Tech

Skills on the Up

Anyone with these skills is likely to be employed for at least five more years. So if you can pick few of these IT career skills your career is safe for few more years.
1. J2EE
2. .Net
3. C#
4. Project Management
5. Oracle
6. SAP
7. Business Analysis
8. VB.net
9. NT Novell
10. Java

U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams has now spent more time in space than any other woman, setting the record on Sunday as she and a crew mate upgraded the international space station's cooling system. Williams broke the previous female spacewalking record of more than 21 hours when she and Michael Lopez-Alegria completed the second of what could be a precedent-setting three spacewalks in nine days. The new record is 22 hours and 27 minutes. During the spacewalk, which lasted more than seven hours, small amounts of toxic ammonia leaked from a fluid line.

Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today. Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded think tank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

Bill Gates cited Saudi Arabia as an example Saturday of why he believes limiting the rights of women can hinder economic growth. During a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft Corp. described speaking to a segregated audience at a recent business seminar in Saudi Arabia.

If you don't have a handyman in your family and don't have a clue where to begin when it comes to assembling a proper home-repair tool kit, there's good news: For $200, you can buy 90% of all the tools you'll ever need to repair and maintain your home. Good tools purchased early in life can be a smart investment, says David Tenenbaum, author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Home Repair and Maintenance." "You can spend a little money on a tool or two with each job," he says. "That way, you gather the tools you'll need slowly and less painfully."

Google’s style is usually to pay huge dollops for the startups it finds interesting. In India, though, it has chosen to take an indirect route. The Mountain View, California-based search engine giant is contributing an undisclosed amount to Seedfund, a $10-million to $15-million fund that had its first closing in November 2006, according to sources.  Both Google and Seedfund declined to confirm the investment. “I am not in a position to comment at this point,” said Samir Sood, Google’s man in India who looks after investments.