For the record 20 June

20-06-2008

by Emmet Ryan

Miller launches Irish MySpace page | Skype unveils new upgrade

Consultancy firm Silicon Ireland is hosting the first in a series of events aimed at Irish tech start-ups on 26 June at the City North Hotel in Dublin. The day will feature presentations form a number of Irish Web 2.0 companies, such as iFoods.tv, on how to develop a start-up and how to seek funding from venture capitalists. There will also be a 'Pitcher Hour', where four companies will pitch their business plan to a panel of experts, in the hopes of winning a prize of EUR2,000 worth of seed investment. In addition, a 'pitch booth' will be set up by Vator.tv, a San Francisco-based 'social networking for tech start-ups' firm. Budding entrepreneurs will be able to enter the booth, record a short pitch live, and upload it to the vator.tv website.

Miller Genuine Draft has launched an Ireland-specific commercial MySpace profile. The Miller MySpace concept was developed by Captivate Digital and will offer consumers the opportunity to interact with the brand on a virtual level. MySpace.com/millerireland will provide users with details on promotions and sponsorships. Miller MySpace will also feature the advertising campaign 'Easy Bar', as well as a documentary on the making of the ad.

Kieran O'Callaghan of Cork IT has won the 10th annual Siemens Innovative Young Engineer of the Year Award, which was presented in association with Engineers Ireland at a ceremony in Dublin on Thursday. The award is aimed at fostering innovation in engineering, while promoting the profession as a whole. O'Callaghan was awarded EUR2,000 while all the other finalists received EUR250.

Enterprise Ireland has announced the line-up for this year's National Innovation Forum: Making Innovation Deliver Results, which will be held in Croke Park on 11 September. The forum will address how innovation can deliver tangible results for organisations. Speakers include Robert Shelton, author of Making Innovation Work and Dr Elena Lurie-Luke, head of Bioscience Business Development and member of Proctor and Gamble's Connect & Develop team.

VoIP provider Skype has unveiled a test version of its latest Skype 4.0 upgrade. The new version offers improved video access and options to help users better manage calls. Skype is keen to promote its video calling service which it says accounts for around 28 percent of all call minutes through its service.

A third of all IT staff abuse administrative passwords to gain access to confidential data, according to a study by IT security firm Cyber-Ark. The information includes salary details, personal e-mails and board-meeting minutes. The survey of 300 IT professionals found that 47 percent of IT staff had accessed information not relevant to their role.

Finally, this is my last 'For the record', so for the time being for each of you: Courage.