IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 19 July
19-07-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Irish SMEs secure EU research funding | Jobs defends iPhone 4, offers free bumpers
The Irish Times reports that bankrupt travel firm 1800Hotels has at least 30 major US creditors, including Google, Yahoo and the Internal Revenue Service, according to court documents. The company presented a list of creditors to a Florida court as it announced it is consolidating Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for both its Irish parent company, Happy Duck, and for 1800Hotels, which it describes in other documents as a "fictitious" entity that allows Happy Duck to trade in the US. Google and Yahoo are owed undisclosed sums for advertising.
The Irish Examiner says that Irish SMEs feature strongly among businesses who have secured industry funding from an EU research fund. More than EUR55 million has been awarded to businesses here out of a EUR213 million dividend received by Ireland to date from the seventh framework programme (FP7) for research and technological development. Higher education colleges secured 61 percent of the funding, but 26 percent went to industry. "SMEs account for over 69 percent of the funding to private industry, funding that is enabling Irish SMEs to collaborate with world-class research teams across Europe," said the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Telefonica has said it will not extend its EUR7.15 billion offer for Portugal Telecom's stake in Brazil's Vivo, following an extended bidding process. "Portugal Telecom's board of directors didn't accept the bid within the timeframe and it is now terminated," said Telefonica in a regulatory filing. Analysts had called Telefonica's twice-sweetened offer generous. Portugal Telecom had asked Telefonica to extend the offer period to 28 July from 16 July.
The paper also says that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has defended the iPhone 4 against complaints that it has a flawed antenna design, arguing that all smartphones have reception problems and saying the issue has been blown out of proportion. Jobs, on stage Friday at Apple's headquarters, admitted the iPhone 4 loses reception when touched in the lower left corner and drops slightly more calls than its predecessor. He said Apple will offer free cases to iPhone 4 owners to alleviate the problem. Customers who have already purchased Apple's USD29 bumper will get a refund. Jobs also showed videos of rival devices that he said had similar reception problems. "This has been blown so out of proportion that it's incredible," he said. However, Jobs' claim that all phones suffer from similar problems drew fire from smartphone rivals including BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Motorola.
According to the Financial Times, 'Toy Story 3' is on course to become the biggest-grossing animated film released by Walt Disney after generating USD630.2 million in its first month in cinemas. Disney has held back the launch of the film in big European markets to avoid it clashing with the World Cup. A strong European run is expected to take the movie past 'Finding Nemo', Disney's previously best-performing animated film.
The Sunday Business Post reports that Nasdaq-listed Clearwire has taken an interest in telecoms firm Imagine. The minority stake represents about 7 percent of the firm and will see the US broadband firm pay Imagine more than EUR5 million in cash. Under the deal, Imagine will also take over a large part of Clearwire's Irish business. Clearwire began operations here in 2005, and has a large number of masts in the country. This infrastructure will now be used by Imagine, which has begun rolling out its high-speed wireless Wimax network throughout the country.
The same paper reports that Web Reservations International is planning to expand, adding 50 jobs over the next two years. WRI was bought by US private equity firm Hellman and Friedman for US340 million last year. The company, which handles online bookings for hostels, already employs about 100 people. The majority of the planned new jobs will be in Dublin, and will be for software programmers, internet content specialists and senior positions in the management team.
The Sunday Tribune reports that a Facebook impersonator responsible for several fake accounts for well-known Irish people is aiming to embarrass the individuals. He is currently running profile pages for author John Banville, Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy, historian Diarmaid Ferriter, celebrity chef Rachel Allen, journalist Fintan O'Toole and Irish Examiner editor Tim Vaughan. The satirical poster told the paper he is basing himself on 'V' from the film 'V for Vendetta'. Facebook has said it will look into removing the fake pages.
The same paper reports that a home video of a Holocaust survivor dancing at Auschwitz has gone viral. Adolek Kohn was filmed dancing to the song "I will survive" with his daughter and grandchildren at Auschwitz and other Holocaust sites, and the clip has seen more than 500,000 hits. The clip has since been removed from YouTube, with the site blaming "copyright issues".
The paper also briefly reports on Facebook's new face recognition system; Tata Group's deal with Google India to provide email, instant messaging, video and office presentation tools for Indian businesses; and Digicel's new money transfer service. It also reports briefly on Microsoft's abandoned intellectual property lawsuit against Chinese company CITIC Kington Securities after it agreed to buy more than EUR370,000 of Microsoft software.
The Sunday Independent reports that online videogame company Riot Games has set up its EMEA headquarters in Dublin. The LA-based firm was founded in 2006 and specialises in free online video games, including role-playing fantasy game 'League of Legends Season One'. The company is already recruiting for roles in marketing and production for the new office.
The same paper reports that the Government will not switch off the country's FM signal in favour of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). If it were to do so, standard radios would become obsolete. Other European countries have made a commitment to turn off the analogue signal, but a spokesman for Communications Minister Eamon Ryan said Ireland never had such a plan. He said there may the possibility of phasing out analogue radio if digital radio took off. One problem, however, is the car stereo; if manufacturers do not begin fitting the DAB radios as standard, it would be costly for consumers to change over to compatible stereos.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 