Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 428
14-08-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
Maths results cause concern | Lock up your data, throw away the key | Ryanair gets tough on scraping | Calling Cell Block H | Profit warning at Babcock & Brown | Shh! It's a Secret: LG hits Irish market | Confusing times at the App Store | Gadgets for dummies
Maths results cause concern
The Leaving Certificate results, released on Wednesday 13 August, followed the now-familiar trend of poor performances in maths and science. With over 5,000 students failing ordinary and foundation level maths, making many of them ineligible for third-level courses, business groups called on the Government to do something about this "crisis". As well as the high failure rate for maths, only 17 percent (8,510) of students taking mathematics chose to sit the Higher Level paper. This figure was also a cause for concern. A key factor in Ireland's ability to create a 'knowledge society' is the production of highly-skilled graduates in areas such as maths and the sciences which can help attract tech giants to our shores. Meanwhile, the early release of statistics on the Leaving Cert results -- particularly the maths failure rate -- on Tuesday evening, before students collected their results on Wednesday morning, caused a great deal of distress among students. Fine Gael called on the State Examinations Commission to review this policy for next year.
Lock up your data, throw away the key
Data security has become a perennial issue for many public sector organisations, retailers and financial services institutions. Incidences of private and sensitive data falling into the wrong hands have come thick and fast over the past year. Despite general assurances that the issue is being taken seriously by organisations, still the problems persist. Last week 11 people were charged with stealing and selling over 41 million credit and debit card numbers hacked from computer systems at a number of major US retail chains, including TJX. An unknown number of Irish shoppers are among the victims of this massive international card fraud. Also last week, hundreds of Irish bank customers had their credit card details stolen following an attack on the online database of an unnamed Irish retailer, while it emerged earlier this week that a government laptop containing 380,000 social welfare recipients' details was stolen last year. This evidence suggests that organisations simply aren't taking the security issue seriously. In addition, a survey conducted in an industrial Dublin area by security firm Espion last week revealed that a quarter of the 847 wireless access points it identified were unsecured. These figures and the many stories of data going missing beg the question: just how many more security breaches is it going to take for the issue to hit home?
Ryanair gets tough on scraping
Ryanair has been ticking quite a few people off recently ("what's new?" I hear you ask) with its latest policy regarding third party websites. In July it won a court order stopping German travel firm Vtours from "unlawfully accessing Ryanair's website, and presenting Ryanair's flights and timetables for sale to Vtours GmBH customers". Ryanair has also taken legal action against Amsterdam-based firm BravoFly, which has offices in Dublin. Then the budget airline's stance against so-called screenscraping websites took a hard turn last week when Ryanair announced it would cancel any bookings made via any third party website, including sites like Lastminute.com and Ebookers. Ryanair said websites that "scrape" its content to allow bookings on a site other than Ryanair.com are doing so unlawfully, and it claimed that with about 1,000 people using third party sites to book Ryanair flights every day, scraping activity has put an "intolerable" load on its systems. However, Ebookers.ie marketing manager Steven Rice had a more cynical viewpoint on the move, which he believes was made because Ryanair wants to become a one-stop-shop for all travel products.
Calling Cell Block H
The prevalence of mobile phones in Irish prisons has now reached farcical proportions; in early August a mobile phone was smuggled into a prison nestled inside a birthday cake. Meanwhile, high-profile prisoner John Gilligan was recently placed in solitary after wardens heard him chatting away on his phone from his cell. (It brings new meaning to the term 'cell block'!). The issue of prisoners having ready access to their mobiles is not a new one though and, according to Fine Gael, moves to block mobile phone use by prisoners is being undermined by senior jail staff who insist on bringing their handsets to work. Likewise, a loophole that enables outside contractors to bring mobile phones into prisons is also proving to be an obstacle. Many commentators have suggested blocking the wireless signals in prisons so that calls simply cannot be taken or made, rendering mobile phones useless. This tactic has been deployed in some cinemas. Certainly, it would be a sure-fire way of addressing the issue of prisoners doing business via their mobiles or simply updating their Bebo profile!
Profit warning at Babcock & Brown
Babcock & Brown, the Australian investment fund that holds a stake in Eircom, has had a bit of negative press in recent days. A document leaked to the Australian media outlined the accusations of a disgruntled employee who suggested the management of the fund made "absurdly optimistic assumptions" on business models and of cultivating a culture of "personal greed and personal enrichment". Babcock & Brown launched an internal investigation last year following the allegations, which it says were ultimately unsubstantiated. Meanwhile, the firm warned that its profits for the first half of the year could drop by as much as 40 percent, with its full-year results likely to be even weaker thanks to large provisions on the value of its real estate and structured finance assets. Babcock & Brown owns nearly 8 percent of Eircom and its listed fund, Babcock & Brown Capital, owns 57.1 percent of the telco. News of Babcock & Brown's profit warning caused the fund's shares to drop 11.8 percent earlier this week.
LG joins the dots in Irish market
Mobile phone maker LG has been making serious strides into the global mobile market. For the second quarter of the year it leapfrogged Samsung in the US market to take the number two spot, coming up close on struggling Motorola, which is clinging on to first place. In addition, Jeremy Newing, head of marketing at LG's mobile division, told ENN that LG is currently the third largest mobile manufacturer in the world. The firm is currently making a concerted push into the Irish market and is aiming for a 10 percent share of the market by 2012, according to Newing. The launch of its Secret handset on Wednesday marked the phone maker's push into Ireland, where it hopes to target a wide segment of Irish consumers. "We don't target a specific sector of the market, rather we're aiming our devices at consumers who are uncompromising and are looking for a fashionable, well-designed handset featuring cutting-edge technology," explained Newing. With a dedicated office in Dublin and a new sales director for the country, Newing says that LG is now ready to make its commitment to the Irish market. "We have all the jigsaw pieces in place now and we're ready to bring it all together."
Confusing times at the App Store
It's been somewhat of an eventful week at Apple's iPhone App Store. The store, which is widely considered to be the best thing about the phone, has proven extremely popular, with over 60 million programs being downloaded since its launch, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Although the bulk of the applications are free, Apple is making significant money on the apps that carry price tags. In fact, if sales stay at the current pace, Apple stands to reap at least USD360 million a year in new revenue from the App Store. So, with all this good feeling, why has Apple all of a sudden started deleting applications from the store? According to reports, at least five apps have been unceremoniously binned so far, the most high-profile being the I Am Rich app, which set consumers back a whopping USD1,000 and has no function. (Makes you wonder what the eight people who reportedly downloaded it were actually thinking!) Box Office, a free app that provided movie times, locations and links to reviews was also shafted, as was Nullriver, which allowed people to use their iPhone as a wireless modem to access the internet over AT&T's cellular networks. Apple has yet to respond to any queries on this policy, which has quite a few industry watchers scratching their heads.
Gadgets for dummies
Despite the popularity of gadgets of all kinds among consumers, new research has revealed that we're baffled by devices such as digital cameras and sat-nav systems. A UK survey carried out by review website Revoo.com has revealed that over 25 percent of UK consumers struggle to use digital cameras properly, 21 percent say they have problems getting to grips with sat-nav systems, while 20 percent are confused by many functions on their mobile phones. The research also showed that 32 percent of people admitted to throwing a gadget across the room when they couldn't work out how to use it. Of course, it's the gadget's fault.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 