NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 7 January
07-01-2009
by Emmet Cole
Intel Q4 sales drop 23 percent | Fake profiles cause LinkedIn concerns
Intel's fourth-quarter sales dropped 23 percent from the same period last year, according to a statement from the Santa Clara-based company on Wednesday. The chip-maker generated revenues of USD8.2 billion in the final quarter of 2008, down fromUSD10.7 billion in the same period in 2007. In November, Intel revised its sales projections downwards to USD9 billion, from an earlier prediction of at least USD10.1 billion. Intel's chips run about 80 percent of the world's personal computers, but the company is losing orders as PC makers curb production. Intel's sales decline surpasses the 20 percent drop it reported in the fourth quarter of 2001, after the dot com implosion. Intel stock lost 45 percent of its value last year.
Sun Microsystems has acquired Q-Layer, a Belgium-based firm that specialises in the automation and deployment of cloud computing solutions. Q-Layer technology allows users to provision services such as applications and storage, enabling them to scale environments to meet their specific requirements, according to Sun. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Irish entrepreneur Denis O'Brien, founder and chairman of mobile operator Digicel Group, has been granted the key to Panama City by Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro, in recognition of Digicel's contribution to the future growth of the country. Digicel launched operations in Panama on 2 December, with an investment of USD350 million. Since then the company has generated more than 300 direct jobs. O'Brien founded Digicel in 2001, with the launch of a GSM mobile network in Jamaica. The company currently has operations in 31 markets worldwide with total investments exceeding USD3.4 billion and more than 6.5 million customers.
Linux adoption around the world is being boosted by increased netbook sales, according to new figures from market analysts Forrester Research. Netbooks are small, cheap laptop-style computers with functionality lower than that of a standard laptop. The firm's latest report suggests that netbooks have driven adoption of the open source Linux operating system in ways that have not been achieved via the PC and notebook markets. The research also found that over a third of US households are investigating buying a netbook. Further, current netbook users see the devices as ideal for mobile data use, while mobile phones are not. More than half of those questioned said that mobile phone screens are too small for mobile data use.
Meanwhile, Vodafone subsidiary Perlico has launched a broadband and voice bundle that allows Irish consumers to purchase broadband for EUR6 per month, in a bundle, with free calls to any Irish mobile until 2010. Perlico has pitched this aggressive offer to compete with market leader Eircom on price. Perlico says it currently has over 200,000 customers.
Finally, news from the Be-Careful-Out-There Department: several hundred fake profiles on business networking site LinkedIn are putting users in danger of malware infection, using the lure of naked celeb pics. When users click on one of the links, they're taken to an external site that attempts to launch an iFrame browser exploit and then redirects the user to other potentially harmful sites.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 