LinkedIn turns your phone into a job-hunting machine

LinkedIn used to offer a pretty passive experience: Put your resume on the professional social networking site and hope it catches a recruiter’s eye. But LinkedIn isn’t resting on its laurels, especially when it comes to mobile—the network is making the job-hunting experience a little less stressful with a new update for iOS and Android to let you fill out job applications on the go.
LinkedIn overhauled its mobile apps in April and made it easier to search for jobs in July, but you couldn’t submit any in-app resumes.
“Our ‘Jobs you may be interested in’ feature has been a huge hit with job hunters and even professionals who may not be looking,” LinkedIn associate product manager Vaibhav Goel wrote in a Monday blog post. “As a result of our highly personalized job recommendations in the mobile feed, we’re seeing members who never view jobs on the desktop, viewing and saving jobs on mobile.”

 To capitalize on that growth, the network decided to add a mobile feature that lets you apply for jobs with your LinkedIn profile.

You can search for specific jobs in the app—just click on the Jobs tab and type in the position or title you’re looking for—then pick an open gig you want to apply for. If the company lets users apply with LinkedIn profiles (and many do), then you can edit your profile with any additional information and submit it. If the company doesn’t let applicants submit their profiles, then LinkedIn will take you the external application site within the app.

 The application feature has long been available for LinkedIn’s desktop users, but now more than 30 percent of the network’s 225 million users surf the site on their smartphones. LinkedIn is doubling down on mobile growth with better search results and more content, so it makes sense to add a job application feature. It rolls out in an update for iOS and Android on Monday to English-speaking users.

source: pcworld

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Motorola Introduces the Customizable Moto X

The Moto X is expected to launch in late August or early September

Motorola Mobility has finally revealed its first flagship smartphone since being acquired by Google -- the "Moto X" -- and it looks to be an All-American, fully-customized smartphone experience that can't be ignored despite a crowded market.

Motorola knew it would have to come up with a very different Android-powered device in order to get any attention in a market dominated by Samsung's Galaxy line, and phones by other tech giants like Apple's iPhone. The Moto X seems to be the answer, with customization being the key differentiator.

Customers can make their Moto X all their own, designing the front, back, memory, wallpaper, accents and even engraving. There are over 2,000 designs and colors to choose from, and more are on the way -- including very different ideas like real wood backs.

Aside from customization, Motorola is proud to say that the Moto X is assembled in the U.S. (more specifically, Fort Worth, Texas). So when a customer is done designing the Moto X of their dreams, the phone can be shipped to them for free in four days or less.

Motorola has touted features such as Touchless Control, which brings up information on the Moto X like weather and directions just by voice (no touch necessary); Active Display, which keeps important and relevant information on the Moto X's screen without any annoying notifications or without the need to wake it up, and Quick Capture, which allows the user to turn on the camera quickly with just two quick twists of their wrist.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Google and Motorola Mobility were spending as much as $500 million on Moto X marketing. This is a pretty significant amount, considering Apple spent $333 million and Samsung spent $401 million to market their smartphones last year in the U.S. -- and they're the two largest smartphone makers in the game.

This goes to show that Google and Motorola are betting big on the Moto X and want to make it stand out amongst the crowd. Think the Moto X might be for you? Read on for the specs, reviews, photos, pricing and availability before you decide. 

Specs

• 4.7-inch RGB AMOLED display
• 1280x720 resolution
• Motorola X8 processor (dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU/quad-core Adreno 320 GPU)
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB/32GB storage options
• 10MP ClearPixel rear-facing camera
• 2MP front-facing camera
• 1080p video recording 
• dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.0 LE+EDR
• NFC, Miracast, USB 2.0 connectivity
• 2,200 mAh battery with up to 13 hours of talk time; 24 hours of mixed usage

Reviews

CNET, TechCrunch and Mashable have had a quick hands-on demonstration of the Moto X, and this is what they're saying:

Brian Bennett, CNET:

"Motorola really needed to make a big splash -- or at least a cunning maneuver -- with the Moto X, and that it did. Instead of the traditional tactic of beating potential customers over the head with powerful components and every feature under the sun, Motorola decided to cater to shoppers' softer side -- how they most use their phone every day. Don't get me wrong; the handset certainly packs in plenty of interesting abilities and functionality. When you add up the specs, though, this really is a midrange phone. Hard-core Android enthusiasts likely won't find the Moto X awe-inspiring. The key to the Moto X's fate, as with any new device, is whether its unique blend of capabilities and design will prove valuable to ordinary consumers."

Chris Velazco, TechCrunch:

"I’m reserving final judgment on this thing until I’ve had the chance to play with it for more than three hours, but I actually rather like the X. Do I wish Motorola could have pushed the technical envelope further? Sure. I also think the customization angle, neat as it is, is essentially a ploy to make an unassuming phone stand out in a crowd. And frankly, it’s a little frustrating to see that a solid chunk of what the Moto X can do will soon be replicated by — you guessed it — just about every other new Motorola phone in the works. It’s far, far too early to tell if Motorola has a hit on its hands — especially because the X will ultimately compete with Motorola phones with similar feature sets. If nothing else though, Motorola’s X represents a dedication to creating a smarter breed of smartphones, and I doubt that’s something the rest of the industry is going to ignore."

Pete Pachal, Mashable:

"The Moto X is an amazing smartphone, just not revolutionary. Its name implies the phone is built in the spirit of Google's X program, which seeks to improve things by monumental leaps rather than increments. The first phone to be designed and built by Motorola as a Google company isn't going to transform mobile communication as we know it (the company's stated goal since the acquisition), but it is a fantastic phone with many great features. My favorite is Touchless Control. Apple likes to talk about the "magic" of its products, but this feature is the most magical thing I've seen in mobile in a long time. With your phone sitting on the table, you can utter the words "OK, Google Now," and it immediately comes alive, listening for voice commands. Ask it the weather, to call a friend or do a Google search, and it'll just do it, and you never have to touch the phone."

source : dailynews

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Facebook Launches Job-Listing App

Facebook has launched a job-hunting app in hopes that its network of more than 1 billion users will help people find their next career opportunity.

The Social Jobs app announced on Wednesday is a result of Facebook’s year-old partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, DirectEmployers Association, and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. The app has job listings from other online job boards like BranchOut, DirectEmployers Association, Work4Labs, Jobvite and Monster.com. Right now, users can browse through more than 1.7 million openings. A ticker at the top of the app shows the exact number of available jobs.

So will a site typically considered a casual social network be useful for professional purposes? Facebook is a repository for users’ day-to-day activities, including updates that might be inappropriate if you’re using the site to look for a job. There have been cases where people have lost their jobsbecause of updates they posted on Facebook, and employers have gotten sued for asking for their employees’ Facebook passwords.

Sites like LinkedIn are built to cater to people’s professional identities, targeting very specific qualities — skills, past jobs, languages spoken, and more — that someone might want to highlight when searching for a job or presenting themselves to recruiters. Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook has a very hazy boundary between social and professional. But the Social Jobs partnership found in its research that Facebook is a useful site for both job hunters and recruiters. In a survey of 530 employers, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that half of employers use Facebook in the hiring process, and more than half anticipate it becoming a more important tool for finding and recruiting talent. The vast majority said that Facebook helps decrease print advertising for job openings, and that the site can be used as a networking tool to get jobs.

That said, Facebook isn’t actually hosting the job listings. At launch, the app functions more as an aggregated search tool than anything else. Users can find jobs through the app, but once they try to learn more about a job, it points them to another app. The Work4Labs listings, for example, often links back to the hiring company’s Facebook page. If someone wanted to apply for the Head of Lighting position at Cirque Du Soleil, the new Social Jobs app would link to the Cirque Du Soleil hiring page on Facebook. The user would have to access the separate Work4Labs app if they wanted to see if anyone in their network could refer them. Should they want to apply, they would get pointed all the way back to Cirque Du Soleil’s official website.

It’s far from a seamless process, and there are several other glitches (Monster jobs showing up in the Work4Labs page, links going to a company’s Facebook Timeline, etc.). There is a lot of potential for Facebook to connect users to jobs — and create another source of revenue in the process. But in its current state, Facebook’s Social Jobs app is more of an extra side tool than an actual player in the job-hunting space.

source: internet

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Why Facebook Just Opened an Online Store

Citing its unique ability to recommend products, Facebook opened an online gift store. The move edges the social network onto the turf of e-commerce king Amazon, but at an opportune time: Amazon is busy making movies, computer hardware, cloud computing services, and entering other markets far afield from its core business of selling physical goods.
Not that Facebook is trying to usurp Amazon just yet. The launch of Facebook Gifts is modest: Facebook is emphasizing sub-$50 products like socks, cupcakes, teddy bears, and Starbucks gift cards. The idea is that Facebook will see words like “happy birthday” or “congratulations” on someone’s wall and prompt friends to buy the person something through the new store.
It’s an obvious and proven idea, one Facebook acquired when it bought year-old mobile gifting startup Karma in May. In the ensuing months, Facebook has rebranded the service and created a desktop version of the app, which is what is being launched today as Facebook Gifts. (From 2007 to 2010, Facebook operated a store by the same name, but it only sold virtual goods.)
In an interview with Wired Business in July, Facebook’s director of advertising product Gokul Rajaram explained Facebook’s thinking about gifts:

The reason it all germinated was because we saw that people wishing each other happy birthday is a really common social norm on Facebook. Because Facebook will basically tell you which of your friends have birthdays today. So we said, this could be a really interesting way to enhance that experience. In addition to saying ‘happy birthday’ you could actually give a small gift. We think that could be a really interesting thing that works on mobile, on the desktop, and is something that fits in with the norms.

In other words, Facebook is trying to monetize common, naturally occurring behavior on its network in a way that feels more natural than other Facebook ads, like “sponsored stories” that pop up when one of your friends mentions a business. Facebook is launching that business across mobile and desktop, and doing so only about four months after the acquisition of Karma.
It’s a smart approach. If anyone is better positioned than Amazon to recommend products to people, it’s Facebook, and the company is off to an auspicious start. It’s a small start, but then so was Facebook itself.

source: wired

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Obama Defends Free Speech After Asking YouTube to ‘Review’ Anti-Islam Movie

As riots across the Mideast targeted U.S. embassies and consulates, the White House quietly asked YouTube to “review” whether an anti-Islam film allegedly fueling the chaos violated any terms of use. Now, in front of the United Nations, President Obama insisted that the only answer to offensive speech is “more speech.”
It’s not that Obama thinks that the Prophet Mohammed ought to be maligned by a filmmaker who uses tons of aliases and was once busted for PCP. There’s a principle at stake, he told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning: “Our Founders understood that without such protections, the capacity of each individual to express their own views, and practice their own faith, may be threatened.” The calls for censoring the video emanating through the Muslim world are ultimately futile, as well: “When anyone with a cellphone can spread offensive views around the world with the click of a button, the notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete.”
True enough. But his administration’s response to the video and the anti-American protests continues to whipsaw. The U.S. Embassy in Cairo tweeted condemnations of the film on September 11 and stuck by them as mobs outside stormed the embassy gates. Obama basically deleted those tweets in his speech. He challenged offended Muslims to “also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied.” And Obama dismissed the idea that the anti-Islam film was the true cause of this month’s assaults on U.S. embassies, locating it in “intolerance” instead. Even Obama critics like Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol conceded that the president’s speech was “conventionally unobjectionable.”

But it was also, at the least, unmoored from the way Obama previously handled the crisis. “If we are serious about upholding these ideals, it will not be enough to put more guards in front of an embassy; or to put out statements of regret, and wait for the outrage to pass,” Obama said. “If we are serious about those ideals, we must speak honestly about the deeper causes of this crisis.”
At the same time if we are serious about those ideals, we also have to acknowledge that the White House asked Google to “review” the 14-minute trailer for the anti-Mohammed video to see if it violated YouTube’s terms of use. (It didn’t.) And if we are serious about those ideals, we also have to acknowledge that Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, placed a call to the anti-Islam pastor Terry Jones to see if Jones would rescind support for the movie. (He wouldn’t.) Let’s be clear — there’s a world of difference between those requests and government demands for censorship. But they’re still a far cry from combating hateful speech with more speech.
Obama’s United Nations speech was another indicator that his administration’s approach to this month’s anti-American violence is under revision. First the administration attributed the deadly assault on the Benghazi consulate to mob violence; then to a terrorist attack; and Obama declined to attribute blame for it at Turtle Bay. That might be fairly chalked up to the fog of war. But information doesn’t just want to be free, it wants to be accurate. And it should lead to a consistent response.

source: wired

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No iOS 6 for my original iPad? Now, I'm an Angry Bird.

Sorry, iPad 1, you're too old for iOS 6!

To say that I'm unhappy with Apple about the fact that I can't install iOS 6 on my iPad 1, is an understatement. It's not like the thing is seven or eight years old. I bought it just before the iPad 2 came out. And, now I'm angry. I'm very angry. I'm an Angry Bird who wants to have myself flung at the fortified pigs who made this very, very bad decision. You can install iOS 6 on the iPhone 3GS and on the iPhone 4, so why not the iPad 1?
So, now what?
Either I'm stuck with iOS 5.1.1 forever or I jailbreak the damn thing and possibly ruin it.
That's what.
When will Apple stop allowing my iPad 1 access to the App Store or iTunes?
Come on, Apple, how long do I have on this very expensive device that is less than two years old (for me)? How long does anyone have for a device launched in April 2010?
Bad move, Apple. Bad move.
I don't see any compelling features in iOS 6 that would preclude me from using it on my iPad 1. Sure, I don't have a camera or cellular connectivity (My choice) but what I do have is an official iPad and I want it supported. To drop support for it so soon after launch is just short of device homicide. And, it could prevent me from ever buying another Apple anything again.
I had finally convinced myself to like Apple after drooling over the original Macintosh and never getting one. I had come over to the "Dark Side" and even decided that the next computer that I purchase would be a Macbook Air.
But, not anymore.
You want to know why?
Because I don't know how long Apple would continue to support it.
And, guess what else? When my damn contract on my iPhone 4 is up, I'm not renewing it nor am I going to buy a new iPhone. $600 might not be a lot of money for Apple's decision makers but it is for me and I don't have it to waste. $600 would clothe my daughter for an entire school year plus extra left over for activities.
In my opinion, dropping iOS support for the iPad 1 means that Apple no longer cares about its customers and frankly, I'm shocked. It makes me want to take back all of the good things I ever said about Apple, my iPad and my iPhone. Sure, Apple probably doesn't give two hoots in hell about me, my opinion or my unsupported iPad 1, because Apple is going to be the world's first trillion dollar company. My $600 wasted investment means squat to them.
Apple, I have some sage advice for you: Stay focused on the customer or you won't have any. I don't think I'm alone in that feeling now that you've abandoned us.
I wonder if the other 15 million+ buyers of the original iPad would agree?
Do you really want to alienate 15 million customers?
There was a time in your past, Apple, when you were about 90 days from bankruptcy and now you're worth more than $600 billion. But, remember when the US had a $3 trillion surplus when Bill Clinton left office and now we have a $10 trillion deficit? You do the math and take a hint.
15 million is a lot of customers.
It's a lot of unsupported iPads.
It's a lot of pissed off individuals.
At $100 profit per customer, that's $1.5 billion. Small change to you?
It could be opportunity for another company who wants to offer something you don't: Support for your two year old unsupported devices. Sort of an opportunity for someone who wants to make a business out of supporting jailbroken devices with an App Store, new OS releases and updates that will continue the life of this computing platform.
By the way, for all of you who have anything but an iPhone 5, get ready for this: Your devices won't be supported very soon because Apple has changed the interface on the iPhone 5. So, the next generation of iPod and iPad will have the news ones too. And, my friends, that leaves your old devices in an incompatible format.
Awesome.
Think Different.
Planned obsolescence doesn't mean two years. Get a clue, Apple.
Consider me, "Unconverted."
What do you think of Apple's decision to not offer iOS 6 for a two-year-old device? Talk back and let (and Apple) know how you feel.

source: zdnet

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Facebook Now Lets You Delete Your Search History

Since the dawn of search engines, internet users have utilized the ability to delete their search history. It’s a simple, quick, and painless way to prevent prying eyes from getting up in your business, for lack of a better phrase.
Now, Facebook is giving their users the ability to monitor their search activity and yes, delete it if that’s what they wish to do.
“Starting today, in addition to your other activity, you’ll be able to see the searches you’re making on Facebook. Just as you can choose to delete any of your posts, you can use the same inline control on Activity Log to remove any of your searches at any time. It’s important to remember that no one else can see your Activity Log, including your search activity,” says Facebook.
All you have to do is go to your Timeline and click on “Activity Log” right under your cover photo. From there, simply click the “all” button at the top right corner and find “search” among the options. You’ll see a list that says “John Q. User searched for _______” and you can delete each search at your own discretion. Of course, your activity log (including your searches) is private anyways, but sometimes it’s good to have ultimate control.
Speaking of Facebook and search…Facebook is doing search. Well, at least some time in the future. Mark Zuckerberg said so himself earlier this month. “We’re basically doing 1 billion queries a day and we’re not even trying. Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer the questions people have. At some point we’ll do it. We have a team working on it.”
Adding search to the activity log isn’t the only thing Facebook’s done this week to enhance user privacy. Yesterday, they unveiled a new social plugin called Shared Activity, which will allow developers to give users a way to control which activities they share with friends across web apps.
Users should start seeing the “Search” option within the activity log within the next few weeks.

source: webpronews

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Facebook Pushes iOS App Update In Time For iPhone 5

Earlier, we told you about the new Facebook For Android update, and the Facebook Messenger for Android update (both of which come with some improvements to the messaging experience). Facebook has also pushed out an update to its iOS app. Facebook for iOS 5.0.1 includes iOS 6 and iPhone 5 support, the company notes (as if there were any question).
Here’s what’s new, as highlighted by Facebook:

• Scrolling through news feed is faster than ever
• New banner lets you tap to quickly see more stories – no need to refresh
• Photos open fast and close with one downward swipe
• Instant access to your notifications
• (5.0.1) Support for iOS 6 and iPhone 5; bug fixes

Of course, iOS 6 itself comes with a great deal of new Facebook integration (as does Mac OS X Mountain Lion).
While iOS didn’t get the Messenger update Android received today, Facebook says it’s on its way to iOS soon.
In related news, the company announced a new timed release schedule for its mobile apps.

source: webpronews

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Judge Refuses to Order YouTube to Remove Anti-Islam Film

Click Her to watch video
A California judge refused Thursday to order YouTube to remove controversial footage from “Innocence of Muslims,” the inflammatory film that sparked a U.S. backlash in the Middle East.
A woman who starred in the film, Cindy Lee Garcia, asked a Los Angeles County judge to take down the film because she said she was fired from her job, received death threats and was tricked into starring in the “hateful anti-Islamic production.” The film has possibly led to the killing of J. Chrisopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya and about two dozen others the past week.
Garcia, of California, believed she would be starring in an Arabian desert adventure film, according to her suit. But the 14-minute YouTube trailer produced by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula of Southern California portrays a different story — one of which the prophet Muhammad seemingly engages in oral sex with Garcia’s character.
The woman’s lawyer, Chris Armenta, according to the Los Angeles Times, told Superior Court Judge Luis Lanvin that the dispute is “Not a First Amendment issue. This is an invasion of privacy issue.” She said she would continue to press for the footage’s removal.
It was an unusual request. The primary reason YouTube is asked to remove footage in the United States is because of copyright violations.
The judge, siding with Google, which owns YouTube, said Garcia is not likely to “prevail” on the merits of her lawsuit against Nakoula. Garcia claims he “intentionally concealed the purpose and content of the film.”
The White House had asked YouTube to review the footage to ensure that it comported with the media giant’s terms of service. YouTube did not remove it from U.S.-based viewers. However, YouTube has blocked the film in Egypt, Libya, Indonesia, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
Google, in response to the White House’s bid, said the film was “clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube.”

source: wired

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Facebook Introduces New Shortcut For Mobile Payments

After a few disappointing weeks without much in the way of major updates, Facebook explodes onto the scene with a huge Operation Developer Love update. There are four major updates coming to the Facebook platform today that developers will want to take advantage of.
Facebook has been pushing the mobile platform a lot recently and today’s update just further cements their dedication to the platform. They’re introducing a new shortcut for mobile payments that will help developers monetize their content on mobile devices. In essence, the new feature allows developers to match their price points with those of mobile transactions imposed by carriers. It also redirects buyers directly to the mobile payment dialog instead of showing the usual Credit Card and PayPal options. Check out the documentation here.
Another change is coming to how Facebook handles platform dialogs across both the desktop and mobile Web versions of the site. All dialogs, including Feed, Pay and Auth, will now open inline by default for Canvas and Page Tab apps. They feel that this provides a better user experience, and it gets past those pesky pop-up blockers. Check out the documentation here.
Access tokens can sometimes be difficult to work with, especially when it comes to checking information that’s associated with them. That’s why Facebook is introducing a new API endpoint that eliminates the need to debug said tokens. Developers will now just have to issue an HTTP GET request to see all the information on any particular access token. Check out the documentation here.
Finally, Facebook wants to remind developers to start using the Payer Promotion Unit in their apps. It’s the special deal where Facebook subsidizes the cost of credits so developers can offer free bonuses to first-time payers. They found that getting somebody to pay for in-game content just once can usually lead to a lifetime of virtual purchases in your game and others. Developers who have already started using the PPU can now advertise their special promotions via a banner on their app’s canvas page. Check out the documentation here.
Like always, Facebook has done a bang-up job of fixing bugs across the site. They report that 187 bugs were submitted this week with 69 being accepted and 27 being fixed. You can check out the full changelog over at the blog post.

source: webpronews

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