IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 8 June
08-06-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Tesco gets into DVD rental | UK swamped with phone scams
The Irish Independent reports that British movie vending firm Movie Booth has signed a deal with Tesco that will see its machines placed in the retailer's Irish stores this week on a trial basis. Movie Booth will place DVD rental kiosks in three Tesco stores, including one at Clare Hall in Dublin. Movie Booth managing director Carlos Marco Rider said the Cheltenham-based company had been negotiating with Tesco for some time and hopes that additional kiosks will be installed in other Tesco stores in coming months.
The Financial Times reports that PhonepayPlus, the UK regulator for premium-rate phone services, is under pressure to tackle scams. Complaints about nuisance marketing calls and mobile fraud rose sharply last year as the economic downturn kicked in. PhonepayPlus received more than 24,000 complaints in 2008, more than twice the usual number. There have been 4,851 complaints in the first three months of 2009. "The number of complaints is far too high," said Paul Whiteing, PhonepayPlus chief executive. "I would expect around 10,000 complaints a year." As conditions had become tougher, he said, some companies were being "a bit sharper in their practices" and others were "just taking what they can get".
The paper also says that True/Slant, a news and blog network of professional journalists, writers and academics, test launches on Monday. The site, which aims to bring a new business model to online journalism, was conceived by Lewis Dvorkin, a veteran of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and a former senior executive of AOL News. The site features contributors on topics ranging from business to science and crime to politics and uses a model of web journalism that allows journalists and experts to easily post articles, pictures, and videos and to "curate" their community of readers. "What we're trying to do is combine traditional standards and values and standards of traditional media with dynamics of the web," said Dvorkin.
According to the Wall Street Journal, China plans to require that all PCs sold in the country as of 1 July be shipped with software that blocks access to certain websites. The government, which has told global PC makers of the requirement but has yet to announce it to the public, says the effort is aimed at protecting young people from "harmful" content. The primary target is pornography, says the main developer of the software, a company that has ties to China's security ministry and military. The new requirement could force PC manufacturers to choose between refusing a government order in a major market or opening themselves to charges of abetting censorship.
The Sunday Tribune writes that Apple is looking to open a shop in Dublin. The company is seeking to take advantage of falling rents in the city and has hired property advisers Jones Lang LaSalle. Apple's UK licensee will run the shop and is understood to have looked at premises such as the former Habitat shop at Suffolk Street and Dunnes Stores' former Grafton Street site.
The Sunday Times says that police in Britain are looking at surveillance tactics used during the Beijing Olympics as they prepare for the 2012 London Olympics. The information was contained in a leaked Scotland Yard report, which revealed that Chinese police used miniature microphones in thousands of taxis to spy on conversations and transmitted them to a police control room. If officers suspected criminal activity they could stop cabs through the use of disabling devices. Another operation is believed to have tracked athletes, visitors and journalists through microchips on their tickets and passes.
The Sunday Business Post writes that Enterprise Ireland has unveiled a new website -- americas.enterprise-ireland.com -- for client companies using social networking technologies such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The agency is encouraging Irish software companies to build up contacts in the North American market through these new technologies as part of a strategy to boost exports by Irish companies to the market. The pilot project is being tested for the US site and could be rolled out to other regional websites.
The same paper writes that Ballinasloe software company 2PM Technologies has built up EUR14.8 million in accumulated losses after posting a EUR142,000 net loss last year. The latest company accounts show it had a shareholders' fund deficit of EUR2 million for the year ending 30 June 2008. The firm, which develops software for the telecoms sector, raised loan capital of EUR131,000 during the year, but directors said further capital investment was needed before revenues could sustain operations. The accounts did not reveal turnover but in June 2007, the figure was EUR86,000, which was a rise from the previous year's EUR12,000.
Free! "In the papers" email newsletter -- get the full text to your in-box every business day. Email itp@enn.ie with 'subscribe' in the subject line.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 