NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 8 April
08-04-2009
by Emmet Cole
EI launches start-up programme | Games among most popular iPhone apps
Enterprise Ireland has announced the launch of a major business innovation and development programme geared towards producing up to 12 new start-up companies in the border counties of Cavan, Louth, Donegal, Monaghan, Leitrim and Sligo. The 12-month 'Propel Ideas into Business' programme is designed to provide a select number of entrepreneurs with the skills and training required to globalise their service offerings. Successful participants will receive training from management consultants, PA Consulting, financial support of up to EUR30,000 from Enterprise Ireland, and office space, as well as mentoring and networking support to get their business up and running.
Severance pay talks between management and staff at Dell's Limerick facility have broken down, with workers said to be dissatisfied with Dell's offer of six weeks pay for every year of service (to be capped at 104 weeks). Employees are now considering the possibility of taking their dispute to the Labour Relations Commission, according to reports. Workers are set to meet on Friday to discuss their next action.
Galway-based medical device developer Crospon has been awarded the 2009 European Gastroenterology Technology Implementation of the Year award by Frost & Sullivan. The award was given in recognition of Crospon's successful implementation of new techniques for its EndoFLIP (endoscopic functional lumen imaging probe) imaging system.
In a time when one income is more than many households enjoy, eBay.ie is predicting Ireland will be dubbed 'Second Income Ireland'. Following Tuesday's Budget, eBay.ie is predicting that the number of Irish sellers will increase dramatically over the coming months. An estimated 24,000 Irish households use eBay.ie to supplement their income by EUR10 or more each week, according to the company.
Microsoft will withdraw mainstream support for the Windows XP operating system on 14 April. The company is expected to provide free security fixes for XP until 2014, but any future XP bugs will not be fixed unless customers pay for additional support. According to Hitslink, Windows XP accounts for about 63 percent of all internet connected computers. Meanwhile, Windows Vista makes up about 24 percent.
Gmail has introduced a major revision to Gmail for mobile, to take advantage of the latest browser technology available on iPhone and Android devices. The revision includes an updated user interface and improved message opening speeds. It also allows batch actions (like archiving multiple messages at once), and sees the introduction of offline support.
Only 2 percent of European businesses have used the micro-blogging platform Twitter as a marketing tool, according to a survey of internet marketers carried out by Webtrends. The survey also found that traditional marketing tools such as direct e-mail, used by 46 percent, and web analytics, used by 37 percent, continue to lead the way in internet marketing. Online advertising -- at 35 percent -- only just beat optimised search -- at 34 percent -- as the third most-used means of communicating with customers. According to 65 percent of respondents, better data analysis is seen as critical in helping to inform decisions that drive sales.
Finally, a study of Apple's App Store by comScore has revealed that three of the top five applications are games. Tapulous' Tap Tap Revenge game, had the largest installed base among users of both the iPhone and the iPod touch. Backgrounds, an application which allows a user to change their background image, was the second most downloaded application from the App Store, followed by Touch Hockey: FS5, Pac-Man and Facebook The study measured the total number of users who had installed a particular application, versus the number who had downloaded it at a given time.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 