Changing World of Technology : Be Future Ready.

The world of technology is changing Are you ready for it?

Technology is alive in new settings. It’s transforming. Evolving and taking on new shapes. Businesses and people are now growing hand in hand with technology.

Future-ready technology professionals are the need of the hour, and few organizations have the environment to nurture such talent.

Read on to know where you fit into this new world of technology.

The Digital Business Era : Stretch Your Boundaries

Today’s pioneering enterprises are doing more than just talking a good digital game. They are fundamentally changing the way they look at themselves and quickly mastering the shift from “me” to “we.”

Proactive corporate leaders see their businesses, employees and customers as a living, breathing digital fabric offering unprecedented opportunity to establish beachheads in new markets, drive profit and change life for the better.

Through the transformational power of this network, we’re witnessing the birth of a new era of “digital ecosystems.”

Digital Era can be mapped to five key trends: The Internet of Me, Outcome Economy, Platform (R)evolution, Intelligent Enterprise and Workforce Reimagined.

1. Internet of ME

As everyday objects and experiences become digitized, new frontiers of individualization are created.

Much of the Internet’s appeal lies in the personal power it bestows: “My” news feed, “My” playlist, “My” book recommendations, and so on. But as the saying goes, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Even more authentic and meaningful individual experiences await.

Look all around: booking tickets are going digital, the refrigerators and other comforts of home are getting brainier, and the next time you take yourself out to the ballgame, you may just receive a smartphone alert on which concession stand has the shortest line for hot dogs and beer.

Everyday gadgets and machines are increasingly interconnected and consumers are demanding more “smart” tech.

Those who embrace the Internet of Me will sustain higher customer engagement and, in turn, open up new avenues of growth.

2. Outcome Economy

The true digital disrupters know that getting ahead is no longer just about selling things. It’s about delivering results.

New intelligence, in hardware and a lot of other things, is bridging the last mile between the digital enterprise and the physical world.

Early adopters, coming face-to-face with the Internet of Things, are uncovering opportunities to embed hardware and sensors in their digital toolboxes. They’re reaping bottom-line benefits and making life better for employees and customers.

Hardware — yes, hardware — is playing a leading role. Today, hardware is flexing its muscles, demonstrating rapid advancements that carry echoes of the software revolution more than a decade ago.

3. Platform (R)evolution

Enterprises are carving out new playing fields thanks to rapid advances in cloud and mobility technology. Platform-based ecosystems are the new plane of competition.

What’s old is new again.

Over two centuries ago, the bricks-and-mortar factory was the primary platform that launched the Industrial Revolution. So it is with digital technology, which promises as much, if not more, disruption.

Today’s new and evolving platforms are essentially comprised of well-defined architecture, governance and services and underpinned by the latest digital “tools” – social, mobile, cloud, Internet of Things and others. The platforms serve as a pool of reusable capabilities to achieve better business outcomes.

4. Intelligent Enterprise

Software that learns and adapts is no longer a one-off project. It must be an all-encompassing effort that propels discovery and innovation throughout the enterprise.

For years, software’s expanding capabilities were geared primarily toward helping employees make better and faster decisions.

Amid the influx of data—along with advances in processing power, analytics and cognitive technology—software intelligence is helping automobiles, thermostats and other everyday things recognize, “think” and respond accordingly.

Greater operational excellence awaits those who grasp the upside potential. Indeed, three out of five global businesses believe big data will boost their decision-making and competitiveness, according to our research.

This evolution is taking shape at workplaces – where virtual “agents” help call centers run more efficiently – and at home – where Netflix algorithms plumb viewers’ past choices for suggestions on what they might enjoy watching.

5. Workforce Reimagined

As the digital revolution gains momentum, humans and machines must do more together. Successful businesses will embrace both as critical team members.

Ready for a self-improvement exercise?

As digital and physical worlds increasingly cross-pollinate, people are being transformed into “better versions” of themselves, at work and everywhere else.

How? For starters, we’re using machines to take on more challenging physical tasks and perform more efficiently.

Advances in robotics enable machines to not only communicate with humans, but also work side-by-side with them. It’s a division of labor that plays to strengths of both.

Smart devices and wearable technology can gather information on a person’s surroundings, supplement physical tasks and detect hazardous situations— potentially– saving lives.

This reimagined workforce poses tricky questions. The biggest may revolve around recognition and response as the entire operational chain shifts to a digitally-driven model.

Innovation and Transformation

Business and technology move at a high speed and companies and people need to reinvent themselves constantly. Innovation is the answer and one needs to proactively bring bold, new ideas to clients and to organizations.

Software is now a key driver of differentiation and innovation. It’s a gateway to new services and new revenue streams, seamless customer experiences and expansion into new markets. To succeed amidst disruption, companies must respond by changing the way they design, build and use software.

Be Future Ready

Some companies really know technology. They live it every day and know more than others. When businesses want to transform and become high performers, they take the help of such companies.

What makes such companies stand out?

- They have vision – they know what’s next, what to make of it, and how it’s going to impact businesses.
- They have the differentiated capabilities. They adopt, adapt, update and build the right tools.
- They have the right environment for innovation. it’s in their DNA. They nurture ideas, because that’s where the future lies.
- Most importantly, their people are future-ready. Everyone stays abreast of what’s new, getting trained and building their skills. Without people who stay at the forefront of technological innovations, transformation is not possible.

What can you do to become future ready?

– Align your technology skills with industries.

– Understand clients : this skill will set the stage for a successful career.

– Understand the business you’re in and then up-skill yourself regularly to stay relevant.

– Recognize new roles that are available and how they map back to the technology skills that you have and can learn.

9 Reasons Why Your CV is Not Impressing Recruiters!

1. Recruiters receive too many CV’s all the time

If you’re looking for a great job or any job that pays really well, you’re probably applying to opportunities that quite a lot of people are competing for. This means that the potential employer is getting a very large number of applications. While it may initially look exciting to the recruiter to have received such a large number of applications, it eventually gets difficult and very boring to go through all those applications.

Most candidates will also claim to be the best talent out there. So imagine what would happen if the recruiter started believing every word that is written in all those CV’s. There is no way to shortlist.

2. Most CV’s look very similar

I’ve been in a position several times where I’m looking at 2 candidate applications and thinking if both of them got the same person to write their CV’s. Identical stuff! I almost always expect it and that is the saddest part.

Starting with a useless objective statement, then mentioning their academic credentials followed by a boring-to-death description of their project (not mentioning their accomplishments though) and finally ending the CV with their hobbies which talks about things like “reading books”, “listening to music” and “watching TV”. This is how most CV’s are these days.

So when most CV’s look alike, the recruiter eventually stops believing most of the stuff that’s written there.

3. Tall claims on Behavioral Traits

When you claim in your CV that you have exceptional leadership, team, motivational or creativity skills, there must be some evidence, in the CV itself, to support that claim. While we all want to come across as pleasing and impressive personalities, sometimes it’s just overdone in the CV.

It’s mildly shocking for a recruiter to find such behavioral traits written in a fresher’s CV. Most of these traits maybe contextual, meaning that leadership and team skills may depend on the kind of work environment and people you’ve worked with.

If you’ve only worked on standard 6-week internship projects, that too alone and yet you claim to have top motivational skills then it’s not too convincing, is it? All such claims on behavioral traits make the CV look quite superficial and unbelievable at times.

4. Recruitment processes are Long and Tedious

A typical recruitment activity starts from deciding a Job Description and relevant Skills. That is followed by a long and tedious process of sourcing CV’s, shortlisting, evaluating, interviewing, internal discussions and reviews, job offers, salary negotiations and finally culminating with the suitable candidate actually joining the company. This may take up to a few months.

The CV is thus only 1 part of the entire flow, even though it may be the 1st window to your profile. Hence, it is hardly a surprise if a recruiter believes only so much in your CV. Even if a candidate is shortlisted, there may still be a thorough evaluation process waiting to happen.

5. Recruiters want to see beyond your CV writing Skills

Believe it or not, there are a large number of professional services out there ready to take your money and to jazz up your profile by writing a flashing CV for you. Almost like a makeover. If you’re profile is actually interesting but you don’t know how to communicate it well on paper, then some of these services might actually do you good.

However, if statistics are anything to go by, then it’s quite probable that the CV makes the candidate out to be a bigger hero than he/she may actually be. A recruiter typically finds this out the hard way, when an evaluation happens.

6. Not enough evidence of Functional Skills

Usually most CV’s have a section on Skills, but unfortunately a large number of candidates don’t use that section well. An employer wants to know what you can do, what kind of results you can deliver and how you’re going to be able to do that. All of this information starts with knowing the candidate’s skills.

Functional skills are your domain specific skills that you actually use in your work. They could be in Marketing, Finance, Sales, Operations or just about any other area of work. If you don’t know about your own functional skills, your strengths and weaknesses, then you don’t know your own capabilities and that leaves you at a disadvantage. Putting them in your CV comes next. If your CV does not have that information, then it’s clearly not telling the right things about you as a professional.

7. Most CV’s lack useful information

Candidates write about the projects that they’ve been a part of, but often they miss out on mentioning their own accomplishments. It’s one thing to say – “Worked on a market research project for ABC Corporation” and quite another to say something like “I Successfully conducted a 4 weeks quantitative market research activity, as part of a 3 member team, for a yet-to-launch mobile phone for the mass market in India.”

If a CV does not have this kind of information then most likely it’s not going to get you anywhere.

8. CV’s make the Recruiter do a lot of hard work

The first time a recruiter looks at your CV, he/she may typically spend between 10 to 20 seconds to form the first impression. After that the details are really looked into. If you’re making the recruiter hunt for information then you’re making his/her life more difficult that it already is. The relevant information should be obvious and easy to find. Isn’t that the whole purpose of the CV, to give away the right information and to easily make you look good?

In case you’re not doing that, then your CV is clearly not doing what it’s meant to.

9. There is no standardized way to evaluate and benchmark a CV

Finally, there is no standard way to evaluate and benchmark candidate profiles only on the basis of a CV. Each employer has his/her own checklist.

There are quite a few automated resume’ parsing solutions out there that scan your CV for key words, patterns and specific clues and shortlist based on those criteria. Now, CV’s can be made to work around such automated solutions, but you cannot fool your way through to a great career. If you temporarily beat a software tool, then you have the actual interviewer to impress which may not have a standard workaround.

These are 9 ways in which your CV may be failing you.

How Electricity turns into Binary Signals!

Matter is composed of atoms. Atoms have electrons and flow of these electrons is defined as electricity.

Now, to make use of these electrons, we create transistors which can store/free electricity as needed. They are stored in units of 1 (5 Volts) and 0 (0 Volts). An 8-bit number is then represented with 8 transistors. So 8-bit representation of the number 3 will be : 0000 0011. How is that achieved in hardware? Keep 8 transistors side-by-side (called registers and memory units). Make the first 6 transistors hold 0V and the next 2 transistors hold 5V. Now, an organization of such registers and memory makes a cpu+ram. To make it easy to compute using the CPU, we developed machine code. This language is what essentially runs on the CPU. What do I mean by "run"? It means, keep flipping bits. If I want to perform 2+3, in machine, I would store 2 in one register (register explained above) and 3 in another register. Then I would take these values to an Adder unit which would do a mathematical add (not the same as voltage addition) and give me the reply in another register. This is what a sample machine code would look like:

80 02 F3         

80 03 F4         

88 F3 F4 F5

Obviously, no one understood anything with this. So we came up with an ingenuous system to make it human readable. This is called assembly language. The following piece of code represents the above mentioned numbers:

MOVI 2, REG A 

MOVI 3, REG B

ADD REG A, REG B, REG C (add A and B and store in C)

where MOVI = 80

          REG A = F3

          REG B = F4

          REG C = F5

          ADD = 88

Now, assembly is too hard for humans to remember and code properly in. So they developed compilers that would convert a high level language like C to assembly language (remember, this assembly language does the actual flipping of bits)

So, a C representation of the above mentioned assembly would be:

{

    int a = 2; b = 3; 

    c = a+b;

}

Just like people could write poems with English and not with hand signs, we realized that with an expressive language, people could write some better programs. Then compile it to assembly. Then that would flip bits in registers. Which in turn would affect transistors, which affect flow of electrons. With the above found expressiveness, we wrote operating systems to maximize hardware usage, since it was seen that the CPU remained idle while we fetched data from disk. Everything from your keyboard input to mouse to desktop to windows to sound is a program written in such expressive languages, running on top of the OS. On the OS, we developed a network stack called TCP/IP. This stack provided a standardized methodology for computers to communicate with each other. Once that was working and we managed to hook computers to each other using cables, we went on to create WWW and http. This allowed people from different networks to communicate with each other. Note that http is a protocol. Servers and Clients are programs that follow (at least) http in addition to internal protocols.

When you type Google in the browser and hit Enter key, an http request is sent from your browser (the client) to Google (server). In your own computer, the browser is a program written in C/C++. This gets compiled to assembly (actually browser is already compiled, you're just giving input numbers to the compiled browser). The operating system (windows/linux etc) and device drivers are all already compiled to assembly and are running on your machine. When the browser assembly gets it's turn to run on the CPU, it runs the assembly. This assembly code does flipping of bits in registers and memory. The registers and memory are composed of transistors. Transistors control the flow of electrons and hence electricity.

iOS 9 will delete apps to make room for system updates

Early adopters of iOS 9 beta 2 have discovered a new feature that will temporarily delete apps from overloaded devices when there isn’t enough space to install system updates. Many users with the smaller 8 GB and 16 GB iPhone’s reportedly had difficulty fitting the last upgrade onto their mobile devices. And while iOS 9 is only a fraction of the size of iOS 8 (they’re 1.3 GB and 4.3 GB, respectively), Apple is clearly trying to nip similar complaints in the bud this time around. The new feature will of course reinstall the deleted app once the update has completed — plus, presumably, any user data that was deleted along with the app itself.

Where in the World is the Worst Android Malware?

There's a good chance that if you've installed antivirus or security suite software, you're sharing anonymized data with a security company. And that's not a bad thing! The company can mine shared data from its entire user base to identify new threats and new trends, and (if it's a big enough company) the results can provide a useful view of malware activity worldwide. We asked the research team at Symantec to do a little digging for us, and learned quite a bit about Android malware around the world.

As with virtually all modern malware, the purpose of Android malware is to make money for its creators. Some capture cash directly by secretly sending premium SMS messages that appear on your phone bill. Some enlist your device into a botnet that the bot herder can then rent out to spew spam, or participate in DDoS attacks. Some malicious apps scrape secrets that their creators can sell. We asked the Symantec team to slice and dice the data they've accumulated on spyware, botnets, and premium SMS malware.

Much Mobile Spyware

Symantec's figures show 7.074 spyware infections for every 10,000 covered devices worldwide, almost all of which represent infestation by a Trojan they call Android.MobileSpy. This isn't the type of Trojan that poses as a valid program; rather, it must be installed manually. Remember that time your spouse asked to borrow your phone for a while? Yeah, like that.

Shaun Aimoto, Principal Software Quality Assurance Engineer at Symantec, pointed out that defining spyware is a little difficult. Any product with antitheft features like location tracking or image capture could be misused, for example. "We don't flag antitheft features," said Aimoto. "Otherwise we'd be getting a lot of false positives." As for mobile monitoring in general, it's still a grey area. "If you use it on a cheating spouse, maybe it's bad," observed Aimoto, "but if you use it to protect your kids, maybe not."

Are you likely to encounter mobile spyware? Well, that depends on where you live. In Asia, the spyware infection rate as measured by Norton was 16.18 per 10,000 devices, but in North America it came in at just 2.95 infections per 10,000 devices.

Not all apps that transmit your personal information are spyware, but when valid apps fail to use encryption, your data is at risk. Out of all the apps that transmit personal information, Symantec's researchers found that almost three quarters correctly used encryption. Of those that omitted encryption, the majority were identified as malware or iffy "greyware" apps that use suspect ad libraries, make annoying changes to your settings, and so on. These could include so-called adware apps, that are just too pushy in their attempts to get you to buy things. As for the rest, Aimoto and team didn't call them "safe" but rather "not yet convicted."

Botnets Less Prevalent

Symantec found mobile spyware on more than seven devices per 10,000 tracked, but the prevalence of Android.Answerbot, the most prevalent botnet, was just 0.444 per 10,000. Even then, there's a degree of overlap, as Android.Answerbot exists to steal personal information. The total prevalence for all detected botnets was 0.637 per 10,000 devices.

A botnet running on your smartphone can run down your battery, affect available bandwidth, or impact your data plan. However, the whole point of a botnet is to remain hidden, so it can do its job. You're not likely to discover a botnet infestation without the help of an Android security product.

As with mobile spyware, botnets are more prevalent in Asia than North America, with 1.49 per 10,000 in Asia and 0.75 per 10,000 in North America. We were surprised to find Europe relatively botnet-free, just 0.09 instances per 10,000 devices. There could be a few reasons for this disparity. First, though it is an industry-leading company, Symantec only has so many customers and isn't installed on every smartphone. While the information is likely indicative of larger trends, it's by no means all-encompassing.

Second, many smartphone users in Asia don't rely solely on first-party app marketplaces. "A major reason for the higher infection rate in Asia is the prevalence of more apps in the eco-system originating from third party markets," said Aimoto. "The overall set of apps in Asia is subject to much less curation in Google Play than in other regions."

Premium Texts Rake In Cash

"Text 1234 to 5678 to donate $10 to Save the Pupfish!" You've probably seen this kind of plea from time to time, but services collecting money using premium SMS messages are much more prevalent in Asia than elsewhere in the world. This is partly due to the prevalence of pay-as-you-go phone plans—with that sort of plan, the money transfer occurs the moment you send the text. And naturally, Asia is where we find the most abuse of the premium SMS system.

Worldwide, Symantec's researchers report more than 39 premium SMS malware infections for every 10,000 covered devices, and over 27 infections specifically identified as Android.PremiumText per 10,000.

Android.PremiumText is a catch-all name for a variety of Trojans that exist as repackaged versions of various legitimate applications. The package name, publisher name, and other details will generally match the original application. These modified files generally don't make it past screening by legitimate Android app stores, but they're widespread on unofficial marketplaces.

Where's Norton?

The average computer user will probably tell you that Symantec is an American company. Symantec's own stats don't really support identifying it as American, though. Almost 39 percent of their Android user base is in Asia, and almost 33 percent in Europe. Tracked devices in North America make up not quite 19 percent of the total.

Aimoto and the Symantec team supplied some country-by-country information, but not all of it was precisely useful. You might be shocked to hear that they found 1,408.45 infections per 10,000 devices in the Falkland Islands, and 523.56 in Monaco. The catch here is that the actual user population is tiny. The report states that each the five countries with the highest infection rate has no more than 150 devices registered. A little experimentation in Excel suggests that Falklands figure represents 20 infected devices out of 142 total, or 10 out of 71 total, for example.

Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Canada, and New Zealand were the five least-infected countries, with infection rates ranging from 2.12 per 10,000 on down. Symantec reports at least 20,000 tracked devices in each of those countries, meaning those numbers are more meaningful. The U.S. snuck in at 8.11 infections per 10,000 devices.

Looking just at the countries with the most Symantec installations (more than 10,000 devices querying weekly), we weren't surprised to find China and in the top three for worst infection rate at 148.03 infections per 10,000. We were surprised to see Japan at number one, with 183.05 infections per 10,000 devices, and Vietnam in the third slot with 104.16. After that is a precipitous drop to the notorious Belarus with 46.33 infections per 10,000 followed closely by Russia with 43.12.

As you can see, the tiny bits of non-personal information sent by your antivirus can add up to a gold mine of useful information. We'll be working with Symantec and other vendors from time to time, looking to gain insight on the latest threats and trends.

Samsung Devices Found To Be Vulnerable To SwitfKey Updates

Security is increasingly becoming one of the most important factors for consumers when purchasing a new handset. This is not that surprising when you consider the amount of headlines that has been paid over the last year to attacks on devices, data breaches, leakage and malware. As the news repeatedly comes in, consumers become increasingly cautious of their data and manufacturers become increasingly interested in offering ways to protect your data. A prime example is the security emphasis which Google seems to have placed on their latest android update, Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and their next update, Android M.

Samsung is no different. The company has long been working on their Knox security suite, which is designed to offer users an additional level of security and safety. However, it is now emerging that many Samsung devices might have been suffering from a vulnerability, which could in turn lead to a device being compromised. The issue was brought to the attention at this year's Blackhat conference by Ryan Welton from NowSecure, a mobile security specialist company. The vulnerability refers to the SwiftKey application which comes preinstalled on most Samsung devices. The short of the problem is as follows. SwiftKey routinely looks for language pack updates, however, the updates are looked for in plain text and not over encrypted channels. As a result, Welton was able to highlight how malicious updates could be sent to the device using this method. Furthermore, the malicious code could remain on the device, which in turn, could then be used to further attack the device or recover user's data.

Now the actual issue with SwiftKey is not a new one, as it is reported that back in November of last year, Samsung had been made aware of the problem. Not to mention, that by the time the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge had been unveiled, Samsung had also released a patch to fix the issue (for devices on Android 4.2 or higher). However, at the recent Black-hat event, Welton was able to show the vulnerability was still there and present on the Galaxy S6 and confirmed the vulnerability had been noted on devices running on both Verizon's and Sprint's network. Not to mention, a spokesperson for NowSecure stated that the vulnerability is likely to be still applicable to many Samsung devices, including both their flagship Galaxy S and Note ranges. On the positive side, it would seem that the vulnerability is most dangerous when the attacker is on the same network, therefore, the user can go someway to protecting their device by ensuring they only use trusted networks.