Daily Digest 4 September

04-09-2008

by Deirdre McArdle

Freightquote to create 100 Dublin jobs | Sony recalls 440,000 Vaio laptops

Freightquote, a US-based online freight services firm, is to create 100 new jobs in Dublin over the next year. The company plans to set up its European headquarters in Sandyford. Freightquote provides a web-based service that enables companies to book different types of freight transport. The Irish operation will be charged with building a market for Freightquote in Europe. It is recruiting for multi-lingual roles in its sales, finance and customer service departments.

Irish firm Prime Carrier, which provides 'on demand' solutions for the telecommunications and media industries, has acquired software firm F-Line Technologies in an all-share transaction. A value for the deal was not disclosed. Under the agreement, F-Line Technologies and its Concept-Tel products will become part of Prime Carrier. F-Line Technologies' staff will be retained. "This acquisition strengthens Prime Carrier’s software and service offering to the telecommunications industry with further product capabilities, including billing, invoice management and analysis. Furthermore the acquisition of F-Line Technologies further improves Prime Carrier's delivery and support capabilities in the Americas region, through a new office in New York City," said Gerard Curtin, general manager, Prime Carrier.

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony is recalling approximately 440,000 Vaio laptops due to a wiring fault that could cause overheating. According to Sony 373,000 of the laptops were sold worldwide in 48 countries, with 67,000 sold in Japan. While there is no concrete information on whether the specific laptops were sold in Ireland, reports indicate they were not sold in the UK. The recall concerns 19 Vaio models in the TZ series manufactured between May 2007 and July 2008. Sony explained that wires had been placed in the wrong position near the hinge of the laptops, while a flaw in the circuit board that controls the screen could also cause overheating. According to Associated Press, Sony has received 209 reports of overheating worldwide, including seven incidents where people received minor burns.

NUI Maynooth has launched a EUR9 million research project called StratAG - Strategic Research in Advanced Geotechnologies. The project, which has received funding from Science Foundation Ireland, combines a number of research areas including sensor integration, spatial algorithms, spatial visualisation and location based services. The research will focus on the themes of Geospatial Monitoring and Early Warning Systems. "A key challenge we are working to solve is to get a common language between all the different types of sensors such as CCTV, satellites and Radio Frequency ID monitors so that we can develop a more complete picture of what is happening in an area. Then we need to develop the computer algorithms to process these data and turn them into useful information for decision-makers," said Professor Stewart Fotheringham, who is leading the project. The successful integration of sensor feedback could see motorists receiving live traffic updates directly to satellite navigation systems, which would then be able to advise them about traffic jams as well as suggesting alternate routes and directions specific to each vehicle.

Dell has taken a step into the mini-laptop market with the release of the Inspiron Mini 9. The Mini 9 has a starting weight of just 2.28lbs. It features an 8.9-inch LED display, as well as built-in Wi-Fi as standard and a built-in web cam. The mini-laptop is available immediately in Ireland at www.dell.ie/mini from EUR399 including tax and delivery. The device is aimed squarely at the youth market, with Dell pushing the entertainment and browsing angle.

Spam accounted for 92 percent of all e-mails heading for Irish inboxes this week, according to the latest figures from IT Force. The company analysed over 1,187,452 e-mails received by its clients during August and established that over 1,090,286 of them were unsolicited. The most prevalent viruses during the month were: Trojan.Delf-5385, Email.Trojan-9, Trojan.Zbot-1962, Email.PornTeaser and Trojan.Zbot-1966.