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A never-ending supply of readily availablecrispy bacon, sloppy joes, and sausages for breakfast might be out of the question for many SMEs, but one SiliconValley startup believes a free breakfast for employees can deliver a serious productivity boost.

Writing in Harvard Business Reviewlast month, staff product manager at software development company Pivotal, Jay Hum, outlined the main reason Pivotal offers staff free breakfasts.

Read more: How Warren Buffetts morning meal is decided by the stock market

Our startup, Pivotal, calls the South of Market (SOMA) neighbourhood home, alongside companies like Airbnb, Dropbox, Adobe, Slack, Salesforce, and Uber. So, of course, Pivotal serves free, catered meals. Its just expected, Hum writes.

While thats true, even if no other startup around us served free, catered meals, we still would.

Pivotal employees work in a pair programming arrangement where two software developers share the same computer but with different peripherals. This level of collaboration requires the two workers to be seamlessly in sync, and thats where breakfast comes in.

Free food, during a limited, half-hour window, both saves people some hassle and gets them to show up at the same time to kick off the workday, explains Hum.

Whiles Pivotals pair programming system emphasises the importance of developers coming to work on time, getting workers to start the day together is essential in many businesses. If left to their own devices, Hum says Pivotals developers would likely roll into the office around 10 or11 am and not start real work until after lunch.

The company also rings a cowbell at 9.06 amto signify the start of the day,followed by a short office-wide meeting before developers get to work.

Working closely with a languishing employee who skipped breakfast because they woke up late is no fun for anyone involved. It can affect productivity, and grind work to a halt if the employee needs to leave for an impromptu snack.

For this reason, Hum says the inclusion of a synchronised breakfast time not only gets people into the office on time but makes sure energy is high across the board.

Pairing only works when you are a pair. Free breakfast aligns not only our employees schedulesbutalso their blood sugar levels, he says.

Employees workdays at Pivotal are intense and highly productive, which doesnt leave much room for interacting with workers outside of an employees team. Hum says the companys morning breakfasts give employees time to build a collaborative atmosphere while still getting lots of work done.

We want a collaborative atmosphere that promotes knowledge transfer within and across disciplines. But that only happens when people are communicating and sharing, he says.

Thats the third reason for serving free breakfast. You and I can grab a plate of healthy food and sit down at one of the tables in the cafeteria. It gives Pivotal employees and clients a daily window to discuss what they are currently working on, share war stories, and help each other.

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More:
Three reasons why this software startup serves its employees free breakfast at work - SmartCompany.com.au

Apple released a prototype of iOS 11, its new mobile operating system, during the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, on Monday. The first beta is meant for developers only. But what about consumers?

For the rest of us, the public beta for iOS 11 reportedly releases in July. Though, on an official capacity, Apple says the public beta is "coming soon."

You can get your hands on the iOS 11 beta for free by signing up for the Apple Beta Software Program. This program allows you to "take part in shaping Apple software by test-driving prerelease versions."

To get involved with the Apple Beta Software Program, you need to sign up using your Apple ID. Then, you can access the public beta software and provide feedback to Apple using the built-in Feedback Assistant app.

Just remember that the beta software is not the official version, so it's bound to have bugs and glitches. As such, Apple recommends backing up your device prior to installing the beta software.

"Please note that since the public beta software has not yet been commercially released by Apple, it may contain errors or inaccuracies and may not function as well as commercially released software," Apple writes on its website.

Can't wait for iOS 11? Here's everything you need to know about Apple's new mobile operating system. Check out our guide to the biggest iOS 11 bugs so far, along with all the new features: how to record your screen, how to block texts while driving, new effects in Messages, how it lets you bypass Snapchat's screenshot alert, iOS 11 dark mode, peer-to-peer Apple Pay and of course the iOS 11 beta release date.

Continued here:
How to Get iOS 11 Beta Free: Use Apple Beta Software Program to test iOS 11 before iPhone 8 release - Mic

Gearbox Software has announced and detailed the Battleborn Free Trial, a free-to-play version of their MOBA hero-shooter that will allow complete unlimited access to competitive multiplayer modes and maps.

The Free Trial promises no time limits or artificial level caps, essentially making this one of the most feature-filled free trials weve ever seen. All of the modes in the main game Incursion, Meltdown, Capture, and Face-Off will be playable from the start, with a fifth mode called Supercharge, arriving on June 22nd. According to the developer blog, six playable heroes will be available right away, with the remaining characters being swapped in or out on a weekly rotating roster. Dont worry though, progress made on each hero will be saved and carried over the next time they are back on the roster. It is also possible to upgrade to the full game experience from the Free Trial, with all of your player progression stats carrying over seamlessly. The developer FAQ states thatupgrading to the full version is the only way to unlock Achievements and Trophies in Battleborn.

For those thatalready own and played Battleborn before June 6th, Gearbox is offering up apretty sweet reward. These players are known as Founders and theyll be granted bonus content that cant be obtained anywhere else. The Founders Bonus Content includes:

A detailed FAQ page is up on Gearboxs website with a slew of information on the Free Trial. What are your thoughts on the Free Trial? Does this entice you to jump in and give Battleborn a go if you havent already? Leave a comment below.

Read more from the original source:
Gearbox Software Releases Battleborn Free Trial - COGconnected (press release)

WASHINGTON Russian hackers attacked at least one U.S. voting software supplier days before last year's presidential election, according to a government intelligence report leaked Monday that suggests election-related hacking penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than previously known.

The classified National Security Agency report, which was published online by The Intercept, does not say whether the hacking had any effect on election results. But it says Russian military intelligence attacked a U.S. voting software company and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials at the end of October or beginning of November.

U.S. intelligence agencies declined to comment.

However, the Justice Department announced Monday it had charged a government contractor in Georgia with leaking a classified report containing "Top Secret level" information to an online news organization. The report the contractor allegedly leaked is dated May 5, the same date as the document The Intercept posted online.

The document said Russian military intelligence "executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016 evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions, according to information that became available in April 2017."

The hackers are believed to have then used data from that operation to create a new email account to launch a spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations, the document said. "Lastly, the actors send test emails to two non-existent accounts ostensibly associated with absentee balloting, presumably with the purpose of creating those accounts to mimic legitimate services."

The document did not name any state.

The information in the leaked document seems to go further than the U.S. intelligence agencies' January assessment of the hacking that occurred.

"Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple U.S. state or local electoral boards," the assessment said. The Department of Homeland Security "assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying."

The Intercept contacted NSA and the national intelligence director's office about the document and both agencies asked that it not be published. U.S. intelligence officials then asked The Intercept to redact certain sections. The Intercept said some material was withheld at U.S. intelligence agencies' request because it wasn't "clearly in the public interest."

The Associated Press could not confirm the authenticity of the May 5 NSA document, which The Intercept said it obtained anonymously.

Also on Monday, Reality Leigh Winner, 25, of Augusta, Georgia, was charged in U.S. District Court with copying classified documents and mailing them to a reporter with an unnamed news organization. Prosecutors did not say which federal agency Winner worked for, but FBI agent Justin Garrick said in an affidavit filed with the court that she had previously served in the Air Force and held a top-secret security clearance.

Winner's attorney, Titus Thomas Nichols, declined to confirm whether she is accused of leaking the NSA report received by The Intercept. He also declined to name the federal agency for which Winner worked.

"My client has no (criminal) history, so it's not as if she has a pattern of having done anything like this before," Nichols said in a phone interview Monday. "She is a very good person. All this craziness has happened all of a sudden."

In affidavits filed with the court, Garrick of the FBI said the government was notified of the leaked report by the news outlet that received it. He said the agency that housed the report determined only six employees had made physical copies. Winner was one of them. Garrick said investigators found Winner had exchanged email with the news outlet using her work computer.

Garrick's affidavit said he interviewed Winner at her home Saturday and she "admitted intentionally identifying and printing the classified intelligence reporting at issue" and mailing it to the news outlet.

Asked if Winner had confessed, Nichols said, "If there is a confession, the government has not shown it to me."

Read more:
Report suggests Russia hackers breached voting software firm - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Software Simplified Linux.com (blog) In 2015, geneticist Guy Reeves was trying to configure a free software system called Galaxy to get his bioinformatics projects off the ground. After a day or two of frustration, he asked members of his IT department for help. They installed Docker, a ...

Read more from the original source:
Software Simplified - Linux.com (blog)