General Gaming Article

Demand for Linux Skills on the Rise, Along With Wages
Apple Grants ABC Reporters Full Access to Foxconn in China
Rumor: SkyDrive Planning to Offer Paid Storage Plans, and Offer PC / OS X Apps
Microsoft Ditches Iconic Windows Flag

Demand for Linux Skills on the Rise, Along With Wages

Posted: 19 Feb 2012 06:43 PM PST

Linux Tie Young enthusiasts who are looking for a future in IT might well decide to specialize on Microsoft, but before you do here is an interesting point to consider. Linux developers and system administrators will be the ones making the big money, at least if current trends continue. According to a recent survey conducted by the Linux Foundation, developers and system administrators saw pay increases of 5% last year, and bonuses averaging around 15%.

In a recent interview with Alice Hill, managing director of dice.com, it was reported that currently the site is advertising over 11,000 jobs that require Linux experience, an increase of 17% from last year. "It's really hard to find talent in a market that is competitive, and that leads to poaching and new ways to attract talent," Hill said. The average salary for a Linux professional last year was around $86,432, up from $82,575 just one year prior.

Apple Grants ABC Reporters Full Access to Foxconn in China

Posted: 19 Feb 2012 06:14 PM PST

Foxconn Apple news rarely makes the headlines around here because, well, we love our PC's. iOS devices on the other hand is a completely different story. Since the vast majority of iOS users are in-fact running Windows, (an interesting bit of trivia you'll never hear them advertise), it never hurts to bring up the odd news tidbit. This week we would like to bring your attention to the controversy surrounding Foxconn, and the allegations which basically accuse Apple of running a modern day, high tech sweat shop. To try and counter the mounting consumer unrest, Apple is pulling open the kimono, and letting ABC Nightline reporters take a tour of the assembly lines, and interview key personnel.

The special edition of Nightline will air on Tuesday, February 21st at 11:35PM ET on ABC, however anchorman Bill Weir has already released a few early impressions. "For years, Apple and Foxconn have been synonymous with monster profits and total secrecy so it was fascinating to wander the iphone and iPod production lines, meet the people who build them and see how they live. Our cameras were rolling when thousands of hopeful applicants rushed the Foxconn gates and I spoke with dozens of line workers and a top executive about everything from hours and pay to the controversies over suicides at the plant and the infamous "jumper nets" that line the factories in Shenzhen. After this trip, I'll never see an Apple product the same way again" said Weir

Regardless of your personal feelings towards Apple, this special promises to shed a bit of light on the lives of the poor souls who toil away day and night to make sure we can buy cheap electronics. It will be interesting to see if it is a fair and balanced view, or if it will still get caught up in the Apple reality distortion field.

Rumor: SkyDrive Planning to Offer Paid Storage Plans, and Offer PC / OS X Apps

Posted: 19 Feb 2012 11:37 AM PST

With 25GB of absolutely no strings attached free storage, SkyDrive has always been an amazing value. Of course that's not to say its best in class, far from it actually for one key reason; it's painfully difficult to access. Logging into the SkyDrive site using Windows Live is easy enough, but having to add files one at a time is painfully in-efficient. If you modify a photo for example, you need to download it fully, make your changes, upload the new version, and then manually delete the old one. Office Web Apps integration and batch file adding have helped, but it is still no substitute for Dropbox. If the rumors are correct though, this could all be changing soon. Both paid storage, along with Windows and OS X clients are apparently just around the corner.

The evidence of paid storage options comes in the form a leaked screenshot, and if it's a fake, it's a pretty darn convincing one. All accounts get to keep the initial 25GB for free, but users will soon have the option to add on 20GB for $10 per year, 50GB for $25, or 100GB for $50. This makes it extremely competitive with Dropbox who currently only offers 50GB for $99 per year, or 100GB for $199.

The PC and Mac clients will join the recently released iOS and Windows Phone offerings, and while the exact functionality they will offer is not known, we can only speculate it will only be storage access only, and not sync. Dropbox for example gives users the option to edit files offline, and then have them sync to the cloud and other devices when they come online. Microsoft's current sync offering comes in the form of Live Mesh, and is a completely separate offering from SkyDrive. Microsoft could merge these two services of course, and would be wise to do so, but it's unknown when, or if ever that will ever happen.

Either way it looks like SkyDrive is about to get much more useful.

(Image Credit = gemind.com.br)

UPDATE: After publishing we also caught wind of the fact that Microsoft is adding support for ODF documents, BitLocker key management, URL shortening and more.

Microsoft Ditches Iconic Windows Flag

Posted: 19 Feb 2012 10:17 AM PST

Windows 8 The Windows logo has evolved over the years, but has always followed a carefully crafted theme. The Iconic Windows Flag is one of the most recognizable logos of our generation, being printed literally billions of times on the stickers we find plastered to our cases and laptops, as well as the ever so handy start key on just about every keyboard made in the last 10 years. Love it or leave it, everyone knew it, and isn't that the whole point? Apparently not, as Microsoft has now publically declared their intent to ditch it in favor of something new.

The new logo design isn't a radical departure, sticking with 4 separated piece design, but it's still a curious choice. Most companies pay millions to achieve the type of brand recognition Microsoft is voluntarily giving up.

Smart move? Or marketing disaster? You be the judge.

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