IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 24 May
24-05-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Google to create new Irish jobs | Digiweb plans buying spree
The Irish Times reports that former Dell workers are setting up a new national organisation to represent staff at other non-union companies. The Dell Redundant Workers Association said a new group is needed to educate people about their rights and represent them at companies where unions are banned. The group successfully lobbied the US computer giant to double its redundancy package. Leader Denis Ryan said it is now ready to take on firms who flout labour laws or do not give ex-workers their entitlements. The group is advising staff in the Quinn Group on how to get the best redundancy deal.
The paper also says that US internet security company Webroot plans to create 50 jobs in Dublin over the next two years, as reported by ENN last Thursday.
The Irish Examiner reports that mobile phone users in Ireland sent more than 8 billion text messages in the past 12 months, more than twice as much as our European partners. In the 12 months to the end of March, Vodafone customers sent 4.8 billion texts, while O2 said its customers sent 3.2 billion. In the three months to March, Meteor's 1 million customers sent more than 1.3 million texts. Vodafone said that in the first three months of this year its customers used 22 percent more texts and 1.5 percent more voice minutes than in the same period last year. O2 customers sent 833 million texts in the first three months, an increase of 11 percent on last year. Vodafone said its Irish customers used on average 257 voice minutes each month and 200 text messages in the first three months of the year, compared to a European average of 152 voice minutes and 89 texts.
The paper also reports that Labour MEP Alan Kelly has asked Gardai to investigate how his official Twitter account might have been hacked after an offensive anti-Traveller message was published on his page. Last month, the Ireland South representative's account on the networking site released a derogatory message about the Travelling community. The note was taken down within an hour, with the politician posting a second message to say his site had been "compromised". In recent days representatives of Kelly have contacted Nenagh Garda Station to investigate the incident.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has gotten approval from the US government for its USD750 million acquisition of mobile advertising company AdMob. After a six-month investigation, the Federal Trade Commission voted 5-0 to approve the deal, without conditions. It said the decision was difficult because of concerns that competition could be harmed by the merger of the two leading mobile ad networks. However, the agency said its antitrust concerns were allayed by Apple's recent entry into the market. "The Commission has reason to believe that Apple quickly will become a strong mobile advertising network competitor," the FTC said in a statement.
The paper also says that US mobile operator AT&T will next month increase the termination fee it charges customers to cancel smartphone contracts early. The company will raise its early-termination fees to USD325 from USD175 on contracts signed for smartphones and mobile-connected netbooks. But for contracts on phones other than smartphones, AT&T will drop the fee by USD25 to USD150. The changes, which don't apply to existing contracts, take effect for new and renewing customers on 1 June. AT&T is expected to lose exclusivity on the Apple iPhone over the next year.
The same paper says that Facebook, MySpace and several other social networking sites have been sending data to advertising companies that could be used to find out consumers' names and other personal details, despite promises they don't share such information without consent. The practice, which most of the companies defended, sends user names or ID numbers tied to personal profiles being viewed when users click on ads. After questions were raised by the newspaper, Facebook and MySpace moved to make changes. By Thursday morning Facebook had rewritten some of the offending computer code. Several large advertising companies identified by the paper as receiving the data, including Google's DoubleClick and Yahoo's Right Media, said they were unaware of the data being sent to them from the social networking sites, and said they haven't made use of it.
The Sunday Business Post says internet giant Google will create 200 jobs in Dublin as part of an investment in shared services. The paper says this will take Google's workforce in Ireland to 1,800. Meanwhile, IDA Ireland has three other jobs announcements coming up in the next two weeks, one in financial services and two in internet-related firms. Two investments are from firms that have never invested in Ireland before, IDA Ireland said. The financial services project will be announced later this week and will provide more than 100 jobs.
The same paper says Irish telecoms firm Digiweb is going on a buying spree, with targets being identified in the UK that could see the business's size grow to EUR100 million. The company has already bought Smart Telecom, Internet Ireland and TalkTalk's business in Ireland and Belgium, increasing revenues to EUR50 million. However, Digiweb's Colm Piercy said upcoming deals were likely to be on a bigger scale, and the company is seeking to buy a firm with revenues of between EUR20 million and EUR50 million.
The paper also says that a new survey by RecruitIreland.com has found that close to half of job interviewers have looked up candidates online, with one in five recruiters rejecting a candidate because of the research, which is carried out on Facebook, Twitter, blog posts and LinkedIn profiles. Recruiters said they had uncovered comments that conflict with their business ethos, found evidence of lying on a CV or read offensive comments about existing employers.
The Sunday Times says Dail and Seanad members will soon be allowed to text, tweet and e-mail by phone from the chambers. A committee has proposed some simple rules to regulate the use of phones in the chamber instead of trying to ban them outright. As long as their activity does not interfere with a speaking TD or senator, TDs and senators will be able to communicate through their phones, although deputies sitting close to a TD who is speaking will be expected not to use their phones.
The paper also reports that the BBC is to unveil a new version of its catch-up television service, iPlayer, that will work with Facebook and Twitter. Commercial rivals have accused the broadcaster of trying to "colonise the web". BBC plans to close or merge half of its sites by 2012 and cut its online budget.
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