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Businesses

Alphabet-owned Verily Suspended Employee Bonuses To Fund Diversity Initiatives (theverge.com) 115

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Verily Life Sciences, the Alphabet-owned healthcare company, is suspending employee spot bonuses. From a report: The money will be funneled instead to fund diversity and inclusion initiatives. The move frustrated workers, many of whom have been working grueling hours on the company's COVID-19 testing projects. In a letter to management obtained by Business Insider, employees said the decision implied these initiatives are not a priority. They wrote: "The use of spot bonuses to subsidize social justice programs such as Healthy@Work for HBCUs [Historically Black colleges and universities], clinical trial recruitment of underrepresented populations, and an internal Product Inclusion group implies that these efforts are charity causes not worthy of their own investment." Employees asked that spot bonuses be reinstated and called for the creation of a board of executives and employees to measure progress toward diversity goals. Alphabet, Verily's parent company, made $46.07 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019. Because of Alphabet's strong financial position, diversity and inclusion shouldn't be hard to invest in, the employees wrote.

Comment Use a Fast Remote Desktop (Score 1) 344

by monk (#54547521) Attached to: What To Do If the Laptop Ban Goes Global

I'll just use a generic, low end laptop with maybe Arch or Ubuntu and one of our fast remote desktops. Works great and I don't need anything special on the client since it runs in the browser. You do have to trust Amazon or Azure and Frame to some extent, but that's better than trusting random baggage handlers and the TSA.

You could do something similar with a phone, but would need a keyboard and monitor and maybe a dock like the HP X3. I'd love to just have a generic deck that could cast to a TV and use a bluetooth keyboard/touchpad combo. I'm sure that's coming with the direction phones are going.

But I agree the real fix would be to elect leaders that can solve real problems instead of knee-jerk grandstanding. I'd rather fly with no security at all than give up my freedom. (Disclaimer, I work for Frame, but my opnions are my own)
Businesses

Ask Slashdot: Re-Learning How To Interview As a Developer? 218

Posted by timothy from the I'm-a-people-person! dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Earlier in my career, when I switched jobs every year or so, I was pretty good at interviewing. I got offers about 75% of the time if I got to a in person. But times have changed... my last 2 jobs have been, longer term gigs.. 5 and 3 years respectively, and I am way out of practice. My resume often gets me the phone interview and I am actually really good at the phone screen.. I am 12 for 12 in the last 6 months phone screen to in person interview. It is the in person interview where I am really having issues. I think I come off wrong or something.. I usually get most of the technical questions, but I am not doing something right because I don't come off very likeable or something. It is hard to get very much feedback to know exactly what I am doing wrong. I have always gotten very good performance reviews and I am well liked at work, but if there is one area for improvement on my reviews it has always been communication. So I ask, can anyone give out some advice, I have tried toastmasters a few times, but does anyone have other tips or ideas? Has anyone else had a similar experiences?"
Security

Michaels Stores Investigating Possible Data Breach 106

Posted by timothy from the switching-targets dept.
tsu doh nimh writes "Michaels Stores Inc., which runs more than 1,250 crafts stores across the United States, said Saturday that it is investigating a possible data breach involving customer cardholder information. According to Brian Krebs, the journalist who broke the story [and, previously] news of the Target and Neiman Marcus breaches, the U.S. Secret Service has confirmed it is investigating. Krebs cited multiple sources in the banking industry saying they were tracking a pattern of fraud on cards that were all recently used at Michaels Stores Inc. In response to that story, Michaels issued a statement saying it 'recently learned of possible fraudulent activity on some U.S. payment cards that had been used at Michaels, suggesting that the Company may have experienced a data security attack.' In 2011, Michaels disclosed that attackers had physically tampered with point-of-sale terminals in multiple stores, but so far there are no indications what might be the cause of the latest breach. Both Target and Neiman Marcus have said the culprit was malicious software designed to steal payment card data, and at least in Target's case that's been shown to be malware made to infect retail cash registers."

Comment What I've Learned From My Own Experience (Score 2) 384

by monk (#45958043) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Can I Improve My Memory For Study?

I suffered a brain injury at the age of five due to head trauma. I've had several issues over the years including memory and other cognitive problems.
Over the years, I've developed various coping strategies (lists, mnemonic tricks, remapping tasks to take advantage of strengths and minimize weaknesses).
The most useful thing I've learned is that most people have to make up for deficits, and you are not at all unusual.

The advice on exercise and healthy eating make sense in general, but you will also need to create some unfair advantages for yourself. Rather than depending on your own, natural memory, spend some focused time on mnemonic gimmicks. They aren't the same as learning, but they will allow you to carry lists around in your head like the world's most ingenious cheat sheet.

I've had good results with an old copy of You Can Remember By Dr. Bruno Furst. There may be better courses I don't know about, but this one gave me a bag of tricks I use every day to function almost as if I had a normal to exceptional memory.

It's just a bag of tricks though, and only a doctor specializing in cognitive issues related to sleep disorders is likely to be able to help you with the root cause.
China

NSA Says It Foiled Plot To Destroy US Economy Through Malware 698

Posted by timothy from the big-brother-says-he's-got-your-back dept.
mrspoonsi writes "Business Insider Reports: The National Security Agency described for the first time a cataclysmic cyber threat it claims to have stopped On Sunday's '60 Minutes.' Called a BIOS attack, the exploit would have ruined, or 'bricked,' computers across the country, causing untold damage to the national and even global economy. Even more shocking, CBS goes as far as to point a finger directly at China for the plot — 'While the NSA would not name the country behind it, cyber security experts briefed on the operation told us it was China.' The NSA says it closed this vulnerability by working with computer manufacturers. Debora Plunkett, director of cyber defense for the NSA: One of our analysts actually saw that the nation state had the intention to develop and to deliver — to actually use this capability — to destroy computers."
Bitcoin

Bitcoin Inventor Satoshi Nakamoto Could Actually Be Group From Europe 186

Posted by samzenpus from the we-are-legion dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto could be a group from Europe which has a strong footing in the financial sector. From the article: 'Josh Zerlan, the Chief Operating Officer of Butterfly Labs and a person familiar with the Bitcoin network, has said it is highly likely that Nakamoto could be a group of people working the financial sector. Speaking to IBTimes UK on the sidelines of a Global Bitcoin Conference in Bangalore, India, Zerlan said: "One of the prevailing theories, I think has credibility, is that it was some group of people from financial sector that created this. They released it and stepped back and let it go. So, Satoshi Nakamoto is a group of people, I think, is a reasonable possibility."'"

Comment Re:50% more free (speech), privacy (Score 4, Interesting) 495

by monk (#45544837) Attached to: I wish my cell phone was...

I'm holding out for a US deloyment of Firefox OS

You can buy an unlocked, GSM, ZTE Open Firefox OS phone for $80. I have one. Works fine with an H2O Wireless (cheap AT&T) sim. It's fun and an impressive first release. It handles calls, email, messaging and web browsing fine, but don't expect it to be a complete replacement for an Android phone yet. Still rough around the edges.

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"If John Madden steps outside on February 2, looks down, and doesn't see his feet, we'll have 6 more weeks of Pro football." -- Chuck Newcombe

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