As Published In March/April 2012

UPFRONT: Mash Up

Mash Up

News • Views • Trends • Tools

Job Hunting Apps

Indeed Jobs
Search millions of vacancies on company Websites, recruiting agencies, and job boards in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, India, South Africa, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, and Australia. Free (Android, iPhone).

“If what seems to come so naturally to a select few can be learned by the rest of us, then perhaps we can draft a universal blueprint for success. And one that works in the rapidly evolving marketplace.” — James Marshall Reilly, author of Shake the World (Portfolio/Penguin, 2011)

Pocket Resume
Need a résumé on the spot? Pocket Resume lets you fill in forms and connect to your LinkedIn profile to first generate a good-looking PDF résumé and then e-mail it or upload it to Dropbox. US$2.99 (Android, iPhone, BlackBerry).

Craigslist
Several apps let you search listings and notify you when jobs are posted on Craigslist. CraigslistPro+ (free, iPhone; escargotstudios.com), Craigslist Notification (free, Android; bit.ly/zzeiHY), and Craigslist Mobile (US$4.99, BlackBerry; movela.com)

What Color Is Your Parachute? Job Interview Tool
Based on the classic book by Richard N. Bolles, this app gives advice to prepare for, conduct, and follow up after an interview. Includes links to job-hunting sites and a 40-minute audio book. Free (iPhone).

Smart Cookie

Looking for a tasty way to share information with customers or friends? Send them Qkies—actual edible cookies with a QR code on top. When recipients scan the Qkie with their smartphones, they are whisked to a Website where an invitation or offer awaits. (Then they can eat the invitation.) One package of Qkies, a cooperative project of German food company Juchem Gruppe and DFKI, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, comes with cookie mix and 20 QR codes on edible paper; you bake the cookies and then set up the redirect on the Qkies Website. €6.90. qkies.de 

Wireless Ride

You can get online in 84 percent of major Asian subways compared with 67 percent in the Middle East, 56 percent in the European Union, 41 percent in the U.S. and Canada, and 25 percent in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Source: New Cities Foundation

Most Passwords Fall Short

A survey of 1,000 adults in the U.S. found a variety of shortcomings in the passwords these adults used online. (A strong password, for this survey, was at least eight characters long and combined upper- and lower-case letters, a numeral, and a special character.)

Don’t Use Strong Password —75%
Personal Reference —32%
Insecure Storage —29%
Seven or Fewer Characters —29%
Same Password —19%

Source: Consumer Reports

PIN-Secured Flash Data

If you’re storing data on a USB flash drive, you need to secure it. Many USB flash drives implement data protection using biometrics, cryptography, and onboard software. Aegis Secure Key from Apricorn is a new flash drive that achieves security and simplicity. It unlocks with an onboard PIN pad and is compatible with any operating system that supports USB. It uses military-grade 256-bit AES CBC hardware encryption, and you’ll need to enter a 7-to-15-digit PIN to unlock it. You have 10 tries to enter the right unlock PIN before the data on the drive self-destructs. A wear-resistant keypad hides key usage to avoid tipping off a potential hacker to frequently used keys. 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB models are available. US$65-US$125. apricorn.com