that they may have peeked at President-elect ... Barack Obama's call records. Verizon Wireless CEO and president Lowell McAdam was forthright with the media when he announced that Obama's personal cellphone account had been accessed by employees. "This week we learned that a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-Elect Barack Obama's ... (view more)

The days of Tickle Me Elmo might be long over, but the holiday rush for that must-have toy remains an annual phenomenon. In fact, for the last two Decembers one device has been at the top of most kids' (and heck, parents') Christmas list: the ... Nintendo Wii. Now, it seems at least one retailer is taking serious advantage of that demand. In a recent investigation, Ars Technica revealed retail outlet Slackers' 'scalping' of Nintendo's cute little console. According to employees, the owner of the store took his orders of the Wii -- so desperately sought this Christmas -- and placed them on eBay ... (view more)

An Australian-based software company has developed an innovative health program that aims at targeting employees with unhealthy habits. After seeing the stereotypes of computer programmers and software developers on a daily basis, Altiris has ... decided to motivate their employees with special incentives in an effort to help make better choices in the daily lives of their employees. (Source: networkworld.com ) The company hopes to encourage employees to avoid long hours in front of a computer, eating large amounts of junk food, and getting very little sleep at night. (Source: networkworld.com ) ... (view more)

Generally, I don't much like email. It's impersonal, often leads to miscommunication, and simply doesn't carry the satisfaction of personal interaction with someone on the phone, or, better yet, in person. However, for those rare occasions when I ... want to completely avoid emotional contact, email is often the best choice. And apparently, tech retailer Radio Shack feels the same way. Rather than approach employees in a respectful, consolatory manner, the company recently laid off 400 employees through email. The affected workers are (or were) employed at Radio Shack's Fort Worth, Texas ... (view more)