Archive for January, 2010

• Google Paying $500 a Bug

Kate Lister - January 31st, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Chinese General Sun Tzu, the ancient military strategist credited with authoring The Art of War, once said “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Apparently Google took note. They’re inviting you to hack their system. That’s right, they’ll even pay you for your skulduggery. And yup, you can do it in your underwear!

All you have to do is find a security bug in Google Chromium (a.k.a. Google Chrome) and be the first to report it. An interesting vulnerability will earn you $500 and one that could be particularly embarrassing for them pays out $1,337.

It would seem that Sun Tzu has many modern followers. Consider this quote: “A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.” Maybe all that ineffective, incompetence we see around us is just a clever deception!

• U.K Telecommuting Study Surprise Findings

Kate Lister - January 22nd, 2010

I just finished reading a telecommuting research report published by oneDrum.com, a U.K.-based company that’s working on making Word, Excel, and Powerpoint truly collaborative. In other words, you and your virtual colleagues could be simultaneously working on the same document!

Based on a November 2009 survey of over 1,200 U.K.-based employers and employees, oneDrum found that the inadequate technology, not worker mistrust, was the top reason for not offering home-based work.

You can download the full report of telecommuting and work at home trends on their website but here are some of the more interesting insights:

• 80% of employees feel they could be productive working from home, though their employers are not as optimistic (with only 45% seeing productivity as a driver for telecommuting)
• Three-quarters of employees say they could do some work from home and a third say they do all or most of their work as telecommuters, however the majority (39%) do so rarely or ever. Less than 6% work from home everyday. Those working most days or once a week total about 11% each. 10% do so once a month.
• Almost a quarter of employees worked at home more last year than they did the year before.
• The top reasons given for not allowing work at home were inadequate remote access to documents (cited by 32% of respondents) and insufficient technology (cited by 28%). Nearly a quarter of employers expressed a concern about remote employee productivity, and 19% felt it would impede team-based work and communications.
• The smallest employers (1-9 employees) were the most likely to allow full-time telecommuting (48%), while the largest companies (101-249 employees).
• The largest employers were the most likely to offer one-day-a-week telecommuting (55%), while smallest companies were the least likely (10%).
• The reason for supporting home-based work varied by company size. For companies with 1-9 employees, employee morale and motivation was the primary driver. For those with 10-49 employees, higher productivity led the charge. And for those with 50-100 employees, better work-life balance was the target.

The report included some very informative graphics that addressed the frequency of telecommuting, and the hold backs by industry.

BTW, while your at oneDrum’s web site, be sure to read this blog post entitled: Twitter is the Nose of the Dog. Here’s a free sniff.

Personally, I’d have moved Mainstream Media a good bit aft.

• Mystery Shopper Warning from FBI

Kate Lister - January 20th, 2010

Mystery Shopping Warning Issued by the FBI

Mystery shopping is on the FBI’s latest hit list. They issued a stern warning today (January 20, 2009) to be on the lookout for unsolicited emails and snail mails inviting mystery shoppers.

According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the mystery shopping scam goes like this:

You receive an email or snail mail inviting you to be a mystery shopper. You’re are asked to send a resume and are purportedly subject to an extensive background check before being accepted as a mystery shopper. You are sent a check with instructions to shop at a specified retailer for a specific length of time and spend a specific amount on merchandise from the store. You receive instructions to take note of the store’s environment, color, payment procedures, gift items, and shopping/carrier bags and report back to the employer. The second evaluation is the ease and accuracy of wiring money from the retail location. The money to be wired is also included in the check sent to the you. The remaining balance is the your payment for the completion of the assignment. After merchandise is purchased and money is wired, you are advised by the bank the check cashed was counterfeit, and you are responsible for the money lost in addition to bank fees incurred.

In other versions of the scheme, you are requested to provide bank account information to have money directly deposited into you accounts. The scammer then has acquired access to your accounts and can withdraw money and steal your identity.

Read more about how to sniff out these and other internet and home-based job scams on the FBI’s IC3 website.

If you’ve been a victim of a mystery shopper or other home based job scam, please share your story in the comments here. Your experience may save others from the agony!

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