NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 18 August
18-08-2009
by Emmet Cole
ThirdForce receives improved offer | O2 launches mobile TV service
LearnVantage -- a special-purpose company formed by Brendan O'Sullivan (Chief Executive Officer) and Pat McDonagh (Chairman) for the purpose of acquiring e-learning company ThirdForce -- has revised its offer upwards from EUR0.08 per share to EUR0.105 per share. The independent directors of ThirdForce, Mike Newton, Carol Clark and Edwin Robinson, turned down the initial offer, but have indicated that they are, in principle, supportive of the revised possible cash offer, which represents a premium of approximately 31 percent over the initial approach price, which was offered at the end of March.
Meanwhile, interim results for ThirdForce for the six months ended 30 June 2009 were released on Tuesday. Revenue for the first six months of the year was EUR12.03 million, 11 percent lower than the EUR13.48 million for the corresponding period in 2008. Operating profit before charges for goodwill impairment, amortisation of acquisition intangibles and share options was EUR520,000, lower than the EUR800,000 profit achieved in the same period last year.
Budget airline Ryanair lodged proceedings in the High Court in Dublin against a German company, Unister GmbH, on Tuesday, alleging that Unister has been engaged in unauthorised screenscraping and reselling of Ryanair's flights at inflated prices. According to Ryanair, Unister has also refused Ryanair's offer of licensed access to its website for legitimate price comparison purposes.
Social networking sites were the most targeted vertical market for hackers in the first half of 2009, according to the latest Web Hacking Incidents Database 2009 Bi-Annual report from security and virtualisation company Nebulas Solutions Group. The report analysed global security incidents that occurred from 1 January to 31 July, which showed a 30 percent increase in overall web attacks compared to the same period last year. Social networking sites, which accounted for 19 percent of all hacking incidents, found that hackers attempted to exploit Web 2.0 features such as user-generated content, including Twitter posts, to launch their attacks. Defacement, which includes the planting of malware, remains the most common outcome of web attacks at 28 percent, with leakage of sensitive information a close second at 26 percent (up from 19 percent in 2008).
O2 Ireland has launched a new mobile TV service called "O2 TV", bringing two mobile TV packages to customers. The "O2 Lifestyle Pack" will offer entertainment, music, and news with channels including RTE News Now, CNN and the Travel Channel, while the "Sky Sports & News Pack" will offer live sports and news content on channels including Sky Sports 1, 2 & 3 and Sky News. To coincide with the launch, O2 is also offering a free 30-day promotional period to customers who sign up before 9 September, 2009. Thereafter, the service is available to pre-pay and post-pay customers for EUR1 for a 24-hour pass, or EUR5 for a 30-day pass to the "O2 Lifestyle Pack" and EUR6 for a 30-day pass to the "Sky Sports & News Pack".
Dublin-based online travel company Hostelworld.com has launched a new website, aimed at B&B customers worldwide. Bedandbreakfastworld.com has over 6,000 B&Bs and guesthouses available for booking. Photos and customer reviews will also be available. The site also makes use of a map search application, using Google maps, to improve searches.
Sixteen-year-old Dubliner Sean Walsh beat off three competitors to win the Irish final of the World Cyber Games at The Digital Hub on Tuesday. Following his win, Walsh -- who was favourite to take home the prize -- will travel to China in November to represent Ireland in the international final of the World Cyber Games.
Finally, Dublin-based casual games developer PopCap Games, has announced that Zuma's Revenge will be available next month for the PC and Macintosh. The original Zuma sold 17 million copies worldwide. Zuma's Revenge will be available on 15 September via download at PopCap.com and key portal partners. Beginning Tuesday, video sneak peeks and other advance information about the new game can be found on the PopCap website.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 