IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 10 February
10-02-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Eircom told to reduce LLU charges | Google gets social with Buzz
The Irish Times reports that recycled mobile phones are to fund nursing scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds at Dublin City University. One place in the third-level access programme will be funded for every 600 mobile phones collected at DCU for the Jack and Jill Foundation children's charity.
The paper also notes that business information firm D&B is to create 100 jobs in Ireland at a data processing centre, as reported by ENN on Tuesday.
The same paper says the telecoms industry has welcomed a ComReg decision requiring Eircom to reduce the price it charges rivals to place their equipment on its network. The maximum monthly charge that Eircom will now be able to charge for local loop unbundling is EUR12.41 per customer line. ComReg has also ordered that the maximum price for sub-loop unbundling should be EUR10.53. Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan welcomed the decision. A spokesman for the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators said "While this reduction is welcome […] it still does not go far enough."
The paper also notes that Norkom Technologies has signed a deal with global investment bank Daiwa Capital Markets Singapore. Read more on this story on ENN.
The Wall Street Journal says that Google has launched a new service to bring social updates such as photos and weblinks into Gmail and some Google mobile products. The Google Buzz service allows users to post and browse content from people they regularly communicate with over Gmail in a new stream-like interface. People can choose to follow content from other Google users and Google tries to figure out what's relevant, surfacing some updates directly into users' inboxes. Users will soon also be able to post and view updates from Google's mobile website or Buzz mobile software application.
In other social networking news, Facebook has begun the rollout of another new design, the same paper reports. The search box, which allows users to search for their friends and various content, has been moved to a more prominent location on the left of the screen. The list of a user's friends who are currently online is now exposed on the left side of the screen and accessible without opening another window. Many of the changes are subtle and the look and feel of the site remains the same.
According to the Financial Times, Chinese search engine Baidu has posted an almost 50 percent surge in net profit for the fourth quarter. Net income in the three months to 31 December was RMB427.9 million, up 48.2 percent compared with a year earlier, while revenue soared 39.8 percent to RMB1.261 billion, above the RMB1.23 billion Baidu had forecast. The company said it expected to continue strong growth in the current quarter, with total revenue due to rise 50 percent compared with the first quarter last year.
The paper also says that Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has delivered a ringing endorsement of Apple's iPad, saying his company is developing content and special features for the new device. Iger said the iPad could be a "game changer" and would enable Disney to create new forms of content from ESPN, its sports cable network, and ABC, its broadcast network. "The interactivity that it will allow as a portable device with such a high-quality screen will enable us to develop product that's different to what we see on internet-connected computers and TVs," he said.
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Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 