Firebrand reveals winner of Free Training for Life

By Sarah Morgan


Our second Free Training for Life competition blazed across the world with over 15,000 entries from 24 countries. The prize: unlimited free access to our entire portfolio of training courses, for life.

And now the wait is finally over.

Who succeeded in claiming the ultimate prize of unlimited free training – who has become the ultimate cert-collector?

Meet the winner

Firebrand is delighted to announce that Mr Mario Henkel is this year’s winner of Free Training For Life.

Mario Henkel (left) receiving his Free Training for Life Ticket from
Paul Dillenburg, General Manager for Firebrand Training
Germany-Austria-Switzerland

The newly crowned winner, Mario, is an IT administrator based in Frankfurt at ponturo consulting AG. This is how he felt when he first heard of his win:

“This is incredible, I can’t believe I won Free Training for Life! I am still processing the opportunities this prize can create for me in my future career. I’ve already decided to take the Certified Ethical Hacking course first. Working as an IT administrator responsible for systems security, the knowledge I will gain from this certification will be invaluable in protecting my companies assets. I cannot wait to get started.”

Unlimited training you say?

Starting today, Mario Henkel will receive access to a lifetime’s worth of free training courses and exams from Firebrand. He’ll be able to choose from 200+ IT, security and project management courses.

Mario has already decided to take EC-Councils Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) course as his first choice of certification. He’ll learn to think like a hacker and apply this to fend off attacks on his organisations network and systems.

Plus, Mario’s prize means he won’t have to pay for any training fees, exam fees, course books, food and accommodation. Not to mention, Mario can also undertake his training in any of Firebrand’s training centres across Europe.

Mario now joins previous winner, Joseph Guthrie, as the two winners of Firebrand’s life-changing and career augmenting competition. Truly, this is one exclusive club. To hear Mario talking about his prize you can head to the FTFL page and watch his winners video.

We’d like to thank all of the 15,000 entrants to our second Free Training For Life competition.

About the Author:        
Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry. 

France Digital Spending accounts for 19% of total media spends

1. Digital Spending in France grew by 22% from US$2.49 billion  in 2011  to US$ 4.4 billion  by the end of 2013. This accounts  for 19% of total advertising  across media.
   
   
2. During 2009-2013, online advertising in the country has increased at a CAGR of 9.3%. This growth is expected to continue in 2014 with brands expected to spend US$4.8 billion, representing an increase of 8.5% over 2013.
   
   
3. In France  online advertising is led by  Display advertising growth (+3%) video advertising which saw  exploding growth of the online video ad format (+34% representing €68 million in H1 2013, or 18% of the Display market). 
   
   
4. The rise of the RTB buying model (+121% representing €57 million in H1 2013, or 15% of the Display market.
   
   
5. French Companies spends a larger part of its  digital budget over the next three years on customer service (19% versus global average of 16%). French companies also spend the highest percentage of their functional digital budget on R&D – (21%), a figure it shares with the much-bigger Australia.

Privacy-focused Tails 1.1.2 Operating System Released

Tails, a Linux-based highly secure Operating System specially designed and optimized to preserve users' anonymity and privacy, has launched its new release, Tails version 1.1.2.
Tails, also known as 'Amnesiac Incognito Live System', is a free security-focused Debian-based Linux distribution, which has a suite of applications that can be installed on a USB stick, an SD card or a DVD. It keeps

The Google Story Turns 16 Today :

1. Google turned  sixteen  today  ( 27th September )it celebrates 16 years of " being the search giant that continues maintain 82% search engine share apart from having snatched the Mobile OS market by it Android Platform that currently has more than 50% of global share.Google registered their domain name today
2. Google began in March 1998 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Ph.D. students at Stanford University.Google was born when during their dissertation theme as  Larry Page and Sergie brin started exploring  the mathematical properties of the World Wide Web, understanding its link structure as a huge graph.In his research project, nicknamed "BackRub",
3. Together while working for their project they discovered that each page from a web site a a back link of another link. And these links are one of the foundations on which a web page is considered how valuable these pages are. They convert the backlink data that it gathered for a given web page into a measure of importance, Brin and Page developed the PageRank algorithm.
4. The first patent filed under the name "Google Inc." was filed on August 31, 1999. Today Google is worth $16billion  and  has almost a monopoly in the US market with 100billion searches monthy . The company has moved beyond the search engine and has become one of the most innovative companies in the world, inventing Android phones, Google Glass, and driverless cars. The rest as they say is History.

The Fappening 3 — Jennifer Lawrence New Nude Photos Leaked Online

It seems like there is no end of “nude celebrity photo leaks”. As part of the Fappening 3 hack, some new naked photos of Jennifer Lawrence have apparently been leaked online in the “third round” of nude celebrity photo leaks including, top model Cara Delevingne, actress Anna Kendrick.



On Friday, new celebrity nude photos were leaked online, labelled as ‘The Fappening 3’ by subreddits and

Apple — Most Mac OS X Users Not Vulnerable to 'Shellshock' Bash Bug

On one hand where more than half of the Internet is considering the Bash vulnerability to be severe, Apple says the vast majority of Mac computer users are not at risk from the recently discovered vulnerability in the Bash command-line interpreter – aka the "Shellshock" bug that could allow hackers to take over an operating system completely.



Apple has issued a public statement in response

Hackers Using 'Shellshock' Bash Vulnerability to Launch Botnet Attacks

Researchers on Thursday discovered a critical remotely exploitable vulnerability in the widely used command-line shell GNU Bourne Again Shell (Bash), dubbed "Shellshock" which affects most of the Linux distributions and servers worldwide, and may already have been exploited in the wild to take over Web servers as part of a botnet that is currently trying to infect other servers as well.

FBI Not Happy With Apple & Google's Encryption Policy

Users might have praised the technology companies for efforts to encrypt their latest devices that would prevent law enforcement agencies’ hands on users’ private data, but the FBI is not at all happy with Apple and Google right now.



The Federal Bureau of Investigation director, James Comey, said Thursday he was "very concerned" over Apple and Google using stronger or full encryption in

E is for Expert – which MCSE is made for you?

By Sarah Morgan


The Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification was the crown jewel of Microsoft’s certification portfolio for two decades, most notably during the Windows Server 2003 and XP era. Then came the rise of Microsoft Certified ITProfessional (MCITP). Although the replacement series of certs was popular, the MCITP struggled to gain the traction of MCSE. The old MCSE was a known quantity, it had an industry recognised credibility that the MCITP could never quite match.

In 2012, Microsoft decided it was time to revive the MCSE. The flagship certification was reinvented with a different name - Microsoft Certified SolutionsExpert, which came with some fundamental changes:

• Microsoft introduced the need for recertification every two or three years 
• The legacy was MCSE focused purely on individual job roles, whereas the new Microsoft Certified Solution Expert (MCSE) certification focuses on the holders ability to design and build technology solutions. 

As it stands there are currently eight MCSE credentials available:

• MCSE: Server Infrastructure 
• MCSE: Desktop Infrastructure 
• MCSE: Private Cloud 
• MCSE: Data Platform 
• MCSE: Business Intelligence 
• MCSE: Messaging 
• MCSE: Communication 
• MCSE: SharePoint 

Do you want to know which one is made for your skills and needs? Read on to find out.

MCSE: Server Infrastructure

What you’ll learn: With the MCSE: Server Infrastructure certification you’ll be skilled to run an efficient and modern data centre. You’ll also be an expert in identity management, systems management, and storage planning, as well as designing and deploying a virtualised environment.

It’s also worth mentioning that this certification is currently the highest level credential you can achieve on Windows Server 2012.

Who’s it for: If you’re looking to work as a computer support specialist and information security analyst, the MCSE: Server Infrastructure is highly recommended for you, as it will significantly improve your employability prospects.

Prerequisites and upgrades: To earn an MCSE a relevant MCSA is required, in this case it is the MCSA: Windows Server 2012. However, you shouldn’t worry if you have an earlier certification like the MCSA: Windows Server 2008 or a relevant MCITP, because there are upgrades available for these certifications:

• MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008 
• MCITP: Enterprise Administrator on Windows Server 2008 
• MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2 
• MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010 
• MCITP: Lync Server Administrator 2010 
• MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010 
• MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7 

In order to upgrade, you’ll need to sit the following exams:

• Exam 70-417 - Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012  
• Exam 70-413 - Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure  
• Exam 70-414  - Implementing an Advanced Server Infrastructure 

MCSE: Desktop Infrastructure

What you’ll learn: The MCSE: Desktop Infrastructure credential proves that you know how to design, deploy, manage and maintain a Windows Server 2012 desktop infrastructure in a virtualised environment.

Who’s it for: Are you interested or already working as a desktop support manager or a data and applications manager? Then this is the cert you need.

Prerequisites and upgrades: If you already have the MCSA: Windows Server 2012 you are looking at a much faster process. You’ll ‘only’ need to pass two exams:

• Exam 70-415 - Implementing a Desktop Infrastructure 
• Exam 70-416 - Implementing Desktop Application Environments 

Of course there are upgrades available for this certification as well. Upgradeable certs include:

• MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7
• MCSA: Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Enterprise Administrator on Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2
• MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010
• MCITP: Lync Server Administrator 2010
• MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010

In order to upgrade from any of the above, you’ll need to pass the following three exams:

• Exam 70-417 - Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012 
• Exam 70-415 - Implementing a Desktop Infrastructure 
• Exam 70-416 - Implementing Desktop Application Environments 

MCSE: Private Cloud

What you’ll learn: The MCSE: Private Cloud certification proves your skills in managing and implementing Microsoft private cloud computing technologies. Combined with Windows Server and System Center, you’ll be able to build your Microsoft private cloud to provide flexibility for your IT infrastructure.

Who’s it for: As a MCSE: Private Cloud certified professional you’ll be qualified for jobs such as server administrator, systems programmer and network manager.

Prerequisites and upgrades: To earn your MCSE: Private Cloud, you’ll need to get the MCSA: Windows Server 2012 first. Or you can upgrade from these and take a shorter route:

• MCSA: Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Enterprise Administrator on Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2
• MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010
• MCITP: Lync Server Administrator 2010
• MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010
• MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7

Exams needed to upgrade:

• Exam 70-417 - Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012 
• Exam 70-246 - Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud with System Center 2012 
• Exam 70-247 - Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with System Center 2012

MCSE: Data Platform

What you’ll learn: This cert demonstrates your skills in building and administrating large scale data solutions both on-premises and in cloud environments.

Who’s it for: Database analysts and designers.

Prerequisites and upgrades: This certification requires the MCSA: SQL Server credential prior to attaining the full MCSE: Data Platform. Upgrades are available from MCITP: Database Developer 2008 and MCITP: Database Administrator 2008 via the following path:

• Exam 70-457 - Transition MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012, Part 1 
• Exam 70-458 - Transition MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012, Part 2 
• Exam 70-459 - Transition MCITP: Database Administrator 2008 or MCITP: Database Developer 2008 to MCSE: Data Platform 

MCSE: Business Intelligence

What you’ll learn: The MCSE: Business Intelligence cert will equip you with the skills and techniques needed to design, build and implement a Business Intelligence platform for SQL Server.

Who’s it for: This cert is ideal for professionals pursuing a reporting engineer career.

Prerequisites and upgrades: To earn your MCSE: Business Intelligence credential you’ll first need to get the MCSA: SQL Server certification. Or if you already have the MCITP: Business Intelligence 2008 you can upgrade by passing the following three exams:

• Exam 70-457 - Transition MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012, Part 1 
• Exam 70-458 - Transition MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012, Part 2 
• Exam 70-460 - Transition MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer 2008 to MCSE: Business Intelligence 

MCSE: Messaging

What you’ll learn: With this certification you’ll be able to help your peers to stay connected, access files anytime from anywhere and maintain general messaging security. Learn how to migrate your company to the cloud without trouble, increase productivity and flexibility and improve data security. You’ll also learn to reduce data loss, and improve data security for your organisation.

Who’s it for: The MCSE: Messaging certification is a must have if you’re looking for a position in network and computer systems administration.

Prerequisites and upgrades: To get the MCSE: Messaging cert, first you’ll need to have the MCSA: Windows Server 2012. Plus you can upgrade as well, if you have any of these:

• MCSA: Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2
• MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator on Exchange 2010
• MCITP: Lync Server Administrator 2010
• MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010
• MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7

MCSE: Communication

What you’ll learn: With the MCSE: Communication cert under your belt you’ll be an expert in creating a consistent, smooth communications experience within your organisation. You’ll know how to configure, manage and maintain Lync, and monitor the state and quality of communications in your network.

Who’s it for: Similarly to the MCSE: Messaging, the MCSE: Communication certification will also qualify you for a position in network and computer systems administration.

Prerequisites and upgrades: It probably won’t strike you as a surprise but the MCSA: Windows Server 2012 is the first certification you’ll have to obtain on the track to your MCSE: Communication cert. Upgrades are available from:

• MCSA: Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2
• MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010
• MCITP: Lync Server Administrator 2010
• MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010
• MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7

You’ll just have to pass these exams:

• Exam 70-417 - Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012 
• Exam 70-336 - Core Solutions of Microsoft Lync Server 2013 
• Exam 70-337 - Enterprise Voice & Online Services with Microsoft Lync Server 2013 

MCSE: SharePoint

What you’ll learn: The Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: SharePoint (MCSE) is a globally recognised standard for IT professionals. With it you’ll boost your expertise in helping your company organise, sync, collaborate and share information across the entire organisation.

Who’s it for: Professionals pursuing a career as a systems or network analyst.

Prerequisites and upgrades: Needless to say MCSA: Windows Server 2012 is a prerequisite and upgrades are available from:

• MCSA: Windows Server 2008
• MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2
• MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010
• MCITP: Lync Server Administrator 2010
• MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010
• MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7

You’ll just need to pass:

• Exam 70-417 - Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012 
• Exam 70-331 - Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 
• Exam 70-332 - Advanced Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013

Eight certifications, eight paths do go down. Some of them are similar; some of them are fundamentally different. Which one will you pursue?

About the Author:

Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry.

Forecasting Marketing Growth and Revenues For Starbucks

 The most three important indicators while forecasting market share and  revenues are

1) value of the company : sum of values of its division ( Starbucks owned + franchise owned +cash -debt )
2) Marco economic factors : a)global food /commodities price b)Consumer spends in that category
3)  Micro economic factors : No of  daily customers / share of wallet/ store opening

• The value of a company is the sum of the values of its divisions, plus cash, minus debt. Out of this the company operated stores( owned by Starbucks ) make 60% of its stock price. According to Tefris Food, Coffee Bean & Merchandise Spend per Customer Visit for Starbucks is set to increase annually at a rate of 1.5-2.0% With food-at-home inflation higher than food-away-inflation, a general 2-4% increase in the menu prices per year is essential to main profitability

• One of the indicators in this kind of a business is the consumer spending (  share of wallet  on Food and Beverages, which  has been almost flat in  2013. T hovering between $4.15 to $4.50. However spends on beverages declined  0.25% from 2009 to 2012. In the future the average spend per consumer  is set to declines as the newer outlets are being opened in areas with low purchasing power. The  Starbucks owned stores have been declining in the last 4-5 years and in 2013 store count was at  9,800, increasing 6% over the previous year. 

• The Number of Daily Customers per Store has witnessed a rapid growth in the last three years. In 2011, the number surged to 517.In 2012 it  rose to 563. In 2013, the average number of daily customers jumped 5% to 591, helped by the addition of baked products to the menu. According to estimates the number of Daily Customers per Store to grow at a more moderate rate of 4-5% annually.

Top 10 reasons you should be Lean Six Sigma certified

By Sarah Morgan


Lean Six Sigma is a management philosophy that has the ability to transform your organisation by enabling it to become more effective and efficient. Originally developed by Motorola in the 1980’s, Six Sigma soon became a world standard for quality implementation.

So how exactly does Lean Six Sigma achieve these lofty claims and by extension - why should you be Lean Six Sigma certified?

1. Lead your organisation to reduce errors and defects

Lean Six Sigma makes use of continuous improvement to reduce defects and errors across your entire organisation.

Achieve a Six Sigma qualification and you’ll enable your organisation to benefit from immediate functional improvements in production time and cost. The application of tools like kaizen (a method of constantly analysing process flow and how it’s applied) and poka yoke (mistake proofing) are proven to lead to faster-than-expected improvements.

In IT applications development, Six Sigma can reduce invoicing errors, reduce customer complaints and cut complaint resolution time, control IT spending and reduce schedule slippages.

You’ll stand out as a valuable asset to your organisation if you can apply Six Sigma effectively. With a fall in defects and errors, your organisation will save money – and you’ll be responsible.

Just like this small red man is doing
Image courtesy of freedigitalsphotos.net / jscreationzs

2. You’ll be able to apply it to almost any industry

We know it can be applied to manufacturing, and I recently mentioned IT applications development; but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Six Sigma is an industry independent methodology and has been applied successfully across:

• Manufacturing industries: Aerospace, Health equipment, Electronic Goods, Textiles
• Service industries: Telecom, Banking and Financial services , Health care, Hotels, IT, Airlines, Cargo Movement, HR, Marketing 

By getting Lean Six Sigma certified, you’ll be able to apply your hard-earned skills and knowledge across a huge number of industries, organisations and businesses. This provides you with a massive boost in employability because your new skills and knowledge will be applicable in almost any company.

Definitely Six Sigma certified
Image courtesy of freedigitalsphotos.net / Suat Eman

3. You’ll directly improve customer relations

Whilst Lean Six Sigma is primarily a means to increase efficiency, you’ll also be able to apply its practices to reduce the number of customer complaints.

The quality of services has a strong impact on customer satisfaction and by extension, customer loyalty. Customers will be less affected by defects in their products if the manufacturing process is improved and the number of these defects reduced.

When you apply Lean Six Sigma to customer relations it will likely result in reductions in complaint resolution time and a cut in the number of complaints.

So, becoming Lean Six Sigma certified won’t just allow you to improve efficiency and productivity – you’ll also be able to positively impact how your organisation is perceived.


4. Ensure industry and government compliance

Six Sigma aims to reduce manufacturing errors to a rate below 3.4 parts per million. A number of enterprise purchasers, amongst them government organisations and large corporations, actually now use this metric to review vendors.

Be part of the change. Lead or mastermind the Six Sigma strategies in your organisation to achieve or maintain profitable contracts.

5. Improve your organisation’s use of resources

Get Lean Six Sigma certified and you’ll be able to show your organisation and/or your employees how to utilize resources in a more efficient way. As a result, the cost of operations, materials and time will be reduced.

Apply Lean Six Sigma and fewer resources will be allocated to correction and more towards production. This means less defects in your services/products and more emphasis on providing sales.


6. Stand out from the crowd

Get the Six Sigma ball rolling in your organisation and you could experience tremendous professional development opportunities. Help your employer to adopt Six Sigma tools and training and you’ll stand out from the crowd as a proactive and determined individual.

Plus, Lean Six Sigma uses a set of quality management tools to provide a unique infrastructure of people within your organisation.

For example, Six Sigma Green belts are trained to generate business improvements in areas like: customer satisfaction, service delivery and cost control. Moreover, those qualified with the Six Sigma Black Belt are fluent in the practice and can deliver major performance and efficiency transformation in a business or organisation.


7. Command a bigger salary

Six Sigma is no push-over. It’s for determined professionals who are motivated to achieve more and receive validation for doing so.

Hiring professionals and executive managers know this and Six Sigma, as a result, commands respect and a comfortable salary. A Six Sigma Black Belt certified professional, for example, possess an average advertised salary of £45,000 a year according to ITjobsWatch.co.uk

8. You’ll be prepared for leadership roles

Once the Six Sigma Black Belt is obtained, a person is both educated in Six Sigma methodologies and prepared to become a change agent within their organisation. You’ll lead efforts to improve processes and the quality of services.

The Six Sigma Black belt can open doors to promotion in upper management and, as you might expect, improves your prospects of obtaining a job with a different employer.


9. Lift morale within your organisation

Lean Six Sigma has the potential to positively affect people by engaging them directly. Employees are the best resource to understand how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a business.

As a result, by participating in Lean Six Sigma projects, employees are able to build confidence by directly affecting the capability of your business.


10. A competitive advantage for your organisation

Possessing a Six Sigma qualification will enable you to effectively differentiate your organisation from your competitors. Distinguish yourself through Six Sigma and your marketing team will be thankful with this additional string to your companies bow.

On the other hand, delay and you may find your competitors gaining the upper hand when they decide to implement the Lean Six Sigma strategies for themselves. 

There you have it, 10 great reasons how both you and your organisation can benefit from getting Lean Six Sigma certified. Now you just have to get certified, right?

About the Author:       
Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry. 

How US Spends : Middle Class Consumer vs Affluent Consumer

 US Middle Class consumer spends vs the Affluent's Spends

US consumer Spends Down

Consumers spent more on housing and transportation but less on apparel and entertainment in 2013.Apparel and services saw a 7.6% drop in average annual spending  This drop is  spread across most apparel categories, and included an 8.3% decline for men and boys clothing and a 7.6% decline for women and girls clothing.

he second-biggest percentage decline in spend came for entertainment, down 4.7% year-over-year to an average per-unit spend of $2,482. By contrast, spending on healthcare (2.1%) and housing (1.5%) grew the fastest of the major components.

US Superich  Spends down

Some 67.5 million American adults lived in a household with annual income of at least $100,000 (“affluents”), a 5 million (or 8%) increase from last year, details Ipsos in its latest annual study of the affluent population. As such, 28% of the adult population can be classified as affluent, as can 23% of all US households. 

According to the Ipsos study, the average age of an affluent adult is 46.1, The wealthy (household income of at least $500,000), by comparison, skew older, with an average age of 50.5.

The super rich spends on the following 

• Automotive – including the purchase price of vehicles and motorcycles, as well as auto maintenance and supplies ($398 billion in aggregate spending; 20% of total spend);
• Personal insurance ($227B; 11% share);
• Home & garden ($208B; 10% share);
• Education expenses ($201B; 10% share); and
• Groceries ($193B; 9% share).

Number of Staples Retail Stores by Country

This statistic depicts the number of Staples retail locations in 2013, by country. In that year,Canada had 331 stores, Staples had 59 locations open in Germany. Staples is an American office supplies retailer with locations all around the world. With over 2,000 stores worldwide in 26 countries.  Staples is based in Framingham, Massachusetts United State

While most of the nations where Stapes in based is run under its own brand name, it has been  operating subsidiaries in Argentina as Officenet-Staples, Netherlands as Staples Office Centre, Canada as Staples Canada (Bureau en Gros in Quebec), and in Italy as Mondoffice. Staples also does business exclusively with enterprises in the United States and multiple European countries as Staples Advantage

 The company opened its first store in Brighton, Massachusetts on May 1, 198

B2b vs B2c ecommerce revenue :World vs China

According to eMarketer’s latest forecasts, worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce sales will increase by 20.1% this year to reach $1.500 trillion .Meanwhile a recent study shows that by 2016, global B2C e-commerce sales are expected to reach 1.92 trillion.Growth will come primarily from the rapidly expanding online and mobile web specially from emerging markets. 

The  revenue of the B2B e-commerce in China from 2007 to  2013. In 2007, the B2B e-commerce revenue in China amounted to 1.25 trillion yuan

US Companies with the largest solar Power Installations

According to the  list shows the US companies that consumes the highest solar power. Walmart  Costco and Kohl's are among the top 3 who  has the largest solar installation capacity. .consumes the most solar power and latest Transparency Market Research published new Apple's installed solar power capacity reached just under 41 megawatts. 

Remotely Exploitable 'Bash Shell' Vulnerability Affects Linux, Unix and Apple Mac OS X

A Critical remotely exploitable vulnerability has been discovered in the widely used Linux and Unix command-line shell, known as Bash, aka the GNU Bourne Again Shell, leaving countless websites, servers, PCs, OS X Macs, various home routers, and many more open to the cyber criminals.



Earlier today, Stephane Chazelas publicly disclosed the technical details of the remote code execution

jQuery Official Website Compromised To Serve Malware

The official website of the popular cross-platform JavaScript library jQuery (jquery.com) has been compromised and redirecting its visitors to a third-party website hosting the RIG exploit kit, in order to distribute information-stealing malware.



JQuery is a free and open source JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML. It is used to build AJAX applications

Kali Linux "NetHunter" — Turn Your Android Device into Hacking Weapons

The developers of one of the most advance open source operating system for penetration testing, 'KALI Linux' have announced yesterday the release of a new Kali project, known as NetHunter, that runs on a Google Nexus device.



Kali Linux is an open source Debian-based operating system for penetration testing and forensics, which is maintained and funded by Offensive Security, a provider of

TripAdvisor's Viator Hit by Massive Data Breach Affecting 1.4 Customers

TripAdvisor's Online travel booking and review website Viator has reportedly been hit by a massive data breach at its  that may have exposed payment card details and account credentials of its customers, affecting an estimated 1.4 million of its customers.



The San Francisco-based Viator, acquired by TripAdvisor – the world's largest travel site – for £122 million (US$ 200 million) back in

The Biggest Retailers in Unites States by dollar sales

source : Statista

This ranking depicts the leading 100 American retailers in 2013, based on U.S. retail sales.

 In that year, Wal-Mart was the leading American retailer based on U.S. retail sales of 

about 334.3 billion U.S. dollars. Wal-Mart was founded by Samuel Moore Walton

 (1918-1992) in 1962. Wal-Mart's headquarters is situated in Bentonville, Arkansas and 

operates worldwide under different names (Walmex in Mexico and Best Price in India).

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• Walmart Ranks No 1 as most browsed and shopped brand via mobile device
• Online Groceries Market in China growing at a scorching 70%, led by Yihaodian,

The Pirate Bay Runs on 21 "Raid-Proof" Virtual Machines To Avoids Detection

The Pirate Bay is the world's largest torrent tracker site which handles requests from millions of users everyday and is in the top 100 most visited websites on the Internet. Generally, The Pirate Bay is famous for potentially hosting illegal contents on its website.



Despite years of persecution, it continues to disobey copyright laws worldwide. Even both the founders of The Pirate Bay (

How much does consumers in UK spend on Mobile Shopping

According to the The above chart shows  increase in Mobile Commerce spends in UK, with a breakup of spends . In 2014 Q2, UK users who have spent approx 10  pounds via  mobile forms around 10 million of the UK population.

• Users who have spent up to 100 Pounds on mobile shopping  is  15 million  .This means that about 25 million   users  in United Kingdom  have spent from 1 to 100 pounds
  
• Around 3million users have spent  upto 1000 British pounds on mobile  transaction
  
• About 2 million Mobile Shoppers have  spent over 1000 pounds 

It was forecast that there would be 19 million m-commerce users in the UK in second quarter 2016 who spend up to 100 British pounds on their transaction. market in 2011

'Facebook To Begin Charging Users $2.99 / Month' — Totally BULLSHIT!

Facebook going to charge users per month?? Nobody expected such a news story this week, but it seems that Facebook will No longer be a Free Service, according to reports claimed by the National Report, "Facebook To Begin Charging Users $2.99/mo Starting November 1st", which turns out fake. Thank God !!



This new report is circulating via social media which claims that the social networking

Limitless Keylogger Optimized with AutoIT Infected thousands of Computers

A new surge of malware has been discovered which goes on to infect hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide and allegedly steals users’ social and banking site credentials.



Few days back, a list of 5 million combinations of Gmail addresses and passwords were leaked online. The search engine giant, Google said that Gmail credentials didn’t come from the security breaches of its system,

Mobile Shopping at Alibaba contibutes 19% of revenues, with a 1.5% conversion rate

Alibaba Group  is the leading online commerce provider in China, offering a broad spectrum of B2B, B2C and C2C e-commerce services as well as mobile payments as well  also involved in cloud infrastructure services as well as China’s biggest online video site Youku Todou.

 Launched in 1999 as a stand-alone B2B e-commerce portal Alibaba.com, the group is now the leading e-commerce provider in Asia as its C2C online marketplace Taobao and B2C online retail platform Tmall are also the market leaders in their respective business segments. Digital buying penetration rate among internet users in China is 55.2%

In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, the Alibaba Group’s annual revenue amounted to 52.5 billion yuan (approximately 8.46 billion U.S. dollars) with a net income of 23.4 billion yuan (3.77 billion U.S. dollars) Local e-commerce  only from China accounts accounting for 86 percent of Alibaba’s income in 2014. While he overall share of mobile shopping revenues was 19.4% with 1.49% conversion rate

Connecting with the digital consumer at the point of purchase

In todays digital world, Brands have an immense challenge to keep up with their customers. As the  digital distribution expands and connected devices penetration increases coupled with the fact that " They are always on the move  using multiple devices to consume content at different times of day, in a variety of locations.

 Reaching them is a matter of being in the right place at the right time, with the right content. but you can't be everywhere at once, can you? Using YouTube as a key channel, many brands have found that they can do just that. Here’s why.

Next 'Android L' To Enable Full Disk Encryption By Default

The search engine giant Google will soon come up with its next version of Android operating system, dubbed as Android L, with full-disk encryption enabled by default, Google confirmed Thursday.



This will be for the first time that Google’s Android OS will be encrypting your information, preventing both hackers and law enforcement agencies from gaining access to users’ personal and highly

Hacking any eBay Account in Just 1 Minute

Four month ago, a massive data breach on the eBay website affected 145 million registered users worldwide after its database was compromised. Meanwhile, another critical vulnerability on the eBay website was reported, allowing an attacker to hijack millions of user accounts in bulk.
An Egyptian security researcher ‘Yasser H. Ali’ informed The Hacker News about this vulnerability 4 months ago,

How To Run Almost Any Android App On Windows, OS X, Linux with Chrome

From last week, Google began paving the way to run Android apps on Chrome Operating System through the project named "App Runtime for Chrome", but the release came with a lot of limitations – it only supported certain Android apps and on Chrome OS only. At the launch, initially only 4 Android apps – Vine, Evernote, Duolingo and Sight Words – were added to the Chrome Web Store.



That was

Why Germany Mobile Web Traffic is Lower that most nations in Europe

1. 30 percent of the German population (21.3 million people) accesses the mobile Web or apps on their phone on a regular basis (AGOF, January 2013). 
2.  60 percent (about 42 million) of Germans have a Web-enabled mobile device . The number of Germans with Web-enabled handsets is slightly below the EU average, which is 68 percent; but Germany is seeing strong growth, with a 150 percent increase in the number of Web-enabled phones b
3.  It is estimated that 12 percent (8.2 million) of Germans regularly surf the Web with tablet computers, which is above the EU average of 8%
4. Germany users are more comfortable in using PC for web related activites as  web traffic  from PC  accounts for over 93% as compared tp just 5% from mobile web
   
   source : Mobithinking

Mobile Web Traffic vs PC Web Traffic in Europe: UK, Ireland and Russia Tops

Share of browser-based pageviews: ComScore
	PC pageviews	Mobile pageviews	Tablet pageviews
United Kingdom	68.1%	24.0%	6.8%
Ireland	71.4%	21.8%	5.6%
Russian Federation	74.8%	21.7%	3.4%
Norway	86.4%	7.3%	6.2%
Netherlands	86.5%	5.2%	8.1%
Switzerland	86.6%	7.9%	5.2%
Finland	87.6%	7.9%	4.3%
Austria	88.5%	7.9%	3.5%
Sweden	89.0%	7.2%	3.7%
Denmark	89.3%	5.8%	4.7%
Italy	89.6%	6.7%	3.5%
Germany	90.2%	5.6%	3.3%
Source: © ComScore (March 2013)		via: © mobiThinking

According to the latest  report from Comscore  , UK ranks number 1  in downstream  mobile web traffic in  entire Europe with  24%  Mobile web traffic as  compared to  68% PC web traffic 
Ireland  and Russia ranks no 2 and 3 with  22% Mobile web traffic 
Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland ranks 4th, 5th and 6th  with Mobile traffic  forming 5 to 8%  as compared to  86% PC web traffic
Germany ranks at the bottom with 5% Mobile traffic as compared to 90% PC web traffic

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Most Popular web categories in Brazil

Find more statistics at Statista

According to the latest Transparency Market Research published new "Mobile Content Market - Global And U.S. Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Trends And Forecasts 2011 - 2017" market research report show the overall value of the mobile content market as well as the value of the mobile games market in 2011

15 African Nations where web traffic from mobile exceeds PC/Desktop

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Platform Comparison Market Share
The List of  15  African nations where Internet Traffic from mobile web exceeds that of PC/Desktop. The data reflects  the percentage  of web views that  that originates from the Mobile Phones  Tablets are not included (for most countries tablet share is remains low). 

1.  Papua New Guinea (87.13 percent of Webpage views from mobile phones) 
2. Congo (82.91 percent) • 
3. Chad (80.94 percent) 
4.  Niger (77.54 percent) 
5.  Sierra Leone (77.41 percent) • 
6. Tanzania (76.83 percent) • 
7. Kenya (74.42 percent) •
8.  Sudan (74.18 percent) 
9.  Bangladesh (72.56 percent) 
10.  Mali (72.12 percent) 
11.  Zambia (70.31 percent)
12.  Mozambique (69.35 percent) 
13.  Malawi (69.15 percent) •
14. Nigeria (68.83 percent
15.   Uganda (56.68 percent)

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