NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 18 December
18-12-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
Government sets up 'Innovation Ireland Fund' | Microsoft issues emergency update
US biotechnology and drug development company PPD is to invest EUR14 million to open a contract research facility in Athlone, with the creation of 250 high-end jobs. The facility will initially include an analytical testing laboratory. The jobs will be created over five years and the company will be taking on Ph.D level graduates, analytical laboratory staff and other clinical development professionals. PPD is a global contract research organisation (CRO) providing discovery, development and post-approval services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device companies and academic and government agencies.
The Government has announced plans to invest up to EUR500 million to create a so-called 'Innovation Fund Ireland', which would support companies in the early stages of research and development. The proposal is part of the Government's framework plan for economic renewal, launched Thursday. Under the renewal programme, multinationals will also be encouraged to engage in 'innovative high value activity and technological convergence' which will provide quality jobs. The renewal programme also includes a plan to encourage entrepreneurship and new businesses by introducing what it calls 'highly favourable taxation measures', including a three-year exemption from Corporation Tax for business start-ups.
Microsoft has issued an emergency fix for a critical flaw in Internet Explorer which the software giant said has attacked over 2 million Windows users. The "zero day" exploit enabled fraudsters to take control of a victim's computer by directing them to infected websites. The flaw is believed to have infected as many as 10,000 websites. Once a user opens an infected web page, malicious downloaders designed to record keystrokes and steal passwords, credit card details and other financial information are installed on the computer. Microsoft is urging all IE users to deploy the update "as soon as possible".
In 2009 total mobile phone volumes will be 1.9 percent lower than 2008 levels, marking the first downturn in annual shipment volumes since 2001, when shipments dropped by 2.3 percent. That's according to research firm IDC, which said that due to the impact the global downturn is now having on the mobile market, worldwide growth for 2008 will be just 7.1 percent, before slipping into negative growth in 2009. IDC said it doesn't expect the downturn in mobile phone shipments to stretch past 2009. By 2010, the market will show signs of improvement as economic recovery plans will have taken effect, the firm said.
Yahoo has announced it is to update its data retention policy. The search firm has said it will now 'anonymise' user log data within 90 days. The regulation time as stipulated by the EU is six months. Yahoo said its new policy will apply to page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks as well as search log data; however, the firm did say that there are a few exceptions that would see it keep information for six months due to fraud, security or legal reasons.
In spite of the current economic downturn, over one-third of IT practitioners said they'd maintain the pace of their green IT plans. That's according to a global survey by Forrester Research, which also revealed that 10 percent of respondents said they'd accelerate their green IT plans. Green IT action plans are being adopted by an increasing number of companies, the survey found. A quarter said they are now implementing green IT plans -- up from 20 percent six months ago -- although 14 percent admitted their company still had no plans for green IT.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 