NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 19 March
19-03-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
Apple to enter social networking market? | Mobile broadband growth rockets
Here is a roundup of Friday's news tweets @ElectricNews.Net.
Sky is to launch Sky 3D on 3 April in the UK and Ireland. Over 1,000 pubs and clubs have already signed up for the service www.sky.com
Is Apple jumping into the social networking ring? PatentlyApple has uncovered docs that hint at that possibility. www.patentlyapple.com
As of December 2009 total broadband subscriptions in Ireland were 1,443,350, or 91.8 percent of all internet subscriptions. ComReg (PDF)
Almost 70 percent of all broadband subscriptions are now in the 2Mbps-9.99Mbps category; over 6 percent are in the 10Mbps+ category. ComReg (PDF)
Cable broadband proving increasingly popular with annual growth of 45.1 percent. DSL just 8.2 percent growth. ComReg (PDF)
Mobile broadband continues to drive the broadband market - growth over the year was 51.2 percent to December 2009. ComReg (PDF)
Facebook has said it will install a "panic button" on its site, but has rejected demands by the British government to place it on users' homepages. Instead it will feature in Facebook's Security Centre. www.telegraph.co.uk
Northern Ireland software high-flyer First Derivatives is to make a STG4.1m investment in research and development. www.insideireland.ie
Reports in the Chinese Business News suggest that Google will pull out of China by 10 April. It could reportedly make an announcement on 22 March. www.timesonline.co.uk
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 