IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 19 December
19-12-2008
by Sylvia Leatham
Sex offenders may get GPS monitoring | Palm posts net loss
The Irish Times reports that the Government plans to launch an 'Innovation Fund Ireland', a series of investment funds for start-up companies worth a total of EUR500 million, as reported by ENN on Thursday.
The paper also notes that Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern is considering the GPS monitoring of sex offenders during their first six months of release. The Minister told the Dail that if it was technically and economically viable, and if constitutional considerations did not prevent a statutory scheme, he envisaged it could operate on the basis of a court application prior to the offender's release. "This GPS monitoring would allow any disturbing pattern to be identified at an early stage and provide objective evidence of same in the case of any Garda application to court for a sex offender order," said Ahern.
The Irish Independent says that US pharmaceutical research company PPD is to create 250 Irish jobs, as noted by ENN.
The paper also notes that NASA has successfully tested the first deep-space communications network, loosely based on the internet. The network was able to send images between the Earth and a NASA science spacecraft located more than 20 million miles away. The software used was a joint venture between NASA and a Google vice-president.
The Irish Examiner says that new research suggests that efforts to improve student interest in science will remain unsuccessful unless reforms in teaching and out-of-school activities are increased. A study by the Education Research Centre in Dublin found that young people studying the new Junior Certificate science curriculum are no more interested in biology and chemistry than those who studied the older syllabus. The report's authors said major efforts are needed to make science more appealing.
The Financial Times reports that Palm posted more than a half a billion dollars of net losses in its fiscal second quarter, as it lost more customers to rival smartphone makers. The Treo smartphone maker said its Q2 net loss widened to USD506.2 million, or USD4.64 per share, from a loss of USD8.85 million, or USD0.09 per share, a year earlier. Excluding a change in valuation allowance for its US deferred tax assets of USD396.7 million, Palm recorded a loss of USD80.2 million, or USD0.73 per share. Revenue fell 45 percent to USD192 million on the back of 13 percent lower delivery volumes for smartphones. "We're working through an undeniably difficult period," said Ed Colligan, Palm CEO.
The Wall Street Journal says the music industry is set to drop its legal attacks on individual pirates as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music theft. The decision represents an abrupt change in strategy for the industry, which has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people since 2003. Critics say the legal offensive ultimately did little to stem the tide of illegally downloaded music, and it created a public relations disaster for the industry, whose lawsuits targeted, among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl. Instead, the Recording Industry Association of America said it plans to try an approach that relies on the co-operation of internet service providers. The RIAA said it has worked out preliminary agreements with major ISPs under which people who upload music may eventually be cut off from their internet service.
The paper also notes that software maker Oracle's profit fell 1 percent in its second fiscal quarter, its first decline in three years. In a fresh sign that businesses have cut back on tech spending, the company also reported its first year-on-year decline in new software sales since 2003, and said these sales could fall again in the current quarter. Oracle said net income for the period was up 10 percent from the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 6 percent, but would have increased 12 percent had the dollar not strengthened.
The same paper reports that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has posted record sales for its latest quarter. RIM recorded revenue of USD2.78 billion for its fiscal third quarter, up 66 percent from USD1.67 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company added 2.6 million new subscribers. Net income for the quarter was USD396.3 million, or USD0.69 a share, up 7 percent from USD370.5 million, or USD0.65 cents a share, a year earlier. However, the Canadian firm's aggressive push into consumer markets is continuing to erode its profit margins. The company has seen its gross margin drop from 50.7 percent a year ago to 45.6 percent for the current quarter, and predicted a further drop to between 40 and 41 percent for the next quarter.
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