Being a multi-linguist, or a pianist, or an amateur philosopher, is not something you’d expect most IT job candidates to have on their resumes. But today’s workforce, due in part to the slow moving economy and ensuing recession, has adjusted to a more adaptable lifestyle than previous generations.

While yesterday’s career map was more straightforward -- major in a specific field, enter the sector on the bottom or near-bottom rung of the ladder (depending on who you knew), and work your way up until retirement, building a reputation for yourself along the way -- today things have changed.

If you want to get directions on an iOS device, you have two main options. 1) use Apple’s built-in mapping app to go to somewhere other than intended, potentially risking your life and the lives of your passengers along the way, or 2) fire up the mobile version of Google Maps, which is good but not as great as the old app that vanished when Apple decided its users would be better off with sketchy, featureless maps and inaccurate directions.

Thankfully, while Apple’s map team is trying to push its Toyota Prius out of a field that should be a freeway, and Google is still putting the finishing touches to its shiny new Maps app, Nokia has arrived to save the day with HERE, a mapping and location service powered by NAVTEQ data (as used in the majority of in-car navigation systems).

Custom recovery is at the core of Android modding by allowing users to root or load custom green droid distributions. The recently launched Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, can also join the modding train with new custom recoveries from ClockwordMod and Team Win Recovery Project.

With Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Google introduced a new feature -- multiple-user support -- which modifies the internal storage structure by adding a "0" folder for the default user. Aside from the obvious benefit, the new functionality also causes issues with custom recoveries that are not designed to take it into account. Now though CWM 6.0.1.8/9 and TWRP 2.3.2.0 are available with support for the recently introduced Nexus 4, 10 and multiple user support.

If you do not like the Windows 8 Start screen, you can bypass it easily with a few simple modifications or by installing a program that handles that for you. If you miss the Start menu on the desktop, you can get that back as well by installing a program like Start8 or Classic Shell that also handle the redirecting and mapping of shortcuts keys for you if you want.

RetroUI Pro is another Start menu program for Windows 8. It looks different than the others as you can see from the photo, but on first glance, it is just another Start menu for the operating system.

Symantec today released Norton Mobile Security 3.2, the latest version of the flagship Norton security software for Android and iOS devices.

It's been just about a year since we last looked at Norton Mobile Security, and in that time, a number of new features have been added.

It still contains the remote lock and wipe, call and SMS blocking, SD card scanning, and remote geolocation features it included previously, but now it also includes multi-device (cross platform) support with a single license, contact list backup and restore, a "scream alarm" for finding a lost phone, and web-based management.

Parent company Mozilla announced that Firefox for Android now supports older green droid devices using ARM v6 architecture. The latest update allows the open-source browser to run on smartphones such as HTC Status, Motorola Fire XT or Samsung Galaxy Ace, but also looks to the present with improvements for newer versions of Android.

Mozilla claims that limiting Firefox for Android to run solely on the ARM v7 architecture would eliminate "roughly half of the nearly 500 million Android phones", obviously making a dent in its market share and popularity among green droid users. The minimum hardware requirements now involve an 800MHz ARM v6 processor accompanied by 512MB of RAM. What about less "ancient" devices?

Hewlett-Packard's $8.8 billion fiscal fourth-quarter write-down, and reasons for it, shine a stunning spotlight on Meg Whitman and predecessor Léo Apotheker's lingering legacy. HP ousted Apotheker in September 2011, less than a month after he brokered the Autonomy acquisition. Today, during the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings conference call, chief executive Whitman had to answer for mistakes she inherited.

While expressing "we remain 100-percent committed to Autonomy and its industry-leading technology", she also acknowledges alleged fraudulent accounting that only recently came to HP's attention. Regarding the $8.8 billion, "the majority of this impairment charge is linked to serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations that occurred prior to HP's acquisition of Autonomy and the associated impact on the expected financial performance of the business over the long term. The balance of the impairment charge is linked to the recent trading value of HP stock".

Firefox 17 FINAL isn't the only browser news of the day. Opera 12.11 also is available. This minor release is a maintenance one, promising better security and stability through the implementation of a number of bug fixes, and follows on just two weeks from the more notable launch of version 12.10.

Opera 12.11 is available as a freeware download for PC, Mac and Linux. A separate 64-bit build is also available for Windows users.

Mozilla has launched Firefox 17 FINAL, the latest stable release of its open-source, cross-platform web browser. Version 17 has one major new feature -- click-to-play blocklisting, which prevents vulnerable plugins from running without the user’s permission.

Other changes include a slight tweak to the Awesome Bar, additional developer tools and web standards, plus fixes and performance improvements. The new release comes on the same day that rival browser Opera 12.11 gets a minor update.

Last week Google launched its new flagship smartphone -- the Nexus 4. Shortly after, Android developers bestowed the LG-made device with root, but for hassle-free modding there is an all-in-one toolkit available as well.

Manual modding operations offer more control over the process, but take more time to perform. The Nexus 4 Toolkit is designed to automate a considerable number of tasks ranging from rooting Android 4.2 Jelly Bean to setting file permissions on Google's flagship smartphone. Users can also lock/unlock the bootloader, perform a full-system backup using ADB, install BusyBox, download the factory image, flash a custom or stock recovery and much more.

Cloud IT management platform Panorama9 on Tuesday introduced Mac patch management to its pay-as-you-go solution, unifying Windows and Mac OS patch deployment in its IT dashboard.

We first looked at Panorama9 in October when the company added Mac and Linux support to its contract-free asset and compliance management platform. The service itself is still very new, and is rapidly growing its functionality in the interest of providing small and medium sized businesses affordable cloud IT services.

When you’ve several applications open on your PC desktop, organizing their windows efficiently can take a moment. You might move one window over here, drag a border over there, and so it goes on.

If you’d rather just automate the process, though, you might preferWinMaximumize, which can instantly expand your selected window to fill whatever desktop space is available.

Like it or not, Windows 8 is here to stay and Microsoft wants to make sure developers are ready to provide users with all the apps they desire. To that end, the company has announced a series of online and in-person developer camps in an effort to increase the population of the Windows Store.

In an email sent out recently by Microsoft, the company brags that its new OS allows developers to "code once and have a great app experience that scales across devices from tablets to all-in-one PCs". The company attempts to further entice coders with the fact that the new Windows Store offers a "higher profit potential" than other app stores, which amounts to an 80% revenue share if you reach $25,000 USD or more in total sales. Indie software developers who oppose the new centralized Windows software distribution ecosystem are unlikely to take much comfort in that fact. Analytics firm VisionMobile recently did a survey which found the average monthly take for a centrally-distributed app was between $1,200 and $3,900 per month, depending on the platform. The new Windows Store, however, is a new frontier for this type of app store.

Thanksgiving Day rapidly approaches, and the Winter Holidays are just around the corner. For the long-distance conversations usually associated with those events, popular VoIP and Video chat company Skype has introduced Skype Gift Cards.

With Skype Gift Cards, users of the popular VoIP and video chat service can access a number of premium features such as worldwide calling to landlines and mobile phones, text messaging, or Skype Wi-Fi hotspots. Starting at $10, Gift Cards are available through Skype Shop and the company's Facebook page, as well as at a number of retail locations such as Microsoft Store, Target and OfficeMax.

Today, HP stunned Wall Street and investors by announcing an unexpected $8.8 billion charge. The computing giant dropped the bombshell ahead of the market's opening concurrently with fiscal fourth quarter results. The amount isn't so stunning as the reason.

Official statement: "The majority of this impairment charge is linked to serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations at Autonomy Corporation plc that occurred prior to HP's acquisition of Autonomy and the associated impact of those improprieties, failures and misrepresentations on the expected future financial performance of the Autonomy business over the long-term. The balance of the impairment charge is linked to the recent trading value of HP stock".