IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 8 February
08-02-2008
by Sylvia Leatham
Schoolkids to learn social networking safety | Government admits 80 laptops gone missing
The Irish Times reports that Irish children will now learn how to use social networking sites safely, as part of the Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) curriculum taught in the first three years of secondary school. Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin launched a classroom resource pack for teachers that assists them in teaching children how to stay safe online. It is being backed up with a series of seminars for parents, in-service training for SPHE teachers, and voluntary workshops for both primary and secondary teachers that show them the basics of social networking.
The Irish Independent reports that BT Ireland's earnings rose 20 percent year-on-year during the third-quarter, as the company added more broadband subscribers and felt the impact of "enhanced efficiencies". Releasing the figures, the company's UK parent did not divulge further details for its Irish operations, but the performance suggests continued growth for the Irish arm.
The paper also says that Irish consumers are paying about 20 percent less on average than their European counterparts for roaming calls, according to ComReg. Read more on this story on ENN.
The same paper says that more than 80 government laptops have been stolen or have gone missing over the past five years. In addition, 19 Blackberrys and 10 memory keys have been lost or stolen, and four government-controlled websites were recently the victim of cyber-attacks and telephone hacking incidents. Government officials have insisted no sensitive or confidential information was compromised during the incidents.
The Irish Examiner reports that the head of a secondary school has defended a ban on mobile phones after a parent complained to Gardai when his son's phone was confiscated in class. Gardai in Croom, Limerick, declined to get involved in the matter after parent David Docherty contacted the local station.
The paper also notes that angry parents protested on Thursday against Eircom plans to erect a digital radio mast 50 metres from a national school. Eircom wants to construct a 15 metre support mast, carrying three radio aerials for use by the emergency services, adjacent to Ballincurrig national school, near Midleton, Cork. Parents said they are not against having a mast in the locality, but are concerned that its location is not appropriate.
According to the Financial Times, German chip giant Infineon has cut its earnings and sales forecasts for the fiscal year to the end of September, on the back of uncertainty about the economy and adverse exchange-rate effects. Infineon said that excluding troubled memory-chip subsidiary Qimonda, sales would rise less than 10 percent in fiscal 2008. Last month, it had forecast that sales growth in its two units -- automotive and communications -- could hit 10 percent. Investors, already spooked by reports of weak demand from Cisco, dumped Infineon stock, which closed down 13.6 percent on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal says that European regulators are examining whether Microsoft violated antitrust laws during a struggle last year to ratify its Office software file format as an international standard. EU antitrust officials have asked Microsoft for information about its activities in the standards-setting process and are stepping up scrutiny of the issue, according to sources. The file format in question is computer code that describes how a document such as a letter or spreadsheet is digitally stored.
The paper also reports that telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent has posted a fourth-quarter net loss of EUR2.58 billion and said it would scrap its dividend payment. Excluding non-cash goodwill write-downs related to the former Lucent's businesses, the company posted an adjusted fourth-quarter net loss of EUR48 million compared with a EUR618 million loss a year earlier. Revenue grew to EUR5.23 billion from EUR4.42 billion a year earlier.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 