IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 10 January
10-01-2008
by Sylvia Leatham
Hanafin rejects Fine Gael plans for one laptop per child | Microsoft's Jaffe set for departure
The Irish Times reports that Iona Technologies has confirmed that it will lay off staff as part of an effort to reduce operating costs, as noted by ENN on Wednesday.
The paper also says that Apple plans to let US iTunes users rent movies as well as buy them for download, and it will add Warner Bros and Fox as suppliers, according to industry sources. Paramount, Walt Disney and Lion's Gate Entertainment are also expected to make films available to rent, sources said. Apple is expected to announce the rental service at its Macworld conference in San Francisco next week.
The Irish Independent reports that a man serving a lengthy sentence in Limerick Prison has become the first prisoner there to be convicted of illegal possession of a mobile phone inside the secure facility. Tommy Hayes from Limerick was sentenced to two months' imprisonment for the offence.
The paper also says that Fine Gael's plans for solving the maths and science problem in Irish schools just don't add up, Education Minister Mary Hanafin has claimed. Fine Gael has proposed that laptops be supplied to all 344,000 secondary school pupils for a total of EUR23 million. However, Minister Hanafin has poured scorn on the idea of providing laptops for all, saying that "...the total purchase cost alone of providing laptops for all second level students would amount to about EUR167 million." Fine Gael defended its costings, saying it had in mind the low-cost, small, durable XO-I laptop developed by Media Lab at MIT, but Jerome Morrissey, director of the National Council for Technology in Education said he did not think giving everybody an XO-I was a good idea as most Irish students already had much more sophisticated computers at home.
According to the Financial Times, shares in Chinese PC maker Lenovo fell by their steepest amount in 14 months after a broker's report warned of falling IT spending in the US amid fears of a recession. The shares slid 10 percent after the report from CLSA downgraded the computer maker to "sell", citing possible rising costs and slowing sales growth.
The paper also says that BBC's iPlayer service, which allows viewers to catch up on TV programmes over the internet, has seen a 14-fold increase in visits following its relaunch and first marketing campaign in December. More than half the traffic came from the BBC's own websites, which were heavily promoting the iPlayer service, according to figures from Hitwise. The BBC relaunched the iPlayer on 13 December and began an on-screen marketing campaign on Christmas day.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft's Bruce Jaffe, an executive charged with overseeing the software giant's mergers and acquisitions strategy, will be leaving the company, effective 29 February. Jaffe, vice president of corporate development, has been charged with overseeing key acquisitions at a time when the company has sought to compete with rival Google. "Bruce's contribution to Microsoft's growth is much appreciated and we wish him well in his next endeavour," Microsoft spokesman Bill Cox said. Cox did not respond to questions about why Jaffe is leaving, or what his plans are for the future.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 