Employers using Facebook, Twitter for internal communications

Employers are now utilising a host of social media tools such as instant messaging and social networks to communicate with their employees, a new study has found. 

The research, which was based on surveys of 290 organisations from across North America, Europe and Asia, found that more than half of the employers surveyed currently use various social media tools as part of their internal communication initiatives as a way to build community. 

Among the companies surveyed, instant messaging, used by 77 per cent, and streaming audio and video, used by 61 per cent, were the most popular social media tools, 'BusinessNewsDaily' reported. 

Other tools being widely used include human resources or employee blogs, enhanced online employee profiles, social networks, SMS messaging and mobile apps, according to the study by global professional services company Towers Watson. 

"We believe that social media can be a great tool for communicating with employees in the workplace," said Kathryn Yates, global leader of communication consulting at Towers Watson. 

"By its nature, social media is designed to build community and could help engage employees on key topics such as performance, collaboration, culture and values," Yates said. 

Despite the increased adoption, reviews regarding each tool's effectiveness have been less than overwhelming. The study found that for each social media tool, less than half of those using it find it to be effective. 

Also, only 40 per cent rated the use of social media technology as cost-effective. 

However, researchers believe the importance of social media tools will only grow as businesses become more dependent on remote workers. 

Currently, just 23 per cent of those surveyed said their company is effective at building community among its remote workers. 

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‘Smartphones apps help you save 22 days per year‘

Smartphone apps help users save 88 minutes of their time in a day or 22 days a year, a new study has found. 

The study by market research firm Harris Interactive, based on the responses of 2,120 adults, found that 97 per cent of smartphone owners use at least one app on their device. 

On average, those smartphone users estimate app usage amounts to 88 minutes of time saved a day or 22 days of free time a year. 

Email apps were the most frequently used apps, followed by text and social networking apps. Additionally, smartphone users said they used apps for games, Web browsing, weather, maps or Global Positioning System (GPS) and calendar functions, 'BusinessNewsDaily' reported. 

Though email apps were the most frequently used, people saved more time using text applications than any other type of app. Text apps saved users an average of 53 minutes a day, compared with 35 minutes a day for email apps. 

Twenty per cent of workers who use email apps said they were extremely productive when using those apps. 

"As powerful as our survey results prove the smartphone to be, the exciting reality is today's mobile technology innovation has only scratched the surface of its potential to propel success, both in personal life and in business," said Gil Bouhnick, vice president of Mobility at ClickSoftware, which conducted the research. 

Smartphone users also admitted their devices were not simply for personal use. One in five users of GPS and email applications said they used those apps mainly for work, while one in three said they used them equally for work and personal reasons. 

Even though users are spending all that time on their smartphones, most people do not think they are getting the most out of their devices, the researchers found. 

Eighty-two per cent of respondents said they are not using all the features on their smartphones.

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Apple iOS 7 will be be flat, black and white: Report

Apple's decision of redesigning its latest iOS 7 is speculated to present a 'black, white and flat' look all over.

Jonathan Ive who became in charge of the look and feel of the Apple hardware and software last year, is reportedly not fond of skeuomorphic heavy designs, which currently dominate the iOS.

According to a BBC report, the latest design of the Apple iOS is speculated to be devoid of the textures on its notification panel and gloss or shadows on its icons and apps but the corners will remain rounded.

Apps like Mail, Calender and Maps are suggested to have a more unified look. Additionally all the apps will share similar white base with its own unique color scheme.

The report added that the green felt from Game Center and the wooden shelves from Newsstand have also been removed.

Apple is expected to unveil the new iOS 7 at WWDC 2013 that begins June 10.

The challenge for Apple is to balance its users' need for something new with the familiarity to the system its hundreds of million users have, the report added.

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APAC CEOs lead in IT adoption: Gartner

A large number of Asia Pacific CEOs see their organisations as fast followers in adopting business and IT-led innovation, said a report by IT advisory firm Gartner. The 2013 Gartner CEO and Senior Executive Survey found that 32% see themselves as aggressive adopters of business and IT innovation, while 31% see themselves as fast followers.

The Gartner CEO and Senior Executive Survey of more than 390 senior business leaders in organizations worldwide with annual revenue of $250 million or more was conducted between October and December 2012. Of those, 78 were from the Asia Pacific region including Japan.

"It is interesting that the Asia Pacific region, long seen anecdotally as more conservative in leveraging technology and driving innovation, has overtaken the global average of CEOs (26%) who describe their company cultures as being pioneering in the adoption of innovation," said Gartner vice-president and distinguished analyst Partha Iyengar.

"This means a larger number of CEOs than we would anecdotally expect are willing to take risks in the adoption of technology to get first-mover advantage. Half of them are focusing on creating a 'digital strategy' for their enterprises."

Gartner's 2013 CEO and senior executive survey paints a picture of a region that is focused and optimistic about growth prospects, even in light of uncertain economic conditions.

An overwhelming 69% of CEOs say that their plans for investment and growth in 2013 and 2014 are fairly clear and strong despite uncertain economic conditions. CEOs are targeting different customer requirements, new technology-driven capabilities and new geographies. Increasing investment areas in 2013 are product enhancement, IT and marketing.

There is also an expectation of an expanded role for IT in supporting this growth. CEOs foresee an 11% increase in the presence of the CIO role within their enterprises by the end of 2014. This is accompanied by an almost identical drop (12%) in the "head of IT" title within enterprises, possibly signifying that CEOs intend to elevate this role to full CxO status, with a seat at the executive table. Additionally, 31% of CEOs see themselves taking on a more direct role in technology-related issues, in addition to the CIO.

According to the survey, almost 70% of Asia Pacific CEOs believe they have a good understanding of IT-related management issues

"This is also surprisingly high," said Iyengar. "It bodes well for CIOs in their quest to increase the strategic impact IT has within the enterprise. However, it could also be a dangerous situation for CIOs who do not have strong business leadership credentials. Technology-savvy CEOs will be quite impatient to see their CIOs deliver IT-driven business impact, and will not hesitate to make personnel changes if they are unable to do so.

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Soon, IRCTC website to book 7,200 tickets per minute

With the aim of bridging the gap between demand and supply in e-ticketing category,  IRCTC spelt out its grand plan to book 7,200 e-tickets per minute in the current fiscal. 

Currently, the ticketing site of the IRCTC is able to handle about 1.2 lakh concurrent connections on web servers and can book about 2000 tickets per minute. 

In a detailed presentation of its upgrading, IRCTC Managing Director R K Tandon explained the action plan for capacity enhancement to the Railway Minister CP Joshiat a review meeting here. 

It would cost about Rs 100 crore to Railways for strengthening the ticketing site. 

A power point presentation was made before the Railway Minister about the plan to strengthen the website to enable it for booking 7200 tickets per minute, said a senior Railway Ministry official. 

Besides Joshi, Railway Board Chairman Vinay Mittal and CRIS Managing Director Sunil Kumar were also present. 

CRIS, the technical arm of railways, is involved in the upgrading of the IRCTC website. 

The official said the upgrading of website is a continuous process as an average booking per day has been increased from 3.67 lakh in 2012 to 4.15 lakh now. 

There are about 31 crore reserve tickets being booked in a year out of which 55 per cent tickets are sold through windows. While 37 per cent tickets are booked online, eight per cent are being booked by ticketing agents. 

Tendering process for upgrading of software and strengthening of hardware is on as per the Rail Budget announcement, said the official. 

Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had announced in his Rail Budget 2013-14 that the booking capacity will be enhanced to 7200 tickets per minute with the development of next generation software for the e-ticketing site. 

Generally there is a huge load on the website at 10 AM, when booking of Tatkal tickets opens. The booking of ticket varies from time to time based on festival and vacations.

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‘Using hands-free device while driving can be dangerous‘

Scientists have shown that using hands-free cellular devices on the go could lead to a sharp increase in driving errors, says a study.

MONTREAL: Scientists have shown that usinghands-free cellular devices on the go could lead to a sharp increase in driving errors, says a study. 

A pilot study by Yagesh Bhambhani, a professor in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, and his graduate student Mayank Rehani, showed that drivers who talk using a hands-free cellular device made significantly moredriving errors -- such as crossing the centre line, speeding and changing lanes without signalling -- compared with just driving without being attached to such devices. 

The jump in errors also corresponded with a spike in heart rate and brain activity, reports Science Daily. 

"It is commonplace knowledge, but for some reason it is not getting into the public conscience that the safest thing to do while driving is to focus on the road," said Rehani, who completed the research for his master's thesis in rehabilitation science at the University of Alberta.

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Facebook, Twitter distract employees at work: Survey

Many Indian companies feel social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have improved their brand equity and stakeholder engagement.

NEW DELHI: Many Indian companies feel social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have improved their brand equity and stakeholder engagement but such platforms distract employeesat work, says a survey. 

The survey by AIMA, grouping of management professionals, found that more than one-third (38 per cent) of respondents believe that social media participation has improved their brand equity as well as stakeholder engagement. 

However, about 31 per cent of the respondents were sceptical about using social media for business. Besides, only 24 per cent were found to be allowing employees to use social media sites at work. 

On the other hand, 56 per cent of firms surveyed believe that social networking sites distract their employees and another 37 per cent of respondents believe that it would hamper internal and external communication. 

The survey, which covered over 100 companies, saw participation of CEOs, MDs, department heads and managers, among others. Among the firms surveyed include NIIT, Axis Bank, HCL Technologies, Titan Industries, Bharat Electronics, ACC and Apollo Hospitals. 

According to the report, many Indian enterprises are yet to embrace social media for business though nearly all individual executives are using social media for personal or professional purposes. 

Interestingly many firms are still to accept social media as a tool for expanding business in fact they see it as a hindrance to work, it added. 

Social networking is widely considered to be one of the most potent tools of marketing, the survey reiterates this belief with 57 per cent of the respondents using such sites to market and promote their brands. 

Around 20 per cent of companies surveyed have witnessed improvement in employee contribution because of using social media
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Beware, that music at Starbucks can be malware

Scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have uncovered new hard-to-detect methods involving music, lighting or vibration that criminals may use to trigger mobile device malware. 

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) presented the research at the 8th Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security (ASIACCS) in Hangzhou, China. 

"When you go to an arena or Starbucks, you don't expect the music to have a hidden message, so this is a big paradigm shift because the public sees only emails and the internet as vulnerable to malware attacks," said Ragib Hasan, assistant professor of computer and information sciences and director of the UAB SECuRE and Trustworthy (SECRET) computing lab. 

"We devote a lot of our efforts towards securing traditional communication channels. But when bad guys use such hidden and unexpected methods to communicate, it is difficult if not impossible to detect that," Hasan said. 

A team of UAB researchers was able to trigger malware hidden in mobile devices from 55 feet away in a crowded hallway using music. 

They were also successful, at various distances, using music videos; lighting from a television, computer monitor and overhead bulbs; vibrations from a subwoofer; and magnetic fields. 

"We showed that these sensory channels can be used to send short messages that may eventually be used to trigger a mass-signal attack," said Nitesh Saxena, director of the UAB Security and Privacy in Emerging computing and networking Systems (SPIES) research group and assistant professor in the Center for Information Assurance and Joint Forensics Research (CIA-JFR). 

"While traditional networking communication used to send such triggers can be detected relatively easily, there does not seem to be a good way to detect such covert channels currently," Saxena said. 

Researchers were able to trigger malware with a bandwidth of only five bits per second - a fraction of the bandwidth used by laptops or home computers. 

"This kind of attack is sophisticated and difficult to build, but it will become increasingly easier to accomplish in the future as technology improves," said Shams Zawoad, a doctoral student and graduate assistant in the SECRET computing lab. 

"We need to create defenses before these attacks become widespread, so it is better that we find out these techniques first and stay one step ahead," Zawoad said.

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Syrian hackers take down ITV Twitter account

British broadcaster ITV on Friday became the latest media outlet to have one of its Twitter feeds hacked by anonymous supporters of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, just days after Twitter beefed up security to prevent such attacks. 

Twitter said on Wednesday that it had started rolling out an optional two-step authentication regime for its users to thwart hackers. 

The Associated Press, Britain's Financial Times and Daily Telegraph newspapers have all previously succumbed to attacks from the self-styled Syrian Electronic Army. 

ITV's London news Twitter account @itvlondon was hijacked on Friday afternoon and used to promote spoof stories about Syrian rebels, before the hackers tweeted "Just kidding. The Syrian Electronic Army was here. #SEA via @Official_SEA12." 

One of the hackers' tweets linked to a newspaper story headlined: "In battle against hackers like the Syrian Electronic Army, Twitter introduces extra security measures." 

ITV, Britain's largest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, said on its national Twitter account that it was aware that it had been infiltrated and it was working to return to normal service as soon as possible. 

An ITV spokesman said: "The ITV News London Twitter account was compromised for a short time but has now been secured and the Tweets have been deleted." 

The spokesman said the security breach was triggered by a phishing email. He did not know if the new authentication system was in place on the account hacked.

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Smartphones, tablets ‘threatening‘ video game industry

Serious people discuss whether these new consoles, facing competition from cellphones and tablets, might be endangered.

REDMOND: On a gray day here last week,Microsoft officials welcomed a few hundred people into a tent pitched on a soccer field at the company's headquarters. Microsoft was unveiling an appliance, the Xbox One, which takes up about as much room as a lazy house cat and is designed to be plugged into a television. 

It is the latest in a generational line of Xboxes, PlayStations and Nintendos to arrive in the past quarter-century. To dedicated gamers, each generation is as relevant and real a part of the calendar as an Olympiad or a presidential election cycle. Gamers argue about which one is the best. But the previous generation has stretched on longer than those before it and segues into the next at a time when there might be a meteor in the sky. 

Serious people discuss whether these new consoles, facing competition from cellphones and tablets, might be endangered. Untethered from a television, mobile devices - which draw hundreds of millions of people to distraction with "Angry Birds," "Clash of Clans" and "Temple Run" - make gaming more convenient. The home console's appeal is dependent on the notion that gaming on a television still matters. 

The industry is at the start of its eighth console generation: the Xbox One, Sony's PlayStation 4 and Nintendo's Wii U. The Microsoft and Sony machines are planned for release this year; Nintendo's device shipped in November, for the 2012 holiday season. Generations typically last a half-decade and are preceded by the promise that the new, ever more powerful devices will improve the world's youngest major creative medium, make their manufacturers a lot of money and in some way reconfigure living rooms across the world. 

The point of an Xbox is to "bring the things you love to life," Don Mattrick, Microsoft's chief of interactive entertainment, said in an interview outside the Xbox One tent. "You love entertainment. You love TV. You love games. This is going to be the premium experience for enjoying those things." 

Mattrick's challenge, like that of his counterparts at Sony and Nintendo, is to convince people that the game console and its ubiquitous controllers aren't going the way of the landline telephone or, in a threat that hits closer to home, the arcade machine. Just a few decades ago the home console was an upstart. By the late 1990s it was unseating arcade machines, gobbling the public's attention the way "Pac-Man" used to gobble all those dots (and quarters). Consoles like the Nintendo 64 and the Sony PlayStation brought the graphics and sounds of arcade-caliber gaming home and improved on them by offering richer, deeper worlds to play in. 

The outgoing console generation started in 2005 with Microsoft's Xbox 360. Sony's PlayStation 3 followed a year later, as did Nintendo's Wii, with a motion-sensitive controller that turned it into a cultural phenomenon. In an age when iPhones are displaced every year, 2005-era console technology is nearly Paleolithic. It's a testament to the ability of programmers to squeeze performance out of an established hardware standard that new games on the Xbox 360 can still look and sound impressive in 2013. 

Proponents of consoles argue that most mobile games, while increasing in appeal, lack key qualities of console gaming. "They're very bite-sized, very light on the story, very light on the emotions and the different things that a proper sit-down-on-your-couch-with-a-50-inch-screen-and-surround-sound experience can provide," said Scott Rohde, who leads the highly regarded in-house American game development studios for Sony PlayStation. 

Microsoft's vision for the Xbox One extends beyond gaming. It is designed to switch from playing games to showing cable television with a snap of the fingers. Older consoles simply played games, but newer ones are designed to play television shows and movies. 

That shift in focus has been gradual but definite at Microsoft, which added one of its most popular features to the Xbox 360, the ability to stream movies through Netflix, in 2008. At the tent event Mattrick, a former video game designer, announced a deal with the NFL that would empower the Xbox One to display an interactive fantasy league application on the right side of a TV while the left side displayed a live football game. 

Rohde and Mattrick may be rivals in the current console generation, but they are joined by colleagues on both sides who argue that the increased horsepower and technical flash of new consoles can make video game characters appear to be more realistic and increase a player's emotional engagement. They suggest that better technology enables greater aesthetic achievement in their medium. This is by no means a settled point, nor even a universally shared belief of what it takes to advance the artistry of games. That view was in fact mocked at a recent conference for game creators by the independent developer Chris Hecker, who played a reel of proclamations by top console game developers who claimed that more powerful technology would beget more emotionally sophisticated gaming. 

Rohde acknowledged that one of the more emotionally affecting games of last year, a graphically simple, narrative-heavy spinoff of the zombie comic and TV show "The Walking Dead," could run on numerous platforms, from consoles to cellphones. He considers that game an exception and cited the PlayStation 3's forthcoming "The Last of Us," a more graphically complex survival adventure set in a nearly photorealistic ruined United States, as an example that requires a powerful console. 

Rohde also pointed to economics, saying that the low prices of many mobile games (around $1) restrict development budgets to a fraction of those for lavish $60 console games. 

Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have all begun courting independent game creators for their consoles. A common selection for 2012 game of the year was a smaller PlayStation 3 exclusive called "Journey," a quiet, surreal nature-walk of a game made by a small team of developers whom Sony signed out of graduate school. One of the most popular games on the Xbox 360 last year was the console's version of the PC hit "Minecraft," a building-block game designed nearly single-handedly by a developer in Sweden known as Notch. 

For the Xbox One, Mattrick speaks of a smarter device that recognizes its users and adapts to them. His team has integrated the console with a new generation of Microsoft's successful visual and aural sensor Kinect. A result is something that might seem more futuristic and also a bit strange. The new Kinect can track gestures, read a player's heart rate by looking at his or her face, and respond to verbal commands. It must be plugged in for the Xbox One to operate, though the entire system can be turned off to alleviate concerns that it might spy on people. 

The PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One are both expected to be released this fall, probably up against new devices from Apple and other mobile competitors. Games are likely to be popular on all of those machines. 

"What's so exciting about this particular time in the history of gaming is that it's more wild than it's ever been," Rohde said. "No one on the planet knows quite where it's going to go.
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