Top IT skills wanted for 2012

Takeaway: A new Computerworld survey indicates the nine IT skills that will be in demand in 2012.

Nearly 29 percent of the 353 IT executives who were polled in Computerworld’s annual Forecast survey said they plan to increase IT staffing through next summer. (That’s up from 23% in the 2010 survey and 20% in the 2009 survey.)

Here are the skills that the IT executives say they will be hiring for:

1. Programming and Application Development–61% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months, up from 44% in the 2010 survey. This covers the gamut from website development to upgrading internal systems and meeting the needs of mobile users.
2. Project Management (but with a twist)– The twist is that they’re not going to just be looking for people who can oversee and monitor projects. They also want people who can identify users’ needs and translate them for the IT staffers-the increasingly popular business analysts.
3. Help Desk/Technical Support–Mobile operating systems have added a new dimension to help desk and tech support.
4. Networking-This demand is being fueled partially by virtualization and cloud computing projects. The survey also revealed that execs will be looking for people with VMware and Citrix experience.
5. Business Intelligence-Computerworld interprets this uptick to a focus shift in many companies,  from cost savings to investing in technology. That will be nice if it pans out that way.
6. Data Center-Virtualization and the Cloud could also be behind the increased need for IT professionals with backgrounds in data center operations and systems integration.
7. Web 2.0-Tech skills centered around social media will be in demand, with .Net, AJAX and PHP as key back-end skills, with HTML, XML, CSS, Flash and Javascript, among others, on the front end.
8. Security-Although down from 32 percent in the 2010 survey, security stays a top concern of IT executives.
9. Telecommunications-The survey indicates a demand for people with IP telephony skills, and for those familiar with Cisco IPCC call center systems.

Article from:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/

Japan computer smashes speed record

A Japanese supercomputer has broken its own record as the world's fastest machine by performing 10 quadrillion calculations per second, its developers announced.

The "K Computer", which has more than 88,000 central processing units -- the computer's "brain" -- compared with the fewer than four in the average desktop, smashed its own record of just over 8 quadrillion calculations during an experiment in October. A quadrillion is a thousand trillion.

Supercomputers operate roughly 10,000 times faster than ordinary personal computers.

Among other things, supercomputers are used by scientists investigating the effects of seismic waves and tsunamis to predict what effect they may have on buildings.

Ryoji Noyori, president of Riken, the company that jointly developed the machine alongside Fujitsu, said it was a landmark achievement in computing.

"The K Computer is a key national technology that will help lay the foundation for Japan's further progress," he said on Wednesday.

"I am delighted that it has achieved its major objective, demonstrating our strong technical power."

The year the tablet market grew up

If 2010 was the year of iPad, then 2011 was the year of the tablet.

When Apple introduced the iPad in April 2010, it convinced consumers that they wanted — even needed — tablets in their lives, as competitors scrambled to come up with their own version of the "magical" device. Running its own software, iOS, on its own hardware, Apple quickly solidified its place at the top of the market.

Fast-forward a year and another generation of the iPad. Apple is still king of the tablet world — with 68 percent of the market, according to research firm IDC — but it faces a growing number of increasingly credible competitors.

Android tablets have emerged in all sizes, niches and price points. Competitors are seizing opportunities to target customers who don't fit the one size Apple is offering.

In some ways, it's parallel to what happened in the smartphone world. Apple's iPhone popularized the idea of the smartphone from its introduction in 2007, but smartphones running Google's Android system have taken off since then. Android phones make up more than half of the world's smartphone market, thanks in part to niche targeting and manufacturers' efforts to go after lower price points. Tablet prices haven't quite followed the same pattern, but analysts predict that Apple will lose ground to competitors that go after the lower end of the market.

This year's lineup of gadgets has the potential to redefine the tablet market because it shows a deeper understanding of how people use the devices.

After all, what do we use tablets for, really? According to a March survey from Google's AdMob team, the top five things tablet owners are doing are: gaming, surfing, e-mailing, reading the news and accessing social networks. Most tablet use is at home on weeknights in place of traditional computer use. In other words, people use their tablets to veg out.

So although Android-based Kindle Fire can't compete with the quality and processing power of the iPad 2, the $199 device doesn't need to. All it has to do is replace whatever is on the average nightstand or coffee table.

Amazon is particularly well positioned to fill that void because it also happens to be one of the world's most popular bookstores. The company is betting that its low-cost device will be a hit with the tablet crowd, who might just want to replace that stack of bedside books with a paperback-size gadget that lets them read, get in a couple levels of Angry Birds during commercial breaks and finish their e-mail before bed.

Only 28 percent of the tablet owners Google surveyed said that they are using tablets as their primary computer, which would require the top-notch processing power.

There's no doubt that the iPad 2 is still a dominant device. Bolstered by Apple's smooth and fluid iOS, its extensive app store and access to the company's iCloud services, it's not likely to come down from the top spot in the market anytime soon. Google's Android is fantastic but suffers from having to accommodate the quirks of several manufacturers that want to put their own spin on the system. Unlike devices running iOS, Android devices don't all have the same menu options or layout, which can be frustrating for customers trying to make comparisons. But Google is cooking up a more unified version of Android for its tablets and smartphones — code-named Ice Cream Sandwich — which might address complaints that the system is too fragmented.

Once the tablet market's trailblazer, Apple should be looking in its rearview mirror. The company is likely to stay at the top of the market for a while, but competition means it will have to avoid getting too comfortable. To stay ahead, Apple will have to continue to innovate, and consumers will reap the benefits.

Ex-Googlers Launch iPhone App for Tapping Into Friends’ Reviews

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Stamped
Quick Pitch: An iPhone app that lets you find and share recommendations with people you trust.

Genius Idea: Although review sites can be handy while trying to secure a last-minute hotel reservation or — deep breath — finding a hair salon in a new neighborhood, nothing evokes more confidence than taking the recommendation of a friend whose tastes you know and trust. But there doesn’t yet exist a convenient platform or library for sharing and storing recommendations with your friends.
Enter Stamped, a Google Ventures-backed iPhone app launched by a team of (mostly) former Google employees this week. The app, which is coming soon to other smartphone platforms as well as the desktop, lets you keep track of and share the things you like. You can also tap into the recommendations of your contacts and well-known tastemakers, such as chef Mario Batali (an advisor to the startup) andNew York magazine.
It works like this: After downloading the app, you’re given 100 stamps, which you can use to recommend restaurants, books, movies and albums, among other things. You can also see what your friends are recommending by authorizing the app to pull in your contacts from your phone, Facebook and Twitter. If someone likes your recommendation, he or she can give it an additional stamp, and you’ll earn two more stamps to give out. Recommendations can also be liked and saved to a do-list.
Pulling up your friends’ recommendations is easy. You can browse by category (such as books) or location (including nearby), the latter of which is displayed conveniently on Google Maps. You can also search for terms like “sushi” or “iPhone app” to hone in further.

Get recommendations from tastemakers such as chef Mario Batali, film critic Peter Travers and fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff.
Click here to view this gallery.
“People are very prone to sharing and exchanging, there just wasn’t an efficient way to do it,” says cofounder Bart Stein of his team’s desire to create the app.
Like many a startup entrepreneur, CEO and cofounder Robby Stein (who, according to Stamped’s about page, is not Bart’s brother) says he and his team are “100% focused on building a product that delights our users.” They have, however, also recognized immediate opportunities for revenue. When you see a recommendation for a restaurant for instance, you can click through to book a reservation on OpenTable. Likewise, you can purchase movie tickets through Fandango, books through Amazon and songs through iTunes. Stamped has an affiliate relationship with each provider.
So there you have it: a truly useful, beautifully designed app — with a plausible business model — from a talented, well-backed set of young entrepreneurs. This is hands-down one of the most promising startups I’ve seen all year.
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Block a single computer from surfing on the Internet

To configure a single computer follow these steps:

Configuring IP Filter Lists and Filter actions

1. Open an MMC window (Start > Run > MMC).
2. Add the IP Security and Policy Management Snap-In.

3. In the Select which computer this policy will manage window select the local computer (or any other policy depending upon your needs). Click Close then click Ok.

4. Right-click IP Security Policies in the left pane of the MMC console. Select Manage IP Filter Lists and Filter Actions.

5. In the Manage IP Filter Lists and Filter actions click Add.

6. In the IP Filter List window type a descriptive name (such as HTTP, HTTPS) and click Add to add the new filters.

7. In the Welcome window click Next.
8. In the description box type a description if you want and click Next.

9. In the IP Traffic Source window leave My IP Address selected and click Next.

10. In the IP Traffic Destination window leave Any IP Address selected and click Next.

11. In the IP Protocol Type scroll to TCP and press Next.

12. In the IP Protocol Port type 80 (for HTTP) in the To This Post box, and click Next.

13. In the IP Filter List window notice how a new IP Filter has been added. Now, if you want, add HTTPS (Any IP to Any IP, Protocol TCP, Destination Port 443) in the same manner.

14. Now that you have both filters set up, click Ok.

15. Back in the Manage IP Filter Lists and Filter actions review your filters (you can add or remove more filters later). Now we'd like to add a new filter that will define the INTRANET web traffic. Again, click Add.

16. Again, give the new filter an appropriate name - for example - Intranet, and then proceed to configuring the filter by clicking Add.

17. In the IP Traffic Source window leave My IP Address selected and click Next.
18. In the IP Traffic Destination click the drop-down list and select the type of destination. For example, if you only want to allow web traffic for one specific Intranet web server called SERVER200, choose A Specific DNS Name.

Then, in the Host Name box type SERVER200 and click Next.

If you want to allow web traffic for an entire internal subnet such as 192.168.0.0/24, select A Specific IP Subnet, and type the Network ID and Subnet Mask for the required subnet. Click Next.

19. Back in the IP Filter list add any other filter you want, and finally click Ok.