Techies and Supermodels; Vista Hacked; 11-Year Old Tech Guy

Posted by Ben Worthen

If you don’t file your techie’s H-1B application tomorrow a model could get it

* What do techies and supermodels have in common? TheyÂ’re both allowed to work in the U.S. because of the same visa program, the H-1B. The filing period for the next wave of H-1Bs begins tomorrow, meaning immigration lawyers and HR pros should plan to wake up a little earlier than normal. Last year, the government received 124,000 applications for 65,000 visas; the cap was reached the first day, and all applications received after the second day were automatically rejected. This year, in anticipation of similar demand, the government will only accept applications through the first week of April. The visas will be awarded through a lottery.

* On Friday we told you that the Mac was the first computer broken into at the so-called hacker super bowl, a contest that turned computer experts loose on a Mac running AppleÂ’s operating system, a PC running MicrosoftÂ’s Vista operating system, and a PC running Linux. The Vista PC went next: It was compromised after someone loaded AdobeÂ’s Flash software onto the machine. The Linux PC made it through the contest Â– all three days Â– without getting hacked.

* We thought weÂ’d temporarily set aside our concern about child-labor laws to tell you about the person in charge of technology at the Victory Baptist School in Arkansas: Jon Penn, age 11. Penn, whose hobbies include reading computer magazines and testing virtualization software, took over when the schoolÂ’s previous tech guy quit on short notice, according to Network World. He spent $2,000 of the schoolÂ’s money on security technology and is partly responsible for the decision to block access to MySpace and other social-networking Web sites.

Image: Camilla Finn