Universum’s global index of employer attractiveness is designed to assess the world’s most powerful employer brands. Google is, by far, the ideal company to work for according to 120,000 students from top academic institutions worldwide. The positions occupied by the Google and Microsoft are clear indications of their success related to talent attraction and retention.

“These companies in the Top 50 really work with employer branding strategically. The Big Four, for example, are all in the top 10 business ranking, as they have employer branding as part of their business strategy. Many associate their corporate brands to people. This is normal for the service industry, but it’s a new approach for other companies. These companies are in the Top 50 because they are focused, consistent and differentiate themselves in their communication.” said Michal Kalinowski, CEO of Universum to Softpedia.

Students from U.S, Japan, China, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain, Canada, and India have helped define the world’s top 50 most attractive employers, Universum explained. In this regard, the list with the best employers to work for emphasizes the globalization of the talent market. Google, Microsoft and IBM are, in this context, attractive employers because students are aiming for an international career with multinational companies capable of offering secure employment.

But what can be other reasons to be attracted more towards Google. Here are few good reason: The campus in Mountain View strictly follows the company’s Founders, Sergei Brin and Larry Page, orders that food (it’s free) should not be away more than 150 feet from the employees. So, Google runs 11 free gourmet cafeterias and scores of snack rooms, which contain cereals, candy, nuts, yogurt, carrots, fresh fruit and other snacks, and dozens of drinks, including soda and make-your-own cappuccino.

If an employee wants to buy a hybrid car, Google pays up $5,000 to the employee for environmentally friendly effort. If employee has a baby, Google pays $500 to buy baby stuff. Drop off laundry and get it dry cleaned for free. Get onsite free massage and haircut, and an oil change or wash for your car. Work is such a cosy place that it’s difficult for Google employees to leave office.

Courtesy Silicon India

“Banning access to from the corporate network is futile. The world we live in is digitally enabled and socially connected,” said Carol Rozwell, Vice President, Gartner.

Gartner’s advice reflects the transformation of the IT world as the internet is spreading through everybody’s life. The event has concerned itself with matters such as justifying the expense of a new enterprise resource management computing system, and the broadening show reflects the growing scope of work that IT managers face.

Peter Sondergaard, Senior Vice President, Research at Gartner opined that the companies must acknowledge that everything is not under control of their own top-down administration.

“We’re moving from control to greater autonomy,” said Sondergaard. The managers also must find an appropriate place on the spectrums of in here versus out there and owned versus shared.

Carol argued that humans are social creatures and that there lies more to employee relations than a paycheck for work. “While a job may be regarded as an economic transaction, the human brain thinks of the workplace as a social system. Social networking can make employees feel valued, a part of a community, and earn the respect of peers,” said Carol.

The employees should get used to a greater corporate presence in their social networking lives. These social networking sites can reveal previously unknown influence and performance in employees for the companies, and they should tell employees that corporate conduct rules apply online also.

“We can’t stop social networking, but harnessing the passion of employees and educating them about the responsibilities is essential,” said Carol.

Another Gartner Vice President Paul Proctor argued that computing security is also changing. The IT security staff should think carefully before exercising a reflex to prevent employees from communicating with Facebook’s e-mail or Skype’s internet telephony.

The companies should rationally evaluate the services like Gmail and decide whether the potential cost savings might well be worth the risks taken. Also, evaluating such services will be a big step for the IT departments habitual of being able to rule their own domain.

“You cannot protect yourself from everything. You must learn to balance risk and performance. The cloud and software as a service have appeal, but they introduce a huge shift in how technology is managed and controlled,” said Proctor.

The software for intrusion detection, antivirus, and firewall protection is still essential, opined Proctor. But he also said that there are limits to what is practical. “Do not try to shut down the two way flow of information, because you cannot stop it. Transparency is in,” said Proctor.

Courtesy Silicon India

According to Armstrong, he was forced to reconsider every single detail of the monumental journey after watching a few persuasive YouTube videos, and reading several blog posts on conspiracy theorist Ralph Coleman’s website, OmissionControl.org.

“It only took a few hastily written paragraphs published by this passionate denier of mankind’s so-called ‘greatest technological achievement’ for me to realize I had been living a lie, ” said a visibly emotional Armstrong, addressing reporters at his home. “It has become painfully clear to me that on July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module under the control of my crew did not in fact travel 250,000 miles over eight days, touch down on the moon, and perform various experiments, ushering in a new era for humanity. Instead, the entire thing was filmed on a soundstage, most likely in New Mexico.”

“This is the only logical interpretation of the numerous inconsistencies in the grainy, 40-year-old footage,” Armstrong added.

Although Armstrong said he “could have sworn” he felt the effects of zero gravity while soaring out of the Earth’s atmosphere and through space, he now believed his memory must be flawed. He also admitted feeling “ashamed” that he had failed to notice the rippling of the American flag he and Buzz Aldrin planted on the surface, blaming his lack of awareness on the bulkiness of the spacesuit and his excitement about traveling to the “moon.”

“That rippling is not possible in the vacuum of space,” Armstrong said. “It must have been the wind from an air-conditioning duct that I didn’t recognize because you can’t hear a damn thing inside those helmets.”

“This is all just common sense, people,” he added. “It’s the moon. You can’t land on the moon.”

In a symbolic display of his newfound skepticism, Armstrong then grabbed a collection of moon rocks he had kept as souvenirs and dramatically dumped them into a trash can.

One of the main arguments posited on Coleman’s website—that America could not, in 1969, have realistically possessed the technological capabilities needed to put a man on the moon—was reportedly one of the first things to cause the legendary astronaut a pang of doubt. Despite having spent thousands of hours training for the historic mission under the guidance of the world’s top scientists, technicians, and pilots, Armstrong said he knew the conspiracy theories were true after learning that website author Coleman was “quite the engineering buff.”

“Yes, at the time I thought those thousands of NASA employees were working round the clock for the same incredible goal, but if anyone would know what was really going on, it would be Ralph Coleman,” Armstrong said of the 31-year-old part-time librarian’s assistant. “He knows a lot more about faked moon landings than I ever could. He’s been researching the subject on the Internet for years.”

“Literally years,” he added.

Addressing another inconsistency brought to light by OmissionControl, Armstrong explained he was probably so focused on piloting the lunar module that he failed to notice that one of the moon rocks visible in footage of the landing appears to have the letter ‘C’ stamped on it. An emotional Armstrong said that the only possible explanation for this detail was that the rock actually came from NASA’s prop department.

“They forgot to turn it over,” Armstrong said, removing his eyeglasses to wipe away tears. “Those lying bastards at NASA went through all the trouble to fake the moon landing, but they forgot to turn over one little prop rock. And now the whole damn thing’s blowing up in their faces.”

Courtesy The Onion

After hitting the bottom, “Recovery probably will happen by the end of the year or early next year,” he said. However, he cautioned that the effects of recovery would not be immediately felt by the IT industry.

” (The) IT industry was lagging behind. We saw the downturn hit us slightly later.

Recovery will also see a slight lag. Companies will begin spending only when they are comfortable that recovery has taken place,” he said.

The recovery for the IT sector could lag by a quarter behind than overall recovery, he opined. However, he cautioned that “there is still uncertainty” and the question of certain events impacting could not be ruled out.

Citing the example of General Motors plunging into bankruptcy, he said its possible implications on the automotive sector, manufacturing sector, impact on overall economy should be kept in mind, considering such events could impact recovery.

Courtesy yahoo.com

Calling the next decade ‘the teenage years,’ the report said that like teenagers, financial markets and the economy would be moody and unpredictable initially, but then grow and mature.

CIBC chief economist and report co-author Avery Shenfeld said: “The US, and perhaps to a lesser extent, Canada, will become a bit more China-like in the teen years. We will see more of a contribution from exports and related capital spending, and less from housing or consumption.”

Shenfeld expected greater consumer spending in regions, particularly China and oil-exporting countries, which ran “outsized savings rates over the past decade.”

A fall in the savings rate in the developing world could add far more to global consumption spending than will be lost in the adjustment to a higher savings rate in the US, and the developed world, the economist said.

The key driver in this, he said, will be a drop in the value of the over-inflated US dollar.

Expecting the US greenback to fall by 20 per cent, the Canadian economist said a weaker dollar will help unlock wallets overseas.

“Stronger currencies in East Asia and, if there is an un-pegging as we expect, in the Persian Gulf oil economies, will be one step towards improving the real purchasing power of consumers in these regions,” he said.

“Moreover, the longer countries like China and India see improving economic conditions, the more households will be confident that their newfound wealth is not h ephemeral, allowing them to reduce precautionary savings,” the Toronto banker added.

For the US, he said, a weaker dollar will be the key to promoting both exports and capital spending at home, by making “Made in America” less of a cost disadvantage.

Ruling out tax hikes in the US to be the solution to the growing government debt, he said, “Letting inflation run at five per cent for a few years in the early part of the decade would go a long way to digging the US out of its debt mountain.

“Higher inflation would help stabilize or even boost house prices, key to allowing a return to positive home equity for those with mortgages that now threaten to exceed the house price.”

Original On SI

Certain rules that can help you in selection of stock for day trading are discussed here. These rules can be digested quickly to help you avoid the biggest pitfalls in trading. These rules include:

• Trade liquid stocks
• Avoid unpredictable (chaotic) stocks
• Trade stocks with good correlation
• Move with the trend
• Research

1. Trade liquid stocks

It is often said that liquidity is like oxygen to traders; without it, they are dead. Thus liquidity is the first and most important rule while selecting a stock for day trading.

A liquid stock is one, which has a high average trading volumes, so that it can be bought or sold in sufficient quantities without causing much impact on the prices.

It is advisable to day trade strictly in liquid shares less liquid stocks helps a trader buy or sell large quantities of shares without any problem of there being no buyers or sellers. While it could be argued that illiquid volatility also creates opportunity through rapid price change, statistics prove that volatile shares move the most in the least amount of time. Therefore, most opportunity dissipates while downside risk looms.

However, this is not a hard and fast rule, as the amount of liquidity depends on the quality of your trade.

Suppose you buy few shares, say 50 to 100 shares, then shares with average trading volume of 50,000 to 75, 000 will suffice, whereas if you buy few hundred or thousand shares then you need a stock with average trading volume of few lakh shares.

Some of the examples most liquid stocks include Reliance Industries [Get Quote], SBI [Get Quote], Infosys [Get Quote], ONGC [Get Quote] etc.

2. Avoid unpredictable (chaotic) stocks

Generally it is seen that stocks that are trading with low average daily volumes or stocks where some big news is soon expected, tend to trade in a highly unpredictable manner. Sometimes even after an important announcement — which may be either good or bad (like big order, good results, bad results, plant shutdown etc) — the stock may trade in a chaotic manner. So it is advisable to avoid such chaotic stocks.

Some of the mid caps, and most of the small caps especially those in S, T and Z group are chaotic stocks; better not to trade them from intraday point of view. They also have very low volume thereby increasing their unpredictability.

3. Trade stocks with good correlation

It is advisable to trade in stocks that have more in correlation with major indices and sectors. That is if the index or a sector moves up the stocks belonging to that index or sector also moves up and vice versa.

Stocks that track and trade in correlation with the group (sector) to which they belong are more readable & reliable, so that if any good/bad news comes in, affecting the sector as a whole, then you can depend on the stock to move in the manner as the overall sector is expected to move.

For instance, if the Indian rupee strengthens against the US dollar then all IT companies depending on US markets get adversely affected.

A stronger rupee means these IT companies will earn less from their exports. Conversely rupee weakening against the dollar leads to increase in their export earnings.

4. Move with the trend

It is always easier to swim along the river rather than across it. Always remember this thing while day trading.

If we are in a secular bull run, then it is advisable to find stocks (sectors) that are going to rise, rather than finding stocks (sectors) that are going to fall.

Similarly if we are in a bearish phase, then it is advisable to find stocks (sectors) that are going to fall, rather than finding stocks (sectors) that are likely to move up.

5. Research

Quality research is the key to success. However, it is generally observed that day traders hardly do any research.

First, identify an index (like the BSE Sensex or the NSE Nifty) that fits your style of trading and then identify sectors within this index that appeal to your interest. Next step is to create a significant list of stocks within each such sector. Note that stocks in the sector need to be leader of that sector, and should be most tradable.

Daily analyse these stocks technically to decide whether they will move up or down the next day. You also need to find out a particular stock’s key levels of support and resistance. Is the stock overbought or oversold? Has volume been showing any significant changes?

Also study the fundamentals of the companies and try to know when they declare their quarterly results. Studying how a particular stock moves on the day before the result, when the result is announced and after the result helps a day trader understand how the market reacts to results.

original on rediff

Diagnostic services, Medical devices and equipment, wellness centers and hospital chains are the hot focus of these investors as around 42 percent of the PE and VC players feel that there is a big scope and a strong opportunity of investments in the semi-urban and the rural areas.

“Given the fragmented nature of both the hospitals and pharmaceuticals sectors, investors also see potential for tapping into consolidation opportunities in partnership with growth-oriented entrepreneurs,” said Arun Natarajan, CEO of Venture Intelligence.

The investors have concerns and see high risk in the investment in the life science segment, as there is a significant foreign and domestic investment. These investment firms also have their concerns about the long gestation periods, scalability and talent shortage in the healthcare sector along with the clarity in the regulations and corporate governance standards.

Original on SI

The second annual survey conducted by the National Geographic Society and international polling firm GlobeScan on environmentallysustainable behaviour, the results of which were released on Wednesday, showed that Indian consumers have overtaken Brazilians to take the top spot with a Greendex score of 59.5. The Chinese retained the third spot with 55.2. At the bottom of the ladder in the 17-country survey are over-consumptive Americans (43.7), Canadians (43.5) and Japanese (49.3).

So, what has put Indians at the top of the Green ladder? It was driven by above-average performance on all four sub-indices, including first-place rankings for food and goods. Indians are the most frequent consumers of self-grown food, with 35% eating what they grow several times a week or daily. Desis are also the least frequent consumers of beef, which requires greater energy to grow—only 22% consume beef weekly compared to an average of 63% for the 17 countries surveyed.

Indian consumers also topped the goods sub-index score. Their top status is due in part to having lower-than-average rates of ownership of large appliances and electronics. Also, the rate of those buying used goods, avoiding environmentally unfriendly products and excessive packaging, and buying environmentally friendlyproducts is the highest.

Original On TOI

2. Protect your content on the services you use. Some content that Google stores for you, such as photos uploaded in Picasa Web Albums, are public by default. You can protect your privacy when you upload photos by choosing the appropriate checkbox.

Choices include “unlisted” (accessible only if you have the Web link, and not indexed by Web search engines) or private (viewable only by named users who must sign in).

Another example: You can take a Google Chat “off the record” if you don’t want the instant messaging transcript stored.

In contrast, Google Latitude, which tracks your whereabouts by way of GPS-enabled cell phones, does not share your location data by default. You must authorize others to see it. Latitude stores your last known location, but not your history.

3. Turn off the suggestion feature in the Chrome browser. Chrome uses Google Suggest to try to guess which Web address you want as you type into the “Omnibox,” the address bar in Chrome that doubles as a search engine query bar. It makes suggestions for where you want to go based both on popular Web sites and searches and on the text that you type in. That text is transferred to Google’s servers and may be logged in some cases. The service is turned on by default.

You can turn the feature off by going to “Under the Hood” under Options and unchecking the “Use a suggestion service” box. You can also select other privacy options, including surfing in Chrome’s “incognito” mode, which ensures that Web history, cookies and records of downloads are not stored on your computer when the session ends.

4. Turn off Web History. You may have turned on the Web History option, also called Personalized Search, when you first created your Google account. If so, Google may be maintaining a “personalized” search history for your use.

Google does not use this data to target ads. It uses a separate search history, stored in Google’s server logs and associated with a browser cookie, for that purpose. That data is “anonymized” after nine months. But your Web History is retained forever, unless you turn it off or delete the contents.

5. Opt out of interest-based ad serving. As of March 11, Google and third parties in its AdSense network are using not just contextual information (what you’re searching for) but a history of previously viewed Web pages to serve up targeted advertising. The idea is to serve up ads that are more relevant to your interests.

You can remove interest categories Google has attributed to you or add others by visiting its Ad Preferences page. You can also opt out. To make the opt-out setting permanent, however, you’ll need to install a plug-in for each browser you use. It’s available for IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari.

6. Add SSL to Gmail. You can encrypt e-mails you read and create in Gmail. Your log-in data is encrypted by default by SSL encryption, but SSL is turned off when you interact with your e-mail, because it can slow performance.

You’ll find the option in Settings under the General tab. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select the “Always use https” option under the Browser Connection setting.

Original On Computer World