NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 23 April
23-04-2009
by Emmet Cole
Click-away food for Ireland | Eircom opens Belfast office
Anyone interested in 'Click-away food'? Just-Eat.com is being launched in Ireland this weekend via the Just-Eat.ie website. Just-Eat.com is one of the largest European based online food ordering portals, with an annual turnover of EUR20 million. The company reported orders for 7 million take-away meals online during 2008. Just-Eat.ie expects to serve up to 100,000 take-away meals during 2009.
Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has welcomed Eircom's STG8.5million investment in Northern Ireland at the opening of the telecoms firm's new offices in Belfast, on Thursday. "It is particularly good news, in these challenging economic times, that Eircom Northern Ireland has plans for a further STG1.5 million investment over the next 12 months in Northern Ireland, bringing the company's investment here to over STG10 million," said Minister Foster.
EMC has reported first-quarter revenue of USD3.15 billion, down 9.2 percent from the year-ago quarter. Net income was USD194.1 million, or USD0.10 per diluted share, compared with USD251.6 million, or USD0.12 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2008. During the period, EMC generated operating cash flow of USD864 million.
Apple has removed the controversial USD0.99 iPhone game called "Baby Shaker" from its App Store following a series of complaints. The game involves quieting a crying baby with a vigorous shake. Apple received complaints about the game from the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation.
Chip maker AMD has launched a processor capable of being overclocked to 6.5GHz. According to AMD, the AMD Phenom II X4 955 chip is its fastest ever quad-core processor. Designed with the gaming, workstation and high-end graphics markets in mind, the chip is being released unlocked so that overclocking is possible. Overclocking involves running a CPU at a higher clock rate than it was originally designed. AMD has also upgraded power management features, resulting in 40 percent less energy consumption, compared with the Phenom X4 955.
Linden Lab's Second Life is set to enforce stricter control of adult content, beginning by sending adult material to a separate 'virtual continent'. Second Life will also begin rating content Adult, Mature, or PG, with access to adult material requiring proof of age, such as valid credit card information, according to Linden. Details on the migration of adult content to the newly created virtual continent are to be released by Linden in coming months. Searches in Second Life will also be filtered, with adult results appearing only for residents with accounts verifying they are at least 18 years old.
Some 42 percent of IT directors from large and mid-sized companies in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America anticipate an increased budget for IT security during 2009, according to a global survey conducted by CA. Just 8 percent expect a cut in their budget. The survey also found that European companies spend an average of 19 percent of their IT security budget on compliance. Meanwhile, 73 percent of enterprise-sized and 67 percent of mid-sized companies believe layoffs have increased the internal threat to IT systems.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 