IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 24 September
24-09-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Cutbacks take toll on science subjects | Xilinx forecasts rising revenue
The Irish Times reports that a number of schools have had to drop some science subjects and cut back on higher-level maths as a result of a drop in teacher numbers. That's according to a confidential new survey from the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), which revealed that some 25 percent of schools in one Galway region have dropped science from the curriculum. Last night, ASTI general secretary John White said the cutbacks had put schools under pressure. "These kind of cuts are disastrous and counter-productive if we are serious about the smart economy," he said.
The same paper says that the EU has approved Poland's plan to give Dell EUR54.5 million in state aid, as noted by ENN.
The paper also reports that semiconductor maker Xilinx has predicted that sales in the period ending this month will rise 10 percent from the first quarter after demand picked up in "nearly all end markets and geographies". In July, the company projected an increase of 6 percent. The forecast indicates revenue of about USD413.9 million (EUR280 million) for this quarter, beating analysts' estimates.
The Irish Examiner reports on Irish mobile applications company Zamano's financial results. Read more on ENN.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a Perot Systems employee has been accused of insider trading based on his alleged knowledge of Dell's planned takeover of the firm. The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil suit against Reza Saleh, who has worked for various Perot entities, and accused him of making USD8.6 million in profit from trading stock options on Perot ahead of Dell's announcement. In the deal, Dell agreed to pay USD3.9 billion for Perot, a 30 percent premium to the stock price before the announcement. Neither Saleh nor Perot have commented on the allegations.
The paper also reports that Nintendo is to knock USD50 off the price of its Wii videogame console, hoping to counter the effects of the recession and expand the market for the device. The Japanese company's U.S. unit will begin offering the console at a suggested retail price of USD199.99 from Sunday. Console rivals Sony and Microsoft recently reduced their prices, prompting speculation that Nintendo would follow suit.
Staying with gaming consoles, the Financial Times reports that Microsoft has said that most of the top videogame publishers were developing games for Microsoft's Natal controller. Natal is Microsoft's challenger to Nintendo's Wii. It uses an infrared camera to measure a gamer's motion in three dimensions and turn it into input for a game. Natal and Sony's equivalent, both due out next year, are at the heart of the battle to differentiate between the consoles and compete with Nintendo's Wii. Publisher support is vital as sales of the motion controllers will depend on the games that use them.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 