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South AfricaLondon Underground abandoned stations tourist attraction to open
Posted in News on 12 April 2013Mysteries buried deep underground in London’s labyrinth of Tube tunnels could soon be coming to the surface.
Exploring London Underground’s abandoned stations, or ‘ghost’ stations, is limited to just a couple of small TfL-led tours a year. Tickets sell out quickly despite virtually no publicity, as the curious clamour to see parts of the city which have been closed off to the public for decades.
Now, one of the most historically significant of London’s ghost station, Down Street, is set to reopen as a tourist attraction – 80 years after closing to passengers.
The enterprise is the creation of Ajit Chambers, founder of The Old London Underground Company, and following four years of careful planning he now has a consortium in place to acquire the lease for the site.
During the Second World War, Down Street, which lies on the Piccadilly line between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner, served as an underground bunker for Winston Churchill and his war cabinet.
The plan is to recapture that moment in the station’s history in an interactive World War II exhibit and open it up to tourists.
But Down Street isn’t the only station on the project’s route map. Ajit has submitted proposals to bring 26 abandoned Underground stations back to life as money-making entertainment venues.
There are plans already in place to convert Brompton Road, another Tube station acquired by the MOD to help in the war effort, from an antique Underground station building into a heritage tourist attraction, climbing wall and roof-top restaurant included.
Ajit said: “In a credit crunch some projects will deliver revenue in a sustainable fashion, others will purely be political moves. This project is both – it delivers revenue created from state-owned assets, as outlined by David Cameron, and highlights any bad political behaviour hampering projects that are crucial to London’s growth.
“I based my model on Alcatraz, which is a tourist attraction that was assisted by the mayor of San Francisco, and designed the Ghost Station Project, with the assistance of our mayor Boris Johnson.”
Since setting out on the project in 2009, Ajit, a former City banker, has been in constant talks with TfL and the MOD about gaining access to the stations and has already secured £20 million from private sources to finance the scheme. But with many of the sites sitting alongside a live railway, both Boris and TfL have needed convincing that it can be done safely and without dipping into the public finances before fully backing the project.
News titles from around the world have contacted Ajit wanting to feature the project. The Old London Underground Company website received 700,000 views in just 48 hours after being featured in a BBC article online.
Project partners are also now queuing up to get involved. Ajit is currently in talks with the owners of the Dominion Theatre about a possible collaboration.
“I’ve just been into a site visit. I took my construction team and TfL left us the keys for six hours. They’re now saying yes and we’re about to take the lease on Down Street,” added Ajit.
“I have also found a section of track that was used to take people to the Dominion Theatre. This site is of particular interest to me as the nearby section holds the tunnels that secured the Elgin Marbles in the Second World War.
“The most exciting thing is that there will finally be a project that will harness the spirit of London – opening the ghost stations in the world’s oldest Underground system.”
Event Managers
Posted in Jobs on 12 April 2013Location: Solihull, United Kingdom
A forward thinking and dynamic marketing and events agency based near Solihull is seeking to appoint competent and professional event managers to manage a portfolio of high-profile leisure events for a prestigious client base.
This is a varied and diverse role that requires somebody with proven event-management skills who can work under pressure to tight deadlines.
Managing a portfolio of events...
Sales Executive and Event administrator
Posted in Jobs on 12 April 2013We require classified sales executive and event administrator for our niche, international B2B magazine, website and events. The role is 10-12 month maternity cover. Ideally you will be an experienced, assertive sales person with strong administration skills, looking for new challenges.While working as part of a team, you will have plenty of initiative and be able to work independently, with great...
Microsoft Launches Third Leg of Scroogled
Posted in News on 12 April 2013Microsoft has launched the third phase of its contemptuous anti-Google campaign Scroogled. Microsoft has been running the attack ad campaign, which highlights Google’s faults, for about five months.
Phase one slammed the search engine giant for its “pay-to-rank” system while phase two skewered the firm for Gmail’s privacy practices. Now Microsoft is decrying Google’s practice of sharing users’ personal information with app makers. “When you buy an Android app from the Google app store, they give the app maker your full name, e-mail address and the neighborhood where you live. This occurs without clear warning every single time you buy an app,” the revamped Scroogled website reads.
“If you can’t trust Google’s app store, how can you trust them for anything?” Microsoft compared Google’s practices to its own: “Windows Phone Store does not share any personally identifiable information with the app maker.”
This is not the first time Google Play’s privacy policy has been under fire. Australian app developer Dan Nolan took Google to task in a February blog post for its “absolutely insane” practice of handing over so much information to developers about its customers. “Every App purchase you make on Google Play gives the developer your name, suburb and e-mail address with no indication that this information is actually being transferred,” Nolan wrote.
“With the information I have available to me through the checkout portal I could track down and harass users who left negative reviews or refunded the app purchase. “This is a massive oversight by Google. Under no circumstances should I be able to get the information of the people who are buying my apps unless they opt into it and it’s made crystal clear to them that I’m getting this information. This is a massive, massive privacy issue Google. Fix it. Immediately.”
Consumer Watchdog, a not-for-profit agency that advocates for consumer interests, has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over Google’s conduct practices. “Google’s conduct constitutes a most serious breach of user privacy,” Consumer Watchdog wrote in its complaint. “Google Play apps deal with sensitive personal subjects, including health conditions and sexual activity. By disclosing personal user information to app developers, Google enables the identification of people who downloaded apps.”
Tumblr Announces End to Storyboard
Posted in News on 12 April 2013After only one year, the final chapter of Tumblr’s “ambitious experiment,” Storyboard, has been written.
The Blogging platform’s CEO, David Karp, has announced Storyboard will be shut down and the four-person editorial team laid off.
Storyboard is described on the site as a “regular collection of features highlighting talented creators and their work, as found within and around the massively diverse Tumblr community. Produced by the Department of Editorial, these stories are told with words, pictures, video, music, charts, animation, and more.”
It appears Storyboard is the victim of Karp’s attempts to get the six-year-old blogging forum back in the black. According to a Bloomberg report, Tumblr is expected to reach profitability this year.
Although Tumblr previously shunned advertising on its site, the average advertising purchase on the site is now “just under six figures,” Tumblr’s head of sales Lee Brown told Bloomberg. “We expect that the monetization will lead us to profitability this year.”
Karp has penned a rather sugary blog post announcing the end of Storyboard.
A year ago, Tumblr did something unprecedented — we created an editorial team of experienced journalists and editors assigned to cover Tumblr as a living, breathing community. The team’s mandate was to tell the stories of Tumblr creators in a truly thoughtful way — focusing on the people, their work, and their stories. The result of this ambitious experiment was Storyboard.
After hundreds of stories and videos, features by publishers ranging from Time to MTV to WNYC — not to mention a nomination for a James Beard Award and entries into this year’s NY Press Club Awards — we couldn’t be happier with our team’s effort. And as Tumblr continues to evolve, we’ll always be experimenting with new ways to shine light on our creators.
What we’ve accomplished with Storyboard has run its course for now, and our editorial team will be closing up shop and moving on. I want to personally thank them for their great work. And please join us in wishing them well.
Those who are “moving on” (a pretty way of saying laid off) are: editor-in-chief Chris Mohney, executive editor Jessica Bennett, editorial producer Sky Dylan-Robbins and editorial director Christopher Price.
“Hey looks like I got some free time coming up. Let me know if you want to hang out!” Mohney posted on his Tumblr account.
Bennett’s post was a little more colorful:
“RIP TUMBLR EDITORIAL. WE PRODUCED SOME AWESOME MOTHERF&@*ING SH$# / REDEFINED JOURNALISM / WON SOME AWARDS / OBSESSED OVER ONE DIRECTION / ALL THAT. IT WAS A GREAT RIDE> NOW: ANYONE WANT TO HIRE ME? “ALSO: Drunk on a plane. The only way to go out (or down?! It’s really bumpy.) Sorry for the all caps! XO.”
Facebook Expands Ad Targeting With ‘Partner Categories’
Posted in News on 12 April 2013Facebook has launched ‘partner categories,’ a new way for users to target ads on the social network’s platform.
Up until now, advertisers have been able to target Facebook users based solely on their expressed interests. Partner categories, however, allows them to show ads to Facebook users based on the products and brands they buy across both desktop and mobile.
Partner categories, which uses data collected by select third parties such as Acxiom, Datalogix, and Epsilon, is available to U.S. advertisers in Power Editor and through the API beginning today. With partner categories, the advertiser knows only the size of the audience — it cannot access any information about individuals included in a category.
“Companies have long used this type of targeting off of Facebook, and we are excited to make this available to advertisers of all sizes on Facebook,” reads a Facebook Studio blog post. “At launch, partner categories include more than 500 unique groups.
“In addition, partner categories works with other Facebook targeting options, so advertisers can further refine their campaigns to reach only the right people. Ads that are well targeted benefit the advertisers who run them by driving higher return on investment and are a better experience for people who see more relevant ads.”
Facebook has taken the following steps to give users the ability to control how this advertising will work.
• Inline Transparency — When users see a Facebook ad, they can click the dropdown menu and then choose “About this Ad.” This will bring them to a page that identifies the company that was responsible for including them in the audience for the ad — whether that company is Facebook or a partner. Facebook also provides a centralized list on its own site of the third parties it works with.
• Comprehensive Control — Within the dropdown box associated with an ad, users can ask Facebook not to show that ad again or any ads from that partner. Partners will provide an opt-out option on their “About this ad” page.
• Enhanced Disclosures — Facebook’s partners will include information in their public knowledge centers on how they collect and use information.
• Data Access Tools — Facebook’s partners is developing tools to enable people to see the audience segment information the partner has associated with them, and to exercise control over that data.
Test Automation Engineer
Posted in Jobs on 10 April 2013Located in the heart of SAP’s strategic Dublin Ireland location, we are currently seeking a Test Automation Engineer for our applications. This strategic project for SAP provides an exciting opportunity to work on key pieces of our innovative product portfolio developed on cutting edge SAP in-memory technology SAP HANA, cloud, mobile and to collaborate with development and product teams worldwide.
You will be working in the AppHaus, a fast paced, agile, innovation space created for our engineers to promote collaboration, foster creativity, and to provide the flexibility to adjust to changing needs of technology. Inspired by best practices in Silicon Valley, an artist's studio instead of a gallery has been created at SAP in Dublin, Ireland originating from Stanford University Design School.
Tasks:
* Work with architects and developers to design and implement test scenarios
* Create automated test scripts
* Plan, prepare and execute test activities
* Deliver high quality software every 90 days
Requirements:
* 4+ years relevant experience
* Experience with testing frameworks and tools such as JUnit, Selenium, QTP
* Experience with Java programming and debugging strong advantage
* Experience with the full software lifecycles and methodologies
* Experience with agile development such as Scrum
* BSc. or MSc. in Computer Science or related discipline
* Strong customer focus
* Unrelenting drive for quality
* Self starter who works on their own initiative
* Strong communications skills both verbal and written
* Knowledge of scripting languages
* Familiarity with databases, data modeling, and SQL
* Ability to define and execute quality assurance strategy
Quality Assurance Specialist
Posted in Jobs on 10 April 2013Responsibilities:
- Conduct quality assurance audits of products and processes and review policies and procedures to ensure they are accurate and being followed. Confirm product meets quality control standards and meet company's expected level of quality.
- Work with VCE Supply Chain on resolving component supplier and contract manufacturer quality related issues and identifying opportunities to improve quality and reduce non-conformities. Ensure supplier Corrective Action Requests (CARs) are being properly issued and closed.
- Work closely with contract manufacturer’s quality group.
- Manage Field complaints and issues and Missing/Wrong/Damaged (MWD) process.
- Monitor and manage projects that directly impact company success while capturing metrics and statistics.
- Data collection and metric reporting.
- Ability to lead teams, manage projects, and coordinate and facilitate cross-functional meetings. Document and track action items and drive issues to closure.
- Must communicate effectively, excellent verbal communication and writing skills.
Qualifications:
- A minimum of five years or more in quality assurance jobs. Experience includes strong knowledge of quality and project management and the understanding and use of quality assurance system applications.
- Six Sigma and Lean certifications preferred.
- ISO certification experience and experience in performing ISO audits a plus.
- Education: Bachelor’s Degree in quality related field is preferred
If you think you have what it takes to continue the remarkable growth and success of VCE, we invite you to explore a career with a recognized industry leader. We will give you the chance to learn more and accomplish more, faster than you ever thought possible. The Cloud is waiting. What are you waiting for?
Lead Development Specialist - Sage CRM Cloud
Posted in Jobs on 10 April 2013Sage is the world’s leading provider of software solutions that help small and mid-sized organizations manage their businesses more effectively. As part of our on-going expansion in Cloud-based business applications, we are expanding our Sage CRM Cloud sales operations in Dublin, and currently have an opening for a lead development specialist, focusing on English-speaking EMEA regions. This role is ideally suited to an individual with proven experience in a fast moving and highly competitive marketplace. There is significant scope for role development and expansion as this team develops over the next 18 months, particularly for individuals looking to transition into a sales role.
• Contact, qualify, nurture and convert online trial registrations into qualified leads and opportunities for Sales to progress
• Provide business advice and product guidance to trial registrants, as well as online demonstrations and assisting in the close of sales opportunities
• Collect highly accurate and complete customer information and input meticulously into internal systems as well as continually updating existing data.
• Meet monthly contact, qualification and conversion metrics
• Some account management responsibilities
• Assist prospective clients in their trial evaluation; conduct product demonstrations online to business and IT decision-makers; and provide quotations on a timely basis
• Maintain accurate and detailed prospect data
• Provide detailed management reports on a periodic basis
• Enthusiastic and motivated professional with 1 to 3 years’ experience telephone-based experience (telesales/telemarketing/tele-support/ outbound calling) in the technology sector
• Knowledge of Sage products
• Experience of CRM or contact management applications is highly desirable
• Focused and driven to succeed
• Experience within a flexi-time environment desirable
• Target and achievement focused
• Highly self-motivated and self-directed
• Initiative and ability to work effectively without direct supervision required
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Personal discipline to manage administrative and reporting elements of role
SAP Cloud Development Consultant
Posted in Jobs on 10 April 2013• Develop extensive knowledge of technical toolset and methodologies for extension of the SAP OnDemand Solutions
• Some previous professional experience in software development is a plus.
• Knowledge of web technologies: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML.