Education and reference

I'm told that when you're attractive, it can go to your head.

You believe everyone is interested in you and it's therefore hard to decide who deserves more than a glance and a sneer from your perfect visage.

A start-up called Hipster has decided that it knows how to make attractive job seekers believe it should be their first and only date.

Unfortunately, we're only talking engineers here. So Hipster is offering some touchingly precise inducements to show its intentions are good: $10,000 and beer, for example. Yes, a year's supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

It doesn't stop there. Hipster's Web site adds that new recruits will get a bike, a pair of Buddy Holly glasses, a pair of authentic skinny jeans, a pinstriped bow tie, mustache-grooming services, and a pair of (worn, brown) boots.

Hipster is, so it says, "building a fun way to uncover the vast amount of information about real-world locations." Which sounds like a sort of local question and answer thingy on the go.

Doug Ludlow, one of the founders of Hipster, told the New York Times: "As you know, recruiting is insanely competitive right now, so we wanted to do something that would break through the noise, and get the attention of the people we're trying to reach."

Hipster is reportedly proud that this sort of incentivizing is far more effective than the hundreds of thousands the company would have to pay those slightly leechlike little middle people known as recruiters.… Read more

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said an initial public offering "is back on the table," according to an interview in The Wall Street Journal published today.

Stoppelman stopped short of saying when the user-generated reviews site would file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to start the process of going public, but he did say that his company is currently looking for a chief financial officer to help it achieve its goal, according to the Journal story.

In late 2009, Google was reportedly in talks to acquire Yelp for about $500 million, but the deal fell apart. … Read more

Early today, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the coast of northern Japan, spawning aftershocks and a tsunami that swept across the region.

There are a number of outstanding online resources that are delivering solid information, up-to-date data, and forecasts on how the world will be affected.

CNN Live Blog: CNN is tracking all the events surrounding the earthquake and tsunami with a live blog. It's currently providing up-to-date information on all the news coming out of Japan as the country tries to address the impact of the natural disaster.

Reuters Live Coverage: Reuters is providing a … Read more

Starting today, Evernote's popular note-taking app for iPhone and iPod Touch will have more than a few new features and enhancements.

The design is cleaner in Evernote 4 as a whole, and changes include everything from a revamped home screen and note-taking screen to new capabilities--like removing attachments you no longer want or need and adding multiple images at a time to a note.

Notes now appear in snippet form to provide greater context for text-based or mixed-media notes. More photo real estate is also visible for picture notes as the thumbnail view gives way to a full-width slice (… Read more

I am not the kind of person who needs to read the help pages on Web sites--at least most of the time. But the same cannot be said for a lot of folks I know. In fact just this past weekend I was showing someone in their late-60s (who is quite smart, I might add) where the full screen button was on YouTube.

In that same vein is a new site called Grovo, which breaks down how to use popular Internet sites into short, two-minute video tutorials. Included are places like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs, Craigslist, and even Yelp.… Read more

Google reminded the world that it has a personal-health service Wednesday, announcing it has updated one of its lesser-used sites with a new look and feel.

Google Health is a service that allows users to upload personal health information to track their health status over time and find information on health issues, doctors, and other medical needs. Google has decided to make it easier for users to access their data through an improved dashboard that also lets users set personal health goals for themselves.

Anyone juggling several medications, or parents of children with extensive medical needs, might be interested in … Read more

Online real estate service Zillow.com on Tuesday announced a new CEO, Spencer Rascoff.

Rascoff was formerly Zillow's COO and vice president of marketing. Before joining the company, he was vice president of lodging at Expedia. And prior to that, Rascoff co-founded travel site Hotwire in 1999 and sold it to Expedia for $675 million in 2003.

Rascoff replaces Zillow co-founder Rich Barton, who will maintain his position as executive chairman of Zillow's board of directors. Co-founder Lloyd Frink will give up his role as president and become Zillow's chief strategy officer. The company said it's … Read more

Technology goes a long way toward making our personal and professional lives easier and more enjoyable. But what many people may not realize is that it can also be an integral tool in making the lives of others better. From Web-based volunteering to device donation, there are a plethora of ways you can do good with tech. Here are a few tips to get you started.

With the hectic schedules that many of us contend with day in and day out, it's easy to make an excuse not to volunteer your limited free time. But DON'T. With the variety of online volunteering options available today, you don't even have to leave the comfort of your home to help out a person or organization in need.

Even better, some companies have opportunities that only take a few minutes and can be done whenever you have a moment to spare, so you don't have to stress about fitting yet another obligation into an already crammed schedule. DO check out organizations like The Extraordinaries, which offers a platform that allows those with a variety of skills to participate in micro volunteering.

Pressed for time but have plenty of cold, hard cash to spare? DO visit the Web sites of causes close to your heart to find out about quick and easy ways to donate. A huge number of nonprofit organizations such as the Audubon Society, your regional PBS affiliate, Farm Aid, and many more now accept text donations, which are automatically added to your cell phone bill in easily-digestible increments of $5 to $10 (in most cases).… Read more

Business-ratings app Yelp just got a massive dose of competition from a much larger source.

Google updated its Maps for Android (version 4.4) on Monday in the Android Market to make its Place Pages business listings more usable. In doing so, Google's solution for taking business listings mobile resembles Yelp's Android feature set more than it ever has before.

Once you install the update (and in our case, reboot your Android phone), you will see a new Places icon in your list of applications. Tapping the icon pulls up a finger-friendly interface with icons for seven categories … Read more