IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 16 November
16-11-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
Maths teachers should be paid more, says ISA | Labour Party conference hits the web
The Irish Times reports that the Irish subsidiary of AOL recorded revenues of just over USD32 million in 2006, up from USD27.4 million in 2005. AOL Global Operations, which during the year changed its name from AOL Technologies Ireland, posted a pretax profit of USD1.29 million last year although it has accumulated losses of USD10.5 million. The Irish operation develops, tests and localises applications for a number of AOL websites and services.
If the Government is serious about making Ireland a knowledge economy, maths and science teachers should be paid a premium over others in the profession, according to a leading technology executive, the paper also reports. Peter McManamon, the head of the Irish Software Association's public affairs working group, says the industry is facing a crisis due to the drop-off in qualified engineers and programmers coming out of third-level colleges. McManamon and the ISA believe the best way to attract students to science and maths at second level is to have the highest quality teachers at second level. The ISA is also calling for bonus points in the college application system to be reintroduced for Leaving Cert results in honours maths.
The paper also says that Dublin residents may soon be able to report broken street lights, overflowing dustbins or other problems with city services by simply sending a picture message to Dublin City Council from their mobile phone. City councils, universities and telecoms companies in Dublin, Barcelona and Helsinki are collaborating on a project that will provide access for citizens to their city administration using a variety of mobile and online technologies. The EUR5 million Innovative Cities for the Next Generation (Icing) project is being funded as part of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme. A pilot project will take place in Dublin's Grangegorman area.
The Irish Examiner reports that CTC, a subsidiary of Irish-owned BPI Telecom, has signed a EUR5 million agreement with GEAR4, as noted by ENN on Thursday.
The paper also says that the Labour Party's first conference under leader Eamon Gilmore will be captured on video and made available on the web. The entire conference, which begins in Wexford on Saturday, will be available on a livestream using the Ustream channel, the live equivalent of YouTube. In addition, there will be online question and answer sessions with key Labour representatives, the videos of all key speeches will be uploaded to YouTube, and photographs will be uploaded to the image-sharing site Flickr.com. The party has also opened a Twitter account to provide updates via mobile phone.
The paper also notes that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern features in a home-made video on YouTube, wherein he complains that he would not be able to buy some of the houses in his area on a Taoiseach's salary. It is unclear when the video was shot.
The Financial Times says that BEA Systems, the software company that has recently been courted by Oracle, has re-stated nine years of accounts to reflect USD424 million of understated employee option charges, almost wiping out its reported profits for the entire period. At the same time, however, the embattled software company reported a rebound in its profit margins in the latest quarter, potentially strengthening its hand as it tries to make its case for resisting Oracle's recent USD7.1 billion bid. The profit numbers were the first BEA has reported since the middle of last year as it has been embroiled in an internal investigation into stock option backdating.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com plans to introduce its highly-anticipated electronic book device at a New York event on Monday, according to sources. Amazon, which generates three-fifths of its revenue from the sale of books, music and movies, has been trying to broaden that business. By developing and selling a device for reading books in digital form, Amazon hopes to stimulate the sale of books. Industry speculation about the new Amazon device, reportedly named "Kindle," has occurred for the past year.
The paper also says that Vonage Holdings must pay a higher amount to settle its patent dispute with Verizon Communications after a federal court denied the VoIP provider's request to rehear the case. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington said it had denied Vonage's appeal request. Because Vonage lost the appeal, the company will have to pay Verizon USD117.5 million. If it had won the appeal, Vonage would have paid USD80 million.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 