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IT hiring remains strong, says survey

It seems the job hunt is in your favor if you qualify for a job in IT. Though the job market is still recovering from the recession, more than half of IT employers said they plan to hire for positions throughout the remainder of the year, according to CareerBuilder's IT midyear job forecast, which is due out tomorrow.

The survey says 55 percent of IT employers said they were planning to hire full-time, permanent staff from July 1 through December 31, according to CareerBuilder. While this is a 1 percent decrease from last year, CareerBuilder said the market is … Read more

Rumor Has It: Is Amazon crazy enough to make a smartphone? (video)

Amazon has planted its flag firmly in tablet land, desktop land, and even streaming-media land, but one faraway atmosphere has yet to be graced with Amazon's shopping presence: Smartphonia.

Never fear, brave app-loving residents of smartphone world, a new rumor suggests that even as you read this, Amazon is sending scouts to your universe to find out what you like and is working with fabled smartphone manufacturer Foxconn -- of iPhone and iPad fame -- to infiltrate your borders and free you from the shackles of...clunky smartphone shopping apps.

What would an Amazon smartphone look like? With the … Read more

Worldwide IT spending to edge past $3.6 trillion this year

Organizations around the world will collectively spend more than $3.6 trillion on IT products and services, Gartner said today.

That sounds like a healthy chunk of change, but it marks only a 3 percent increase from last year when spending totaled around $3.5 trillion. Still, Gartner's latest forecast is a bit more optimistic than the 2.5 percent rise it projected last quarter.

"While the challenges facing global economic growth persist -- the eurozone crisis, weaker U.S. recovery, a slowdown in China -- the outlook has at least stabilized," Richard Gordon, a research vice … Read more

Hacked 8-bit music umbrella rocks out as it rains

Pop quiz. You have 12 piezo sensors, Arduino Uno, two speakers, lots of wire, and plenty of duct tape. There is an umbrella nearby. What do you make? How about a musical umbrella that translates raindrops into song?

Two creative Germans, Alice Zappe and Julia Lager, built an umbrella that detects raindrops and interprets them as 8-bit music. This could turn a regular walk down the street into a personalized retro gaming adventure.… Read more

Rumor Has It: Is the Kindle Fire 2 really dropping next month? (video)

Our big rumor of the week is directly related to Google, so thankfully Karyne made it back in town just in time to witness the Google Glass-wearing skydivers jump from a dirigible into Google I/O. Wait, what? Whoa!

Before the keynote went off on a crazed adventure sports tangent, Google announced a new product: the new Nexus 7 tablet running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and selling for the small sum of $199. What else sells for that? Oh right, the Kindle Fire.

So this leads us to the question: is Amazon now feeling the pressure to update its … Read more

Create easy photo collages on a Mac with CollageIt Free

CollageIt Free seems to be making its way up the ranks in the Mac App Store, so let's take a look at what this free collage app can do.

When you first launch the app, it opens a window with a variety of templates spread across four styles: Mosaic, Grid, Center, and Pile. After you choose a template, you can then start adding photos to the app to start making your collage. You can either use the "+" button in the lower-left corner of the CollageIt window to browse photos to add to your collage, or you can … Read more

YouSendIt suffers downtime, service hiccups

Cloud storage service YouSendIt is in the midst of a multi-hour disruption, which remains unresolved.

The problem began earlier today and kept users from visiting YouSendIt's Web site or sending files through the service.

The company currently lists the issue as a "service disruption" versus a full-on "outage" with the promise of having a fix soon.

"YouSendIt Services are currently experiencing slow loading times and issues sending and receiving," the company said on its status page. "We are working to have this fixed ASAP."

On its Twitter account, the company noted … Read more

Divide for Android integrates Box with version 1.7

If you find yourself carrying around two separate mobile devices (one for work, the other for personal use), then you probably haven't heard of Enterproid's Divide app for Android.

Known as a solution to the growing BYOD (bring your own device) trend that plagues many a corporate IT department, Divide creates a separate, fully encrypted and password-protected work environment right on your Android device. This means you can securely access your work e-mail, contacts, calendars, and corporate applications, all while keeping your personal life out of your employer's reach.

Today, Enterproid updates Divide for Android to version … Read more

Rumor Has It: New Xbox launch timed for 2013 holidays? (video)

As if actual Microsoft product launches haven't been in the news enough this week (ahem, Surface tablet and Windows Phone 8), rumors of the road map for the long-anticipated new Xbox are heating up.

A PowerPoint presentation posted to NeoGAF forums claims to divulge Microsoft's secret product launch plans. No, not the launch codes -- this isn't a nuclear crisis, though the excitement among Xbox gamers is verging on nuclear. (See what I did there?) The document has NOT been authenticated, and Microsoft is mum on the issue, but its contents are in line with previous rumors. … Read more

How to self-publish an ebook

A while back I wrote a column titled " Self-publishing: 25 things you need to know," which was mostly about how to create and sell your own paper book. After folks asked me to do something similar for e-books, I created this article, which has now been updated a few times.

I begin with one caveat: The whole e-book market is rapidly evolving, and a lot of self-publishing companies are offering e-book deals bundled into their print book publishing packages, which makes them harder to break out and evaluate. It's all quite complicated, and in an effort to sort through the confusion, I've decided to offer a few basic tips and present what I think are some of the best options out there for creating an e-book quickly and easily. As things change -- and they will -- I'll do my best to keep this column up to date. … Read more