The first virtual business school campus

LONDON, England (CNN) -- One of the key elements of modern business education is the lengths to which schools will go to connect and communicate with students, whether actual or potential.
While years ago, acquiring an MBA inevitably involved scribbling notes in a campus classroom for hour after hour, these days ever more schools offer part-time studies, or distance learning via email and the Internet.
Now, one business school has gone a step further and established a "campus" in a virtual reality world.
INSEAD, the highly-rated business school based in France and Singapore, has just announced it is to build up a presence in Second Life, an increasingly popular digital world which now has five million registered "residents."
Second Life, while often referred to as a game, is not in fact based around any specific goals. Residents, who create their own online character, or avatar, instead have an almost endless choice of pursuits and options inside the ever-changing digital world, much as in real life.
Now, your avatar can even go to business school, thanks to INSEAD's Second Life "campus."
Mixing, making money
One element of this will be to give existing and applicant students the chance to mix and discuss their thoughts in the online world. In the future, INSEAD hopes, as well as hosting open days at its physical campuses in Fontainebleau, France, and Singapore, it will also hold them on the virtual campus.
Students will even be able to join courses, such as a proposed MBA class on entrepreneurship in which participants will have the chance to develop a business plan and test it inside Second Life.
Apart from the increased opportunities for mixing between people who are geographically distant in the real world (or "meatspace," as Second Lifers call it) and marketing opportunities for INSEAD, the virtual campus highlights a curious but potentially lucrative opportunity -- real entrepreneurship in the virtual world.
Increasing numbers of Second Life residents earn real world incomes through their activities in the online realm, putting together goods and services for avatars to use.
They pay for these in "Linden dollars," named after Linden Lab, which created the world, but these are fully exchangeable into real US dollars, part of Second Life's increasingly sophisticated economy.
A number of people make a living through activities inside Second Life, while international brands including Reebok and American Apparel have set up "stores" inside the world.
Such is the potential importance of such commerce in the future, that INSEAD says it will incorporate learning about Second Life into a range of programs, including its MBAs, and Executive MBAs.
It will also build a research center and social science research lab on its virtual campus.
"As an international business school with participants from around the world, INSEAD embraces innovative approaches to learning that will enable us to develop leaders who are prepared to operate in a constantly evolving global business environment," said Antonio Fatas, dean of the school's MBA program.
"We recognize the growing importance of the digital marketplace and want all of our participants to have the opportunity to experience it first-hand."

Firms Are Offering Perks to Lure B-School Talent

The M।B.A. job market has continued to heat up this year, resulting in multiple offers and heftier salaries for many lucky full-time graduates. Jeffrey Rice, executive director of career services at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, may have the best perspective on the recruiting scene because of his additional role as president of the M.B.A. Career Services Council. By keeping in touch with the council's members--about 350 career-service officials and 40 corporate recruiters--Mr. Rice closely monitors hiring trends. M.B.A. Track columnist Ron Alsop recently talked with Rice about the bullish job market, possible talent shortages, and the ways technology is changing the recruiting process.

Q: How intense has the competition for M.B.A. graduates become this year?
A: There's fiercer competition mainly because more industries have ramped up their recruiting, specifically retail, insurance and other financial services, private equity, health care and technology. At the same time, activity is up in the M.B.A. bellwethers--consulting, investment banking and consumer products--with 15% to 20% more companies in those industries doing recruiting. For students, that means there are more diverse opportunities in what is clearly a seller's market.
Q: Are some companies facing an M.B.A. talent shortage this year?
A: Many companies are asking, "Will there be enough M.B.A. students for us to recruit for our future leadership moving forward?" Already, some companies in the bellwether industries are not going to meet their projected yield this year. An investment bank that wanted to hire 80 associates this year may end up getting only 70. To their credit, the company plans to increase its pipeline of summer interns this year to try to avoid a shortfall again next year for full-time recruits. If it only wanted 50 summer associates before, now it's hoping to get 70 and focus on converting many of them to full-time hires by the end of the internship.
Q: How are schools helping companies deal with a potential scarcity of full-time M.B.A. students?
A: Many schools, including Fisher, are expanding the supply base by adding career-service resources to bring older part-time and executive M.B.A. students into the recruiting mix, along with some of our alumni.
Q: Is it more challenging to recruit part-time and executive M.B.A. students?
A: The most significant challenge is finding a convenient time to meet with them। We're encouraging companies to do presentations and interviews when it's more amenable for our working students, in the evening instead of the afternoon. Virtual recruiting can also work. We recently made 50 Webcams available to full-time, part-time and executive M.B.A. students at Fisher so they can borrow one, plug it into their computer and ask a company to do an interview remotely.

Q: Is technology changing M.B.A. recruiting in any other ways?
A: Technology is definitely becoming more and more important in reaching the current millennial generation of students. But companies should realize that today's M.B.A. students can smell spam a mile away and want communication that is individualized and sincere. As a result, some companies are doing more instant messaging and sending more personalized emails, telling students they have been identified as top candidates and inviting them to call with any questions. Podcasts are another increasingly popular way to reach students and give them information about a company and its culture before they interview with a recruiter. Our M.B.A.s really like the progressive nature of podcasts. Companies are also starting to do recruiting blogs, sometimes managed by an employee who is an alumnus from the target school.
Q: Is the recruiting process as heated as it was during the dot-com heyday in the late 1990s?
A: That was a really unusual time, an anomaly. I don't think the recruiting opportunities are as prolific as they were then, but today the choices are less entrepreneurial, less risky in nature. The job offers are coming from more sustainable, stable industries today. And if there's one thing that's definitely true about the millennial generation of M.B.A.s, it's that they're looking for stable companies where the financial rewards are clear and they can see the trajectory for how they can advance.
Q: It appears that recruiters are making a full-court press to woo students. What are some of their tactics?
A: It's pretty amazing stuff. We've had students taken by limousine from the Ohio State campus in Columbus to Cleveland for interviews; others were flown by corporate jet to Providence, Rhode Island. A consumer packaged-goods company put on a two-day event for prospective interns from several different schools and gave each student an iPod with his or her favorite music preloaded on it.
Q: Of course, the bottom line in recruiting is compensation. How much are companies willing to pay M.B.A. graduates in this competitive market?
A: Starting salaries continue to rise. This year at Fisher with about 70% of our second-year students having accepted a job, we are up 10% from last year to a median base salary of $88,000. While starting salaries are always a factor, students are getting much more focused on compensation over the first five to eight years on the job. They aren't necessarily taking the highest monetary offer if they believe the compensation trajectory is higher at a company with a slightly lower initial offer. For example, in consumer packaged goods, if a student starts as assistant brand manager or brand manager, he can expect $80,000 to $90,000. But in five years, he could become a senior marketing director with compensation of $150,000-plus. So he may recoup the costs of the M.B.A. degree quicker on that career path than on another where the compensation rises only $20,000 in five years.

Maintaining your System

Author: Jowyne Leong
This article basically shares about the 3 basic proceedures (Data Backup, Malware Maintenance and Disk or File System Maintenance) you can do to maintain your system.

Maintaining A SystemPerhaps you have handpicked the finest computer from the I.T mall, selected the fastest processor and graphic card and slammed in few gigabytes of memory. So you thought to yourself that your machine is probably going to sustain you for the next 5 years. But little did you discover that some 6 months down the road, your computer is behaving like a Pentium 2 computer, perpetually flustering you with its choppy images, frustrating pop-ups and tremendous slow disk access. Gradually, your computer crashes and all your data is lost on one fine afternoon.And so you wonder - what is the problem here?One thing you have probably missed out on is the need for system maintenance. The basic routine maintenance comprises of the 3 basic processes: 1. Data Backup 2. Malware Maintenance 3. Disk or File System MaintenanceLet us address each of the processes in detail so that you can better understand how you can apply them in your system to extend its longevity.What Is Data Backup?Backing up basically means to create a redundant copy of a data so that in case anything should happen to the original data, you have a spare copy. This is typically a simple thing to do.Firstly, you must ask yourself why should you back up data or system.If you feel that you should backup your valuable data, then you should decide and select what are the data to be backup. Depending on your needs, you may choose to backup your windows registry, or your Outlook Express mail data, or even your windows security keys.Windows operating system-s friendly interface allows you to drag and drop computer files from one storage device to another. And this can be as simple as copying a document file from your desktop into a floppy diskette or thumb drive.But when these files gradually grow overtime, you may need to seek help from archiver utilities such as Winzip which enables you to compact your files into a single compressed file. You can then break up this large file into several pieces to be stored in several mediums such as a span of CD or DVD-Recordable.Winzip also allows you to protect your file with encryption and a software password to prevent any unauthorized access. There are a number of backup methods you could use.What Is Malware Maintenance?Malware refers to any kind of malicious codes, objects or content that infiltrates your computer, resulting in damage and causing your system to act in an undesirable manner. Commonly, these include viruses, spyware, worms, trojan horses, spams and many more. When you-re infected, you can lose your privacy, confidential data and access to your system when software and hardware are damaged. Fortunately, there-re a couple of preventive measures you can take to protect yourself from malware.Firstly, you absolutely require a working Anti-Virus scan running in your computer. This is the only one thing that you should never compromise if you frequent the Internet. Running a system without an Anti-Virus scan is practically risking your computer to 90% of all kinds of software attacks. In some cases, your hardware can fail due to a virus attack. Remember the CIH virus that attacks the computer flash BIOS that resulted in tremendous business damage during 2001?Also, having a virus scan residing in your computer is as good as zilch if you do not take time to update the scan engine and virus pattern files. Every week, virus signature files are released for download to equip you with the latest protection.Next, the choice of websites you visit plays a major factor. Certain websites contain malicious active content such as Javascript and VBscript that automatically infects your computer when they are downloaded into your computer without your knowledge and consent. (That-s why they-re known as spywares) If you have experienced new icons appearing in your system tray or desktop, this may be a sign that your computer has been infected.Thankfully, those malicious active content usually lurks in pornographic and hacking websites. So if you can refrain from them, you generally safe. Nevertheless, if it is absolutely necessary to visit these sites, always disable ActiveX content running in your Internet options.Lastly, avoid downloading, executing software or mail attachment that you are uncertain.As a rule of thumb, do not even consider opening an attachment unless the file is from someone you know and the message makes meaningful references to the file.Okay, say you have accidentally downloaded an executable file into your computer and you are pondering if you should run it because a reliable colleague has sent it to you. But you notice that the file has a weird file name such as meetingsxpzss.jpg.exe. But you are told that it is crucial that you read it now.One thing you can do at this point in time is to scan the file for any virus infection before you attempt to open it. If the scan shows nothing, it-s probably a safe file. But then again, it may be a new virus yet to be updated in your virus scan. You can either wait and apply the next virus signature update and perform a second scan or risk it all, cross your fingers and open the file.If you ever decide to do this, you can take an extra step to protect your organization by disconnecting from your network during the process. If you suspect you have been infected, try to remove the spyware of virus immediately before they propagate to harm your entire system or network.Always make it a point to update latest operating system of software patches to shield against any security issues.Disk MaintenanceDid anyone tell you that your hard disk is a pretty tricky machine? When you first installed your operating system, you may be pleased to know how smooth and efficient your software applications are running. But gradually, it slows down and this bothers you. What truly causes the dip in performance? You may argue that your disk is just a couple of months old. This has much to do with the way you operate on your system.Try to imagine a big tool bucket filled with gadgets. Initially, the bucket only contains a few spanners, a hammer and some screws. So every time you search for a particular item, it is relatively easy to find. But soon as you keep pilling the bucket with all sorts of items and especially when the amount of items grows, you-ll discover that you may need more time just to search for a particular screw head. In such cases, uninstall any unnecessary software and defragment your disk. Typically, your system performance will dip when the amount of data in your hard disk starts to grow.Next, would you be surprised if I were to tell you that 30% of your data in your computer may be junk files? Temporary files are stocked up in your computer each time you browse the internet or perform an installation. Most programs clear these files away after it exits but unfortunately, software that are poorly written do not. Thankfully, Microsoft Windows comes with a couple of useful utilities which helps to solve some of these problems.The disk defragmenter packs your data neatly to facilitate quick accessibility. Disk Cleanup does the job of scanning and removing all redundant temporary files. Unnecessary startup files could also be cleaned up.And to cope with physical error such as bad sectors, ScanDisk helps to repair and recover any data lost due to mild data corruption.Your could also fix minor system file corruption or repair the corrupted system files essential for the system operation. If you suspect the installed software is giving you problems, try to repair the software corruption.So now you see that there is more to just picking and plunging a speedy hard disk drive into your computer. Healthy and regular disk maintenance practice can greatly benefit your system and data.for more information, you may visit us at Adroit Data Recovery Centre http://www.adrc.net/
About Author
Adroit Data Recovery Centre (ADRC) Pte Ltd is the data recovery expert established since 1998. Headquartered in Singapore and Malaysia, we recover data for customers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam. http://www.adrc.net/Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com

Mac Computers are Gorgeous

Author: Monica Craft
24th June 2006 ,No doubt. Since they retain the hardware specs, and therefore, a lock on the hardware on which Jaguar will run, they've done a great job at making said hardware sleek, modern, and fancy. They've done a lot of work to make the computer look like a futuristic device.

24th June 2006 ,No doubt. Since they retain the hardware specs, and therefore, a lock on the hardware on which Jaguar will run, they-ve done a great job at making said hardware sleek, modern, and fancy. They-ve done a lot of work to make the computer look like a futuristic device. My Mac Book under load runs up to 95 degrees Celsius, or 203 degrees Fahrenheit. It isn’t rocket science to understand that is extremely hot, easily hot enough to inflict a wound. Launching System Preferences, I immediately found that configuring the system was a breeze. The Mac jumped right online, and making the desktop look like I wanted was more than intuitive. Setting up Mac Mail was also a breeze. Since my web mail account is POP3 enabled, I hopped on and pulled down my mail without a hitch. Mac Mail is actually a nice program - not so much better than the equivalents in other worlds (Outlook Express, Mozilla Mail, Evolution, K Mail), but certainly an attractive and matching app. The new announced Mac: it was PowerMac G4 with dual 1.25 GHz processors, a 120 GB IDE hard drive, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, a "super drive," which can record DVDs, a 64 MB video card, gigabit Ethernet, a 17" flat panel studio display, and a fresh copy of Jaguar, Mac OS X 10.2. Here everything is packed perfectly; Setting up the Mac is easy. There are various Mac parts follow: eMac: Adapter, DVI to ADC Video Adapter, DVI-I to ADC Video, V2 Adapter, DVI-to-VGA Adapter, Power, AirPort Base Station, 220v, Euro (International Only) Adapter, Power, AirPort Base Station, 240v, Aust (International Only) AirPort, Card Guide APPLE KEYBOARD, REQUIRES MACOSX 10.2+-KOR APPLE KEYBOARD, REQUIRES MACOSX 10.2+-TWN iMac (Flat Panel): Antenna Cable, Microphone Cap, Vent, Upper Base DSPLY,15 XGA,LG Cover, Open Top, Faraday Cage Inverter iMac (17-inch Flat Panel) Antenna, Wireless Battery, Lithium, 3.6V iMac (17-inch Flat Panel, 1GHz) iMac (Early 2001) eMac (USB 2.0) If you are thinking of buying Mac or Mac Part than i can suggest you a site who can be great benifitted to you " DVWARE!" Yes dvwarehouse Go to http://www.dvwarehouse.com they are a leading independent reseller of quality new, used, and refurbished Macintosh computers, parts, and accessories. Thee have one of the most extensive inventory of Digital Video products, Mac Computers & Parts and Pro Audio & Video Equipment, all available at warehouse prices, all of them almost always ready for rapid delivery to you They offer the industry-s highest-quality products, more than 20,000 items are available for shipment every business day through our online store, at their lowest possible prices.

USB Flash Memory

Putting a World of Data in the Palm of Your Hand. Until recently we had to depend on bulky floppies, zip disks and CDs to store all our digital data - not a great fit in our increasingly mobile lifestyle. However, with the emergence of the incredibly compact USB flash drive, you can now fit a world of data in the palm of your hand. USB flash drives are small, plastic devices that connect to your computer via a USB port with the capacity to write and copy data from an internal flash memory chip. They are similar in function to your computer's hard drive, but provide you with the freedom of portability. Another key advantage of a USB flash drive is that they can maintain data for as many as ten years, far greater than the lifespan of most hard drives. Attach one of these tiny devices to your key ring, put it in your pocket and take a world of information with you wherever you go. To use this revolutionary device, simply insert the USB flash drive into an available USB port and drag files to and from the drive. Your computer will recognize your USB flash drive as an external drive, and allow you to drag and drop data from the USB flash drive window. The only difference among USB flash drives is storage capacity, transfer speed (determined by the type of USB Connectivity - USB 1.1 or USB 2.0) and appearance such as size, shape and color. If you prefer a drive that is more functional, you can get an MP3 flash drive player that not only stores data but can also allocate space to hold and play your favorite tunes.The Industry's Most Complete Selection of USB Flash DrivesWith the industry's most complete selection of brand name products, we're your one-stop shop for USB flash drives. Our huge inventory includes thousands of drives in all standard memory configurations from such outstanding manufacturers as Crucial, PNY, Kanguru, Lexar, Corsair, A-DATA, Kingston, Ultra, K-Byte, Viking, Memorex, SanDisk and Buslink. Whether you're looking for a simple storage device, a multi-functional drive that includes an MP3 player and other entertainment features, or a security drive that offers special security features to prevent data loss or theft, we have the USB flash product you need. If you're looking for fast, reliable and extraordinarily portable data storage, you'll find it right here on this site.