IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 12 December
12-12-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
UK enjoys best value 'triple play' services | Vivid Video sues PornoTube
The Irish Times reports that Dublin firm Skytek is set to play a major role in the future of space missions, with a new system that will take command of subsystems on the European Space Agency's laboratory, Columbus. Read more on this story as reported by ENN last Thursday.
The paper also notes that jewellery firm Tiffany has called eBay a "rat's nest" for counterfeiting and urged a US judge to rule that the online auctioneer is liable for infringement. Tiffany assailed eBay in a legal brief filed on Friday to US District Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan, as the companies await his ruling in a trademark infringement trial. eBay said in its brief that it was a "model citizen" in the fight against counterfeiting.
The Irish Independent says the European Commission has given its approval for Amsterdam to invest in a project to provide high-speed broadband access to Dutch households through a fibre-optic network. The EU executive ruled that the city's one-third stake in the EUR18 million project was in line with the EU's strict state aid regulations, because the municipality's terms of participation were the same as for private investors.
The Irish Examiner says that teachers are getting special training in the use of social networking sites in a bid to crack down on school bullying. The programme, which will be run by the National Centre for Technology in Education, has already gotten under way in parts of the country ahead of its official launch next February. The voluntary scheme will be held in 21 different locations and, according to the NCTE, is already oversubscribed.
The paper also notes that Waterford Institute of Technology has said it is encouraged by the number of budding undergraduates showing a keen interest in science and technology courses at the college. Close to 4,000 students and their teachers got an insight into life at third level on Tuesday as they gathered for the institute's annual open day. All of the IT-centred talks with students and their teachers were fully subscribed for the first time in years. "For the first time in years, we've noticed a marked increase in interest in IT on campus," said Olive O'Connor, the institute's marketing and communications manager.
According to the Financial Times, UK families enjoy some of the lowest prices for telephone, broadband and television in Europe, and more households are buying bundles of these services, according to a new survey. Britain had the best value "triple play" deal combining fixed-line phone, broadband and pay-TV in 2006 when compared with similar packages in France, Germany, Italy and the US, according to the study by UK telecoms regulator Ofcom.
The paper also says that the adult entertainment industry has joined the battle between old and new media companies over copyright issues on the internet. Vivid Video, one of the largest adult entertainment companies, has filed a suit against the Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network, accusing the company of allowing users to post Vivid's copyrighted materials on its PornoTube video-sharing website. The suit requests an immediate injunction against AEBN and at least USD4.5 million in damages. The case echoes Viacom's USD1 billion claim against Google and its YouTube site.
The Wall Street Journal reports that US telecoms giant AT&T has issued optimistic financial forecasts for 2008 and the next few years. The firm's stock rose 4.1 percent on Tuesday as it announced plans to return cash to investors with the biggest annual dividend in the company's history. The company unveiled a 12.7 percent increase in its dividend to USD0.40 and authorised the repurchase of 400 million shares. Based on Tuesday's closing price, the buyback plan would cost USD15.78 billion. AT&T said that over the next several years, it expects continued double-digit growth in adjusted earnings and mid-single-digit growth in revenue.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 