How a ‘model’ employee outsourced his software job to China

Description: Bob was his company’s best software developer, got glowing performance reviews and earned more than $250,000 a year.

Source: www.theglobeandmail.com

Date: Jan 17, 2013

Bob was paying a Chinese firm about $50,000 a year to do his work, then spent the day surfing the web, watching cat videos and updating his Facebook page.

“This particular case was pretty unique,” computer security investigator Andrew Valentine, who helped uncover Bob’s scheme, said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail. “We thought it was actually pretty clever.”

Mr. Valentine made Bob’s tale public in a blog post on Monday and it has since been the talk of tech websites.    Read Rest of Story 

 Questions for discussion:

1. Is there an ethical dilemma in what Bob was doing at his place of work?  Why or Why Not??

2.  What benefits can you see with outsourcing as a company?

3.  What pitfalls can you see a company risking by outsourcing?

Doctor Found in a Box

Description: Imagine a quick, inexpensive trip to the doctor at all hours of the night.

Source: www.cnn.com

Date: Jan 15, 2013

click on link to watch video      http://cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2013/01/15/dnt-oh-portable-doctors-office.wjw

 Questions for discussion:

1.  Do you feel that this type of health care has a bright future? Why or Why not?

2.  What situations would this type of medical care be most appropriate or advantageous?

Love Match Made in the Code

Description: In the quest to find true love, is filling out a questionnaire on a Web site any more scientific than praying to St. Valentine?

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: Feb 1, 2013

Yes, according to psychologists at eHarmony, an online company that claims its computerized algorithms will help match you with a “soul mate.” But this claim was criticized in a psychology journal last year by a team of academic researchers, who concluded that “no compelling evidence supports matching sites’ claims that mathematical algorithms work.”            Read Rest of Story 

 Questions for discussion:

1. In the quest to find true love, is filling out a questionnaire on a Web site any more scientific than praying to St. Valentine? Why or why not!

2.  Would you personally use a match-making site? Why or why not?

Why Android Gets Apps Later Than IOS

Description: There are too many operating systems, devices, and models for app developers to keep up. This diversified market makes the future of apps look  more corporate than entrepreneurial.

Source: Mashable.com

Date: March 6, 2013

Even though there are more Android phones than iPhones in the United States, the number and variety of Android apps lags compared to Apple’s offerings. For instance, Android users had to wait a year before they got Instagram or Pinterest apps. New research helps explain why.

There’s got to be more to the story than the number of phones. Flurry, a mobile-app analytics firm, released a report this week that helps explain the problem, laying out the challenges app developers face. It also shows that Android apps are unlikely to catch up and that small developers coding for either device will get squeezed out of the market READ REST OF STORY

 Questions for discussion:

1. Which operating systems or devices do you think would be most profitable for app developers to focus on?

2. How can app developers meet the needs of all users?