IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 9 February
09-02-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Boston Scientific to cut Cork jobs? | Electronic Arts posts narrower loss
The Irish Times reports that the financial regulator will review how to strengthen enforcement against overcharging by banks after AIB admitted charging 40,000 customers incorrect fees and interest over several years. Matthew Elderfield, head of financial regulation, said the regulator was conducting a review "to strengthen its approach concerning the timeliness of resolving overcharging in firms and the grounds for enforcement actions against such failures". AIB estimated that refunds to customers would total EUR4 million, as reported by ENN on Monday.
The paper also says that chipmaker Intel will make a decision next month on where to build a factory for its next generation of microprocessors, according to the general manager of its operations in Israel. Maxine Fassberg said Israel and Ireland will be two of the main locations competing for the 22-nanometer plant. The new technology allows even more chips to be created on a single wafer during the manufacturing process. Fassberg said Intel will decide in mid-March where to put the new plant.
Separately, the paper reports that former Intel chairman Craig Barrett has called Ireland "distinctly average" and said that average is no longer good enough. Addressing the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, Barrett said that competitiveness in the modern world was a function of three concepts: smart people, smart ideas and the right environment. He said the rapid economic emergence of players such as China, India, Latin America and Eastern Europe meant countries with high standards of living, like Ireland, must concentrate efforts on high value-added jobs. Entrepreneurs and start-ups will drive economic growth, he believes, and the areas where they will thrive are tech-related sectors like nanotechnology, microelectronics, photonics, biotechnology and alternative energy.
The paper also says that Boston Scientific is to cut 175 jobs at its Galway plant, as reported by ENN on Monday.
Adding more information to the same story, the Irish Examiner says that in addition to the Galway job cuts, Boston Scientific will also cut positions in Cork. The paper quotes a number of unnamed sources, one of which says almost 190 jobs will go, and another that 70 will go. One source said the latest redundancies were temporary and were in addition to 82 temporary staff who were made permanently redundant two weeks ago.
The Irish Independent says that internet safety lessons are to be extended to primary school students. In the lessons, children will be given tips on how to protect themselves online and will be advised about cyber-bullying.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Electronic Arts narrowed its loss in the Christmas quarter from a year ago. For the period ended 31 December, EA posted a loss of USD82 million, or USD0.25 a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of USD641 million, or USD2 a share. Revenue came in at USD1.24 billion. The latest results included USD100 million in restructuring charges, while the prior-year quarter had more than USD600 million in charges. The video games firm issued a weak outlook for the current quarter, predicting earnings of USD0.02 to USD0.06 a share on revenue of USD800 million to USD850 million. That was below analysts' estimates of a profit of USD0.13 a share and revenue of USD851 million.
According to the Financial Times, Google is attempting to gain a foothold in the social networking market, as it prepares to announce new features for Gmail that would extend its capabilities to mirror some aspects of Facebook. Google Chat, part of Gmail, already allows users to post short status updates. Google is now planning to give Gmail users a way to aggregate these updates, creating a stream of notifications that would echo the real-time streams from Facebook and Twitter, according to sources.
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Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 