In The Papers 4 September

04-09-2008

by Sylvia Leatham

Babcock & Brown appoints Irishman as CFO | Chrome wars: Microsoft vows to fight back

The Irish Times says that Gamblers Anonymous has reported a big increase in young men seeking help, a trend it attributes to the rise in internet gambling. "When I gambled, I gambled in the local bookies. When he closed for the day, I stopped gambling. Now all you need is a credit card and a phone and you can do it 24 hours a day," said the organisation's public relations officer.

The paper also says that a group of Irish secondary school students have become the first pupils worldwide to replace their academic books with electronic books. Read more on this story as reported by ENN last week.

The paper also notes that US telecoms group Arris is to invest EUR45 million in a strategic research and development project at its Irish operations in Cork, as reported by ENN on Wednesday.

According to the Irish Examiner, the brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin has described the prison system as a "joke" following successive cases of prisoners using mobile phones. Jimmy Guerin made his comments after it emerged that Gardai were investigating the man convicted of murdering his sister for suspected involvement in organising a massive drugs and guns shipment via a mobile phone from his cell in Portlaoise Prison.

The paper also says that Gardai believe that thousands of euro worth of MP3 players and other electrical equipment stolen from a retailer in a Cork suburb could be sold on at knock-down prices. The goods were stolen from the Q&A store in Ballincollig early on Wednesday morning. "People who are offered these MP3 players or any other electrical equipment at a very reduced price should be suspicious, especially if they are coming from an unusual source," a Garda spokesman said.

The Irish Independent says that Europe's largest electrical retailer, DSG, saw sales fall 7 percent in the first quarter. Read more on this story on ENN.

The same paper reports that Australian asset management firm Babcock & Brown, which owns 8 percent of Eircom, has appointed Irishman John Fanning as chief financial officer. Fanning, who is a non-executive director of Eircom, is also a director at Babcock & Brown Capital Management, which owns 51 percent of Eircom. Fanning will replace Michael Larkin, who was appointed chief executive of the company in place of Phil Green. Fanning will retain his position on the board of Babcock & Brown Capital Management and a spokesman for Eircom said there were also no plans for him to relinquish his role at the telecoms firm.

The paper also reports that Microsoft has vowed to fight back against the launch of the Chrome web browser by Google, promising new features for Internet Explorer and putting itself on alert for a challenge to Google on competition grounds. On the back of the launch, Microsoft highlighted the new privacy features of IE8. Insiders will examine whether Google oversteps any legal boundaries with the way it links its browser, its core search engine and its new office software.

In more news of Chrome, the Financial Times reports that Google launched the web browser in part to stop Microsoft from "Balkanising" the internet by carving it up in ways that favoured its own services, Google's CEO has said. Eric Schmidt said Google's Chrome browser had been built mainly to create a more secure and stable platform for internet users. However, he also conceded that "there is a defensive component" to the decision as Google tries to prevent Microsoft from using its dominant Internet Explorer browser to outflank it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Sanjay Kumar, the incarcerated former chief of software firm CA, claims that several current and former directors were aware of the company's fraudulent accounting practices and helped hide the information from government investigators. Kumar made the allegations in an affidavit obtained by lawyers for shareholders who are suing over the improper accounting. None of the officials, including a former US senator who remains a company director, have been charged with wrongdoing, and all denied the allegations. CA was embroiled in one of the largest accounting scandals of the past decade, eventually admitting to some USD2.2 billion in mis-stated revenue.

The paper also notes that Yahoo has renewed a distribution deal with Verizon Communications, one of many partnerships the internet firm hopes will draw more visitors to Yahoo properties. Under the deal, users who sign up for high-speed internet services with Verizon will be able to select a start page of a co-branded Verizon-Yahoo home screen that features Yahoo's search, e-mail and instant-messaging products. Users can also choose to use services from Microsoft or Time Warner's AOL, but Yahoo will be the first option on the list under the new agreement.

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