IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 1 April
01-04-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Hands-free driving is dangerous: study | Postcodes will help us find ourselves
The Irish Times reports that using a hands-free mobile phone kit while driving can impair a driver's ability, according to the Department of Transport. The comments come after a US study showed that 97.5 percent of drivers were impaired in their driving performance while using a hands-free set. The research, carried out by the University of Utah on 200 drivers in a simulator, showed drivers' brake reaction times were 20 percent slower, and the distances at which they followed other cars increased by 30 percent. However, there are no plans to ban the use of hands-free kits here while driving.
The paper also says that bookmakers have told an Oireachtas committee that a licensing system rather than a turnover tax could offer a means of capturing a slice of the revenue that Irish people bet online. The Committee on Arts, Sport and Tourism heard presentations from the betting, horseracing and greyhound industries. The horse and greyhound industries want to see the current 1 percent levy on betting shop turnover extended to online and telephone betting operations, and the extra cash used to support their businesses. Both Paddy Power and Betfair proposed using licensing systems that would attract players to the market, and boost employment and investment.
The Irish Independent reports that the response to the 'Your Country, Your Call' campaign has exceeded expectations, according to the competition's founder, Dr Martin McAleese. The competition has received almost 4,000 proposals, including a new, significantly cheaper drug for sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis, and that Ireland offer tax breaks to "steal" the UK's burgeoning computer game development industry. The two winners of the competition will each receive a cash prize of EUR100,000.
The Irish Examiner reports that one-third of second-level schools may have to cut the teaching of science subjects because of education cutbacks, according to a survey by the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI). Read more on this story as noted by ENN on Wednesday.
The paper also notes that the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources believes that technology such as internet mapping and smartphones should be part of a proposed new postcode system. The paper says the Oireachtas Committee has recommended "a unique identifier system" for individual properties, incorporating technologies such as internet mapping and smartphones.
According to the Financial Times, the UK's largest mobile operators may be forced to cut the price of calls following new proposals unveiled by telecoms regulator Ofcom. The watchdog is proposing deep cuts in termination rates on the O2, Orange/T-Mobile, Vodafone and 3UK networks. Its proposals suggest Vodafone, O2 and Orange/T-Mobile would cut termination rates from 4.3p a minute to 0.5p by March 2015, with 3UK's charges falling from 4.6p to 0.5p in the same period. "We expect these reductions to be passed on to consumers through competition," Ofcom said.
The paper also says that UK broadband providers and internet firms have renewed their opposition to the government's plans to tackle online piracy, calling eleventh-hour proposals on site-blocking "dangerous" and "undemocratic". Amendments to the digital economy bill, published on Tuesday evening, would require ministers to conduct a wider consultation on a site's copyright infringement before ordering broadband providers to block it. That provides greater controls than the previous anti-piracy measures in Clause 18, put forward by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, which would have given content owners the ability to demand ISPs block a site as soon as the bill was passed into law. However, telecoms providers and some internet companies remain concerned that the government's approach could be used to block sites such as YouTube or search engines.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Research In Motion's sales rose 35 percent in the fourth quarter, but said consumers are increasingly buying lower-cost versions of its BlackBerry smartphones. The company posted fourth-quarter earnings up 37 percent, to USD710 million, or USD1.27 a share, compared to a profit of USD518.3 million, or USD0.90 a share, a year ago. Revenue grew to USD4.08 billion, but fell short of the company's forecast for sales of between USD4.2 billion and USD4.4 billion and analysts' estimates of USD4.31 billion.
The paper also says that Amazon.com has agreed to stop its heavy discounting of e-book best-sellers in new pricing deals with two major publishers. The e-book agreements, with Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, mirror deals struck earlier this year with Apple for the iPad. Under what's called the agency pricing model, some new best-sellers will be priced at USD9.99 but most will be priced at USD12.99 to USD14.99.
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