Microsoft set to lay off 1,800 staff

Update: 7/17/14 - As reports suggested, the layoffs at Microsoft are real and the largest in company history. Up to 18,000 jobs will be cut, with most of the pink slips going out over the course of the next six months. More than half of the cuts are coming from the Stephen Elop’s devices group. /end update Microsoft is poised to layoff thousands of employees according to a report from Bloomberg, in an effort to remove redundancies from the tech giant. It will be the largest round of layoffs since 2009. While many of the cuts will be from the recently acquired Nokia handset division—30,000 jobs were added as a result of the $7 billion deal—marketing jobs in other divisions such as Xbox may also take a hit, according to the sources. The job cuts are part of CEO Satya Nadella’s sweeping changes to the company, as he transitions away from former CEO Steve Ballmer’s vision of a “devices and services” company toward a “mobile-first and cloud-first” productivity firm. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admires the new Nokia 930 smartphone. Credit: AP Photo/Eric Risberg Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admires the new Nokia 930 smartphone. Credit: AP Photo/Eric Risberg “Nothing is off the table in how we think about shifting our culture to deliver on this core strategy,” Nadella wrote in a letter to employees. “Organizations will change. Mergers and acquisitions will occur. Job responsibilities will evolve. New partnerships will be formed. Tired traditions will be questioned. Our priorities will be adjusted. New skills will be built. New ideas will be heard. New hires will be made. Processes will be simplified. And if you want to thrive at Microsoft and make a world impact, you and your team must add numerous more changes to this list that you will be enthusiastic about driving.” In 2009, Microsoft laid of 5,800 employees in the largest round of layoffs at the company to date. The Nokia acquisition added 30,000 jobs, swelling Microsoft’s employee count to 127,104 as of June 5th. The upcoming cuts are likely to top the 2009 culling, making this the largest round of layoffs in Microsoft history. I’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment on this report and will update this post accordingly with any response.

Whatsapp still out of windows store

There is no denying that WhatsApp is a popular messaging service. In areas of the world where SMS and MMS are expensive, WhatsApp fills the void with a cheaper and likely better solution. Recently, WhatsApp was down momentarily, but the service returned back to normal within a few hours. However, the big concern is the Windows Phone app. Not too long ago, WhatsApp was taken down from the Windows Phone store due to technical issues with the app. This app is still unavailable as of May 26th. Microsoft is working alongside WhatsApp to fix a notification bug that has been plauging the app, hence its removal from the Store until the issue has been fixed. No ETA was given as to when the app will return back to the Windows Phone Store. It is currently Memorial Day in the United States, and this holiday weekend might just slow things down a bit too. For those of you who happened to time it wrong and uninstall the app right before it was pulled from the Store, you are going to have to keep waiting until it becomes available again. We will let everyone know once the app returns to the Store winbeta"""

Whatsapp pulled at of Windows store

WhatsApp has been removed from the Windows Store due Windows Phone 8.1 technical difficulties




WhatsApp has been removed from the Windows Phone store due to technical issues found when the app is used on Windows Phone 8.1.

Developers designing a beta version of the app on the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system apparently found that it didn’t run as planned, and - in some cases - didn’t work at all.

Even though the app still works on Windows Phone 8, it has been completely removed from the store. Any attempts to find it return an error.

Rumours have already begun to circulate the app may have been withdrawn due to an impending update for the incoming Windows Phone OS.

A statement to Windows Phone Central read:  “Unfortunately due to technical issues, we have chosen to un-publish WhatsApp Messenger on the Windows Phone platform.

"We are working closely with Microsoft to resolve the issues and hope to return to the store shortly. We apologise to our users for the temporary inconvenience.”

Those who already have the app installed shouldn’t worry, however, as it will continue to work as normal. WhatsApp still lists Windows Phone as a supported platform on its website, but the link directs to the currently inactive download page.

WhatsApp was bought up by Facebook in February 2014 in a deal worth $19 billion (£11 billion). Founder Jan Koum dismissed fears following the acquisition that users of the messaging platform would be prone to snooping: “If partnering with Facebook meant that we had to change our values, we wouldn’t have done it,” he said


Read more: http://www.itpro.co.uk/apps/22299/whatsapp-for-windows-phone-pulled-due-to-81-bug#ixzz32SOkVJhf

Online marketplace eBay is forcing users to change their passwords after a cyber-attack compromised its systems.

The US firm said a database had been hacked between late February and early March, and had contained encrypted passwords and other non-financial data. The company added that it had no evidence of there being unauthorised activity on its members' accounts. However, it said that changing the passwords was "best practice and will help enhance security for eBay users". The California-based company has 128 million active users and accounted for $212bn (£126bn) worth of commerce on its various marketplaces and other services in 2013. It said it would be contacting users to alert them of the issue via email, its website, adverts and social media. A spokesman added that the firm's engineers were in the process of rolling out a feature that would oblige members to choose new passwords when they next logged in, which should be live in each of the countries eBay operated in by the end of the day. Stolen credentials A post on eBay's corporate sitesaid that cyber-attackers accessed the information after obtaining "a small number of employee log-in credentials", allowing them to access its systems - something it only became aware of a fortnight ago. "The database... included eBay customers' name, encrypted password, email address, physical address, phone number and date of birth," it said. "However, the database did not contain financial information or other confidential personal information. "Extensive forensics subsequently identified the compromised eBay database, resulting in the company's announcement today." Although the firm also owns the PayPal money transfer service, it said that the division's data was stored separately, encrypted and that there was no evidence that it had been accessed. It added that any members who used the same login details used on eBay for other sites should also update them. EBay has not provided any information about the kind of encryption it used. One expert said there was still a concern that the hackers might be able to make use of their haul. "We all know that given enough time hackers can crack some encrypted password files," said Alan Woodward, an independent security consultant. "The slightly worrying aspect of this is that the hackers have a nice neat list of personal information, which can be used to steal identities or even help them get around other systems though password reset scams."

Microsoft acquires Nokia devices, services business

Microsoft Corp has announced it has completed its acquisition of the Nokia Devices which allows the two companies to come together as one to deliver a family of devices and services that will delight consumers and empower businesses. Already, the acquisition has been approved by Nokia shareholders and by governmental regulatory agencies around the world. Accordingly, the completion of the acquisition marks the first step in bringing these two organizations together as one team. As part of the transaction, Microsoft will honour all existing Nokia customer warranties for existing devices.

Reacting on the new development, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, said that, “Today we welcome the Nokia Devices and Services business to our family. The mobile capabilities and assets they bring will advance our transformation. “Together with our partners, we remain focused on delivering innovation more rapidly in our mobile-first, cloud-first world.” Reporting to Nadella is former Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop, who will serve as executive vice president of the Microsoft Devices Group, overseeing an expanded devices business that includes Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel (PPI) products and accessories.

Microsoft welcomes personnel with deep industry experience in more than 130 sites across 50 countries worldwide, including several factories that design, develop, manufacture, market and sell a broad portfolio of innovative smart devices, mobile phones and services. Windows Phone is the fastest-growing ecosystem in the smartphone market, and its portfolio of award-winning devices continues to expand. It would be recalled that in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to IDC, Windows Phone reinforced its position as a top three smartphone operating system and was the fastest-growing platform among the leading operating systems with 91 percent year-over-year gain. With the Nokia mobile phone business, Microsoft will target the affordable mobile devices market, a $50 billion annual opportunity, delivering the first mobile experience to the next billion people while introducing Microsoft services to new customers around the world. Microsoft will continue to deliver new value and opportunity, and it will work closely with a range of hardware partners, developers, operators, distributors and retailers, providing platforms, tools, applications and services that enable them to make exceptional devices.

With a deeper understanding of hardware and software working as one, the company will strengthen and grow demand for Windows devices overall. Vanguard

You don't need a tower anymore tech does the drying

Have you ever thought about a device or machine that could do your towelling for youafter bath?
A New York based start-up has developed body dryer that dry your body after bath.
Wondering how it works? Simple. After having your bath, you can just switch it on by the side and then step on it. It then blows breeze upward to dry your wet body. It works pretty much like the hand dryer you see around so is really nothing out of this world.

The remarkable thing is that it is quite portable unlike the previous body dryers that is built like an enclosed jacuzzi. Sounds like it is finally going to make you so indolent right? Well, perhaps not. It is built to to replace bacteria filled and environmentally harmful bathroom towels.
The start Up is currently raising funds to produce in large quantity. It has raised up to $36,206 already out of its $50,000 target. The body dryer should go for around $250. So no more towelling

Facebook Owner Mark Zuckerberg earn $1 a year!!!

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook guy.
Well, you will find it interesting that he actually earns $1 as salary for the whole of last year. Yes. $1. You will wonder, what the heck! Well its nothing out of this world. Steve Jobs did the same as the CEO of Apple.

In case you are in doubt, a reportby SEC filed on Monday confirms this. Though he is earning that little in salary is net worth is estimated at $27 billion.
Lets face it. Why do you think he is it earning that almost nothing in such a big company. Share below.

BBM in Windows

During the Mobile World Congress the CEO of BlackBerry, John Chen already revealed thatBBM will be hitting Microsoft's Windows Phone, even though there was no specific date was stated then.
Now, BlackBerry's CEO John Chen has reaffirmed that the company's plan for Windows Phone smartphones and confirmed that the BBM app will be released by second quarter (May or June) this year. Chen added that the instant messaging service will be released for the Nokia X platforms and the app will come preloaded on some Nokia devices in selective markets. Chen also indicated that BBM will come preinstalled on some Lumia devices, once the app is released for the Windows Phone platform.
#Airtelblog

A bulb you can control with your smart phone

LG has launched the Smart Bulb in Korea, a light bulb that connects with Android and iOS devices, providing several interesting features.
The 10W LED bulb will let you control lighting in the house with a smartphone, and it can also flash-alert when you get a phone call.
Other features include a security mode which makes it look like you're at home when you're away, as well as pulsating to the tune of music (but only on Android devices).
The bulbs should run for more than 10 years, provided you use them five hours a day, LG claims.LG's Smart Bulb is not the only connected light bulb around. Recently, a company called AwoX announced a light bulb that can double as a Bluetooth speaker. We've also seen several Kickstarter projects to create a connected light bulb; the Wi-Fi enabled LIFX is one example.
The price for the LG Smart Bulb is 35,000 won ($32) in Korea
#AirtelBlog

Top ten most visited website

• Google
• Youtube
• Facebook
• Yahoo
• Amazon
• Wikipedia
• ebay
• Twitter
• Bing
• Msn

Those are the top ten,as You can see it was listed in an unordered mannar cause it may vary but Google is always the number 1 most visited website with over a bil lion visit monthly.

ME

No more twitter in Turkey.

Twitter users in Turkey report that the social media site has been blocked in the country.
Some users trying to open the twitter.comwebsite are apparently being redirected to a statement by Turkey's telecommunications regulator.
It cites a court order to apply "protection measures" on the website.
This comes after PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to "wipe out Twitter" following damaging allegations of corruption in his inner circle.
The BBC's James Reynolds in Istanbul reports that he is unable to access Twitter.
"I don't care what the international community says at all. Everyone will see the power of the Turkish Republic," Mr Erdogan said earlier on Thursday.
He spoke after some users had posted documents reportedly showing evidence of corruption relating to the prime minister - a claim he denies.
His office said that Twitter had not responded to Turkey's court rulings to remove some links, forcing Ankara to act.
Twitter has so far made no public comment on the issue.
There are about 10m Twitter users across Turkey.
In 2010, the country lifted its ban on YouTube - two years after it blocked access to the website because of videos deemed insulting to the country's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
BBC

How to convert youtube video to mp3

If you do not know how to download video from youtube online click here.
This post is about how you can convert youtube video to mp3 and then download.
The good thing about this procedure is that it is done online no App needed,you can convert youtube videos to mp3 via a number of website but i prefer you use youtube-mp3.org.

1. copy the link to the youtube video.
2. open youtube-mp3.org paste the youtube video link in the space provided and click on download.In seconds your mp3 file will be ready for download.

Drop your comment and suggestion
ME
contact me

Whatsapp might soon have a New Design

If you compare the interface of WhatsApp with that of Viber no one would likely describe WhatsApp as a beautiful piece of mobile software – in fact most would probably say quite the opposite. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and one designer has taken it upon himself to envision what might be possible under Facebook, with a look at how the interface and user experience might be made better.
Konrad Ziemlewski of Entropii pretty much nails it when he notes that WhatsApp as it currently stands is “an app you ‘have’ to use rather than one you ‘want’ to,” which is to say that it’s a utility through and through, without much in the way of joy. The design of the app hasn’t changed much over the years and multiple iterations, even when iOS 7 reinvented the visual language of apps on Apple’s mobile OS.
But Ziemlewski tackled not only the visual look of WhatsApp, but also the functionality, putting actions into slide menus that have previously been harder to find, and focusing on making it easier to find and browser rich media content, too. The design is one part Instagram, one part Facebook mobile, and one part Dribbble iOS 7 best practices mock-up, which results in an attractive package that’s unfortunately not likely to ever become a reality.
Why not, the optimistic among you may ask? Well, primarily because there’s no reason WhatsApp considers a drastic visual redesign important to its continued success. The current version helped it attain a $19 billion exit, as well as hundreds of millions of active users, so that’s not likely a priority for the mobile messaging service. The best we can hope for now is that Entropii sells this design to a would-be WhatsApp competitor and we can finally message in style.
#AIRTELBLOG

Kabelo Makwane Named As Microsoft Nigeria's New Boss

World tech giants, Microsoft, has named Kabelo Makwane as its new country manager for its business in Nigeria. The South African born Kabelo, who joined Microsoft in 2009 is passionate about making local innovation a reality. In reaction to his new appointment he said.
“I am extremely excited to be appointed to lead the Nigerian subsidiary during this dynamic time on the continent.”

He also shared the company's plans for Africa by adding that , “Microsoft is focused on unlocking the economic opportunities of Africa and it’s a time when the company can have real economic impact in the country.

I believe technology is an enabler at every level of society and am excited at being able to have an impact on this vibrant and unique country.”
“While most technology trends, innovations and consumer products come from the West and the East, Africans are realizing that for us to solve the continent’s technology-related challenges, we have to find African solutions.
According to him, “The renewed emphasis by the Nigerian government on the ICT sector holds considerable promise for what technology can bring to consumers and businesses. It gives us an opportunity to use our technology, talent, time and money to help create sustainable growth in the country and across the African continent.”
He stated categorically that, “I'm excited to be spearheading this continued investment in Nigeria, and certainly look forward to working with government, industry, academia and the general public to enable Nigeria to realize its potential through innovation. I look forward to unearthing the economic opportunities, especially with small businesses to drive job creation, and to foster meaningful 21st century skills in our youth.”
Congratulations to the new country manager at Microsoft Nigeria

World Wide Web is 25

In March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first proposal for the World Wide Web at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Titled "Information Management: A Proposal", the document opened with this statement: "This proposal concerns the management of general information about accelerators and experiments at CERN. It discusses the problems of loss of information about complex evolving systems and derives a solution based on a distributed hypertext system."
The proposal, submitted on March 13, built on ideas that Berners-Lee had been working on with Belgian systems engineer Robert Cailliau. Outlining the central concepts and defining terms behind the Web, the document described a "hypertext project" called "WorldWideWeb" in which a "web" of "hypertext documents" could be viewed by "browsers."
None of this technical jargon may sound especially sexy, but today, this system has come to touch nearly every part of our lives
picked from AirtelBlog

Apple's iOS 7.1 released

Apple released the long-awaited update to iOS 7, iOS 7.1, on Monday. The update includes several significant enhancements, the most notable being the addition of CarPlay.
CarPlay will allow users to enjoy all the features previously described, such as use of the dashboard touchscreen of CarPlay-enabled cars to send and receive messages, make phone calls and interact with Siri.
Speaking of Siri, another major change present in the update allows users to decide when Siri stops listening. Previously, Siri would try to detect when you stopped talking and then provide an answer. Now the software allows you to hold down the home button in the event you've paused your speech in the middle of a thought. This feature could be a huge time-saver — eliminating the need to continuously re-ask questions in perfectly-formed sentences. Interestingly, the update also includes what Apple calls "more natural sounding" voice options for Siri's Japanese, Australian English, Mandarin Chinese, and UK English voices. (Has someone at Apple been watching Her?)
Also included in the iOS 7.1 are changes to Calendar, FaceTime, Mail, Accessibility options, iTunes as well as various interface tweaks. The download is available now
picked from AirtelBlog

Disadvantage of rooting Android devices

A lot of people talk about the freedom rooting phone gives you, without necessarily stressing the risks you face by doing so. Here’s a brief overview of the risk of this process. In case you decide to go for it, it’s best you take an informed decision for your own mobile security.

What’s Rooting?

Rooting is a process that allows you to attain root access to the Android operating system code (the equivalent term for Apple devices id jail-breaking). It gives you privileges to modify the software code on the device or install other software that the manufacturer wouldn’t normally allow you to. And for good mobile security reasons: they don’t want users to make modifications to the phones that could result in accidents beyond repair; it is easier for them to offer support if they allow users to only use the same unmodified version of the software.
But tech savvy users have already developed rooting methods, which vary depending on device.
But if it is improperly done, it can create havoc. And even done properly, if your phone doesn’t have proper antivirus protection for Android, rooting leaves your device open to all sorts of malware.
The following is the possible consequences of taking this action:

1. You can turn your smartphone into a brick.Well, not literally, but if you goof up the rooting process, meaning the code modifications, your phone software can get so damaged that your phone will basically be as useless as a brick.
   
2. Your phone warranty turns void.It’s legal to root your phone; however, if you do it, your device gets straight out of warranty. Say you root your phone and some time after that, you experience a phone malfunction – hardware or software related. Because of the Android rooting, the warranty is no longer valid, and the manufacturer will not cover the damages.
   
3. Malware can easily breach your mobile security.Gaining root access also entails circumventing the security restrictions put in place by the Android operating system. Which means worms, viruses, spyware and Trojans can infect the rooted Android software if it’s not protected by effective mobile antivirus for Android. There are several ways these types of malware get on your phone: drive-by downloads, malicious links, infected apps you download from not so reputable app stores.
   
4. Increasing the likelihood of user’s faults and deleting the system files.By rooting the Android, you will have access to everything and this will include all the operating system’s files. There is always the possibility of errors while you are making changes to system files and in case you remove a system file or update it with wrong configuration, then the OS may not work properly or even load. Although this is not a serious issue and by replacing a new clean ROM it will be resolved but it is still risky

London to install road crossing technology

With so much technological advancement happening everyday, the city of London is taking advantage of it to keep its people safer. The city has started planning to install smart pedestrian crossing systems by equipping its crossings with a bunch of sensors and devices.
This Smart Crossing systems uses cameras mounted on traffic lights to detect if pedestrians are piling up, and it automatically adjusts signals to give large crowds longer time to cross the road. In the future, the reverse might also be true: the city's transportation agency plans to tweak it so that lights change more quickly when everyone's safely on the other side.
The London Mayor, Boris Johnson said: "I am delighted that London is the first city in the world to be trialling this cutting-edge equipment, which will benefit pedestrians across the city.
"This really is a fantastic example of how London is leading the way by using 21st century technology to help make it easier for people to get around our great city. Innovation like this is key to keeping London moving efficiently and making our roads safer for everyone to use.