IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 7 March
07-03-2008
by Sylvia Leatham
Government to shut down Reachservices.ie | Motorola eliminates chief marketing officer
The Irish Times reports that the Government is to spend EUR200 million on the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Read the full story on ENN.
The paper also says that the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) is inviting applications from companies interested in operating three commercial, digital television multiplexes. The multiplexes will carry up to eight digital channels each and could go live from 2010 onwards. The contracts will run for 12 years. The multiplexes will offer a range of interactive services and support high-definition broadcasts that are not possible through the current analogue frequency. Analogue is due to be switched off between 2012 and 2015.
The paper also notes that Yahoo has extended a deadline to nominate board directors, buying it time to pursue alternatives to Microsoft's USD41.7 billion offer, while also giving Yahoo room to negotiate a friendly deal with Microsoft. The original 14 March deadline could have catapulted Microsoft and Yahoo into a formal proxy contest next week. Instead, Yahoo said this week the deadline would fall 10 days after it announces the date for its annual shareholder meeting, as yet unscheduled.
The Irish Independent reports that Reachservices.ie, a government website that cost nearly EUR500,000 to set up, is being shut down because it duplicates the work of Citizensinformation.ie. Both websites were set up by the Department of Social and Family Affairs. At a Public Accounts Committee meeting on Thursday, the Department confirmed the four-year-old Reachservices was being shut down. At one stage, it was receiving only 18,000 visitors a year, compared to the 2.5 million visitors to the longer-established Citizensinformation site.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Hewlett-Packard has announced a reorganisation of its research arm, HP Labs, with the aim of narrowing its focus and generating a faster pay-off. "We're making fewer, bigger bets," said Mark Hurd, company chief executive. HP Labs director Prith Banerjee told reporters that his division will cut the number of projects it is pursuing from about 150 to as few as 20. The unit's 600 researchers will be developing new technologies for managing increased information flow, internet-based computing, moving information between devices and environmental sustainability, Banerjee said.
The paper also reports that Motorola's chief marketing officer has left the company, the latest in a string of high level departures at the equipment maker. Kenneth C. "Casey" Keller Jr, a long-time marketer of Heinz ketchup and Pringles chips hired in October 2006 to revitalise the Motorola brand, left the company last Friday. Motorola said it was eliminating Keller's job, and would divide oversight of marketing between two executives, Jeremy Dale and Eduardo Conrado.
The Financial Times says that Sony is in talks with console rival Microsoft about offering a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360, according to a senior executive. The Japanese electronics maker has until now touted Blu-ray as an advantage its PlayStation 3 holds over Microsoft's console. Microsoft had backed Toshiba's rival HD-DVD format and offered a HD-DVD drive that can be plugged into the Xbox 360. But after Sony's victory last month in the high-definition DVD format war, Stan Glasgow, Sony Electronics US president, said the two sides were now talking about Microsoft adopting Blu-ray.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 