Reliance Jio to Provide Free Wi-Fi Services in Punjab Colleges

The Punjab government has signed an MoU with Reliance will provide free Wi-Fi facility in all government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), polytechnics, and engineering colleges of the state, Technical Education minister Charanjit Singh Channi said Thursday.
The step will help provide free Internet to students of these institutions for their academics and also encourage cashless transactions and digitalisation, Channi said.
He said that that an MoU for providing free Wi-Fi in the campuses of government ITIs, polytechnics and engineering colleges was signed between private firm Reliance Jio and Punjab government on Thursday.
He said that Reliance Jio would set up the infrastructure and provide its services free of cost. In addition, the company will also bear the cost of equipment and electricity required for the functioning of Wi-Fi, he said.

Ads by ZINC

"All the principals of respective colleges have been directed to provide suitable space and security for Wi-Fi and other relevant network equipment," he said.
The minister said that all objectionable websites would be blocked as per Government of India's directions.

WannaCry Ransomware: CERT-In Says No Report of Global 'Adylkuzz' Cryptocurrency Cyber-Attack in India

Allaying fears that after "WannaCrypt" ransomware, India will be targeted by a crypto-currency malware attack that quietly but swiftly generates digital cash from machines it has infected, the country's cyber-security unit on Thursday said India is safe from the "Adylkuzz" malware.
"There are no reports of this 'Adylkuzz' malware fromthe Indian establishments yet. Users are advised to maintain updated anti-virus software and apply patches to operating systems and applications on regular basis," Sanjay Bahl, Director General of the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), told IANS.

After facing a massive ransomware attack that exploited a vulnerability in a Microsoft software and hit 150 countries, the same Windows vulnerability (MS17-010) was also exploited to spread "Adylkuzz" by another group of hackers.

According to a report in The Registrar, tens of thousands of computers globally have been affected by the "Adylkuzz attack" that targets machines, lets them operate and only slows them down to generate digital cash or "Monero" crypto-currency in the background.

Ads by ZINC

"Monero" - being popularised by North Korea-linked hackers - is an open-source crypto-currency created in April 2014 that focuses on privacy, decentralisation and scalability.
It is an alternative to Bitcoin and is being used for trading in drugs, stolen credit cards and counterfeit goods.
"There is no need to panic as "CERT-In publishes regular advisories and vulnerability notes on its website as well as some on Cyber Swachhta Kendra website", Bahl added.

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on Twitter, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Facebook Messenger Redesigns Home Screen to Improve Navigation

Facebook's standalone messaging app, Messenger, which is now being used by 1.2 billion monthly active users, is getting a new look with a focus to improve navigation.
David Marcus, Head of Messenger, announced the update on Thursday and stressed the focus is to "simplify navigation across Messenger." The new visual look will start rolling out worldwide on Android and iOS from this week.
The revamped home screen has been "organised" to keep the people and businesses you care about easily accessible while maintaining all popular features. One of the biggest refreshes is being given to the area along the top of the inbox, which will now show messages alongside who's active so that the user knows when to reach out quickly, and group conversations. To recall, Messenger earlier listed the Group conversation at the bottom.

Ads by ZINC

The bottom bar, on the other hand, will include tabs for home screen, calls, camera button, search for People and play Games. The bottom tab will also add a new Discover tab as it starts rolling out. Messenger is also making things easier for its users in case they miss anything with a new red dot, which will be used as a visual clue.
"These changes are designed to make Messenger simpler for you - to help you get to your contacts quickly, jump into your conversations where you left off, start new chats, and stay up to date," said Marcus in a Facebook post.
Notably, this is the second big update to Messenger in a month as the company rolled out Instant Games on Messenger.

Indian Developer Apple Offered WWDC Scholarship to Won't be Attending Because of Visa Woes

Apple's annual developer conference, WWDC, is one of the big events on the technology calendar and it's become a space where the company doesn't just talk to developers anymore but also makes announcements that are of great interest to the general public. As part of the conference, Apple also invites student developers to participate and for WWDC 2017, one of the people invited was Harshil Shah, a computer engineering student at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology.
For a young man like Shah, the opportunity to attend WWDC 2017, and that too on a completely sponsored trip like this, would be a great opportunity, unfortunately, the whole notion came crumbling down at the last minute, as Shah was denied a US visa.
This happened despite Shah being sponsored for the entire trip by Apple, and having a letter from the company explaining the purpose of his visit. At the time of the interview, Shah says he received no explanation whatsoever about the rejection. It was only later, he tells Gadgets 360, that he learned that he was rejected for not being able to prove his non-immigrant status.

"They think that since I'm going to graduate soon and will have a degree, I'm going to end up getting a job and staying in the US," Shah told Gadgets 360.

Ads by ZINC

Shah, who is finishing his degree this year, had submitted a collection of watchfaces for the Apple Watch. He's a longtime Apple enthusiast who has been tweeting about his WWDC application, and commenting on earlier conferences for years now. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, his US visa application was rejected.
Making matters worse, WWDC 2017 will take place from June 5 to June 9; but the next available date for Shah to apply for a visa is after June 9. Shah told Gadgets 360 that the team at Apple he was in communication with has now sent him a letter for an expedited application; however, he isn't certain that will be possible given the rules posted about expedited visas online.
Apple has not commented about the situation as of now.

IBM India may sack 5,000 employees over next few quarters

IBM may let go of at least 5,000 employees over the next few quarters, people familiar with the development told ET NOW, making it the latest round job cuts that has plagued the IT sector in the last few weeks.

IBM's job cuts come close on the heels of similar moves at Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant, in what is a turning out to be a difficult year for the IT sector.

"The process has started. Managers have been asked to identify under performers," one of the persons ET NOW spoke to said. Another said that IBM freezing hiring plans till there is more clarity in the business environment.

IBM did not confirm the number of employees who will be impacted but said in an e-mail statement that, "Re-skilling and rebalancing is an ongoing process as we accelerate the benefits of cognitive and cloud technologies for clients around the world."

IBM employees over 1.5 lakh people (1,50,000 people) in India currently.

Hard times for IT firms bring more talent churn

With deceleration in revenue and hazy demand outlook, top IT companies will try hard to guard profitability.Improving the proportion of fixed cost projects in revenue, making hiring decisions more dynamic and keeping check on operating costs are some of the initiatives taken by IT exporters to retain operating margins within a permissible band.

The current news reports about layoffs by some of the companies then appear to be one more step in that direction. Also, replacing experienced employees with those having less than two-three years of experience may not be ruled out as a strategy to reduce salary expenses.

Headcount management is among the common tools to retain profitability when revenue growth is lukewarm. According to the ETIG analysis of the past data of Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro, the aggregate dollar-denominated revenue increased at a seven-year low rate of 7% in FY17. In addition, it decelerated in each of the past three fiscals reflecting the rising pressure on the topl ine due to shifting preference of clients from traditional IT to digital platform.

Headcount of these companies, too, has followed the downward trend.The number of employees added after considering attrition (net addition), too, has decelerated in the past two years. In FY17, the sample added 72,470 employees, the lowest addition in three years.

The headcount rationalisation is also aimed at improving the revenue per employee. It is a parameter that is monitored closely of late with in creasing focus on non-linearity of revenue, which means the extent of incremental revenue no more depends upon the extent of employee addition. The sample's revenue has risen to $48,056 per employee in FY17 from $44,296 in FY13. This was largely driven by the improvement shown by Cognizant, TCS, and Infosys.

With rising pressure from the US to hire locally, Indian IT exporters find themselves at an inflection point.Companies are finding ways to adhere to changing business needs. As Arvind Thakur, CEO of a midcap IT player pointed out, offshoring may be in vogue again to keep delivery costs low. “We need to convince clients to increase the proportion to offshoring,“ he said in a phone call with ET after the quarterly results on May 5.

This means while IT companies lay off more experienced staff, they may recruit more of freshers and those under three years of experience either in India or locally in the overseas markets.

Despite layoffs, startups & tech cos remain the most sought-after workplaces in India

Thousands of job losses and painful transitions notwithstanding, startups and technology companies remain the most sought-after workplaces in India, according to a study by professional social network LinkedIn.

Flipkart beat Amazon again, to remain the most attractive company for an Indian jobseeker, the study showed. One97 Communications, the parent company of fintech startup Paytm, made a debut on the list at rank 4, food delivery app Swiggy at 15, and hyperlocal delivery app Grofers at 22. Ola moved up five slots to become the fifth most coveted company, while OYO Rooms inched up 7 places to rank 9. KPMG India inched up 2 slots to rank 3.

The list of top 25 companies is formed by a combination of LinkedIn data including reach, engagement, job interest, retention and an editorial lens. It's based on the actions of job seekers and professionals with editorial oversight, highlighting the companies most sought-after today . “There is clearly a trend that industry disrupters are getting a preference. Ola has disrupted urban mobility and it is resonating with the job seekers. OYO has disrupted the hospitality industry for budget travellers," said Irfan Abdullah, Director Talent Solutions at LinkedIn India.

He, however, pointed out that not all startups have remained attractive for employees as the industry adjusts to a more cautious investor sentiment. Housing, Snapdeal and Zomato did not make it to the top 25 this time. Alphabet, Google's parent company , slipped down four slots to rank 8.

“Well-funded startups are still hiring. Companies that are doing well on the business model front are well capitalised and they still attract employees," he said. “It is a mixed bag. There are startups that are struggling and what I increasingly see is that employees, as potential candidates, are asking more questions. Earlier it was herd mentality ."



Last year, Indian startups saw an erosion in valuations of the poster boys amid global competition and criticism of their unsustainable business models. The fall in valuation, some top-level exits, and crunch in capital led to job cuts.

Surprisingly, following the same trend, Indian Information Technology (IT) companies -which are laying off thousands amid changing demands, automation and protectionist visa policies -continued to remain attractive to potential employees.

HCL Technologies moved up two slots to ranks 6, Capgemini slipped 8 places to rank 11, Wipro slipped 4 places to rank 18. Tech Mahindra made a debut at 14.

“The reality is that IT companies are still big employers if you look at the sheer volume. I feel some of these companies have communicated what they stand for even in these tough times.These companies still remain aspirational," LinkedIn's Abdullah said.

He also noted that, more than half of the 25 most sought-after companies are Indian homegrown companies.