IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 18 August
18-08-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Wikipedia posts milestone entry | Prisons to get Tetra radio system
The Irish Times reports that "hundreds of millions" of euro could be taken off the estimated EUR6 billion bill to upgrade Ireland's electricity distribution system, according to Eirgrid, the State agency responsible for the network. Eirgrid, which is planning to upgrade and extend the national grid over 15 years, said new technology means it should be able to cut the estimated cost of upgrading key parts of the network. The technology consists of conductors that have the capacity to carry more power than existing equipment.
The Irish Independent says that Benex Ltd, a medical technology firm employing 14 people in the Shannon Free Zone, last year posted a turnover of nearly EUR1 billion. According to accounts just filed, Benex recorded sales of EUR980 million in the year ended September 2008. The company is a subsidiary of US medical group Becton, Dickinson & Co. Last year, Benex paid EUR90 million in dividends to its parent, after which Benex had accumulated profits of EUR84.1 million.
The paper also reports that the English version of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has posted its 3 millionth article. The article was about a Norwegian soap star called Beate Marie Eriksen. The encyclopaedia is now the largest of its kind online. The website has about 10 million registered users and over 17 million pages.
The same paper notes that a new version of the Facebook app for the iPhone has been submitted to Apple for review, according to one of its developers. Joe Hewitt, a software engineer at Facebook, announced on Twitter that he had "just uploaded Facebook for iPhone 3.0 to the App Store for review". Hewitt said he would post more details about the application, currently being examined by Apple's experts, on Facebook next week.
The Irish Examiner says that a government knife crime prevention website called How Big Do You Feel does not "speak to young people", according to Dr Tony Bates, founding director of Headstrong, a mental health support network for young people. "It is a very empty website and doesn't seem to do anything or give any information. Telling a young person to go to the Garda if they see someone with a knife is not going to happen. This is not youth-friendly," he said.
The paper also says that the Prison Service is to begin rolling out a high-tech digital radio system in jails next month. The Garda has already installed the Tetra digital network and the HSE ambulance service is also due to bring it online next month. The system provides for secure internal communications and also allows the different services to talk to each other, if necessary, particularly in cases of emergencies.
The paper also reports that over 17,000 students accepted college places in eight hours of activity on the Central Applications Office (CAO) website on Monday. The facility opened at 6am as almost 47,000 were offered courses in third-level colleges, with Leaving Certificate points rising in arts, science, nursing and teaching degrees. The CAO will list courses which still have places to fill from midday on Tuesday on its website, www.cao.ie.
In more news of the Leaving Cert, the paper says that the growing interest in green technology should prompt greater student interest in engineering and related courses, according to Engineers Ireland. "While it is understandable that the demand for construction-related engineering courses such as civil engineering has diminished, it is encouraging that there is increased demand for certain courses in areas such as biopharmaceutical and environmental engineering," said Engineers Ireland director general John Power. He said this shows that students are starting to recognise the diverse nature of engineering and the fact that there are opportunities in new emerging sectors.
The Wall Street Journal says that 28-year-old Albert Gonzalez, believed by prosecutors to be one of the nation's cybercrime kingpins, was indicted on Monday, along with two Russian accomplices, on charges that they carried out the largest hacking and identity-theft caper in US history. Federal prosecutors alleged the three masterminded a global scheme to steal data from more than 130 million credit and debit cards by hacking into the computer systems of five major companies, including Hannaford Bros supermarkets, 7-Eleven and Heartland Payment Systems, a credit-card processing company.
The paper also says that five Facebook users are suing the social network in a California court, alleging that the website violates several state laws aimed at protecting consumer privacy. The complaint accuses Facebook of failing to compensate its users for harvesting their personal data and for violating laws that protect consumers from having information they upload to the site shared with third parties, such as advertisers. In a statement, Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the company sees "no merit to this suit and we plan to fight it".
According to the Financial Times, PC maker Dell has revealed that it is preparing to enter the smartphone business. Confirmation of Dell's long-rumoured smartphone intentions came as China Mobile showed off a model of a Dell smartphone running Google's Android operating system. Dell described the handset as a "proof-of-concept prototype" and said the company was working with the Chinese mobile operator on launch plans. Dell did not disclose further details or timing.
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.
Building your list: Denise Cox says that in order to build a subscription list you need to be proactive about securing subscriber attention.
