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LinkedIn tweaks Jobs tool to better tap user connections

LinkedIn has redesigned its LinkedIn Jobs tool in an effort to show job seekers positions they can actually get.

The professional social network today announced the launch of the new tool, which now showcases open positions at companies where a person has allies, or "first degree connections" in LinkedIn speak, who can get the candidate noticed.

The new jobs tool, which will be rolled out to all 200 million members over the next few weeks, also features added search and management tools. For instance, LinkedIn Jobs now lets people more deeply refine their searches for open positions with … Read more

LinkedIn rewards all employees with iPad Minis

With Valentine's Day just hours away, LinkedIn employees are really feeling the love -- from their CEO.

Chief Executive Jeff Weiner surprised the company's 3,458 full-time employees Wednesday when he revealed at an all-hands meeting that they were all getting iPad Minis.

"Jeff 'Winfrey' Weiner decided to give every [LinkedIn] employee an iPad Mini today as a special reward for our recent results," Mike Grishaver, a product manager who works on the company's marketing solutions team, posted on the business social network.

Employees are getting 32GB iPad Mini models in white or black. Krista … Read more

Apple's iWatch and the smartwatch trend

Wednesday's CNET Update is watching the wrist:

The buzz is building over the rumored Apple iWatch. Today's tech news roundup looks at the latest report on the team working on Apple's smartwatch and the growth of this new category.

Along with the wrist, Under Armour wants to be the gadget for your chest. Armour 39 is the company's new fitness monitor set to take on the Nike FuelBand, and it is a sensor worn around the chest during a workout. If you want to live-track your progress, you'll need an iPhone app or the special $… Read more

SlideShare targets marketers with presentation-tracking tool

SlideShare, the online presentation property of professional social network LinkedIn, today released a new feature called Send Tracker to help presentation makers determine which of their slides are the most effective.

LinkedIn purchased SlideShare in May 2012. The online deck-hosting tool, only partially integrated with LinkedIn, accounts for 39 million monthly unique visitors, or 25 percent of LinkedIn's total monthly unique audience. SlideShare is also at the center of the public company's strategy to become a hub for professional content.

Send Tracker, a new tool for users who pay to use SlideShare, is specifically tailored toward marketers, salespeople, … Read more

Bang With Professionals goes out with a whimper

There is a sudden trend for casually obtained sex.

By "casually," I mean effortlessly, entirely without trying or even seeming to try.

The New York Times noticed it, describing how contemporary dating in New York is little more than the booking of an appointment.

Then along came "Bang with Friends," a site that, as a famous British ad campaign once held it, does exactly what it says on the tin. Or at least claims to.

Hot on its stilettos, there appeared Bang With Professionals, a site that decided to refine the casual sexual urges of the … Read more

LinkedIn eyes content as connection

Friday's CNET Update endorses your video-watching skills:

Stories from today's tech news roundup:

- LinkedIn eyes future as professional publishing hub

- NBC deems EveryBlock a dead end, turns off local news service

- Twitter enabling searches for tweets older than a week

- Guess what? Vine videos are longer than six seconds

- Zynga's FarmVille coming to a television near you

- Spotify releases a beta Windows Phone 8 app

- Get romantic with Spotify's Playlist Poetry

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links below.

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LinkedIn eyes future as professional publishing hub

LinkedIn spent much of 2012 transforming itself into a place where workers could stay and play a while -- a strategy that paid off handsomely. But the year ahead will be all about making the site the preferred destination for professional content, a transition that could make Wall Street's darling even more bewitching.

The professional network today reported earnings that blew the Street's socks off, so to speak. LinkedIn's stock is trading up close to 10 percent on the after-hours market because the company floored everyone with fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 35 cents, revenue of $… Read more

LinkedIn stock soars after Q4 blowout

Mark it down as a blowout. LinkedIn earned 35 cents per share on sales of $303.6 million in the fourth quarter ended December 31, up 81 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Analysts had expected earnings of 19 cents per share on $280 million in revenue.

Net income in the quarter soared 66 percent to $11.5 million, compared with net income of $6.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2011.

Even though gross profit margins edged down to 37.9 percent from 41.2 percent a year earlier, Wall Street may like the headway the … Read more

Sandberg turned down job as LinkedIn CEO in 2006

In the summer of 2006, Sheryl Sandberg, then an accomplished senior Google executive, received a call from LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. LinkedIn was searching for a new chief executive. Was she interested?

No.

"I thought it was a great opportunity, and after five years in the same position at Google I was ready for a new challenge," she said. "But the timing was tricky. I was 37 years old and wanted to have a second child. I told Reid the truth: regrettably, I had to pass...."

A few years later, Mark Zuckerberg came knocking; the rest … Read more