The company says that it’s planning to create 5, 000 more jobs for fulfillment centers around the country, and also has already started hiring 2, 000 new customer service employees. [Read more]
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Amazon: We’re hiring 7,000 new workers in the U.S.
First time accepted submitter Dawn Kawamoto writes “Want to become more efficient? Try lopping off 250 workers. That’s what BlackBerry did this week — saying it was a move to become more efficient. From the article: ‘“This is part of the next stage of our turnaround plan to increase efficiencies and scale our company correctly for new opportunities in mobile computing. We will be as transparent as possible as those plans evolve, ” says Lisette Kwong, a company spokeswoman.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
First time accepted submitter Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes “Reuters reports that under a cost-saving plan by the US Postal Service, millions of Americans accustomed to getting their mail delivered to their doors will have to trek to the curb and residents of new homes will use neighborhood mailbox clusters. ‘Converting delivery away from door delivery to either curb line or centralized delivery would enable the Postal Service to provide service to more customers in less time, ‘ says Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan. More than 30 million American homes get door-to-door delivery and another 50 million get their mail dropped at their curbside mailboxes. But the Post Service, which is buckling under massive financial losses, sees savings in centralized mail delivery. Door-to-door delivery costs the Postal Service about $353 per address each year while curbside delivery costs $224, and cluster boxes cost $160 per address. But unions say it’s a bad idea to end delivery to doorsteps and will be disruptive for the elderly and disabled. ‘It’s madness, ‘ says Jim Sauber, chief of staff for the National Association of Letter Carriers. ‘The idea that somebody is going to walk down to their mailbox in Buffalo, New York, in the winter snow to get their mail is just crazy.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
NF6X writes “CBS station KPIX reports that somebody has been installing counterfeit traffic signs on California bay area freeways, warning motorists of drone-based speed enforcement. They are professionally-made reflective metal signs of comparable style and quality to official traffic signs, and in some cases are even mounted with tamper-resistant hardware. The signs show the familiar silhouette of an MQ-1 Predator drone launching a weapon. According to KPIX, California Highway Patrol denies that they operate any drones, and states that the signs are fake.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Fake "Speed Enforced By Drones" Signs On California Freeways
cold fjord writes “I wish it was always this easy. Business Insider reports, ‘Iodized salt is so ubiquitous that we barely notice it. Few people know why it even exists. Iodine deficiency remains the world’s leading cause of preventable mental retardation. According to a new study (abstract), its introduction in America in 1924 had an effect so profound that it raised the country’s IQ. A new NBER working paper from James Feyrer, Dimitra Politi, and David N. Weil finds that the population in iodine-deficient areas saw IQs rise by a full standard deviation, which is 15 points, after iodized salt was introduced…. The mental impacts were unknown, the program was started to fight goiter, so these effects were an extremely fortunate, unintended side effect.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Continued here:
US Gained a Decade of Flynn-Effect IQ Points After Adding Iodine To Salt
The social network has embarked on a new test program that would see ads for mobile games appears as notifications, says AllThingsD. [Read more]
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Facebook test puts mobile game ads into your Notifications menu
Trying a new method of making money off its free e-mail service, the Internet giant has begun putting ads in Gmail’s “promotions” category. [Read more]
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Google starts placing ads directly in Gmail inboxes
satuon writes “The popular Ubuntu Forums site is now displaying a message saying there was a security breach. What is currently known: Unfortunately the attackers have gotten every user’s local username, password, and email address from the Ubuntu Forums database. The passwords are not stored in plain text. However, if you were using the same password as your Ubuntu Forums one on another service (such as email), you are strongly encouraged to change the password on the other service ASAP. Ubuntu One, Launchpad and other Ubuntu/Canonical services are NOT affected by the breach.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Ubuntuforums.org Hacked
AmiMoJo writes “A recent job posting by MI5 seeks to recruit ‘Data Exploitation Specialists.’ The core of the role is described as ‘provid[ing] tactical solutions and operational support to business users of information exploitation systems.’ In other words, industrial espionage. This open admission comes at a time when the UK and its partners are accusing China of the same thing. Pot, meet kettle?” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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MI5 Hiring Industrial Espionage IT Support Staff
symbolset writes “Apparently Australians have come up with the brilliant idea: if you don’t want to be eaten by a shark, it’s best to not go swimming in shark-infested waters in a seal costume. ‘Scientists from the University of Western Australia, with designers Shark Attack Mitigation Systems (SAMS), have unveiled two new wetsuits that they say could save lives in the water. Based on a breakthrough discovery that sharks are colour-blind, one wetsuit, labelled the “Elude, ” is designed to camouflage a swimmer or diver in the sea. At the other extreme, the “Diverter” sports bold white and dark-blue stripes, and is intended to mirror nature’s warning signs to ward off any potential shark attack.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Excerpt from:
Rethinking the Wetsuit