NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 15 July
15-07-2009
by Emmet Cole
'Web-stress' hurting productivity | Mozilla working on Firefox fix
Enterprise Ireland’s annual report, published Wednesday, reveals that its client companies achieved new export sales of EUR1.3 billion in 2008. This represents a net increase of 3 percent on 2007, which was itself a record year for export growth. The report also shows that Enterprise Ireland supported 71 new innovative start-up companies across a range of knowledge-intensive sectors, including life sciences, biotechnology, medical devices and telecommunications, and a number of specific niche areas, such as compliance and risk management. These companies are expected to create close to 1,000 new jobs over the next three years.
Science Foundation Ireland's 'Energy Strategy" was launched Wednesday by governmental brightsparks Mary Coughlan (Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment,) Eamon Ryan (Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources), and Conor Lenihan (Minister for Science, Technology & Innovation). The Ministers also announced that a call for applications for the first SFI Strategic Research Cluster (SRC) dedicated to energy will be issued in the coming weeks. "The scientific and business communities and, by extension, citizens in their daily lives, must adopt innovative approaches to energy," said the Tanaiste.
Web-related stress is leading to frustration, lowered morale and lost productivity, according to the results of the 2009 CA Web Stress Index. Seventy-eight percent of European workers say "web stress" results in wasted time and lost productivity, 49 percent admit it makes them angry and 38 percent say it is reducing their job satisfaction. While 97 percent of those surveyed said they wouldn't be able to do their job without web-based applications, 24 percent said they have to cope with badly performing applications every day, with an additional 34 percent claiming this happens on a weekly basis. Estimates put the cost of work-related stress in the EU at EUR20 billion per year.
Limerick-based mobile messaging company Tango Telecom has been awarded contracts to deploy its iAX SMS technology in the Zain Ghana and Zain Madagascar mobile networks. iAX SMS is a messaging platform that enables prepaid and postpaid charging, storage and delivery of messages and enables advanced revenue generating messaging services from a single platform. iAX SMS enables revenue generating and such value-adding services as SMS Broadcast, SMS Router & Content Management Services, Anti-Bullying, Anti-Spam and SMS Advertising. Financial details of the contracts were not revealed.
Enterprise cloud computing company, Salesforce.com, has announced that US-based ThomasNet is using Force.com Sites to run its online recruiting efforts. Force.com Sites allows companies to build and run public-facing websites and applications in real-time without requiring any software or hardware infrastructure. Since deploying the solution, ThomasNet said it has seen an increase of over 500 percent in the number of qualified resumes received.
Business software company Mamut has launched Mamut One into the Irish market. Mamut One combines business software with web-based services aimed at accounting, finance, CRM, sales force automation, logistics, HR, and e-commerce. Mamut One also incorporates Mamut Validis, a service that offers in-depth information on the integrity of financial information, by identifying irregularities and errors in a company's accounts.
IT security company US-CERT has warned about a vulnerability in the new Firefox 3.5 browser that could allow a remote attacker to execute malicious code. Exploit code was posted on Monday on Milw0rm.com, making likely that the vulnerability is being actively exploited. Discovered by Simon Berry-Byrne, the vulnerability is related to the way Firefox 3.5 processes JavaScript. Mozilla is reported to be testing a fix.
Troubled US mobile maker Motorola has appointed William Ogle as chief marketing officer for its Mobile Devices business. Ogle will lead the marketing and branding efforts for Mobile Devices and will be responsible for all aspects of the marketing, advertising, interactive marketing and brand strategy, management and execution. He will report to Sanjay Jha, Motorola's co-chief executive officer and CEO of Mobile Devices.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 