For the record 1 May

01-05-2007

by Maxim Kelly

Irish techies sponsor World Challenge sail race | ComReg publishes report on businesses and broadband

Maritime Telecommunications Company Blue Ocean Wireless announced the launch of the Blue Ocean Wireless Round the World Challenge on Tuesday. The Irish company is sponsoring veteran British yachtsman Tony Bullimore's attempt to break the solo, non-stop round-the-world sailing record of 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds set by Ellen MacArthur in 2005.

International newswire Reuters has bought search company ClearForest. The deal is awaiting shareholder approval. Reuters was already a customer of ClearForest, a privately-owned US firm that specialises in creating tagging systems to categorise data for firms that produce a large amount of text.

A survey of 1,000 search engine users in Britain by BigMouthMedia has found that 30 percent do not trust Google to keep their search histories private. Almost 40 percent felt satisfied with Google, but the remaining 32 percent were unsure. Google out-performed Yahoo and Microsoft's Live Search in the survey as it was the only search engine which enjoyed more 'Yes' answers than 'No': 26 percent of web users trusted Yahoo to keep their search behaviour private and 23 percent trusted MSN with the data.

ComReg has published results of a survey examining use of the internet and broadband amongst Irish businesses between 2005 and 2006. By June 2006 almost nine-out-of-ten businesses had internet access, while 69 percent of firms with the internet used a broadband connection. This is an increase of 9 percent on the last time businesses were surveyed. Financial, construction and service sector companies were the most likely to have internet access.

Technology consultancy BWCS is urging train operators to develop internet connections for train passengers and staff all over the world. "Yet, despite great progress in this sector and in the face of overwhelming public demand for such services, only a handful of train companies have so far managed to supply customers with an internet connection," said Graham Wilde, chief exec of BWCS. "The latest example of this is the Heathrow Express, which now allows passengers to hook up to the internet as they travel between Paddington and London's major airport."