Luring IT labour

The world is hungry – among many things – for IT skills. The high demand for IT skills is driven by governments and businesses all over the world.

However, those in developed countries have been better able to attract the best minds in the industry with offers of more attractive remuneration, broader opportunities and better living standards.

The 'brain drain' from countries such as Sri Lanka has been a conspicuous reality for many years – especially since the early eighties when political instability and lack of equal opportunity have prompted many Sri Lankans to leave the country. Perhaps one does not have to travel overseas to notice highly skilled Sri Lankans that our country has lost - and are loosing – in large numbers. A browse through any of the social networking sites will confirm this and the scale in which it is happening.

The IT industry in Sri Lanka has the potential to become a major contributor to the economic as well as and social development. This can only be achieved through government policy that encourages investment, innovation and infrastructure development and a constructive partnership between the IT industry and higher education institutions. IT provides tools to improve productivity in government and business.

The world labour market will continue to lure skilled IT labour – the lifeblood of budding economies – rapidly into the foreseeable future. Retaining these highly productive skilled individuals should be a priority of the government which is tying up more and more of its productive labour force in the military - which saps the GDP instead of contributing to it.

Neighbouring India has led the way by restructuring and broadening higher education options and encouraging investment in its IT industry which is now serving the bulk of the worlds IT needs. Other countries in the region – especially Sri Lanka could do well to follow – albeit by leveraging our own unique strengths. Mail in your comments to technopage@gmail.com.

The Goss…

Microsoft announced that the company has reached a deal to provide Web search services to users of Facebook. Under the agreement, Microsoft will provide Facebook with an application programming interface (API) that will add Windows Live Search directly into the Facebook environment.

Facebook users' Web queries will produce search results and paid search ads generated by Microsoft's search engine. Financial details of the arrangement were not released. The service is expected to be launched in a few months. Microsoft needs to find new ways to grow its search business in the wake of its failed attempt to acquire Yahoo – the No. 2 provider of paid search services behind Google.

Known for making the slickest (ultra expensive) ultra-portables on the market, Sony may be changing tact and going ultra-cheap. Rumoured to be using components built by Foxconn, a report in the Twainese Economic Daily News speculates Sony are well on their way towards mass production of a netbook device. And so is Apple, but don't get too excited, it's probably not going to qualify as ultra cheap. Looks like it's cool to be cheap again.

Details of the new PSP 3000 include a thinner, smaller body with an imbedded microphone; perfect for skyping. But seriously - they're going to relaunch the PSP with just an extra microphone? Well, not exactly. Rumour has it that there will be a GPS add-on for the PSP next year and even cooler, the release of GPS enabled games. Well, any ideas why you'd actually need GPS functionality in a game?

It's definitely not a sports car, but considering the specs of the rumoured Nvidia GTX 350 it seems like we are in for a great ride - in a good way. The rumoured specs include (among others): GT300 core, 55nm technology, 512bit and DDR5 2GB memory, doubling the GTX280 model. 'Some' dodgy analysts have even claimed that the release of this delightful piece of hardware could result in a steep fall in demand for girlfriends!!!

Improve your computer literacy

Google Dance

In search engine optimization (SEO), Google Dance is an out–dated slang term used to describe the period of time in which Google used to rebuild its rankings, and as a result of this rebuilding, rankings of Web sites on Google's SERP may fluctuate in order during a several day period.

The "Google Dance" would happen anywhere up to 36 times per year; however in 2003 Google began updating its index on a weekly basis, which all but eliminated the Google Dance.