India

Anyone who has traveled to India knows about the massive amount of chaotic traffic on the streets. Crossing the road in Delhi is a terrifyingly heart-stopping adventure. Instead of motorcycles and cars, many people opt for the conveniences of a rickshaw. But, this being the 21st century, some inventors have come up with a version that’s a little more high tech than the old pedal-driven kind.

Considering how long they've had to do this, it's pretty freaking amazing...the Obama administration, at Change.gov, has just put up an online question asking and rating system that is, really, quite robust and useful.

In recent months articles in The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.com have postulated that outsourcing information technology work to India was losing appeal. They said that high employee turnover in Indian outsourcing companies and rapid growth had reduced work quality and upset Western customers. These same articles argued that salaries in India were rising so quickly that Eastern Europe, British Columbia, and even Oklahoma would soon become competitive with India.

When the attackers arrived on the shores of Mumbai last month, they had studied satellite images of the city, were carrying handheld GPS sets and were communicating with their handlers via the Internet and satellite phone.

Many of the Indian police they encountered did not even have walkie-talkies.

The Mumbai gunmen not only overwhelmed security forces with their weaponry and willingness to die, but also with their sophisticated use of technology, security experts said.

Yahoo on Wednesday began notifying employees who are among 1,500 to be laid off this year.

The struggling Internet company, which announced the 10 percent workforce reduction in October, notified a majority of those affected. The rest will find out by the end of the month, Yahoo says.

Yahoo plans on consolidating offices in North America and closing a handful of offices in northern Europe. It says it will hire aggressively in lower-cost locales such as Eastern Europe, India and Southeast Asia.

After years of being blamed for job losses in the Western world, Indian high-technology companies and outsourcing firms are going through a downturn of their own. The global slowdown is forcing them to reduce hiring, freeze salaries, postpone new investments and lay off thousands of software programmers and call center operators.

While some industry insiders insist the financial crisis will benefit companies here, as Western businesses seek to cut costs by moving jobs overseas, right now the sector is gripped with an unfamiliar sense of uncertainty.

Today I had a chance to catch up with Anne F. Kennedy of Beyond Ink, who’s going to be moderating a panel about global search marketing trends at SES Chicago. Anne’s been a search maven for ten plus years and serves on the Search Engine Strategies advisory board.
Also, for any last-minute attendees, SES Chicago provided me with a discount code to share that’s worth 20% off your registration fee:  20SEOPR

Today I had a chance to catch up with Anne F. Kennedy of Beyond Ink, who’s going to be moderating a panel about global search marketing trends at SES Chicago. Anne’s been a search maven for ten plus years and serves on the Search Engine Strategies advisory board.
Also, for any last-minute attendees, SES Chicago provided me with a discount code to share that’s worth 20% off your registration fee:  20SEOPR