Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 429
21-08-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
Galway consumers hit by card scam | CAO offers highlight falling demand for tech courses | Homegrown firms tune in to web TV trend | Daft makes wise investment | Firms boost IT spending, HP happy with that | Apple bruised by iPhone issues | Google's Android to come to life in November
Galway consumers hit by card scam
Another week, another bank card scam. This time around Gardai have uncovered an ATM and credit card cloning set-up that has hit thousands of people in the Galway area. This latest operation follows a case that came to light over the weekend in the east of the country, where criminals pretending to be bank engineers tampered with point-of-sale terminals in a number of retailers, fitting them with skimming equipment. Fortunately, a number of retailers realised their units had been altered and notified Gardai quite quickly, minimising the damage. Despite the quick reactions though, thousands of cards are believed to have been affected. In the Galway case, reports have suggested that those involved used a different modus operandi; Gardai suspect that someone working in the shops at the centre of the investigation assisted in the scam. It has emerged that the criminals had already succeeded in cloning a large number of cards and stealing thousands of euro before Gardai were notified. It's believed the cards were used overseas in countries such as Canada where Chip and PIN technology has not been rolled out yet. It's difficult to know how to protect against these types of scams, particularly where insiders are involved. Key advice from the Irish Payments Services Organisation urges consumers to be wary of large transactions on their accounts, and banks and credit card companies will no doubt be more vigilant of any unusual transactions.
CAO offers highlight falling demand for tech courses
As the CAO offers arrived in post boxes this week, the worrying trend of students not opting for technology courses became all too clear. Many third-level colleges are struggling to fill places in courses that offer students a route to tech jobs. One example of poor take-up of IT-related courses is at DCU, where the number of students graduating in computer applications dropped from 224 in 2005 to 70 this year. All told, over 150 third-level courses -- mostly in business, engineering and technology -- opened up for fresh CAO applications after the first round of offers this week. Thirty of these courses were computing and science programmes, another 30 were for engineering courses, while the remainder were business courses. Head of HP Ireland, Martin Murphy, warned that the trend, which could lead to a serious skills shortage, could have a serious impact on foreign direct investment to Ireland. He urged the Government to put a major focus on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects at all education levels. Meanwhile, in a bid to fill places, some colleges are holding special maths entrance exams, offering a second chance to students who failed Leaving Cert maths to gain entry to engineering and some technology programmes. The high failure rate in maths for the Leaving Cert has certainly had an impact on the take-up of tech-related courses; however, this is coupled with a general misconception about the state of the IT jobs market in Ireland, with students -- and their parents -- worried they will not be able to find a job in this area. This is despite reports that suggest there are currently 10,000 job vacancies in the computing and IT sector in Ireland, and 5,000 jobs available in engineering.
Homegrown firms tune in to web TV trend
The growing popularity of web TV is becoming clearly evident in the Irish market, with sites such as BalconyTV, Ubcam, World TV and iFoods.tv all launching to much success. One other such venture that's really making a splash is Muzu, a music video website. Launched in July, the site has signed a deal with Sony BMG, and on Thursday announced it had struck a content agreement with multimedia company ITN. Speaking with ENN, Ciaran Bollard, co-founder of Muzu, said the ITN deal gives users access to 80,000 hours of back catalogue content from classic shows such as The Southbank Show and The Tube, daily music news 'blasts' and 10 artist interviews each week. "Our aim is to offer users a real diverse selection of content, from jazz to pop, in one place," explained Bollard. "High quality content, together with the interaction you get through the online media, is what users are looking for." With the ITN deal in the bag, some more record labels due to come on board, and a major announcement to come in the next few months, it looks like Muzu is really on its way to becoming a household name. Another Irish firm that's also scooping its share of media attention is iFoods.tv, a food and social networking website. Founders Sean Fee and Niall Harbison appeared on the popular BBC TV show Dragons' Den on Monday night and though they failed to win funding from the 'dragons', a quick look at the site's blog shows a huge spark of interest in the site following the show. Both Muzu and iFoods.tv are examples of innovative Irish entrepreneurs identifying a trend and getting in at the start. We've no doubt we'll be hearing a good deal more about these sites in the near future.
Daft makes wise investment
Daft Media, owner of the popular property website Daft.ie, has been on the acquisition trail again. On Friday it announced it had acquired a minority stake in discussion forum website Boards.ie, for an undisclosed sum. With its acquisition of Property.ie in March this year, Daft Media is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in Ireland's digital media sector. This latest move positions Daft and Boards.ie as an influential duo in the market, with a combined audience of over 2.1 million unique visitors each month. This is a long-term investment by Daft Media, which was founded in 1997 by brothers Eamonn and Brian Fallon. Daft has said it plans to continue to invest in Boards.ie in order to help the discussion forum site grow its brand and audience. The influence of sites like Boards.ie, which gives consumers a platform on which to voice their opinions, cannot be underestimated. Daft's astute investment means it will essentially have its finger on the pulse of the Irish consumer, which in the long term could open up more doors for the media firm.
Firms boost IT spending, HP happy with that
Despite the current economic slowdown and a general tightening of belts by businesses, just shy of 40 percent of Irish businesses have said they plan on boosting their IT spend over the next six months, according to a KPMG/Sunday Times study. Forty-three percent said they intend to maintain their current levels of technology spend, while 38 percent plan to invest more this year. Paul Toner, business performance and IT advisory partner at KPMG, noted that the ongoing investment in IT was largely due to companies spending less on hardware and large systems refreshes, but increasing their spend on technology to support improved customer service, process automation and decision-making. This trend is not specific to Irish firms; businesses around the world are investing in technology to help them cut costs elsewhere. Certainly this spending trend has made a positive impact on tech firms' bottom lines. Hewlett-Packard reported net income of USD2.03 billion for the quarter ended 31 July, up 14 percent from USD1.78 billion in the year-earlier period. Revenue was USD28.03 billion, up 10 percent from USD25.38 billion a year earlier. HP's strong results follow better-than-expected earnings from Cisco and IBM, and the tech giant issued an optimistic outlook for the current quarter. IT spending by businesses was cited as a major factor for HP's good run.
Apple bruised by iPhone issues
Since its launch on 11 July, Apple's iPhone 3G has been the object of much criticism from analysts and users alike. The main gripe has been the phone's connectivity, which purports to be 3G but has failed to convince users. The issue of calls dropping mid-conversation has also annoyed consumers. In a bid to address these issues, Apple got to work on a software fix, which was released on Tuesday. Users can download the iPhone 3G 2.0.2 update through the iTunes service on Mac OS or Windows. While the update rectified many of the problems, reports suggest it has failed to improve connection speeds. Let's face it, the 3G addition was a key selling point of the new iPhone. However, instead of setting the world alight, the poor connection performance has taken the shine off the device somewhat. Word on the street points to the Infineon hardware in the iPhone 3G as the culprit for the slow speeds. Whether that is the case or not, Apple really needs to get to grips with the problem or it may end up alienating consumers, and miss its target of 10 million iPhone sales before 2009. Other news that's upset the Apple cart has been the 'Nano meltdown' in Japan. A Japanese government report has revealed that two iPod Nanos overheated in Tokyo. Apple said in a statement that the flaw affected first-generation Nanos, sold between September 2005 and December 2006, in very rare instances. The firm has blamed batteries from a single supplier for the meltdown.
Google's Android to come to life in November
After much rumour and hype, it's been confirmed that the first handset powered by Google's smartphone platform, Android, will go on sale before the end of the year in the US. T-Mobile will be the first operator to offer the phone, which will be manufactured by HTC. The Federal Communications Commission approved the phone on Monday; Google's filing to the FCC suggested the device will be launched around the beginning of November. Google's Android is free to the operators and manufacturers in Google's Open Handset Alliance. Although Alliance members Sprint and Qualcomm plan to offer Android phones eventually, T-Mobile is the only one that will launch a unit this year. Android, which is based on the Linux operating system, is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. Google also released an updated SDK (software development kit) for the device on Wednesday. Android 0.9, the last beta update before the final Android 1.0 kit is released alongside the handset, features some API (application programming interface) and bug fixes as well as a new homescreen and some changes to the user interface. Google unveiled its Android plans in November of last year. At the time, analyst firm Strategy Analytics predicted the platform would be in 2 percent of all smartphones shipped in 2008. This prediction is likely to be revised down given that Android-powered phones were initially expected to launch in the third quarter of 2008 with several top-tier mobile brands, including Motorola, T Mobile and HTC. In saying that, Android's impact on the smartphone market should not be underestimated given the popularity of the Google brand, and the firm's deep, deep pockets.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 