NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 23 June
23-06-2009
by Emmet Ryan
Intel makes mobile breakthrough | MySpace to cull global staff
Galway-based institutions have scooped both gongs at the Innovation in Education Grant Initiative, a HP Ireland programme that rewards universities and secondary schools for innovative teaching and learning projects. This year's Irish winners were NUI Galway and Colaiste Iognaid, Galway. Each institution will receive technology valued at approximately EUR75,500 for their efforts. They will also be invited to join a network of educators around the world who are working to design the future of high tech education.
Staying with grant related news and there was a third reason for academics in Galway to celebrate on Tuesday. Kevin Burke from Athenry, an Electronic and Computer Engineering student at NUI Galway, has won the Accenture Academic Innovation in Computing Award. Burke's submission for the award was based on the use of mobile phone technology to monitor driver behaviour. He received EUR2,000 and a commemorative trophy from Accenture for his efforts.
HeyStaks, a social web search company, has been named as the overall winner of SUSSED, NovaUCD's EUR10,000 entrepreneurship competition. HeyStaks has developed a suite of online tools to make it easier for internet users to organise and share their internet search experiences without having to leave their favourite search engine. On winning the competition, the team members were presented with a cheque for EUR5,000. They will also receive six-months free incubation space in NovaUCD and obtain professional support in further developing their new venture. The firm will also go forward to represent UCD in the Europe-wide UNICA Entrepreneurship Competition for Students and Young Researchers, which takes place later this year.
Twitter users have been warned that they face attacks from rogue users. IT security firm ESET said scammers are luring users of the micro-blogging site with links promising porn and anti-virus software. Twitter users that click on these links are then attacked with malicious code. ESET is warning users of the site to show caution when following links.
Greyhound Recycling and Recovery has revealed that it is using software as a service firm Salesforce.com's Sales Cloud technology. The Irish recycling firm is using the software to track leads and sales opportunities and enhance customer service. The firm said the decision to switch to the service has enabled it to streamline its processes by cutting down on the number of systems used to manage customer relationships.
After decades of dominating the computer processor market, Intel has made a significant breakthrough in the mobile phone market. The chip giant has announced that it has reached an agreement with Nokia, the world's largest handset maket, to supply it with processors. The news follows Intel's announcement earlier this year that it had secured a deal to supply chips to LG, the third largest handset maker in the world.
Nokia Siemens Networks says it hopes to close its USD650 million acquisition of Nortel Networks' advanced wireless technology business by the third quarter of 2009. Nokia Siemens chief executive Simon Beresford-Wylie told reporters in a conference call on Monday that the deal would be cash positive but remained coy as to the exact details of the deal.
Google has temporarily suspended its 'Suggest' function in China. The move follows criticisms by the Chinese internet watchdogs over Google allegedly allowing users access to pornography through its Chinese portal, Google.cn. The 'Suggest' function offers a list of refinements to words users type in search queries.
Social network MySpace has announced more job cuts. After announcing that 30 percent of its US workforce would be cut last week, the firm has announced that 300 of the 450 staff it employs outside the US would also be let go. The move is part of MySpace's restructuring plan, which will see at least four of its international offices close.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 