NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 6 October
06-10-2009
by Emmet Ryan
Google's Gmail attacked | US trio share Physics Nobel Prize
Just one day after Microsoft's Hotmail services was revealed to have fallen foul of hackers, Google's Gmail has joined its rival in suffering an attack. The search giant said it was targeted as part of what it described as an "industry wide phishing scheme". Google said immediate action was taken when it learned that account names and passwords were posted online. On Monday ENN reported that details of 10,000 Hotmail accounts were published on the website Pastebin.com. It now turns out that information from at least 20,000 other accounts, across Gmail, AOL and Yahoo, among others, had been posted on the same website.
In lighter news, three American scientists who helped create the technology for digital photography and fibre-optic networks have shared the Nobel Prize for Physics. Charles K. Kao was rewarded for his breakthrough involving the transmission of light in fibre optics. Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were honoured for creating an imaging semiconductor circuit known as the CCD sensor. The 10 million kroner (EUR980,000) prize will be split between the parties, with Kao receiving half and Smith and Boyle sharing the remainder.
ComReg has published its 'Response to Consultation' on the release of spectrum in the 2300 - 2400 MHz (2.3 GHz) band. This is a prime spectrum band, currently unassigned in Ireland, which has the capability of delivering new technologies and services. The spectrum is particularly relevant to wireless broadband delivery. ComReg said it had received 20 responses to the consultation from stakeholders. The regulator said most of the issues surrounding the spectrum had been resolved but that stakeholders did not want the spectrum released until the band was standardised by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. ComReg will bring forward its final consultation on the matter early next year.
Office equipment firm Ricoh Ireland has won a EUR250,000 contract with Kilkenny Print and Graphics, one of the largest printing companies in the South-East. Ricoh will provide Kilkenny Print with its newly launched Pro C900s digital colour press, on-site training and ongoing service support. The C900s is capable of speeds of 90 pages per minute, which is an increase of more than 80 percent on Kilkenny Print's previous machine.
The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the managed registry for the dot-ie (.ie) domain, has reported continued strong growth in domain registrations in the third quarter of this year. The latest figures from the IEDR show that a total of 9,398 dot-ie domains were registered in the period, up 15 percent on the same period last year. Registration rates have been growing steadily throughout the year, with monthly registrations exceeding 3,000 for nine consecutive months this year. In the first nine months of the year, new registrations are up 7 percent compared to the same period in 2008.
Infrastructure software firm Citrix has announced Citrix XenDesktop 4. This new product is designed to make virtual desktops a mainstream reality for hundreds of millions of corporate employees. Citrix says XenDesktop 4 aims to deliver a greater return on investment to customers.
Chambers Ireland and ESB Customer Supply have launched a new guide to help firms become more energy-efficient. The guide, entitled 'Bright Ideas: A Smarter Business Guide to Energy Efficiency', looks to help SMEs improve performance, contribute to their bottom line and become more environmentally aware through energy efficiency. "Energy is a very significant cost for business. We have produced this guide to help companies and their staff to improve energy efficiency thereby reducing costs and enhancing their competitiveness," said Ian Talbot, chief executive of Chambers Ireland. "This guide shows how even the smallest of changes can deliver substantial cost savings while also reducing emissions and will be a big help to companies struggling to manage costs in these challenging times."
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 