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Tag: hirings

  • Arne Josefsberg Joins GoDaddy As Its CIO

    Arne Josefsberg Joins GoDaddy As Its CIO

    In September, GoDaddy rebranded itself as a company dedicated to small businesses with a series of ads starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Now the company is hiring a new executive as it continues to make headway into the small enterprise sector.

    GoDaddy announced this morning that it has hired Microsoft veteran Arne Josefsberg as its new Executive Vice President, Chief Infrastructure Officer and Chief Information Officer. As his titles imply, Josefsberg will be in charge of overseeing GoDaddy’s “global cloud infrastructure and information systems.”

    “GoDaddy’s mission to help small business globally is inspirational, and offers a unique opportunity to build a massively scalable infrastructure that serves our 12 million – and growing – customers,” said Josefsberg. “GoDaddy has the size and scale that allows us to reach a previously under-served customer base, and necessitates a global infrastructure that allows us to serve them seamlessly.”

    Before coming to GoDaddy, Josefsberg worked for Microsoft managing the company’s global infrastructure. He then became CTO at ServiceNow where “he led technology advances and drove expansion of the company’s cloud computing strategy.” He’ll now be taking all the experience he gained at Microsoft and ServiceNow to help develop and expand GoDaddy’s own offerings.

    “As GoDaddy expands our global reach and product portfolio, a world-class and scalable technology infrastructure is critical to our success,” said GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving. “As a passionate technology executive, Arne brings a long history of creating technology that makes a difference in people’s lives – and that’s exactly what we are doing here at GoDaddy.”

    GoDaddy says this latest hire will help the company achieve its goal of expanding into 60 markets and offering products and services in 30 languages by 2015.

    Image via SiliconAngle/YouTube

  • GameStop Prepares For PS4 And Xbox One Launches With Hiring Spree

    Does it sound like a dream come true to work at GameStop? If so, the impending launch of the Xbox One and PS4 may have just given you the excuse you need to join their team.

    GameStop announced today that it plans to hire 17,000 seasonal workers this holiday season in preparation for the Xbox and PS4 launches. Next gen consoles aren’t the only reason GameStop is hiring, however, as it also needs some extra help to deal with what it expects will be a busy holiday season.

    “Providing our customers a great experience is of paramount importance when it comes to defining who GameStop is as a retailer and delivering the total value we offer our customers,” said Mike Buskey, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at GameStop. “The holiday season is our busiest time of the year, accounting for approximately 40% of our annual revenue. As we near the 2013 holiday season, and the upcoming launches of the PS4 and Xbox One consoles, it is critical that we attract and retain high quality-talent both in our stores as well as in our consumer electronics refurbishment and distribution centers.”

    As you can see above, GameStop is not only hiring employees for its retail locations. In fact, it would be impossible to cram 17,000 new employees into its shrinking number of retail locations. Most of the new hires will instead be assigned to GameStop’s refurbishment operation center or one of its two distribution warehouses. For the former, GameStop is looking for technicians to help refurbish used consoles that can then be resold at its retail locations. For the latter, they’re looking for warehouse workers to help ship out all the orders GameStop’s online presence will undoubtedly receive this holiday season.

    So, is there any benefit to working with GameStop? Like with most retail locations, the main benefit comes in the form of discounts – a 15 percent discount to be exact. Those who work as Game Advisors at GameStop’s retail locations also have the ability to “rent” new games and take them home for a few days.

    While GameStop may say that it’s only hiring seasonal employees, there’s always the chance that it could turn into a career for some of the new hires. It does happen, but you just have to be hardworking and, more often than not, a little lucky.

    To find out more about GameStop’s hiring spree, check out its careers Web site for a list of all open positions.

    [Image: Business Wire]

  • T-Mobile Appoints John Legere as New CEO

    T-Mobile Appoints John Legere as New CEO

    Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile USA, announced today that John Legere has been appointed CEO of T-Mobile.

    “John is a talented and proven executive who brings a successful track record of leading and operating consumer- and business-focused telecommunications and technology companies,” said René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. “As T-Mobile moves forward with its strategic initiatives to improve its market position, including expanding its network coverage and initiating LTE service, John has obviously the right skillset to lead the business into the future.”

    Legere is a former CEO of Global Crossing, a former worldwide networking services telecom company. He has also in the past served as CEO of Asia Global Crossing, and senior vice president of EMEA and Asia-Pacific operations at Dell.

    “I am thrilled to join T-Mobile and lead the Company at such a pivotal time,” said Legere. “T-Mobile is taking a number of significant steps to revitalize the business and I look forward to leading our team and partners to accelerate these efforts to become a force in our industry.”

    Both T-Mobile and Sprint are positioning themselves as low-cost alternatives to Verizon and AT&T. Both T-Mobile and Sprint now offer unlimited data plans, in contrast to the more expensive “shared” plans that AT&T and Verizon rolled out this year. Also, T-Mobile has just begun trying to convince Apple fans to buy T-Mobile is in the process of implementing its 4G LTE data network. It will be that last of the major U.S. carriers to have 4G LTE.

  • Facebook Taps Former UI Design Manager At Apple

    Facebook made a few new hires this week, including a new production engineer and a new sales representative – but the most noteworthy of the new acquisitions is a former Apple employee.

    Chris Weeldreyer, who served as UI Design Manager at Apple, Inc. for just over eight years, has come on board the Facebook team.

    Weeldreyer will serve as a Product Design Manager in Menlo Park.

    He updated his Facebook Timeline on June 18th to signify his new positon, and was immediately asked if that meant he’ll be spending more time on Facebook.

    “Yeah, probably,” he replied.

    Brittany Darwell at Inside Facebook points out that Facebook probably recruited Weeldreyer since there’s no record of Facebook ever having a public listing for that particular job.

  • George Hotz, Facebook’s New Hacker

    George Hotz, Facebook’s New Hacker

    George Hotz, famed iPhone hacker and target of Sony’s lawsuit machine, has apparently gotten a new job working for Facebook.

    The news first started as rumor reported on by TechUnwrapped but eventually was confirmed by Facebook to multiple sources. Facebook hasn’t yet specified what Hotz will be doing for the company, only stated that he is now on the payroll.

    The 21-year-old is also known as Geohot and gained fame back in 2007 when he unlocked the iPhone, allowing it to run on any network. He eventually traded the hacked gadget for a Nissan 350Z.

    More recently, he just ended a long battle with Sony over his hacking of the PS3. After successfully jailbreaking the console, he disseminated his methods online. Sony threw a fit and eventually won a restraining order against Hotz. He was barred from further distribution of his techniques on the web and was also forced to surrender his computers to Sony. This made some people a little bit angry.

    Anonymous launched OpSony party becuase of how Sony treated “fellow hacker GeoHot.” They released a statement accusing Sony of “abusing the judicial system in an attempt to censor information.”

    A few months after the restraining order, Hotz and Sony quietly settled the matter and released a joint statement that failed to go into much detail. Hotz then said he was “happy to have the litigation” behind him.

    Here’s some of the Twitter response, and boy is there a lot –

    @AzHP
    Sean Lee    I really don’t understand all the Geohot hate. What did he do wrong? I’m sure he’s laughing his way to the bank at any rate. 15 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @lindsayrenwick
    Lindsay Renwick    Facebook hired George Hotz – trying to keep the pirates at bay? http://ow.ly/5rYyX 5 hours ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    @abeckwith
    abeckwith    Wow, talk about keeping your enemies close! Facebook hires infamous hacker: http://lat.ms/jFzt1B via @mediabistro 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @BrianPShea
    Brian Shea    GeoHot, the guy that kickstarted the Playstation 3 hacking frenzy, was recently hired by Facebook. Let that be a lesson to you all. 17 minutes ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

    I guess the big question is why? For Facebook, were they simply impressed by his talents and grabbed him to fill their team with the best people around? As many have suggested, is it a keeps your enemies closer type of thing? Maybe they hired the hacker to help tighten up their own security?

    One speculation is that he may have been brought on to aid in developing Project Spartan, an HTML platform that would take on Apple’s App Store. Others say that its possible that Hotz will be working on the new Facebook app for the iPad.

    Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Facebook has chosen to embrace the hacking culture. Years ago they hired Chris Putnam, another hacker that created a way to face Facebook resemble MySpace. After tracking it to him, they offered him a job. Hey, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, right?

  • Apple Hires THX’s Tomlinson Holman?

    Apple Hires THX’s Tomlinson Holman?

    In well-that-probably-means-something news, Apple has apparently grabbed famed audio engineer and inventor Tomlinson Holman to head audio at the company.

    “Tech Pundit” Leo Laporte tweeted this earlier today:

    @leolaporte
    Leo Laporte    I have it on good authority that Tomlinson Holman (of THX fame) is joining Apple to run audio. Major upgrade. 6 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    Holman is well known as the man behind Lucasfilm’s THX sound system.  A pioneer is audio technology, he developed the world’s first 10.2 surround sound system.  Holman spent 15 years working at Lucasfilm as the corporate technical director and currently teaches film sound at the University of Southern California.  He even won an Oscar for technical achievement in 2002.

    Now, if this is indeed true, it indicates that Apple is serious about upgrading the sound capabilities on their devices. iPhones could definitely stand to get an audio makeover, and don’t even get me started on the built-in speakers on the macbook.

    Most owners know that the sound from iOS mobile devices is less than stellar. But many have complained the the iPad doesn’t contain enough oomph from its internal speakers either. Improved audio quality from these devices could force a pessimist like me to actually want to watch television or a film on them.

    And maybe turn the sound on during Angry Birds. Well, actually no. Nothing could make we want to do that.

    It has also been reported that Apple has been in the process of trying to improve the quality of files in their iTunes store.  So this acquisition could have something to do with that.

    Just yesterday, iMac desktop got a refresh with a bunch of new goodies like quad-core processors and HD FaceTime cameras.

    Hat tip to GigaOm

  • “YouTube Instant” Creator May Soon Be Working for Google

    Update: Peter Kafka at All Things Digital reports that Feross is already working as an intern at Facebook. That’s interesting, considering the growing competition between these two companies.

    Original Article: Google Instant created a lot of buzz this past week, both negative and positive. It also created some inspiration. Feross Aboutkhadijeh, a computer science student at Stanford, created his own little "YouTube Instant", and attracted a lot of attention because of it. 
     

    He just so happened to catch Google’s attention, and YouTube CEO Chad Hurley has offered him a job via Twitter (hat tip to Ben Parr at Mashable). 
     
    Hurley tweeted, "Hey @FreeTheFeross! Loving YouTube Instant…want a job? ;)"
     
    Feross responded, "Hey @Chad_Hurley. Glad you liked YouTube Instant! Is that a for-real job offer ;)"
     
    Despite all the winking, it looks like it may have been a real offer. Hurley then responded, "@FreeTheFeross Are you read to leave school? 🙂 I’ll send you a DM.
     
    It will be interesting to see what materializes from this. Google could no doubt implement Google Instant functionality in YouTube search results without much problem, but YouTube Instant (at least the current incarnation actually plays videos instantly based on what you type.

    YouTube Instant

    Michael Hart, another developer, has created "Google Maps Instant" and is not shy about letting Google know he wants a job too (hat tip to Alexia Tsotsis on that one).

  • AOL Canada Gets New General Manager

    AOL Canada Gets New General Manager

    AOL has named Graham Moysey its General Manager for AOL Canada. In the past, he has served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media at Canwest Global Communications, Canada’s largest integrated media company. There, he was responsible for all revenue, product and digital strategies.

    At AOL, he will work with the Global Senior Executives and the Canadian leadership team to oversee the development and execution of the business strategy around AOL’s core objectives of content, advertising and local. He will report to Jeff Levick, President of AOL Global Advertising and Strategy, and will be based in AOL’s Toronto office.

    Graham Moysey"I am excited to join AOL and lead AOL Canada in continuing to deliver on the company’s mission to provide original, quality content to consumers," said Moysey. "At this time of rapid growth in the online content industry, we want to make sure we align to the US strategy while focusing on the wants and needs of our local Canadian audience and advertisers alike. I look forward to executing on these goals and representing the hard-working AOL Canada team on the Global Management Council."

    Moysey has also held a gig at Bell Canada, playing a role in the building the Sympatico and MSN strategic alliance. He also currently sits on the Board of the Canadian branch of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

    AOL Canada sites reach about 8.9 million unique visitors by comScore’s numbers.