NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 28 October
28-10-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
O2 launches fixed-line offering | Google to close book on copyright lawsuits
O2 Ireland has stepped into the fixed-line market with an offering aimed at the SME sector. The operator is rolling out three fixed-line packages: Business Phone, which is just a phone line offering; Business Plus, which includes 3Mbps broadband and phone calls; and Business Bundle Plus, which features 7.6Mbps broadband and phone calls. O2 is reselling Eircom wholesale lines to provide its fixed-line service.
Two-thirds of Irish public relations firms do not have a website tracker on their sites, according to StatCounter, which provides web traffic statistics. The firm also discovered that 49 percent of the top 150 PR firms in the UK don't have an online tracker. "The results surprised us. PR companies certainly appreciate the importance of the website as today's central marketing tool but it is difficult to fully exploit that if you cannot measure traffic or know what key words are used to find your site," said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter.
Google has announced the appointment of Ruairi Conroy as Senior Agency Media Executive (Irish Market). This is a new position with Google and Conroy will be responsible for managing sales strategies and new business development in the Irish market, as well as building and maintaining senior level partnerships with key clients. Conroy joins Google from Dublin's 98FM and Spin 103.8 (Communicorp) where he worked for five years. Google employs approximately 1,500 people at its EMEA headquarters in Dublin.
In more news of appointments, Declan Kavanagh has been named CEO of Sogeti Ireland. Sogeti is a specialist in software testing and IT consulting. Kavanagh was co-founder and CEO of Insight Test Services, which was acquired by Sogeti as part of an expansion programme in Ireland and the UK earlier this year. Kavanagh will replace Michael Connolly, who is based in Germany, and who will be taking on new assignments within Sogeti Europe.
Irish firm MicksGarage.ie, an e-commerce retailer of car parts and accessories, is currently seeking a EUR50,000 Business Expansion Scheme (BES) investment in order to close a EUR550,000 funding round. The company has already secured EUR500,000 in funding and is looking for the final EUR50,000. MicksGarage aims to use the funding to assist with expansion into the UK through its MicksGarage.co.uk website.
The Mid-West Regional Authority (MWRA) and its CitizenFirst Project has received a special award from the European Commission for its role in making e-government services more widely accessible and socially inclusive across the region. The project is led by the MWRA and co-funded by INTERREG North West Europe. Some of the schemes being rolled out in the Mid West as part of the project include an online dictionary of accessible cultural and recreational services, as well as the promotion of assistive technologies in libraries across the region. The CitizenFirst Project is one of 35 shortlisted entries that impressed the judging panel in the 2008 European e-Inclusion awards. The MWRA has now been invited to exhibit at the e-Inclusion Ministerial Conference and Exhibition in Vienna from 30 November to 2 December. Overall winners in each category will be announced during the conference.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has agreed to pay USD125 million to settle lawsuits that challenged its plan to digitise, search and show snippets of in-copyright books without the explicit consent of the copyright owner. The agreement will resolve a 2005 class action suit brought by book authors and a separate case filed the same year by five publishers. If the settlement is approved, the agreement would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books from the collections of libraries participating in Google's project. Google's payment will be partially used to set up a programme under which holders of US copyrights can register their works and receive compensation from institutional subscriptions, book sales and ad revenues.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 