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David Rice heading to Apple as global security lead
Apple has hired David Rice, executive director of the Monterey Group and faculty member with IANS, as its global director of security. It's the latest in a series of high-profile security hires for the company. Former Mozilla security chief Window Snyder was hired as a senior security product manger in March. Mr. Rice may be familiar to some readers as the author of Geekonomics, a book about "the astonishing lack of consumer protection in the software market and how this impacts economic and national security." Rice suggests that software is infrastructure, and the risk of poor security in consumer and business software is, in fact, a security risk to all of us. Rice goes on to suggest that taxes may be required to spread the cost of reducing risk and that weak security in the tech sector is a matter of public policy, not just of private enterprise building unsafe systems. An analogy is made to the auto industry in the 50s and 60s, where style trumped safety. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Rice's employment at Apple bolsters its security profile going forward with the rise of iOS devices in enterprise and government. [Via All Things Digital]
Nokia's ex-MeeGo chief lands at Palm?
It looks like design heads at Palm and Nokia have more or less swapped roles, as All Things D reports that Nokia's ex-MeeGo head Ari Jaaksi has just been hired by Palm -- a month after Nokia grabbed Palm's Peter Skillman to head up user experience and services for MeeGo. Fate? Coincidence? As long as both struggling smartphone companies bring us better devices and improved operating systems as a result, we're not all that concerned. The report also suggests a Samsung VP and several HP executives will be boosting Palm's team as well.
Nokia hires Peter Skillman, former Palm Design VP, as MeeGo user experience chief (update: confirmed)
Now this, this is what we call exciting. Nokia has managed to scoop up Peter Skillman from the wreckage of the HP/Palm merger. One of the many senior VPs to leave Palm upon its assimilation into the HP empire, Peter spent 11 years with his previous employer and was in charge of the design team that produced the deliciously curvaceous Palm Pre. Now at Nokia, he'll be heading up the user experience and services division for MeeGo, which means that if you weren't excited for the platform already, you've now got a very good reason to be. Update: We met with Marko Ahtisaari, Senior Vice President of Design at Nokia, to get comment on this story. His response? "Right, I just hired him." So why not announce it, we asked, this is pretty big news? According to Marko, "We have products today, products are more interesting. Peter is looking after the user experience design of MeeGo and services and is a great new addition to the team." Marko's team, to be specific. To us this seems like another component that could help Nokia break into the US market with MeeGo. [Thanks, Dave]
Amazon steals Microsoft's Director of Game Platform Strategy for some reason
Amazon's gaming related job postings are starting to bear exotic fruit having just nabbed Microsoft's Director of Game Platform Strategy, Andre Vrignaud. Vrignaud started with Microsoft in 2002 as Director of Xbox Live Platform Strategy and more recently helped manage Microsoft's overall gaming platform strategy with a hand in figuring out how to roll out Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7. Obviously, this leads to speculation that Amazon is looking to expand further into digital games as it's already done with music, video, and digital books. And with Amazon working on non-Kindle hardware with ambitions for dual-screen readers, well, we'd say the question isn't what, but when?
Apple hires NFC expert to manage mobile commerce, prepare to pay with your iPhone
Don't look now, but things may be getting real on the pay-with-your-cell-phone front, as Cupertino's hired a man with years of experience in enabling just that to finally get 'er done. According to his LinkedIn profile, Benjamin Vigier is Apple's new Product Manager of Mobile Commerce, immediately following his handiwork on PayPal Mobile, Sprint MyMoneyManager and the iPhone-based Starbucks Card. Before that, he spent two years heading SanDisk's mobile commerce and near-field communication efforts and over a year doing NFC for Bouygues Telecom, so it's not much of a stretch to imagine the futuristic concert tickets depicted in Apple's recent patent applications might become reality before long. Either that, or he'll wind up on a completely unrelated project, only to leave under mysterious circumstances later on.
Apple and Google made informal deal to not pilfer each other's employees?
While not official, sources close to the matter have told TechCrunch that Google and Apple had an informal agreement not to poach each other's employees. Apparently, Google's recruitment division knew and adhered to not actively seeking Apple employees to hire them away, and vice-versa with Apple's recruiters. That's not to say someone who voluntarily submitted a resume would be turned away, but as one published email notes, cold calls were against policy. An agreement to not poach each other's workers, even if not codified, is part of the reason the government has launched antitrust investigations, as it can be considered an obstruction to healthy market competition. It's believed this deal came about as a byproduct of Google CEO Eric Schmidt also being an Apple board member at the time. Of course, with Schmidt finally excusing himself from all portions of Apple's board meetings, there's a chance that hiring agreement walked away with him, and really, we wouldn't be surprised if the federal inquiry also decided to leave the dinner table at this point.
Palm hires Apple vet Jeff Zwerner as new SVP of Brand Design
It's no secret that Palm has plenty of Apple veterans in its upper ranks (starting right at the top), and it looks like there now may be even more reminiscing about old times going on during lunch breaks, with the company recently announcing that it has hired Jeff Zwerner as its new Senior Vice President of Brand Design. In addition to working at Apple for a stint from 2001 to 2003 as Creative Director for Packaging and earlier from 1995 to 1996 as a Senior Art Director, Zwerner also founded the San Francisco branch of Factor Design, which has done work for Coca-Cola, Gap, GE, Hewlett-Packard, L.L. Bean, Nike, the Walt Disney Company and, yes, Apple.[Via PreCentral]
RIM sues Motorola right back for blocking poaching
RIM has seen Moto's recent misfortunes as a great opportunity to ramp up its Chicago office and bring in some fresh talent that would otherwise be out of work, but in the process, they've allegedly been poaching folks that are still on the payroll -- and that's where things start to get a little complicated. Motorola didn't like that terribly much and went all legal on 'em a few months ago, but RIM is now countersuing on the claim that Moto's going a little too far in blocking RIM's job offers to prospective employees. Turns out the two companies had an agreement in place at one time that they'd not solicit each others' staff, but RIM says that agreement expired in August, making it open season in Schaumburg. Let's put it this way: if the Storm suddenly gets rebranded the "RIMSTRM" next year, we think we know why.
Netflix hires VP of partner products to focus on streaming devices
It's impossible to say what kind of impact Gregory K. Peters will have on Netflix as a whole, but one thing is for sure: we certainly dig his job description. Recently hired on by Netflix as the vice president of partner products, Mr. Peters will be responsible for "bringing to market a range of devices from leading consumer electronics manufacturers that are capable of instantly streaming movies and TV episodes from Netflix directly to consumers' TVs." The new role was established shortly after Netflix decided to deliver HD streaming to the Xbox 360 (and other boxes in the future), and it's a clear signal that the company understands the importance of digital downloads in a world currently dominated by physical discs. The overriding goal? To enable "all US households to stream Netflix to their TVs." Looks like ole Greg will be putting those degrees in physics and astrophysics to good use, huh? Full release is after the jump.
Midway appoints Codemasters vet to drive Wheelman
Midway has enlisted a new face to help Vin Diesel find a job. The company today announced the appointment of former Codies man Craig Duncan as the new head at Midway's Newcastle studio, where he will help steer the development of Wheelman. Duncan spent five of 10 years in the industry beneath the Codemasters roof where he worked in a variety of roles, including most recently as the director of worldwide product developmentHowever, with Midway's Wheelman movie prequel shipping this fall, Duncan can also breathe easy knowing that he's settled into the position for the long term; the company notes that the newly named exec will also occupy his time overseeing other unspecified future projects as well, hopefully with even more ridiculous tie-ins.
SXSW: The Inside Scoop - how to get a job in the game industry
For the most part, the "Inside Scoop" about getting a job in the gaming industry sounded like getting a job in pretty much any industry, except maybe trading decommissioned nuclear weapons on the black market. They hit the main points several times, which were as follows: Have a professional looking resume. Wear clean, washed (!) clothes to any meeting or interview. Be on time. Network. Network. Network. Like any industry you hope to break into, it's often not what you know, but who you know. Although panelist Bryan Stratton did add that he had a friend who he helped get a job in the field, and he ended up making a lot less money than he should have because of his lack of a higher education. So put down the controllers from time to time and read a book, ftw ... er, paycheck.Of particular note, one panelist mentioned that the two most important applications you can learn to help get a job in the industry are ... Microsoft Excel and email. Most of the time you are going to be coordinating assets and communicating with other people, so it's highly important that you know your way around a spreadsheet, and can organize your inbox and send/receive files and then know where they are.So if you can pwn in Excel as well as you do in Gears of War, then you're well on your way.
THQ, EA, others recruiting at GDC
The second floor of Moscone West, one of the three buildings housing GDC, holds many publishers and developers looking for doe-eyed talent. Armed with just a dream and a résumé, students try to launch their careers, and industry vets try to find the next opportunity. We checked in with a few of the companies to discuss their outlook and objectives at the show.An EA recruiter told us that the company is hiring developers for 11 different studios in nearly every position, including character animators, environmental artists, and software engineers. EA has a university relations department to entice students, but the company also helps schools develop programs to train future industry workers.Heidi Lese, Manager of Recruitment for THQ, discussed her company's role at the show. THQ is looking for both developers and publishers to fit into its 17 studios. With the addition of publishing roles, THQ is seeking nearly all kinds of talent. If a walk-in candidate fits an open position, THQ holds an immediate interview. Otherwise, THQ evaluates and contacts candidates over the next few months.Lese was more tentative about game schools, saying that some are great and can lead to roles at THQ, while some are still too young to offer a useful program. She didn't specify any school recommendations but said that students should attend one with a high placement rate in the industry. She also advised students get an internship -- whether interested in publishing or development.
Calling all bloggers: we want YOU (update 1)
Do you enjoy writing about video games? Do you enjoy getting paid real monies? Well, then you might be just the person we're looking for! DS Fanboy and Wii Fanboy are both looking to expand their staff and are holding open submissions for bloggers. Applying is a piece of cake, asking only that you: Write up 3 mock posts in the current format that is on DS and Wii Fanboy, including original source links for the story Compose a short bio praising yourself and your insane writing skillz Include links to all published material you have written in the past And that should about do it. Simple enough, right? As always, failure to follow these rules will exclude you from the festivities. So get cracking and send your submissions to nintendobloggerjob [at] gmail [dot] com.[Update: New email addy to send in submissions, other way around would've caused us headaches in the backend.]
