NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 8 January
08-01-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Politicians react to Dell job cuts | Dublin firm nets contract with ChinaPay
Politicians were quick to voice their reactions to the news on Thursday that Dell is to make 1,900 Limerick workers redundant at its Raheen facility. Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan said she was "deeply disappointed" at the decision, noting that she had "already tasked the relevant State development agencies to work together and prepare for any major job losses". She said the group would "engage with Dell with a view to providing every possible assistance to the workers that are due to be made redundant." Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD and Deputy Finance spokesman Kieran O'Donnell called for a multi-agency Government taskforce to be set up to "ensure that the 1,900 workers can get new jobs within 12 months". And fellow party member Michael Noonan called on the Government to "immediately declare Limerick an unemployment emergency area. It must instruct the State's job creation agencies to give absolute priority for new jobs to Limerick and it must immediately instruct the relevant State agencies to provide the retraining necessary." Noonan also said the Government should take steps to help out unemployed workers who are struggling to pay mortgages.
Dublin-based card payments processing firm Rahaxi has signed a deal with ChinaPay, which will bring Europe's internet-based retailers to Chinese internet customers. The agreement allows Rahaxi's direct and partner-connected merchants to accept Chinese-issued payment cards for payment of goods. Rahaxi says the integration of the Chinese payment cards will boost online commerce in China as it will allow Chinese businesses and consumers to buy European goods and services in their own currency, using their Chinese payment cards and accounts. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Spam accounted for 81 percent of all e-mails heading for Irish inboxes during the month of December, down from 85 percent in November, according to the latest figures from IT Force. The company analysed 549,911 e-mails received by its clients and established that 444,743 of them were unsolicited. The most prevalent viruses during the month were: Trojan.Delf-5385, W32.Virut.Gen.C-50, Worm.W32.Agent-1, W32.Virut.Gen.D-50 and Worm.Mydoom.M.
Institutes of Technology Ireland (IOTI) has welcomed the Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe's announcement of the start of Cycle 5 of PRTLI (Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions). PRTLI 5 funding will see centres of excellence in applied research being established, which IOTI believes will support the growth of an indigenous high-tech enterprise sector in Ireland. Some of the centres established during previous PRTLI cycles include: the Centre for Applied Science for Health, Institute of Technology, Tallaght; Serving Society: Management of Future Communications Networks and Services and Integrated Research Building, Waterford Institute of Technology; and Network Embedded Systems, Cork Institute of Technology and the Nanoscience and Nanoscale Technologies for Ireland (NANOTIERE).
Staying with the IOTI, Michael Carmody, President of the Institute of Technology, Tralee, has been named the new chairperson of IOTI for 2009. Commenting on his appointment, Carmody said: "2009 will be a turbulent year for the economy and the Institutes of Technology will continue to step up their work in preparing Ireland for recovery. I have three priorities for the sector: to ensure Institutes play a leading role in supporting recovery though up-skilling and retraining the workforce, to enhance the role of research across the sector to drive Ireland’s future innovation-led economy, and to provide more flexible learning opportunities in Institutes through part-time, distance and e-learning programmes."
Sony Ericsson has unveiled two new mobile phones at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), currently running in Las Vegas. First up, the C510 Cyber-shot features a 3.2 megapixel camera and the company's Smile Shutter technology. Smile Shutter can apparently detect a person's smile and immediately takes the photo. The mobile phone maker also released its latest Walkman phone, the W508, which features SenseMe technology, which allows users to personalise their music to suit their mood, and Shake control, which allows users to skip through their music tracks by just shaking their handset.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 