NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 9 February
09-02-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
AMCS cleans up with new funding | Amazon re-Kindles e-reader market
Limerick-based AMCS, which provides technology to the waste and recycling industry, has raised EUR5.25 million in funding. The firm, which employs 50 engineers and technical staff, said it will use the money to double its workforce by next year. The investment will also help the firm to expand into overseas markets and boost its product range. The funding is being provided by UK-based clean technology fund WHEB Ventures and the Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund, which is managed by NCB Ventures.
Four-fifths (82 percent) of Irish consumers say that technology has improved their quality of life, according to a survey commissioned by ComReg and conducted by Millward Brown. The number of people using the internet has increased from 58 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2008 to 63 percent in December 2008, according to the survey, which also revealed that over half (56 percent) of consumers own either a laptop or PC, while 11 percent own both. In line with the trend of cost cutting, the survey found that consumers' average monthly spend on mobile phone services has dropped from EUR45.64 to EUR41.64.
Two of Ireland's mobile operators made announcements on Monday. Three Ireland said it had increased its mobile broadband usage allowance from 10GB per month to 15GB at no extra cost for all existing and new pay monthly broadband customers. Meanwhile, Meteor launched Bill Pay Lite, a new bill pay option with a 30-day contract. With this option Meteor customers will receive 60 free 'any network' minutes plus free Meteor-to-Meteor texts for EUR10 per month, as well as the ability to end their contract with 30 days' notice.
As part of Engineers Week, Siemens is on Tuesday morning going to host its 'Discovery Box' workshop for the children of Our Lady of the Victories Boys School, Ballymun. The workshop aims to engage the children, who are aged between 8 and 10, in a number of experiments that cover the areas of electricity, environment, energy and health. The experiments include: 'creating light', where children will learn how to make electricity flow and power light, and 'the paper clip race', which features test tubes containing different liquids for children to test viscosity by dropping paper clips into the tubes.
Business and IT firm Enovation Solutions has announced it plans to expand its facility in Dublin. The firm aims to increase its technical support services and recruit new partners with a view to extending its product portfolio. "The additional space will allow us to grow and expand our technical support services over the next two years to meet the specific business and technical needs of our clients," said Andy Nathan, MD of Enovation.
Tax compliance consultancy FiscalReps has opened a new office in Dublin and hired local technology executive Conor McCarthy, who will head up the Irish operations. McCarthy joins from software giant Oracle, where he was consulting client manager in Dublin. Previously, he held senior sales and business development positions with VC-funded software start-ups Sepro Telecom and Am-Beo. FiscalReps' plans for the Dublin office include establishing an R&D facility for the further development of its Taxbox product. Taxbox is a software application aimed at insurers to help them improve their compliance in a cost-effective way, said FiscalReps.
Online retailing giant Amazon has unveiled a slimmer version of its Kindle e-reader. The new Kindle can hold over 1,500 titles, a significant step up from the around 200-title capability of the original model. The upgraded device also boasts a feature that can read the text out loud to users. While industry was abuzz at the prospect of the new Kindle, Amazon's decision not to drop the price tag has drawn some criticism from analysts who believe it minimises the potential for mass adoption of the device. The new Kindle is priced at USD359, the same as its predecessor, and is available for pre-order on Amazon's website amazon.com/kindle2. It will ship 24 February, the company said.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 