NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 19 January
19-01-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
MUZU.TV signs up independent labels | EMEA PC market growth dips
Dublin-based MUZU.TV has signed a deal with Beggars Group, an independent group of record labels, which will see MUZU.TV users getting access to the entire video library of Beggars Group labels -- XL Recordings, 4AD, Matador Records and Rough Trade. The deal with Beggars follows a similar agreement signed with EMI late last week. MUZU.TV allows users to create, watch and share music video playlists and embed them on their social networking sites. Other recently signed major and indie labels include Sony BMG, Skint Loaded, Ministry Of Sound, Armada Music, Defected Records, Cherry Red Records, Ninja Tune and SPV.
The PC market in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) grew just 1.8 percent year-on-year during the fourth quarter of 2008, according to figures from research firm IDC. This decline in the market follows several quarters of consistent double-digit growth in the region. Mini notebooks, or netbooks, propped up the market during the quarter, recording growth of 56 percent in the Western European region. Hewlett-Packard maintained its top position with 13 percent growth during the final three months of the year, while Acer also had a strong quarter, clocking up growth of 21.9 percent. Of the top five vendors, Dell had the weakest quarter, with shipments growing by a mere 0.4 percent. On the flip side, fourth-placed Asus benefited from the strong market for netbooks with growth of 68.7 percent. In fifth place, Toshiba had a solid quarter with shipments increasing by 26.7 percent.
St James' Private Clinic in Dublin has announced a first for Ireland with the unveiling of a full-field digital mammography system from Siemens, the MAMMOMAT Inspiration. The machine has been introduced in order to enhance breast screening procedures at the clinic, including providing a more precise diagnosis and mood lighting to help patients relax. The machine has time-saving functions such as "immediate image display", which features high resolution for detailed diagnosis, and "one-click-to-image" function, which sets up the next scheduled patient once an exam is finalised. With these features Siemens claims the MAMMOMAT Inspiration can examine more than 15 patients per hour.
Salesforce.com has announced that its Salesforce CRM Ideas application is being used by the Change.gov website in the US to gather ideas from American citizens about how the government can better interact with the public. The application is now live at http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov. The top ideas will be presented directly to President-Elect Barack Obama and his Cabinet following the inauguration on Tuesday evening in the form of a briefing book entitled The Citizen's Briefing Book. Users themselves will be involved in selecting the best ideas for presentation.
In more news of President-Elect Obama's inauguration, Microsoft has announced that its Silverlight technology has been chosen to enable live and on-demand video streaming of the official inauguration swearing-in ceremony on the PIC website at http://www.pic2009.org. In August the 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) used Microsoft Silverlight to stream convention proceedings, including President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech.
Gary Dale, chief operating officer of games publisher Take-Two Interactive, has resigned after only five months on the job, citing personal reasons. Dale had been responsible for Take-Two's publishing labels, sales activities, international expansion and business development initiatives. A spokesperson for the firm told Reuters that it does not expect to fill Dale's position. Take-Two is best known for its Grand Theft Auto franchise.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 