IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 23 August
23-08-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
IBAL launches Litter Twitter campaign | Mobile operators pin revenue hopes on apps
The Irish Independent says that a record number of applicants have pushed up the CAO points for the majority of college courses this year. Points have risen for 700 courses, while remaining the same or dropping for the other 560. Some of the biggest point surges are in science and computing, reflecting higher student demand. Areas such as law, construction and business experienced a downward drift in points.
The paper also says that a summer of 3D movies has helped revive the flagging fortunes of Irish cinemas. While overall admissions are down 7 percent on last year, a slew of recent 3D blockbusters, including 'Toy Story 3' and 'Shrek Forever After', have given a much-needed boost to sales. The top five grossing films of the year so far include four 3D movies.
The same paper notes that prisoners on temporary release will be tagged for the first time within weeks, but the pilot -- which was originally meant to begin last month -- will not involve any sex offenders. "The purpose is to let offenders out and get used to living in the community while we still have control over them," said a Prison Service spokesman. Those who are considered a risk to the public will not be involved in the trial phase, with 20 prisoners due to be tagged initially, and the numbers to be increased depending on the success of the trial. Long-serving killer Geoffrey Evans is expected to be one of the first tagged -- but he is in a coma and, therefore, not considered a risk to the public.
The paper also says that some debt holders in Eircom could receive as little as 10 cent in the euro if the telecoms company defaults on its EUR3.6 billion debt, according to an analysis by ratings agency Standard & Poor. S&P has done a 'recovery analysis' on the debt held by the parent companies that own Eircom. While senior secured debt is likely to have recovery rates of between 90 and 100 percent in the event of a default, debt holders further down the credit list could be facing big "haircuts". Eircom strongly rejects any suggestion that it could default on its debt load, however.
The Irish Examiner reports that citizens can alert local authorities to litter blackspots under an initiative by the Irish Business Against Litter organisation. IBAL has launched a "Litter Twitter" campaign which will allow people to submit photos of litter blackspots via their mobile phones. Photos can be e-mailed to litterspotter.2010@twitpic.com and IBAL can be followed at twitter.com/litterspotter. The aim of the initiative is to alert local authorities to areas which are heavily littered and which do not appear to be cleaned on any regular basis.
According to the Financial Times, mobile operators expect app downloads to become their biggest source of income in developed markets within three years and want to charge content providers for preferential access to their networks. Executives surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit forecast that revenues from voice services will be overtaken by app download revenues in 2013. Many expressed concern that consumer habits -- more social networking, downloading of videos and playing of games -- will require investment on their part to handle the data usage, while content providers pocket a large slice of the extra revenue.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration is considering overhauling 26 troubled federal technology projects valued at as much as USD30 billion. Projects on the list are either over budget, haven't worked as expected or both, say Office of Management and Budget officials. Administration officials aren't considering shutting down the programmes but instead are considering ways to revise them or separate them into smaller pieces in the proposed 2012 federal budget, which will be released in February.
The Sunday Tribune reports that the Road Safety Authority is working to correct an error on its website that saw penalty points for a range of driving offences available in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Irish, but not in English. Website www.penaltypoints.ie carries a full list of the offences in nine languages other than English. The RSA has promised to update the site, and acknowledged that other sections of the site are outdated, including news and statistics sections, some of which are from 2005.
The Sunday Times reports that a psychiatrist is suing the Irish Times for libel over a comment that appeared on its website. An apology was published in the blogs section of the site but Patricia Casey has lodged a claim in the High Court, the paper said. The comment, published on an opinion piece by Breda O'Brien on child sex education, is believed to have criticised her professionalism, and was subsequently removed by moderators.
The same paper reports that parents of gap year students travelling abroad are being conned by internet fraudsters. The scam involves claims, allegedly from their children, that they have been wrongfully detained by authorities and require money to get out. The claims range from possessing cocaine to expired visas. The money requested covers alleged fines and cost of transport to the airport. One family received messages from their "son" in Colombia, and were trying to send the money to a so-called "Good Samaritan" who had recently been released from the same jail and was offering to deliver the money for them. However, before they could wire the money, their son was in contact and the scam was uncovered. Similar scams have been tried on business travellers' friends and family.
The Sunday Independent reports that GPS technology that would help locate Gardai in the event of an attack or danger has not been included in the EUR100 million Tetra radio system. The technology is used by other police forces globally, including in the US and across Europe, and could tell stations where Gardai are. The handsets and car radios contain the technology, but the necessary station equipment has not been installed, the paper said.
The Sunday Business Post reports that mobile operator Three Ireland has admitted to overstating its customer numbers for four years. The network said it "mixed up" key information that led to communications regulator ComReg getting incorrect statistics. The regulator may have to revise four years of data and apply for an adjustment of EU statistics as a result. The network said it had supplied registered pre-pay account figures rather than active ones. It realised the error and notified ComReg.
The same paper reports that some Irish hotels are charging up to EUR20 per day for wireless internet access. The paper lists well known hotels including Dublin's Westin and Shelbourne hotels, Dromoland Castle in Co Clare and Travelodge hotels that charge between EUR12 and EUR20 for a day's access. The charges have been described as "outrageously high" by consumer groups.
The Sunday Business Post reports that Dublin firm CarTrawler, which develops technology systems for the car rental industry, has signed a major deal with global rental company Dollar Thrifty Automotive. The Irish firm will develop international websites for the company aimed at the Canadian and Latin American markets, and overhaul existing sites. The value of the deal is not known.
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