For the record 4 June

04-06-2008

by Deirdre McArdle

Electronic Arts buys social network for gamers | InterTradeIreland launches new cross-border programme

Fastrack to Information Technology Northern Ireland (FIT NI) was launched on Wednesday in Belfast. The initiative, which is based on a scheme launched in Ireland nine years ago, aims to provide unemployed people with ICT skills in order to access employment. The Irish programme has a 64 percent success rate, providing over 6,000 people with the ICT skills they needed to get a job. FIT NI has already run a number of pilot programmes in the Belfast area in collaboration with local training providers and community organisations.

Games publisher Electronic Arts has announced it has acquired ThreeSF, which is the parent company of Rupture, a social network for online gamers. Financial details of the deal were not revealed. Rupture is the brain-child of Shawn Fanning, who is most famous for creating peer-to-peer file-sharing site Napster.

A recent US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing by games publisher Activision suggests that Guitar Hero: Metallica is on the way. While there's been no official announcement on the topic, a note on Metallica's website all but confirms the rumours. The massively popular Guitar Hero series of games is taking a new turn on 29 June with the release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Contrary to previous versions of the game, which feature tracks from a range of bands, the Aerosmith version will just include tracks from the band's catalogue, a move that's likely to be replicated with a Metallica version of the game.

Employers' body IBEC and Enterprise Ireland are to host a two-day event on the subject of 'convergent technologies' later this month. The "Meeting of Minds" conference, due to take place on 17 and 18 June at the Crowne Plaza in Dublin Airport, will focus on "Ireland's potential to emerge as a global centre for convergent technology development, promising unsurpassed business opportunities for Irish-based life sciences, ICT and food companies". Speaking at the launch of the event, Helen Ryan, chair of the Irish Medical Devices Association, cited one example of convergence: "Personalised medicine, remote diagnostics and combination products such as drug eluting stents are enabled by the convergence in pharmaceuticals, medical technologies and electronics."

A EUR10 million cross-border business programme from InterTradeIreland was launched on Wednesday by Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan. This new phase of the Acumen programme, which is also supported by Enterprise Ireland and Invest NI, aims to help 400 companies North and South over the next four years to expand into their respective cross-border markets and develop their export potential. Making the announcement, the Tanaiste noted that cross-border trade had increased from EUR2.6 billion in 2002 to EUR3.1 billion in 2007.

The European Commission's Digital Libraries initiative has reached an agreement on copyright with libraries, archives and rights holders across Europe. A memorandum of understanding in relation to how to deal with 'orphan works' was signed by representatives from across the EU. Orphan works are books, films, photographs or songs for which it is impossible to identify or locate the rights holders. The agreement will help cultural institutions to digitise books, films and music whose authors are unknown, and make them available to the public online. The memorandum clarifies how searches for rights holders are to be handled by libraries, archives and the representatives of publishers, photographers, authors, record and film companies.