NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 22 December
22-12-2008
by Emmet Cole
Google reveals Android open source plans | Microsoft stalls on Windows XP demise
The cost of registering or renewing a dot-ie website will fall by 4.6 percent in the New Year, according to the IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the managed registry for Ireland’s official dot-ie internet address. The price reduction means that a dot-ie domain will be 60 percent cheaper on average than 2003, said the IEDR. The IEDR recently announced registration figures which showed a 23 percent jump in the net number of dot-ie websites registered in third quarter compared to the same period last year. The number of dot-ie websites registered in Ireland currently stands at 116,000.
Google's Android mobile platform is set for major enhancements in 2009, according to its development team. Android is in the process of being turned by Google from its own development project into an open source project. Some of the changes coming to Android include bug fixes affecting elements such as e-mail, conversation-list scrolling and the alarm clock. Several new features are also being added, including the ability to save MMS attachments. The Linux kernel upon which Android runs has been upgraded to version 2.6.27 and support for the new SquirrelFish JavaScript engine has been added.
Meanwhile, an Irish search engine has been tweaked and relaunched with the aim of creating a vertical search engine aimed at the learning sector. Until recently, Learnpipe focused on providing search results from sites which fed it data directly, but with the launch of its new 'Web' tab, Learnpipe will now also offer unstructured search results that its crawlers have indexed from the web. The service will remain free -- the only restriction is that your product or service must relate to education.
Eight Northern Irish companies are pitching innovative concepts to top executives and investors at Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) this Christmas. The centrepiece of NISP CONNECT's inaugural 'Tech Exiles' event, sponsored by the Bank of Ireland and University of Ulster, 'Tech Exiles' will be held on 29 December at NISP's Titanic's Dock & Pump House. Representatives from the local business community and venture capital funds like Tate & Lyle Ventures will also be among those attending. The pitching companies include SCI Labs, Titan IC, SiSaf and Vertical Wind Energy.
Finally, put your Windows XP obituaries on hold. Microsoft has granted another reprieve to the Windows XP operating system, extending the cut-off date for PC makers to obtain licences from 31 January 2009 to 30 May 2009. Windows XP was originally scheduled to disappear from shelves on 30 January 2008 to make way for Windows Vista. Consumer preference for Windows XP over Windows Vista is thought to lie behind the software giant's move.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 