IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 6 November
06-11-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Digiweb to acquire Smart Telecom | Most commercial hotspots insecure: Deloitte
The Irish Times says there's a record number of entries for this year's BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. A total of 1,588 student projects have been entered for the event in four categories: technology; chemical, physical and mathematical sciences; biological and ecological sciences; and social and behavioural sciences. These will be reduced to 520 projects by the time the exhibition gets under way in January.
The paper also says that new website Reachout.com aims to help young people with mental health issues, as noted by ENN on Thursday.
The paper also says that an iPhone app called "dessid" is providing free access to Eircom broadband networks in people's homes without the owners' knowledge. The software, which costs EUR1.59 to download, scans for available wireless networks and exploits a flaw in the hardware Eircom provided to its broadband customers a couple of years ago. The problem arose because each Eircom customer's wireless network broadcast a unique eight-digit code as its network name. The password was derived from these digits. Since August 2008 all devices shipped to Eircom customers have used a more secure standard which is not susceptible to the misuse.
In more news of iPhone apps, the paper notes that website Entertainment.ie has just launched an application in the iTunes App Store. Using GPS, the software shows the user events that are taking place in their vicinity.
The same paper says that revenues at UPC Ireland rose 2.2 percent year-on-year in the nine months to the end of September. Read more on this story on ENN.
The paper also reports that Smart Telecom is to be acquired by Digiweb, subject to the approval of its creditors and the High Court. The investment will result in the creation of a company with annual revenues of EUR40 million and more than 150 staff. The combined entity will have a subscriber base of 46,500 business, residential, corporate and Government customers. The Smart brand name will be retained but the company will become part of the Digiweb group. The financial details of the transaction were not revealed.
The same paper says that a former Merrion Stockbrokers executive has set up a new business offering stock market training and stock picks to personal investors. Rory Gillen's InvestR Centre (investrcentre.com) operates mainly through a website where investors can subscribe if they want Gillen's advice. The site features detailed information on investment approaches as well as weekly comments on events in the markets and other publications.
The paper also reports that hundreds of commercial wireless hotspots in Dublin, Limerick and Cork are insecure, leaving users susceptible to having data such as usernames, passwords and bank account details revealed to other users on the network. An annual study by consultants Deloitte found that 70 percent of public wireless networks have no encryption in place, while 80 percent are "insecure", meaning they have no encryption or use the WEP standard, which is easy to crack.
The paper also says that Irish tech firm Silicon Software Systems (S3) posted a pretax net loss of EUR1.6 million in 2008, down from EUR5.3 million a year earlier, according to accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office. The company, which employs 140 people in Ireland and 145 overseas, saw turnover decline slightly from EUR24 million in 2007 to EUR23.5 million last year. Operating losses narrowed from EUR2.7 million to EUR850,000 year-on-year.
The paper also notes that a Louth-based entrepreneur has launched a fund to help unemployed graduates of DCU and Dundalk Institute of Technology evaluate and develop new technology start-up ideas. In partnership with the two universities, and with the help of the Irish business community in Canada, Pat McKeown, founder of internet and business services firm FF Solutions, has put together the Paraic McKeown Memorial Fund, which will provide proof-of-concept funds to qualifying projects.
The Irish Examiner says that Ireland is the third-largest seller of "designer drugs" over the internet in Europe, according to an EU drugs agency. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said new designer drugs include party pills containing legal alternatives to the now-banned substance BZP and a range of herbal smoking blends under the 'Spice' brand.
The paper also says that Irish children are choosing to do their bullying on social networking sites rather than by phone or e-mail. Research by the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, presented at the Psychological Society of Ireland annual conference in Wexford, showed that 6.3 percent of Irish children have been bullied 'once or twice' in the past two to three months, while 5.5 percent have been bullied at least once a week. The 876 children surveyed described cyber-bullying as the posting of "untrue messages" or negative comments on social networking sites. The research shows that cyber-bullies come from both in and outside of school and are not always known to the victims.
According to the Financial Times, Google has unveiled new tools that will allow users to see what information the search giant is keeping on them. Users who have signed up to consumer services such as Gmail, Blogger, Picasa and YouTube will be able to see a "dashboard" listing the personal details stored about them. Users will be able to edit and delete the information.
The Wall Street Journal says that US mobile operator Verizon Wireless has unveiled its second device to run on Google's Android software, the Droid Eris smartphone. The device is manufactured by Taiwan-based HTC and will sell for USD99.
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