12 IT skills that employers can't say no to

Have you spoken with a high-tech recruiter or professor of computer science lately? According to observers across the country, the technology skills shortage that pundits were talking about a year ago is real (see "Workforce crisis: Preparing for the coming IT crunch").

"Everything I see in Silicon Valley is completely contrary to the assumption that programmers are a dying breed and being offshored," says Kevin Scott, senior engineering manager at Google and a founding member of the professions and education boards at the Association for Computing Machinery. "From big companies to start-ups, companies are hiring as aggressively as possible."

Many recruiters say there are more open positions than they can fill, and according to Kate Kaiser, associate professor of IT at Marquette University in Milwaukee, students are getting snapped up before they graduate. In January, Kaiser asked the 34 students in the systems analysis and design class she was teaching how many had already accepted offers to begin work after graduating in May. Twenty-four students raised their hands. "I feel sure the other 10 who didn't have offers at that time have all been given an offer by now," she says.

Suffice it to say, the market for IT talent is hot, but only if you have the right skills. If you want to be part of the wave, take a look at what eight experts -- including recruiters, curriculum developers, computer science professors and other industry observers -- say are the hottest skills of the near future.

Read more at networkworldasia.com

Bluetooth ActiveSync Guide for i-mate Smartphone2

In this article we show how to configure and use your desktop or notebook as a Bluetooth ActiveSync partner for your i-mate Smartphone2. The Windows Mobile Smartphone based i-mate Smartphone2 is also known as XPhone or SPV E200 in other markets.

To make this guide we have used a desktop running Windows 2000 Pro with a TDK USB Bluetooth (version 1.4.2.18) as the client.

Check out other Geekzone Bluetooth Guides for more step-by-step pages!

This guide is based on Windows 2000 machines. The dialogs for Windows XP might be a little different, but the configuration will be the same.

Read more at Geekzone

No More Big Ideas

Six years ago, Phil Vischer revolutionized Christian family entertainment by selling 30 million Veggie Tales videos. He was running the largest animation studio between the coasts, and had dreams that his empire, known as Big Idea Productions, would become the next Disney.

But by 2003 his dream was over. After a heartbreaking court decision, later overturned on appeal, Big Idea declared bankruptcy, and Vischer sold the company’s assets, including his computer animated characters Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. His new book, Me, Myself, and Bob (Nelson, 2007) tells the story of Big Idea’s rise and fall. We sat down with Vischer to talk about what he’s learned.

Read more at CT Leadership Journal

"Ghost" Windows XP for free

If you have ever had the pleasure of re-installing Windows XP from scratch, you know what a hassle it can be. The idea of endless tweaks, patches, driver hunts, reboots, and scouring the web for software does not exactly fill me with glee. Did I mention the reboots? For me, the worst part is the sinking realization that when I finish the endless tweaks and software installs, I may end up doing the entire process over again from scratch six-to-eight months down the road. Why? Masochism may be one answer, but a more probable answer is an unexpected bout of spyware, a rogue virus, or a bloated registry that is causing the system to behave erratically.

Read more at TipsFor.us

Killing the Crapware Problem on PCs

As many readers know, I'm not a fan of the Apple ads, but this one was spot on and not to mention funny. Poor old PC looked like a balloon and his dangling arms almost made him look like Jabba the Hutt.

One of the things that bother me the most about the PC industry is the inclusion of all that crapware (or crapplets) PC makers put into their computers. The same thing extends to the software industry as a whole. Every time you download some software, you're prompted (often the default setting) to install some kind of add-on for your Web Browser. By the time it's all said and done, we're looking at a computer that spends three to five minutes booting up and a Web Browser that's so jacked up that half the screen real estate is taken up by utilities that people never use. Of course, this isn't entirely unique to the PC industry, and I've seen Macs loaded with lots of junk during the startup process as well, but at least you don't get all that crap in a brand new Mac.

The first thing I do whenever I get a PC from any computer maker is format the entire hard drive and start with a clean slate. This isn't feasible for most people, so I'll usually resort to my second option, which is to clean out the startup with the MSCONFIG utility you can run from the start - run prompt (run prompt not needed with Vista).

Read more at ZDNet Blogs

Leader's Insight: There's Something About Joseph

What leaders can learn from the Nativity about the high cost of righteousness.
by John Ortberg, guest columnist

Because we live on this side of Christmas, we want to rush to the end of the story where everything turns out okay. We miss the anxiety in a young woman's announcement, "I'm pregnant" and the tension on a man's brow as he parses the right decision. You might even be tempted to think Joseph was slow spiritually and should have figured out what was going on a lot sooner. But if you do that, you miss the whole point of what Joseph is learning, and of what we can learn from him—that there's some amazing stuff going on around Christmas besides how Jesus got here. You miss out on how God is already beginning to redefine what true righteousness is.

Matthew 1:18–19 tells us: "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly."

Joseph, Scripture says, was a righteous man. There's a rich history behind this idea. The Hebrew word for a righteous man is tsaddîyq. Joseph was a tsaddîyq, and this means he was known for his uncompromising obedience to the Torah, the law of Moses. (For some of this concept I'm indebted to an article by Scott McKnight, a New Testament scholar.)

Read more at CT Leadership Journal

Leader's Insight: Under-Communicating

Why aren't people listening to what I think I'm saying? Conclusion of the series The Three Legs of Trust.
by Angie Ward, guest columnist

In several earlier columns, I pointed out the three legs of trust: character, competence, and communication. All three are necessary to gain and maintain credibility as a ministry leader. But of the three, communication often seems to be the least recognized as a component of trust.

By communication, I don't mean the communication of God's Word from the pulpit. I'm talking about leadership communication, the kind of communication that can help or hinder your church's attempts to row together in the same direction. Whether at the visionary, missional, strategic, or tactical levels, good communication is crucial to ministry effectiveness and to your personal credibility as a leader.

Years ago, when my husband and I signed the contract to purchase our first house, our real estate agent told us, "Congratulations, you're halfway there!" We didn't realize that agreeing on a price was only the first step of the process. Next, we had to find a lender, arrange for an inspection and appraisal, work through the entire loan process, and secure insurance, not to mention manage all the documentation needed to actually close on the house.

In the same way, many leaders fail to realize that reaching a decision on an issue is not the end of the process, but the beginning. The communication (or lack thereof) that follows is just as important as the decision itself.

How can you tell whether your communication is effective? There are several indicators that can help you evaluate this element of your leadership.

Read more at CT Leadership Journal

5 Moral Fences
July 1, 1999

Fact: Some kids like to play "near the edge," and some kids don't. I always did! Whether the "edge" was rock jumping into a cool mountain lake or "bumper jumping" moving cars to slide along an icy winter street, the potential of peril invigorated me.

But "when I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Cor. 13:11). I was a pastor and in seminary when the moral failures of the late '80's hit the news. In addition to the big names, I heard a shocking number of similar tragedies from my own circle of pastor/friends.

One Sunday night in 1987 I remember crying all the way to church. I was terrified. I asked over and over, "How does this happen? Could this happen to me? How can I protect myself, my family, and my ministry from the devastation a moral failure would cause? How can I keep myself pure when men better than me are falling like flies?"

As I prayed it through, I figured that those who fell morally must have disregarded the warning signs. They didn't go from Spirit-led to stepping off the cliff in one day. They must have crashed some social barriers before their slippage became sexual.

Read more at CT Leadership

10 Interesting Things You Can Do With Google Videos

Unless you are staying in an underground cave for more than a year without an internet connection, there's a healthy chance that you have at least watched, if not downloaded, an online video on Youtube or Google Videos.

The online video sharing space has exploded in the recent months with the entry of new players like Metacafe, Blip.tv, Revver, Yahoo Videos and so on. Millions of video clips, technology shows, music albums, movie trailers are available on these video sites for online viewing or they can also be downloaded to your hard drive for offline viewing.

The downloaded video files are generally in FLV format (Flash Video) which is an Adobe standard for video compression. It has fast becoming the web standard for delivering online video (replacing Apple QuickTime, AVI, Windows Media and Real rm formats) because Flash Video can be viewed inside Macromedia Flash Players which is shipped by default with most web browsers. [Flash Video Editing Guide]

A lot of us know how to download Google Videos or Youtube videos from the internet but what do we do next ? Can we make the FLV video files searchable ? How do you edit FLV files ? All your questions and concerns are answered here:

Read more at 10 Interesting Things You Can Do with YouTube or Google Videos

Websites that changed the world

Amazon used to be a large river in South America - but that was before the world wide web. This month the web is 15 years old and in that short time it has revolutionised the way we live, from shopping to booking flights, writing blogs to listening to music. Here, the Observer's Net specialist charts the web's remarkable early life and we tell the story of the 15 most influential websites to date.

Johannes Gutenberg took the idea of printing by moveable type and turned it into a publishing system. In doing so he changed the world. But he did not live to see the extent of the revolution he had brought about. If you'd told him in 1468 - the year he died - that the Bible he had published in 1455 would undermine the authority of the Catholic church, power the Renaissance and the Reformation, enable the Enlightenment and the rise of modern science, create new social classes and even change our concept of childhood, he would have looked at you blankly.

But there lives among us today a man who has done something similar, and survived to see the fruits of his work. He is Tim Berners-Lee, and he conceived a system for turning the internet into a publishing medium. Just over 15 years ago - on 6 August 1991, to be precise - he released the code for his invention on to the internet. He called it the World Wide Web, and had the inspired idea that it should be free so that anyone could use it.

Read more at The Observer

Expand The Functionality Of 'My Computer'

If you frequently use the 'My Computer' window, then you should expand the functionality to your liking. You can add Administrative Tools, Printers and Fax Devices, Scheduled Tasks, Network Connections, Recycle Bin, and My Network Places to the window by using this tweak.

To do this, follow the next steps:

To open the Registry Editor, click on the Start button on your taskbar, then click on Run and type "regedit" and click on OK to start the regedit utility.

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace.


Create a new KEY and choose one of the values below:

{D20EA4E1-3957-11D2-A40B-0C5020524153} for Administrative Tools
{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} for Printers and Fax Devices
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} for Scheduled Tasks
{7007ACC7-3202-11D1-AAD2-00805FC1270E} for Network Connections
{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} for Recycle Bin
{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D} for My Network Places

Reboot and the changes will show up the next time you open the 'My Computer' window.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1562/expand_the_functionality_of_my_computer

112 Windows Run Commands

Wanted to Browse fast in windows. Remember these commands. This will really save a lot of time of your. There are many commands which you might have never seen or never knew. There are certain properties of windows which you hardly know exist in windows. Here is a list of 112 run commands.
Windows Run Commands
Accessibility Controls	access.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard	hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs	appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools	control admintools
Automatic Updates	wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard	fsquirt
Calculator	calc
Certificate Manager	certmgr.msc
Character Map	charmap
Check Disk Utility	chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer	clipbrd
Command Prompt	cmd
Component Services	dcomcnfg
Computer Management	compmgmt.msc
timedate.cpl	ddeshare
Device Manager	devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)*	directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter	dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility	cleanmgr
Disk Defragment	dfrg.msc
Disk Management	diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager	diskpart
Display Properties	control desktop
Display Properties	desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)	control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility	drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility	verifier
Event Viewer	eventvwr.msc
File Signature Verification Tool	sigverif
Findfast	findfast.cpl
Folders Properties	control folders
Fonts	control fonts
Fonts Folder	fonts
Free Cell Card Game	freecell
Game Controllers	joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)	gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game	mshearts
Iexpress Wizard	iexpress
Indexing Service	ciadv.msc
Internet Properties	inetcpl.cpl
IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration)	ipconfig /all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)	ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)	ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections)	ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)	ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS)	ipconfig /registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)	ipconfig /showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)	ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (If Installed)	jpicpl32.cpl
Java Control Panel (If Installed)	javaws
Keyboard Properties	control keyboard
Local Security Settings	secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups	lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows	logoff
Microsoft Chat	winchat
Minesweeper Game	winmine
Mouse Properties	control mouse
Mouse Properties	main.cpl
Network Connections	control netconnections
Network Connections	ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard	netsetup.cpl
Notepad	notepad
Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)	nvtuicpl.cpl
Object Packager	packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator	odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard	osk
Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed)	ac3filter.cpl
Password Properties	password.cpl
Performance Monitor	perfmon.msc
Performance Monitor	perfmon
Phone and Modem Options	telephon.cpl
Power Configuration	powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes	control printers
Printers Folder	printers
Private Character Editor	eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed)	QuickTime.cpl
Regional Settings	intl.cpl
Registry Editor	regedit
Registry Editor	regedit32
Remote Desktop	mstsc
Removable Storage	ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests	ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof)	rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras	sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks	control schedtasks
Security Center	wscui.cpl
Services	services.msc
Shared Folders	fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows	shutdown
Sounds and Audio	mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game	spider
SQL Client Configuration	cliconfg
System Configuration Editor	sysedit
System Configuration Utility	msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)	sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)	sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot)	sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)	sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)	sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)	sfc /cachesize=x
System Properties	sysdm.cpl
Task Manager	taskmgr
Telnet Client	telnet
User Account Management	nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager	utilman
Windows Firewall	firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier	magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure	wmimgmt.msc
Windows System Security Tool	syskey
Windows Update Launches	wupdmgr
Windows XP Tour Wizard	tourstart
Wordpad	write

http://home.iitk.ac.in/~sansor/commands.html