IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 17 June
17-06-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Colleges in secret talks over 'super IT' | Apple swamped by demand for iPhone 4
The Irish Independent reports that secret talks have begun between four colleges about the possibility of a combined 'super institute of technology' for the greater Dublin area. The open-ended discussions involve the Dublin Institute of Technology, the institutes of technology at Tallaght and Blanchardstown, and the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. Initially the emphasis will be on greater collaboration in the provision of courses to avoid unnecessary duplication and to allow greater specialisation. Sources believe that in the medium term, the talks will lead to one overall institute.
The paper also says that mobile handset giant Nokia has cut its outlook for sales and profits. Second-quarter handset margins will be "at the lower end of or slightly below" its earlier forecast range of 9 percent to 12 percent, the company said. Nokia reduced its outlook for 2010 for the second time this year. Nokia has struggled to deliver a touchscreen phone that meets the user expectations raised by Apple's iPhone.
The same paper notes that nearly 2.5 million unique users visited Independent News & Media's website in January. The latest audited figures from ABCe show the INM portal attracted 2.46 million unique users for the month, up 7 percent on its October figure. Page views were also up, coming in at 34.4 million, or 12 percent higher than the October level.
The Irish Examiner says that Wexford hurler Greg Jacob has become an internet phenomenon. Over 3,000 people have joined a Facebook page called "Greg Jacob, Wexford Hurler and Pornstar", since news broke of a dalliance with English porn actress Tanya Tate. It has emerged that Jacob starred in three film scenes with Tate.
According to the Financial Times, consumer demand for the new Apple iPhone wiped out initial stocks in a single day and overwhelmed several online ordering systems. Apple said on Wednesday that it had absorbed 600,000 orders the previous day, a record for any of its products, and that it would not be able to ship more to online customers before 14 July, three weeks after it appears in stores in the US and four other countries. US telco AT&T's online store could not cope with the rush of orders for the iPhone 4, and the system crashed periodically before it postponed shipping dates and ultimately stopped taking orders entirely. Some of those trying to place orders said the company displayed information related to other people's accounts.
The paper also says that Google is developing technology that could position it to compete with a new breed of digital media companies. These companies produce content cheaply by mining online search data for under-covered topics, using statistical analysis to identify subjects of interest to consumers and then hiring freelancers to produce relevant stories or videos. Google has obtained a patent for a system that would help it identify "inadequate content" on the internet, based on comparisons of what people search for and what they find, said executives who reviewed the patent filing. The filing said data from the Google system could be sold to online publishers or given away for free, which could complicate the plans of companies such as Demand Media, Associated Content and AOL, which are developing systems to generate ideas for internet content using software algorithms.
The Wall Street Journal reports that AOL is close to selling social network Bebo to a private investment firm at a knock-down price, according to sources. AOL is in final talks to sell Bebo for a fraction of the USD850 million it paid for the site two years ago. The buyer is Criterion Capital Partners of California, according to a source. The small investment firm specialises in turning around companies with revenue between USD3 million and USD30 million. The exact terms of the deal could not be learned, but one person said it was "an exceptionally uninspiring number" with almost total "value destruction." The deal could be announced as soon as Thursday.
The paper also says that software maker Intuit is trying to restore service to company websites affected by an outage that began on Tuesday night, leaving consumers and small businesses without access to online versions of the company's accounting and tax software. Intuit's products include TurboTax, Quicken and QuickBooks. The online services associated with those products remained offline Wednesday afternoon. A company spokeswoman said it had not yet identified the cause of the outage, but ruled out a cyber-attack.
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