How has Social Media Changed Company Policies? | SocialSpark

The Internet has, without a doubt, changed numerous aspects of modern life. We shop online, we date online and we communicate with friends online. What?s more, it has transformed modern businesses, enabling employees to work more effectively.

However, the Internet also gives workers more opportunities to procrastinate. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are just three of the many social networks that could distract employees from completing tasks, by chatting with friends on Facebook, following the latest news on Twitter or even looking for a new job on LinkedIn.

As a result, companies all around the world have been forced to either adapt or create policies that guide employees in how to go about their daily business. While some companies are as strict as possible and insist that employees do not log on to any social networking sites during working hours, others allow employees to visit these sites on their lunch break or in between tasks.

Social Media Company Benefits

Some companies even recognize that social networking sites, particularly Twitter and LinkedIn, can provide company benefits. With Twitter often breaking news, employees can follow industry-specific developments, as well as industry thought leaders that offer great recommendations, advice and innovative insight.

LinkedIn can also be beneficial because the site?s industry discussion groups often provide intellectual stimulation and new ideas that employees can integrate into their own work. Also, for companies with profiles, LinkedIn can provide alternatives to formal training programs. For example, online seminars provide a creative and interactive learning environment that can help employees continue their training ? all from their office desk. In the current financial environment, this is an attractive alternative to costly and timely formal training programs and conventions.

However, while saving on training expenses is one of the business perks of LinkedIn, many businesses are cautious of the fact that, through following rival companies on LinkedIn, staff could become aware of employment opportunities at these companies. Not only could employees read a full job description, but it is possible that they could go as far as submitting an application, using their LinkedIn profile to build their application form in a matter of minutes.

It?s a Fine Line

Clearly, companies around the world need to be wary about how they control employee Internet usage. Too strict, and they could risk pushing strong workers away and losing them to rival organizations. Not strict enough and they could find some employees taking advantage of company policy ? completing only the minimum amount of work required and spending large amounts of their working days online, talking to friends and eating up valuable company time.

About the Author: Sebastian is a Learning and Development Consultant at the leading project management training consulting company, Thales Training & Consultancy. With a background as a corporate presenter and trainer, Sebastian specializes in behavioral change and emotional intelligence. He is also a qualified MSCEIT practitioner.

Tags: Sebastian Bos, Thales Training & Consultancy

Source: http://socialspark.com/how-has-social-media-changed-company-policies/

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Apple releases iOS 7 beta for iPad and iPad mini

The just-released iOS 7 beta 2 has now hit Apple's developer portal and the big news is -- an iPad version is now available for download alongside the iPhone and iPod touch version. Two weeks ago, at WWDC 2013, Apple released iOS 7 beta 1 but restricted it to iPhone and iPod touch only, saying an iOS 7 beta for iPad would coming in the following weeks.

Looks like those weeks have followed. If you're an iPad developer and you've been waiting on it, go get it at developer.apple.com.

• iOS 7: Everything you need to know
• iOS 7: Discussion forum

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/CdSjPdP-oSs/story01.htm

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Religious advice should not involve political interest ... - Minivan News

The Maldivian public are often misinformed of authentic Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet) because some local scholars offer religious advice with the intention of serving their political interests, former President Mohamed Nasheed said last night (June 23).

Speaking at a ceremony at the Male? City Hall to launch a second volume of Dhivehi translation and interpretations of Sahih Muslim?s Hadiths by former State Minister for Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed, Nasheed said genuine religious advice should not involve personal interest or a political ?agenda.?

While a politician might present statistics in a way that would favour his party, ?religious advice should not be given in a way that would benefit a political ideology.?

One of the biggest problems facing the country today was the ?mixing up? of politicians and religious scholars, Nasheed added.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate said Sheikh Hussain Rasheed?s book should be made widely available for the public so that Maldivians could distinguish between inauthentic and authentic Hadiths.

The Hadiths were compiled by Imam Bukhari and Muslim during the Abbasid caliphate, Nasheed observed, which was a ?golden age? for Islam and the pursuit of knowledge.

?It is said that there were 700 libraries in Baghdad during that period,? he said.

Sheikh Rasheed?s second volume of Hadith translations are available for MVR 250 (US$16).

The former Adhaalath Party President?explained at last night?s ceremony that the complete translations of the 5,263 sayings would be published in a planned 12 volumes.

Parts two and three of Sheikh Rasheed?s books on prayer instructions were also released last night by former Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari and Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid.?

Source: http://minivannews.com/society/religious-advice-should-not-involve-political-interest-says-nasheed-60131

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Russian rights group evicted from Moscow office

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Authorities forcibly evicted a prominent Russian human rights organization from its office in the early hours of Saturday in a raid its director said he believed was ordered by officials in President Vladimir Putin's administration.

For Human Rights is one of the best-known of the hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which have been subjected to state inspections under a law Putin signed last year requiring NGOs with foreign funding to register as "foreign agents".

Western powers and rights groups view the legislation and inspections as aimed at intimidating activists and silencing criticism of Putin, who started a new six-year term in May 2012.

Putin, who has accused Western governments of using NGOs to spy on Russia and influence the political situation, says the law is needed to ensure transparency and that the checks are to enforce legal compliance.

The U.S. ambassador Michael McFaul tweeted on Saturday that "the USA is concerned about reports of the forcible seizure of the office of the NGO For Human Rights," adding that this was "another case of intimidating civil society".

Riot police and Moscow mayor's office representatives entered the building housing the office of For Human Rights at about 2 a.m. (2200 GMT Friday), ejecting at least six employees and supporters, said the group's director, Lev Ponomaryov.

"They treated us very roughly. I was dragged across the floor and then kicked," the 72-year-old said by telephone. He said he and five others were taken by ambulance to a first-aid clinic with bruises and scrapes, but none were in hospital.

A Moscow government property official, Maxim Gaman, told state-run news agency RIA on Friday that For Human Rights was being evicted because its lease on the city-owned premises had run out in February and had been terminated on May 27.

A police spokesman said officers had been sent to help city officials evict the group because its lease had run out.

About a dozen people gathered to protest outside the building on Saturday, undisturbed by the police.

FOREIGN AGENT LAW

Ponomaryov said the group had not received an eviction notice. He said the eviction may have been motivated by the group's refusal to give prosecutors documents they had demanded under the foreign agent law.

"I don't know if Putin is behind it but there must have been a decision at a very high level, in the Kremlin," he said. He also blamed Kremlin-appointed mayor Sergei Sobyanin for the eviction.

The presidential press service declined to comment, and Sobyanin's office could not immediately be reached.

The Moscow division of Russia's Interior Ministry on Saturday defended the actions of the police, saying the removal of the employees had been carried out by a private security firm, with police officers only involved in maintaining order outside the building.

Ponomaryov said he had expected to extend the lease as he had done in previous years, and that he was up to date on rent payments. "It's all entirely illegal," he said, adding that a court decision was required to carry out an eviction.

Russia's human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, said city and law enforcement authorities had "tried to resolve a dispute between two parties unilaterally without involving the courts".

He said he had been barred from the scene of he raid in what he called a "crude violation of federal constitutional law", Interfax news agency reported.

Interfax also reported that a special meeting of the Kremlin's Human Rights Council would be held on Wednesday to discuss the incident, with Mayor Sobyanin and the heads of the Moscow police and prosecutors invited to attend.

(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Jason Bush and Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-rights-group-evicted-moscow-office-094115267.html

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Surgeon Uses Google Glass and iPad To Capture Live Procedure and Stream It

I'm torn on that one.

On the one hand, good. Patients deserve to KNOW if their doctor fucked something up. Every now and then you hear horror stories about sponges, clamps, and god knows what else being left inside a patient, or a doctor that removes the wrong body part. Video playback could also help in a malpractice defense in which the patient claimed the doctor was distracted, intoxicated, or made a critical error.

On the other hand, knowing that there's a camera and live feed watching your every move isn't something I'd want to deal with while I was elbow deep in someone's gizzard.

The act of observing something changes the behavior of the people being observed. I'm not sold on this, save in particular training circumstances.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/aSRw5s2OZgg/story01.htm

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Analysis: Oracle's sales miss magnifies fears about cloud missteps

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - "What the hell is cloud computing?" Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison said during a diatribe against the whole concept at an investor Q&A in 2008.

Asked to describe his strategy for expanding into a then-small but rapidly expanding sphere, the software giant's head said he had no idea what people were talking about when they referred to cloud computing, describing it as "nonsensical" and those writing about it as "insane".

Five years after Ellison's rant went viral on YouTube, the billionaire is struggling to fit his ageing IT giant into a newly cloud-centric world - a hard scramble spotlighted by what analysts said was Oracle's first fourth-quarter miss on new software sales in a decade.

Its rivals have grown, winning business from corporate and government customers seeking cloud-based software that is cheaper and faster-to-deploy than traditional offerings housed in massive inhouse datacenters.

Oracle is now striving to catch up with its own line of cloud software, built up partly through acquisitions. Ellison has forged alliances with long-time bitter rivals Microsoft Corp and Salesforce.com Inc to drum up new business. On Thursday, Ellison said he will announce those partnerships next week, but provided few details.

Oracle stuck for years to building high-end multi-million dollar "engineered systems" that bundle hardware and software in one package. It started selling them with Hewlett-Packard Co in 2008 and then partnered with ailing computer maker Sun Microsystems, which it agreed to buy in 2009.

Oracle says the engineered systems strategy has been a big success, helping woo business from rivals IBM and SAP

"They spent the last four years focusing on engineered systems when the bigger industry trend was the cloud," JMP Securities analyst Pat Walravens said. "They now have a structural problem."

Oracle's shares plummeted 9.3 percent on Friday, their biggest one-day drop since releasing another weak set of results in March.

Investors took the disappointing results hard because it was the first time in more than a decade that Oracle missed software sales estimates in its traditionally strongest fiscal fourth-quarter, according to analysts. That's when sales representatives hustle to close deals to qualify for year-end bonuses.

And it was the third miss in the past seven quarters for Oracle, Walravens said.

Cloud companies such as Salesforce price their products below the levels at which Oracle can make a decent return, analysts say. Some rivals even sell their products at a loss. Salesforce, for example, posted a net loss of $270 million last year.

Less quantifiably, industry executives have said that emergent business software providers such as Workday started from scratch by focusing on ease of use and simpler interfaces, while old-school IT giants like Oracle have been hampered by legacy systems and software products that they were slow to re-tool.

"This is causing a real disruption in Oracle's business," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer with Solaris Group, which manages about $1.5 billion. "It is going to pressure their business for a while."

SAILING ALONG?

Ellison, a renowned sailing enthusiast who is now devoting time and energy to his company's entry in this summer's Americas Cup, built Oracle from a scrappy operation building a database for the Central Intelligence Agency into one of Silicon Valley's foremost corporate icons.

In past months, he has championed Oracle's resurgent foray into cloud software, at his annual Oracle OpenWorld conference for clients and developers, even while continuing to buy up assets in Hawaii, such as commuter airline Island Air. He bought almost all of the island of Lanai last year.

He and Oracle executives dispute the view that the company is failing in the cloud. They blamed their quarterly miss on the economy, particularly in Asia and Latin America, during a conference call on Thursday.

In the previous quarter, executives blamed disappointing software revenue on poor execution by its salesforce.

"Our success in the cloud is significant and undeniable," Oracle President Mark Hurd said on a Thursday conference call with analysts. He said Oracle had added 500 new customers during the quarter including eBay Inc , Intuit Inc and Yahoo Inc .

Fred Hickey, editor of The High-Tech Strategist, a newsletter widely read by investors, said he does believe a bad economy was behind Oracle's rough quarter, pointing to problems in Brazil, China, India and Mexico and similar comments from other old-guard tech giants including EMC Corp , IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co .

Even up-and-coming cloud software provider Workday had mentioned "economic pressures" in its earnings conference call.

Other analysts said Oracle's installed user base - forged over decades in the business on a reputation of reliability - will be hard to displace in the short term.

"Does Oracle have pressure from the cloud over time? Yes," said Hickey. "Is it imminent? No. They are too big and entrenched."

Cowen & Co analyst Peter Goldmacher, who describes 68-year-old Ellison as "the most brilliant enterprise software person ever," also said that Oracle's problems are structural. He believes there is little Ellison could have done to avoid the slowdown the company is now seeing.

Ellison has grown profits at a healthy clip over the past decade by acquiring other makers of software that customers run in their own data centers, selling customers software up front and then cajoling them into buying long-term maintenance contracts that are highly profitable for Oracle.

That business model does not work with cloud computing because companies like WorkDay and Salesforce do not charge extra for maintenance. The cost of the software and support is combined into a single subscription fee, which generates far lower margins than the products Oracle has traditionally sold.

"The inevitable is the inevitable," Goldmacher said. "You can get as many tummy tucks and face lifts as you as want, but it doesn't make your heart and liver and kidneys any younger."

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Edwin Chan, Patricia Kranz, Martin Howell and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-oracles-sales-miss-magnifies-fears-cloud-missteps-120605766.html

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These Are the Ten TV Shows That Pirates Like the Most

With the spring TV season drawing to a close (MAD MEN SEASON FINALE TOMORROW YOU GUYS!!), TorrentFreak has done the wonderful service of rounding up a top 10 list of the most torrented shows out there this time around. Can you guess number one? (You can definitely guess number one.)

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yRWCg89Pisg/these-are-the-ten-tv-shows-that-pirates-like-the-most-543716912

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