[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m14PPhKclk&w=560&h=315]

Dice News Update: Next year could be a good one for jobs in IT... Unless you're the CEO... And remember: Friday is Steve Jobs Day. All on this week's Update. Observers say 2012 will be a good year for IT employment. For example, InfoWorld thinks it’s a great time to be in IT. It notes Gartner’s claim that global IT spending will rise by 7.1, which is higher than its original estimate of a spending increase of 5.6 percent. And a recent survey by the Society for Information Management reveals that boosting productivity and cutting costs will be the number four priority for CIOs in 2012. Why is that good? Because for the last several years, those had been their top priorities. One researcher said companies aren't looking to IT as the first place to slice and dice anymore. Two-thirds of the companies have already shipped jobs offshore, and very few plan to offshore additional jobs in 2012. And since the value of offshore contracts declined by 18 percent during the second quarter this year, your job is probably safe from that -- at least for the time being. Finally – the big question: Will you get a raise in 2012? Maybe. Some 94 percent of CIOs predict that their IT staff salaries will be greater than or equal to this year's. Pity the poor CEO. The San Francisco Chronicle says no one wants to lead a tech company anymore. All the boardroom shenanigans in companies like HP and Yahoo suggest the attraction of heading up a big tech company isn’t as bright as it once was. Today, tech hotshots would rather get into venture capital, or create their own startups rather than deal with entrenched corporate interests that move slowly and stall innovation. As the job gets tougher, there are fewer talented leaders who have the skills and motivation to do it. October 14 will be the day the iPhone 4S is available in stories. It’ll also be a Steve Jobs day. Organizers are urging anyone who wants to pay tribute make “Steve Jobs” a conversation subject on Facebook or Twitter. If you want to go a step further, they suggest dressing up like Steve Jobs – really. You can choose to wear just a black turtleneck, or go all out with Levi’s 501 jeans and a pair of New Balance. A lot of Apple fans are seeing the 4S as just another iPhone. They’ve dubbed it the “iPhone for Steve” because it’s the last device to be announced while he was still around. When the phone was first launched, people were talking about Siri, it built-in executive assistant, or the fact that it wasn’t the iPhone 5. Now, that doesn’t seem to matter that much. Like our blogger Vincent Chow says, the iPhone 4S is the iPhone for Steve Jobs, and it will always be remembered that way.