Microsoft is enjoying the moment. As tablet wars heat up, all attention is on Surface, the latest Windows tablet recently debuted. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admits that the computing titan has been mum about it until the release of the product. He said he knew the tablet would have to be obviously superior to competing products, adding  “we wanted to give Windows 8 its own hardware.”

Windows 8, Facebook IPO troubles, mobile advertising challenges, and what a hot lawsuit against a Silicon Valley VC means for women in technology.

Read on to see the stories making headline news on the tech scene this week!

Enter to Win a Microsoft Learning Certificate! All you need to do is make one Tweet (details within)!

It seems that every day a new story comes out about our downward spiraling economy, high unemployment rates, and the fiercely competitive job market. If you’re out there trying to jump-start your professional life, it can be a serious downer. The tech industry is fast-paced and constantly evolving, but building a successful career is all about staying on top of industry trends and finding ways to make your resume and skill-set stand out from the crowd. That’s where Microsoft Learning Certificates come in.

Choosing between a Mac and a PC is no easy task.  There are many things to consider: ergonomics, functionality, and operating system just to name a few.  But I’ll get to that in a moment.

If you’re wondering where I’ve been the last 2 weeks, I have been going through some major transitions (with business, home, and relationships –just to name a few)! I will get into the details of these exciting changes in another post very soon, but right now I want to share one piece of very exciting news: I am the proud owner of a MacBook Air! 

IBM Business Agility (businessagility.com) feature (@IBMBizAgility)

If data security frustrates you, you’re not alone! With mobile device usage and cloud adaptation on the rise, people are accessing more and more data on the fly.  And with so much sensitive information dispersed and accessed across the internet, security has never been a more critical subject. I was quoted on the subject in a recent article title Protecting Data Through BPM, authored on BusinessAgility.com by my friend Pierre DeBois, Founder of Zimana, a consulting company that specializes in digital marketing.

December 15th, 2011 – Business Agility

Feature quote for Business Agility at http://businessagility.com 

Although I’m not exactly sure how practical this will be in the future, that doesn’t make it any less cool!

This nascent technology known as Skinput, a clever conjunction of the words “skin” and “input”, stays true to its name. Skinput allows people to press different parts of their bodies (on the skin), in order to control (transmit input to), their personal devices.

While using yourself as a remote is bound to bring about a huge number of “That’s what she said!” jokes, I think this technology may actually be very useful for people in certain situations…such as an iPod control for a motorcyclist.

Focus.com and Fortune assembled a list of Fortune’s Top 100 Companies to Work For.  If you’re wondering to which company to apply for your next job, the infographic above should help.  The winners?  See below:

• Most job openings: Accenture
• Top paying: Baker Donelson
• Most admired: Google
• Blue Ribbon: Cisco

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Want the 101 on File Formats?  I’m big on Internet Security, so we’ve got it!  I occasionally get email attachments with file formats I’m unfamiliar with.  Anything outside of the basics, is usually a red flag:

• .PDF (Adobe)
• .XLS (Microsoft Excel)
• .JPG (JPEG, picture file)
• .TXT (Notepad)

Since I’ve been a kid, I’ve been a Microsoft Paint fanatic.  The designer of this Color Matching Pen must have drawn inspiration from the same when coming up with this design.  Paint has a dropper tool that lets you select a color to draw/write with.  This physical pen works the same.  Simply ‘scan’ over a color you want to write in, and the pen will match it accordingly. 

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