For the record 2 October

02-10-2007

by Stephen Errity

Dublin firm chosen for US university password system ¦ Spam rises 39 percent in September

People with disabilities are less likely to use the internet than others, according to a new report commissioned by the communications regulator ComReg. The study revealed that only 24 percent of people with disabilities have internet access, compared to 48 percent of the non-disabled population. The study found that people with disabilities are almost half as likely as the overall population to have home internet access and are also less likely to feel that they will have a connection in the future.

The level of spam e-mail in circulation rose by 39 percent in the month of September, according to the latest figures from security firm SoftScan. Just under 94 percent of all e-mails received by people using SoftScan products were classified as spam last month. "Since June this year we have seen an increase of 95 percent in the amount of spam we stop each month," said SoftScan's CTO, Diego d'Ambra. The number of e-mails containing viruses remains relatively low at 0.14 percent, with the majority of those being 'phishing' attempts.

RTE announced Tuesday that it had selected IrishJobs.ie as its partner for a new jobs channel on RTE.ie. The channel also offers a guide to the average salaries across various sectors, the top five jobs, employment news from RTE Business, the top 30 most frequently asked questions at interviews and a 'tailor your CV' tool. Separately, RTE announced that it will be improving its site's multimedia capabilities and expanding the range of streamed programmes on offer thanks to a high bandwidth metro Ethernet connection supplied by Complete Telecom.

Dublin-based SmartCentric Technologies has been selected by the School of Dentistry at the University of Loma Linda in California to provide the technology for its new password management system. The university will use SmartCentric's SmartCity Passport Wallet, which takes the form of a smartcard issued to each faculty member. The card stores their name and password and can be inserted into smartcard readers in students' laptops when they are reviewing or approving coursework. A four-digit PIN is also entered for an additional level of security.

NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin, launched its 'Entrepreneurs Live!' seminar series on Tuesday. The seminars feature Irish entrepreneurs talking about their experiences of setting up and running their businesses. The first seminar was delivered by Stephen Flood, managing director of Gold Investments, and other speakers scheduled to appear include Howard Beggs of Helix Health, Philip Sharpe of Cape Technologies, Raymond Russell from Corvil and Anne Heraty, founder of the CPL Group. The seminars take place each Tuesday in UCD until 20 November.

UK indie rock band The Charlatans have announced they will be giving away their new album as a free download on Xfm.co.uk. The first single from the album will be available to download from 22 October, with the full record being released early next year. The band's manager, Alan McGee, said: "The band will get paid by more people coming to gigs, buying merchandise, publishing and sync fees. I believe it's the future business model."