NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 25 August
25-08-2009
by Emmet Cole
Azotel expands US business | Yahoo to acquire Maktoob
Dublin-based IT consultancy Enovation Solutions has developed a new module based on the open source Moodle education software. Designed to help Irish transition year students build Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), the module will show students how to set up a working VLE using content provided by their teachers. The module includes a communications system that enables teachers to communicate with each other and with classes and individual students, and an administration tool that enables teachers to track student records, attendance, exam results, school calendars, and course outlines. Enovation Solutions is Ireland's official Moodle partner and has overseen implementations of the system in Portmarnock Community School, Rosemont Secondary School and St. Aidan's in Dublin. Moodle is also used by Dublin City University, the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, NUI Maynooth and St Patrick's College of Education in Drumcondra.
Dublin-based fabless semiconductor firm DecaWave has just shipped 5 evaluation kits of its ScenSor chip to customers in the US, Germany, France, Israel and Korea. The kits are designed to enable DecaWave partners and customers to analyse and evaluate the potential of the chip. Launched in September 2008, ScenSor provides applications for Real Time Location Systems and Ultra Low Power Wireless Transceivers. The ScenSor system is used in manufacturing, healthcare, lighting, security, transport, inventory and supply chain management.
Supply chain standards body GS1 Ireland has appointed two new members to its board of directors. The first, Micheal Kelly, is currently chair of the Higher Education Authority, while Bob Semple is a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Solutions4ebiz, a US distributor of ISP and Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) solutions, announced on Tuesday that it's set to offer the Azotel SIMPLer platform developed by Cork-based Azotel. Azotel develops integrated core network and operational support systems solutions, including subscriber management and operations automation.
Yahoo has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire online community Maktoob.com. Aimed at the Arab world, Maktoob has more than 16.5 million unique users. The acquisition will enable Yahoo to deliver Arabic-language content and services, alongside Arabic versions of Yahoo's Messenger and e-mail services. Maktoob was launched in 2000 as the world's first free Arabic/English web-based e-mail service, but has since become the leading Arab online community.
Swedish authorities have blocked the controversial The Pirate Bay (TPB) BitTorrent tracker site following a decision by Stockholm's district court to force Black Internet, TPB's bandwidth supplier, to stop serving the torrent site's traffic. Black Internet was faced with a fine of STG43,000 per day if it had failed to meet the order of the court.
Meanwhile, persistent illegal file-sharers in Britain may be banned from using the internet under proposals put forth by Minister for Digital Britain, Stephen Timms, on Tuesday. The proposals would force ISPs to take action against individual users -- from blocking access to download sites and reducing broadband speeds, to temporarily suspending individual internet accounts. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed removing internet access from those found guilty of downloading music illegally. Meanwhile, Eircom has promised the big four music labels in Ireland that it will operate a 'three strikes' rule against those downloading music illegally.
Finally, following a two-month trial, online encyclopaedia Wikipedia is set to require that changes made to pages about living people will need to be approved by an editor before being published. The new requirements will come into effect within a few weeks, according to Wikipedia Foundation sources. An online poll of 259 Wikipedia users found that 80 percent were in favour of a trial of such a system. A similar system has been operating on the German edition of Wikipedia for over a year.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 