But what constitutes sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment can be any action of a sexual nature that makes a person feel humiliated, offended or imtimidated. If it is reasonable to expect a person to feel offended in the situation, then it is unlawful and an offence.

Examples of Sexual harassment can be ay of the following:

• Ogle or stare
• unwelcomed kisses or hugs
• Showing sexually explicit posters or pictures in the workplace
• Making suggestive jokes
• Brushing up against people
• sexually explicit SMS messages
• Asking for dates or making sexual advances including the use of social networking sites

 Are employers legaly responsible for their employees actions?

In short, yes they can be. It falls under the term vicarious liability. Unless an employer can prove they have taken all the steps to prevent the harassment, then they are liable.

Following are some guidlines that you can follow:

1. If sexual harassment has taken place, make sure you take action to remedy the situation
2. Have a sexual harassment policy in place that is communiated to all employees and carefully monitored.

Employess that have a clearly outlined Policy and Procedure for preventing harassment have a more positive attitude to relationships and have increased motivation and performance.

Knowing that you need a well defined policy and that it has to be communicated is only the start. You need to make sure your staff has the proper training that complies with your local legislation. Start with senior management and then look at training managers and floor supervisors. You can find more information about workplace training at here.

Most operations use hosted call centre programs. This means that information is hosted, or stored, in a remote network managed by the software provider.  This information includes customer, company, and agent details, as well as transaction and call histories. A call centre accumulates a good deal of data over the course of a year, and would normally need lots of hardware to keep it all. Hosted call centre software takes care of this problem by storing the information elsewhere.

Another advantage of hosted call centre software is that it doesn’t limit operations to a physical location. The data can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection (although preferably a secure one) any time of the day, unlike traditional businesses where office hours are fixed. While a brick-and-mortar office will still be necessary, employees will have the option to work from home and work on their own schedules, something that has been shown in many studies to improve employee productivity. The company itself can even hire people from a larger area, even overseas.

Updating is a common issue in hosted call centre software, as with most other business applications. Fortunately, many of the programs available today are automatically updated by the vendor without affecting the data; some will do it for free and others will charge a monthly fee. Users are simply informed of new features as needed. And since the program itself isn’t on an office hard drive, there’s no need to worry about installing and uninstalling—the only issue is usually training the employees to use the program.

Nonetheless, call centre software is no small investment in terms of time and money. Transferring data from one service to another can be costly, not to mention risky as much of the information is confidential. Few companies can afford to change programs every other week. Make sure to choose the right program for your operations and type of business. Some of them work well for small companies while others are designed for multinationals; some fit well in the retail industry while others are better for technology or media.

Payments in a reverse mortgage do not usually become due while the borrower is still living in the home; rather, the amount plus interest is paid back when the home is sold, or if the owner passes away or moves to a new home. Borrowers are allowed to live elsewhere for up to a year, usually to stay in a retirement facility.

The amount you can borrow varies depending on several factors, including your age and the equity that you’ve built up over the years. One can only borrow from the debt-free part of the home, so you may have to clear all other debts on the property (such as liens and second mortgages) before you can take out the loan. A reverse calculator such as All Reverse Mortgage Company (allrmc.com) can give you an idea of how much you’re entitled to.

AllRMC is a family-owned outfit run by experienced mortgage banking professionals. It has long advocated the benefits of reverse mortgages to seniors and takes pride in finding no less than the best terms for every borrower, as well as ensuring a hassle-free process all the way to closing. Unlike other firms, they do not pressure borrowers into settling for specific deals—they always try to find the best fit depending on your circumstances. This practice has earned them hundreds of positive reviews and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Funds received from a reverse mortgage are tax-free, but the interest is usually higher than that of a regular mortgage. Some loans even cost as much as a credit card or other line of credit. Lenders may also require you to pay for a home appraisal (to determine how much you can borrow), legal fees, and a variety of closing costs. Needless to say, taking out a reverse mortgage isn’t cheap—but in some situations it’s more than worth it. Working with an experienced company such as AllRMC can help you make smart decisions and make your money work for you.

According to the ITIL, a CMBD is a representation of acceptable configurations for each component in the IT environment. Its main purpose is to help companies better understand how these components work together, and allow them to monitor each component for quality and performance.

There are many CMDB programs in the market, but most are costly due to their highly specialized nature. They also tend to be complicated and require an expert, usually from the publisher itself, to provide on-site support and customize the program to the organization’s needs. This adds further to the cost, making CMDBs too costly especially for small and startup businesses. A good alternative for such businesses is an open source CMDB—one that’s created by a public  community of developers rather than a single firm. This not only makes it cheaper, but allows for more accessible support.

One of the more popular open source CMDBs is Itop, short for IT Operations Portal. Besides a fully customizable CMDB, it offers a variety of web services and import tools that make it easy to integrate the program into your IT system. It also includes tools for document management, various management modules, error database, a helpdesk system, and a simple dashboard interface that provides a quick summary of the system.

Another excellent free CMDB is OneCMDB, designed mostly for small and medium businesses. Although it can be used on its own to monitor software and hardware, it can also be used in configuration management and related tasks. You can import data from existing sources or input them by hand, and uses a custom data model that can be tweaked without using code.

CMDB.info is a fairly popular resource for IT managers. Although it doesn’t have a product of its own, it offers free expert advice on using CMDBs from theoretical concepts to practical use. They also provide solutions for common problems specific to large and small businesses. The pages are updated regularly, so you can be sure the tips are all up to date and take into account the newest developments.

The ChangeWave Research survey, run by The 451 Group, showed that of over 4,000 consumers, those who planned on buying a smartphone in the next few months were partial to the iOS. About 89% of the respondents were from the U.S., where competition between the two companies is particularly fierce.

iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud-computing service, is believed to have helped boost its popularity. The service stores users’ data, primarily music and videos, on a remote network so that users can retrieve and share them wirelessly between different Apple devices. With the iPad enjoying commercial success alongside iPods and iPhones, the service couldn’t have come at a better time.

The survey suggested that 29% of users who already owned Apple products would be more likely to stick to the brand for future purchases when iCloud becomes available this fall. Of those who owned other brands, 13% said they might switch over to Apple because of the service.

Although Google moved into cloud computing first with Google Docs and associated services, Apple stuck to its philosophy of taking existing technologies and putting them in a sleeker, tighter package. The iCloud has been largely hyped as the biggest development in cloud computing—an emerging system where data is stored in an online network rather than on a physical device.

Meanwhile, the Blackberry, once the leader in smartphone technology, is struggling to stay in the game with its market share falling to 4% in June from 5% in March. It was the market leader in 2008 with a 32% share, but has failed to keep up with developments in iOS and Android. With the iCloud and Google’s competing service gaining ground, its manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) is in for an even tougher challenge.

Apple also leads the pack in terms of customer satisfaction. Almost three-quarters of iPhone owners claim to be “very satisfied” with their devices, whereas only 50% of Android users said the same about theirs. Windows Phone 7 OS, a relative newcomer, edged out Blackberry with a 27% satisfaction rating compared to the latter’s 26%.

Level of protection

Antivirus companies have a dozen names to hint at their system’s coverage, from “multilayered” to the much bolder “100% protection.” The scope of protection refers to the types of threats a program works against. Ideally, a program will protect your computer from worms, viruses, spyware, and Trojans—all the usuals—but also from less common ones like e-mail threats and phishing scams.

Effectiveness

Besides protect from as broad a range of threats as possible, an antivirus program has to protect against each one effectively. Antivirus rankings refer to various industry standards, set by security organizations and testing companies, to gauge each program’s effectiveness. Often, the highest-ranking brands are also the most effective.

Setup, installation, and user-friendliness

A few minutes of installation is a small price to pay to protect your computer, but it shouldn’t be too much trouble either. An antivirus must start doing its job as soon as possible, and without being too taxing to the user. Not all users are experts, so the interface must be easy to navigate and the options easy to understand.

Basics and extras

Ranking experts look for basic features such as automatic updates, real-time scanning, scheduled and on-call scans, and scanning of emails and online downloads. The better and faster an antivirus program can do this, the better. But extras such as adware and malware protection, keylogger detection, and checking for vulnerabilities can also go a long way in antivirus rankings.

Update frequency

According to Top Ten Reviews, a software ranking website, in the security industry a program is only as good as its updates. Antivirus databases grow by the minute, so a program must know what to protect against at all times. Good antivirus software will check for updates at least every hour; some programs do so every five or fifteen minutes.

Support

Most people skip the software manual and get away with it, but antivirus developers must make one available just in case. In addition, they must have support personnel on hand to answer specific questions and provide extra support. This can be done through live chat, email, and phone—the more channels there are, the higher a program ranks.

Microsoft Security Essentials was released in September 2009 and has since received a number of upgrades. Public reception was mostly positive; a year after its first release the program had an estimated 30 million users. The stable release, Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0, followed in December 2010.

Unlike its predecessor, the subscription-based Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Security Essentials comes free with all genuine copies of Windows XP (with Service Pack 2), Windows Vista, and Windows 7. And unlike Windows Defender, which protected only from adware and spyware, it provides full virus protection and network intrusion detection.

Despite its high scores from rating bodies and independent labs, Microsoft virus protection has a number of weaknesses that have led experts to rank it lower than other free programs. For instance, PC Mag notes that it offers lower protection in Windows XP and doesn’t do the best job of blocking and removing malware. Some threats were even found to keep running even after the program had claimed to remove it.

Reviewers agree that for its audience—households and small businesses—MSE does the job well enough. For a user who takes comfort in the Microsoft brand name, it’s definitely worth a look considering that it’s free. But other free antivirus programs shouldn’t be shrugged off. There are lots of other good ones in the market, many of them boasting better reviews than the in-house product. Some of the highest-ranked programs are Avira, AVG, Panda Cloud, Avast Home Edition, and Comodo Internet Security.

There’s also something to be said about paid antivirus protection. In a joint study with security testing company AV-Test, PC World found that while free programs will shield against the biggest and most obvious threats, paid programs offer more comprehensive tools such as parental control and faster startup times (usually because free programs have ads worked into the interface). Some companies also claim that their free programs are for “average users” and paid ones are designed for “advanced users,” a pretty vague definition. So depending on your needs, a good Microsoft virus protection program may be a good investment, although a free one can give you just as much.

Take the Palo Alto-based service Box.net, founded in 2005, which allows workers to create, share, and edit files in an online platform. This year it is set to announce a partnership with Google, whose Google Docs service is widely popular as a collaborative work environment. The team-up will boost Box.net’s offering into a more comprehensive office suite, and push it several notches above its rival Dropbox.

Mergers like these have the power to make desktop computing a thing of the past, says Box.net CEO Aaron Levie. All one has to do is pick up any device with an Internet connection (like a laptop or a smartphone), log in to a cloud service account, and start working. Workers will no longer be tied to a desk or an office, and companies can be run from homes and offices across the continents.

Competition will be inevitable, albeit with different players. Google and Apple are the strongest rivals in the entertainment market, with the latter hyping up its iCloud service as the next big thing in digital media. In business, younger and smaller companies are fighting for attention. Dropbox, introduced in 2008, now has 25 million users despite its barely month-old stable release. Microsoft is slated to bring its own cloud service, Office 365, out of beta in the next few weeks.

Office 365 will first be available on a subscription basis (about $6 per month), unlike Google Docs and Dropbox, which offer free versions. It lags behind Box.net’s 6-million-strong client base, but its huge market share—some 750 million users around the world—should work in its favor. Users will also appreciate the familiar working environment, and the fact that it can import both Word files and Google documents.

Security is probably the biggest hurdle to cloud computing. Storing songs and videos online is one thing, but office documentation is another. Businesses that routinely pass around delicate information, such as credit card data, may have a harder time making the switch to cloud-based environments. But the fierce competition can only serve to make companies step up their game and secure their services, and experts agree that it’s only a matter of time before they build public trust.

Recent events have proven that Mac malware is no myth, however. Windows has always been hackers’ favorite target because of its market share. But with Apple having caught up in recent months, we can’t afford to assume no one will ever make Mac malware.

Indeed, Apple itself has taken pains to admit that their machines aren’t invincible. Buried within the OS X legalese is a small disclaimer claiming the system “isn’t impervious to attacks,” and reminding users to run an antivirus if they find anything suspicious.

Most Mac systems are inherently very secure, and a careful user can dodge most attacks without an antivirus. The weakness is usually in the updates, according to most experts. The Snow Leopard system, for example, has a built-in malware protector but often uses months-old databases. That’s a wide-open door for a motivated hacker.

One of the most prominent threats to rise in recent years is MacDefender, a fake antivirus that appears when an infected link is clicked. The interface, also used for MacSecurity and MacProtector, the program’s variants, looks uncannily like a real antivirus program. Fake apps and utilities, such as movie makers, make use of the same tricks.

Windows’s popularity will make it the primary target for a good while still, so Mac users can breathe easy for at least a couple more years, according to experts. But it’s never too early to start taking steps. Besides malware, it’s also important to protect against spyware, trojans, worms and viruses—all names for small programs that latch themselves onto your system and attempt to steal personal information. The effects can be merely annoying, such as spam in your inbox, or utterly destructive, such as credit card fraud and identity theft.

Luckily, many protections for Mac are free, and fairly reliable. Sophos, the world’s top developer of security programs, offers a free antivirus for Mac that can run in the background, performing real-time scans and catching bugs as they come. It can also scan networked drives, which is rare even for some paid programs. Kaspersky for Mac and ESET CyberSecurity are also highly recommended, although they come with annual fees.

Lion will be the eighth version released of Mac OS X, which has been included in all Apple computers since 2002. Its predecessor, the Snow Leopard, was released in June 2009. Lion will be shown at the opening of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which runs from June 6 to 10.

The conference will center on Apple’s latest developments in the Mac OS X and iOS systems. It will also feature more than 1,000 of the company’s engineers, who will be running hands-on labs and technical sessions to show developers how to make the most of Apple’s operating systems.

Jobs has just returned from his third highly publicized sick leave in the last few years, following a pancreatic cancer operation in 2004 and a liver transplant in 2009. These haven’t deterred him from business and public appearances; just this year, he made a surprise appearance at an iPad 2 launch in San Francisco.

The Lion OS will combine the power of the Mac OS X with the portability and ease of use of the iPad, according to Apple. It is scheduled for release in summer 2011, although previews were already released in last October’s “Back to the Mac” event. A developer’s version was also released to members of the company’s developer program last February.

Features will include a Mac App Store, where users can access a huge collection of apps from over 90 countries, and Launchpad, which lets them pull up installed apps instantly, as the iPad does. Apps can also be viewed on a full screen without distracting from other tasks, and while allowing for easy navigation between apps. A new feature called Mission Control lets users see everything that’s running on the computer at a glance.

The new OS boasts an “aqua” theme, which includes overlay scrollbars, popovers, and various animations that make for a more iPad-like experience. Road warriors will also appreciate the safety features, which include auto-save, resumption of app activities, and sandboxing, which keeps apps from disrupting network and local activity.