IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 5 March
05-03-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Havok to create Dublin jobs | YouTube rolls out video captions
The Irish Times reports that HP has announced an expansion to its Global Solutions Centre in Belfield that will result in the creation of 60 jobs. Read more on this story on ENN.
The paper also says that Dublin software firm Havok is to create 26 jobs in Dublin to support the launch of a new product but says it could have created twice that number of jobs here if it could have attracted skilled staff. Havok managing director David O'Meara said another 26 jobs were being created in San Francisco to support a new mobile product. "We would like to do more in Ireland but we are restricted because the quality of talent coming out of computer science is not what we would like," he said. The company is expected to sign a lease shortly for Dublin office space that will be able to accommodate an additional 70 staff. O'Meara said 40 jobs had gone to Munich and San Francisco in the past two years that could have gone to Dublin.
The same paper reports that the Digital Hub has requested a meeting with the management of tenant company Big Collision Games over its alleged involvement with an Australian games firm that wound up last month owing more than AUD1.5 million (EUR993,000). Big Collision Games signed an agreement in December to take space at the Digital Hub and is due to move in later this month or in April. The rent agreement was signed two months before gaming firm Interzone closed its Australian office. Big Collision Games is a separate legal entity to the one that was operating as Interzone Pty in Australia, but two of its directors are also listed as directors of Interzone.
The paper also says that e-payments group Payzone is believed to have won a contract from the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) for the long-awaited integrated ticketing service for bus and rail travel. Payzone, which also holds the contract for the M50 barrier-free tolling, was part of a consortium and appears to have beaten rivals Pay Point and Post Point for the contract, although no official announcement has been made.
The paper also reports on the official launch of Weedle, a website that allows you to find people with specific skills based on recommendations from people you know. The company is the latest venture from serial entrepreneur Iain McDonald, whose previous venture was Perlico. The telecoms firm was acquired by Vodafone in 2007, with McDonald receiving EUR12 million for his 20 percent stake.
The Irish Independent notes that Gardai are to be given new powers to allow them carry out searches of DNA databases in other EU states for criminal investigations. In return, other police forces will to able to look through the databank here. The searching of samples will be carried out on anonymous data. If there is a 'hit', further inquiries can be pursued through an existing mutual assistance deal. This will allow additional information on samples to be exchanged.
The paper also says that former Dell workers have said they do not trust FAS to administer the EUR22.8 million retraining fund that has been made available from the EU and the Government. The Dell Redundant Workers' Association (DRWA) hit out at the State training agency's slowness in dealing with queries from former employees. "FAS is working at two speeds -- go slow and stop," association member Tony O'Shea told the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise. "Our members don't trust the word FAS," said the group's treasurer, Gerry Hinchy. "Why not put in a private person with vision to oversee the project."
According to the Financial Times, camera and photocopier company Canon has declared its EUR1.32 billion bid for digital print firm Oce unconditional, sealing the takeover despite only 71 percent of the shares in its Dutch rival being tendered to its offer. The declaration means that Oce's remaining shareholders, who have said that Canon's EUR8.60-a-share bid is too low, have no choice but to accept the bid or else become minority investors in the business. Canon made the decision after Holland's highest commercial court ruled in its favour on Wednesday in a case brought by dissident Oce shareholders. They had accused Canon of seeking a "de facto squeeze-out" of minority shareholders by taking four of six supervisory board seats once the deal is completed.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a mixed ruling in memory chip firm Rambus' patent-infringement case against rival Nvidia. Under the ruling, the patent office upheld one Rambus patent outright, while rejecting another. A third patent received a mixed ruling, with some of the claims under that patent rejected, while others were upheld. Speaking at an investor conference, Rambus CEO Harold Hughes said the ruling will be "most helpful" in bringing the company to a resolution in its issues with Nvidia.
The paper also says that Google's YouTube is to offer automatically generated captions for its entire video catalogue, a boon for deaf users and those who want to watch videos in other languages. At a press conference, Google software engineer Ken Harrenstein demonstrated the feature and went through the reasons Google invested in the product -- from expanding accessibility to crossing language barriers to improving search. YouTube users can see available captions by clicking on a button in the lower-right-hand part of the video player. They can also choose to see captions in a different language from the language of the video. Harrenstein, who is deaf and gave his presentation in sign language, said he has been working on the product for the past five years.
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