business & innovation

Ever been in that situation where you're sat, mid-flight, desperate for sleep and your neighbour is insistant on constant chit chat? Or ever had a mid-flight business pitch from a fellow flight passenger, when work's the last thing on your mind?

You'll be glad to hear, then, that Latvian airline airBaltic have launched the world's first airline social system called 'SeatBuddy', powered by Satisfly. The system, which aims to resolve this common issue, pairs you up with like-minded passengers during your flight.

When I swung by Linkedin yesterday afternoon to be greated by my Linkedin Today headlines (CNET, Mashable, CBS News) showing that 6.5m Linkedin passwords were now in the public domain. Having spent a good deal of time at Chinwag's Careers Day explaining why building connections, maintaining a profile and asking for recommendations, it provides a salutory reminder that it's not just credit card and bank details that are vulnerable.

How would you fare if you're Linkedin connections disappeared? (If you're panicing enough not to read the rest of the post - here's Linkedin's advice on changing passwords) I bet there's a few recruiters out there who will blanch at the thought. The file of stolen passwords was posted on a popular hacking forum with a request for help in cracking them, which according to data security firm, Imperva, indicates this might just be the tip of the iceberg.

This October will see the return of one of the leading global multi-platform events in the mobile industry, Apps World, 2-3 October 2012. This year’s Earl’s Court event is set to be the biggest yet with over 5000 mobile marketers, developers, mobile operators and industry professionals expect for the two days.

As an official partner of Apps World 2012, Chinwag have teamed up with Six Degrees to give you the chance to win two full access passes to the event in October.

The importance of work experience was underlined at Chinwag's recent Careers Day (see our round-up blog for some top CV tips). There's plenty of competition for the choicest work experience or intern positions, because they provide such a powerful point of differentiation for candidates, not to mention heaps of useful job-hunting contacts.

So, with London's biggest collaborative event, Social Media Week returning to London in September (24-28), what better time to offer a lucky few the chance to get their teeth stuck into one of the largest digital events to hit London? Find out more about what's involved and how to apply below.

Remember the Chinwag Insight: Facebook Marketing Conference that took place last October? Well, it's back and it's bigger and better than before. A day packed full of case studies, panels, advice sessions and insight into marketing on the 800m+ social behemoth that is Facebook with the new commercial realities post-IPO.

This time around we're reaching an even broader digital marketing and agency audience by partnering with Our Social Times, who run events covering social media measurement, marketing and analytics to bring you a day packed with strategy insight, analysis and practical examples of how to access, engage and build value from Facebook's massive data-rich audience.

The first event of the series is taking place in London on Wednesday 18th July with future events planned for New York and Singapore later in the year. Whilst we confirm the full programme details there's a chance to save 50% off the standard rate with a Trust Ticket.

We held our first Careers Day as part of Digital Shoreditch on Wednesday 23rd May, supported by Vitamin T, and are extremely proud to say it was a brilliant success.

We've had some wonderful feedback from companies recruiting, mentors and job hunters alike and we're so glad that everyone found the day useful and productive.

Our CV Surgeries were particularly popular, with lines waiting outside the Little Top! If you missed out on a CV Surgery or couldn't make the day, the fantastic mentors have very kindly shared some of their advice below.