NEWS IN BRIEF
For the record 10 May
10-05-2007
by Deirdre McArdle
Kerry software firm to expand to UK market, create jobs | Intel launches upgrade to Centrino
Kerry-based software company Payback Payroll has announced it plans to expand its operations, creating new jobs in the process. From May 2007, the company will start exporting a new version of its payroll software to the UK market. A spokesman for the firm told ENN it was hiring two people with immediate effect, and had ambitious plans to acquire a similar share of the UK market as it has in Ireland. "We expect to hire a further 10 employees on a phased basis over the next few months as we ramp up UK sales," the spokesman said.
Chip giant Intel has launched the "Santa Rosa" upgrade of its Centrino notebook platform, which will run on laptops from manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo. Intel says the new version of Centrino increases battery life and enables faster computing.
Videogame publisher Electronic Arts is to launch a game based on the hugely popular animated TV show The Simpsons. The game, for now dubbed The Simpsons Game, will be made available for the Nintendo Wii in the third quarter of this year.
Dublin-based Norkom has been named the "Best New Listing in Ireland" at IR Magazine's Annual Awards for excellence in Investor Relations. The security software firm joined the Irish Stock Exchange in June last year. Fay Sanders, international editor at IR magazine said: "Norkom's performance since IPO and its IR management strategy were cited as outstanding and the key criteria that resulted in Norkom being selected as the best new listing in Ireland."
The sounds of the planet, from cracking glaciers to midnight in the jungle, are to be linked to Google Earth, according to The Register. This will enable users of the application to actually hear what a place sounds like. Google has linked up with a company called Wild Sanctuary to make this happen. Bernie Krause, the founder of Wild Sanctuary, has spent 40 years collecting sounds from around the world and has accumulated over 3,500 hours of recordings.
Bray-based hardware distributor PC Cubed has signed a deal to distribute Metrologics' range of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) in Ireland. PC Cubed has been distributing Metrologics barcode scanners for over 12 years. The first of the Metrologics PDAs to be delivered onto the Irish market by PC Cubed is the Optimus.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 