NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 5 March
05-03-2009
by Bryan Collins
Facebook gets Twitter-like makeover | EC eases up on Microsoft
Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has announced the framework for the future management of the radio frequency spectrum in Ireland. As Ireland makes the switch from analogue to digital television, a significant block of new spectrum known as the digital dividend will become available. The framework document published by Minister Ryan identifies the spectrum that will be released by analogue TV switch-off. The communications regulator (ComReg) is to shortly publish a consultation paper inviting submissions on this topic. "Radio spectrum is one of this country's greatest natural resources, essential for the operation of our digital, telecommunications, and broadcasting industries," said Minister Ryan.
Spam accounted for 79 percent of all e-mails heading for Irish inboxes during the month of February, which represented a decrease of 2 percent on January, according to the latest figures from security firm IT Force. The company analysed 576,740 e-mails it and its clients received and established that 452,834 of them were unsolicited. The most prevalent viruses during the month were: Worm.Prolaco-1, Trojan.Delf-5385, Worm.W32.Agent-1m, Worm.SomeFool.P and HTML.Nimda.
A local city council in the UK says it will save more than STG500,000 this year thanks to a solution from Irish firm Supplierforce. Peterborough City Council implemented the hosted supplier management solution as part of its 2007-2010 business transformation plan. The council claims it has already saved STG3.7 million with additional savings identified for 2009 and 2010. It cited several benefits including an enhanced procurement function, a category-mapped and segmented supply base and a facility for cross-govermental collaboration. "The Supplierforce solution enables Peterborough City Council to tightly manage and reduce the inherent risk across the supply base," said John Harrison, an executive director at Peterborough City Council.
The Irish Computer Society (ICS) has announced the inaugural ICS data protection conference. Security company keepITsafe is sponsoring the event which will take place on the April 2 at the Hilton Hotel, Charlemont Place, Dublin 2. Some of the topics up for debate at the conference include data breaches, record management, security, audits and individual rights. "It will also be a great platform for open discussion and topical debate around the issue of data protection and security," said Darragh Canavan, business development manager with keepITsafe.
The next big technological advancement is likely to come from the biotechnology industry, according to a poll conducted by NIPS Connect. Of those surveyed, 37 percent believe biotech will spawn the "next big thing" followed by 28 percent who advocated clean tech and 20 percent who picked software. The non-profit technology organisation surveyed a number of Northern Ireland's entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and academics. It revealed the findings at a Northern Irish industry event discussing microblogging site Twitter on Wednesday.
Facebook is changing its homepage so users can view regular updates from their contacts. The social networking site has implemented a public profile which allows users to view constant news feed updates from organisations, public figures and friends. The Twitter-like change comes after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said he admired the microblogging site because it can connect with people so quickly. Facebook has enlisted the help of Barack Obama, CNN and U2 to showcase the change. "We must build Facebook to give everyone the power to share anything they want and connect with anyone they want," Zuckerberg wrote in his blog.
Research in Motion (RIM) has announced the impending launch of its applications store BlackBerry App World. The app store, which was announced in April 2008, is due to be launched sometime this month. Anyone with a BlackBerry and a PayPal account will be able to purchase applications for their device once the store goes live. RIM is also currently inviting developers to submit applications which, if suitable, will be made available on the store. Blackberry App World follows on Apple's iPhone App Store and Google's Android Market.
The European Commission is ending its full-time monitoring of Microsoft. The Commission is satisfied that Microsoft has so far complied with its 2004 anti-trust ruling. In March 2004, Microsoft was fined EUR497 million for abusing its dominant market position to stop rivals in the desktop and server software markets. As a result Microsoft had to start selling copies of Windows without products like Media Player. The Commission now claims that countries can deal with such market abuse nationally. However, it is still investigating if the Redmond giant abused its position by shipping Windows with Internet Explorer.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 