IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 10 May
10-05-2007
by Deirdre McArdle
Online advertising spend in 2006 hit EUR40m | Helix Health to create 20 jobs
The Irish Times reports that Eugene Dennehy, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, said technology is currently available which could block out mobile phone signals inside prisons. He made the comments after prison officers recovered 17 mobile phones, 11 phone chargers, eight batteries, five SIM cards and a variety of other items during a two-day search of Portlaoise Prison. Dennehy said clear policies and directions were needed from management in the detection and confiscation of phones.
The same paper reports that last year advertisers spent EUR13.5 million online across 90 Irish websites, according to the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI). This total excludes spend on Google, MSN, YouTube and other international websites and networks. Including those sites and classified and search advertising, the internet ad agency Ican estimates that the total online spend by Irish advertisers through 2006 was over EUR40 million.
The paper also says that healthcare technology company, Helix Health, which was formed from the merger of Medicom and Systems Solutions, is to create 20 new jobs over the next two years. The jobs will be focused in the areas of technical support and high-tech programming.
In more news of the search of Portlaoise Prison, the Irish Independent reports that a number of flat-screen TVs have been discovered in the cells of some inmates. One of the sets is understood to have been found in the cell of John Gilligan, who is serving a 20-year sentence for drug trafficking.
The paper also says that Jim Dunphy, chairman of the Chief Fire Officers Association, has warned that mobile phone chargers left plugged in and TV sets left on standby are considered a fire hazard. "The charger builds up heat and this must be able to dissipate. We have had fires caused by mobile phone chargers," he said, at the fire officers' annual conference in Dublin on Wednesday.
The same paper also reports that electrical equipment retailer Currys has stopped stocking audio cassettes, and will not replenish existing stocks once they are sold out. Read the full story on ENN.
The Wall Street Journal reports that MySpace says 12 presidential candidates will participate in a series of "Presidential Town Hall" meetings at college campuses across the the USA from September through December. In live MySpace webcasts, candidates will answer questions from MySpace users, sent via instant messaging. The town hall meetings are part of a plan to get the "MySpace generation" engaged in the political process, says site co-founder Chris DeWolfe.
The same paper says that IBM is to start a new business aimed at helping its customers cut down on energy use in data centres, and as a result reduce their electricity bills. IBM is to make the announcement on Thursday at a press event in New York where it will also explain its own plans for reducing power consumption.
The Financial Times reports that software giant Adobe is to launch a new piece of software later this year that will see it encroaching on Microsoft's turf. The software, called Apollo, has been designed to bridge the worlds of internet and desktop computing. Internet applications written for the Apollo platform will run outside a web browser on a PC, mobile phone or other device. eBay is already understood to be readying an Apollo-based application whereby eBay would be launched through an icon on the desktop instead of through a browser.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 