NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 31 July
31-07-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Powervation gets cash injection | Firefox tops 1 billion milestone
Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan has welcomed the new Patent (Amendment) Rules 2009. The new rules provide a more user-friendly process for patent applicants, according to the minister. Changes have been made to 34 aspects of the existing set of rules, which mainly date from 1992. The changes include removing legal impediments to the online delivery of Patent Office services via the website www.patentsoffice.ie. "These changes are a practical example of Smart Government in action and of the efforts by the public sector to provide state of the art services to facilitate and support industry needed as part of the shift towards a Smart Economy," said the Minister.
Limerick-based chip maker Powervation has successfully completed a USD10 million funding round. Participants include SEP, Intel Capital, Venture Tech Alliance and Fourth Level Ventures. The firm said it would use the funding to grow its global sales and markets, as well as increase its research and development initiatives. In June, Powervation said it aims to create 150 jobs in the next two years in Limerick following the development of a new microchip.
According to research house IDC, global mobile phone shipments dropped 10.8 percent to 269.9 million units in the second quarter, compared to 302.1 million units in the year-ago quarter. (On Thursday Strategy Analytics issued its quarterly report on the mobile market, saying the second-quarter figure was down 8 percent to 273 million units). Though the market continued to decline, IDC points out that the rate of decline is contracting; the market decreased by 17.2 percent in the first quarter. Samsung and LG were the star performers during the quarter, and the only two of the top five to record positive growth during the three months. Nokia saw its growth drop by 15.4 percent, while Motorola and Sony Ericsson had more cause for concern with year-on-year declines of 47 percent and 43.4 percent, respectively.
Mozilla's Firefox browser has hit a key milestone. The browser exceeded the 1 billion download mark on Friday, with a Twitter account keeping a real-time account of downloads. Firefox has become increasingly popular; at the end of June Mozilla released version 3.5 of the browser and recorded just shy of 5 million downloads in the first 24 hours. Firefox currently lies in second place behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer in the web browser market.
NASA hacker Gary McKinnon is facing the likelihood that he will stand trial in the US, after losing his latest bid to be tried in the UK. McKinnon, who is based in London, was on Friday told by the High Court that he must be extradited to the US. The decision comes despite high-profile support from London mayor Boris Johnson, the Daily Mail and a number of MPs. McKinnon has admitted to hacking into the computer systems of the Pentagon and NASA in 2001 and 2002. He claims he was searching for evidence of extra-terrestrial life. US authorities claim that McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, was responsible for the "biggest military hack of all time" during a period of heightened security following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. His lawyers argued that the US is likely to make an example of their client by sentencing him to the maximum prison term of 60 years, in a 'supermax' prison.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 