IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 31 March
31-03-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
IT courses regain CAO popularity | Intel unveils 'mission critical' server chip
The Irish Times reports that an online calculator called the Economiser has been launched by the National Consumer Agency, with the aim of helping consumers reduce their household spending. The calculator analyses users' spending patterns in four areas -- groceries, energy, TV, and telecoms and mobile -- before comparing it to one of 59 distinct profiles which have been input into its database. This allows users of the service to see at a glance how their spending matches people in a similar financial position to themselves and make changes accordingly.
The paper also notes that a new online mapping service, MapGenie, has been unveiled by Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI), as reported by ENN.
The same paper says that Citrix Ireland is to increase its workforce by up to 30 full-time employees, as noted by ENN on Tuesday.
The paper also reports that Xerox chairwoman Anne Mulcahy will retire in May, stepping down after more than 30 years at the company. Xerox said that Ursula Burns, who succeeded Mulcahy as chief executive in July 2009, will assume both roles.
The same paper notes that Hutchison Whampoa's annual profit has risen 12 percent as gains from asset sales and narrower mobile-phone losses outweighed falls in ports and energy. Net income increased to HKD14.2 billion (EUR1.4 billion) from a restated HKD12.7 billion dollars, Hutchison Whampoa told the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The Irish Independent says there has been a bounce-back in the popularity of IT courses among Irish students. The latest statistics show that first preference applications for IT honours degrees have gone up from 1,835 in 2007 to 2,623 this year. They now make up 4.2 percent of all first-preference applications for honours degree courses in the CAO system. The increase in applications for ordinary degree/higher certificates in IT was more dramatic -- first preferences are up 24.7 percent this year following a 20 percent rise last year.
The paper also notes that gangland boss John Gilligan was under investigation by Gardai on Tuesday night after he was accused of being in illegal possession of two mobile phones while in court defending himself against a similar charge. Gilligan appeared before a sitting of Portlaoise District Court to contest the charge that he had been in possession of a phone in his cell in the local maximum-security jail. He claimed that he had no knowledge of the phone. During the sitting Gardai received information that a phone had been passed to Gilligan. The case was adjourned by the judge to allow a search be carried out by Gardai, during which they found a mobile phone in a bag that Gilligan had been using to hold documentation for his defence in court. Further inquiries uncovered a second phone taped underneath a bench where Gilligan had been sitting during his case.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Intel has completed a broad overhaul of its chips for server systems. The chip giant said the latest addition to its Xeon microprocessor line --which is most commonly used in small servers powered by one to four chips -- is designed to be deployed in systems that use up to 256 chips. Such systems, which handle jobs like managing stock trading and cash-machine networks, historically relied on proprietary circuitry developed by computer makers. Intel said its latest Xeon is three times faster than earlier high-end models and adds multiple reliability features. "We're talking about bringing mission-critical to the masses," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president of Intel's architecture group and general manager of its data-centre group.
The paper also says that Yahoo e-mail accounts belonging to foreign journalists in China appear to have been hacked. The accounts of at least three journalists and an analyst became inaccessible over the last few weeks. They were greeted with messages saying, "We've detected an issue with your account" and were told to contact Yahoo, the people said. Yahoo technicians told one of the four that his account had been hacked and restored his access, but it was not clear if the other instances were related.
In related news from China, the Financial Times says that Chinese internet users suffered more serious problems with Google searches on Wednesday amid confusion over who was to blame for a series of disruptions that have occurred since the company last week moved its search engine to Hong Kong. The problems -- where searches in Chinese for words as harmless as 'dog' or 'home' produce browser error messages -- re-emerged just hours after users reported that major disruptions that continued from Tuesday evening seemed to have disappeared. Google on Tuesday evening took responsibility for the problems, saying the blockages occurred when it inserted new code into its system. However, the company created confusion just hours later when it reversed the previous announcement, saying China was to blame for the disruptions.
Free! "In the papers" email newsletter -- get the full text to your in-box every business day. Email itp@enn.ie with 'subscribe' in the subject line.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 