IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 17 September
17-09-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
UCD to trial bonus points for maths in 2012 | Microsoft unveils Internet Explorer 9
The Irish Times reports that starting in 2012 UCD has agreed to introduce bonus CAO points for Leaving Certificate higher level maths for a trial period of four years. The agreement is a major boost for Minister for Education Mary Coughlan who requested the change from UCD and other colleges. The move makes it likely that the other six universities will also agree to bonus points on a trial basis. The Minister hopes the introduction of bonus points will boost student take up of higher level maths.
The paper also says that 80 percent of tourists visiting Ireland used the internet to buy some element of the trip in 2008, according to a Tourism and Travel Distribution in a Changed World report. The report suggested this figure would increase as mobile technologies, such as smartphones, became more prevalent. The report also found that 65 percent of European travellers used websites as a first source in researching a holiday. Almost half visited more than five websites before making a purchase. The report was commissioned by the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation.
The same paper reports that software licensing firm Inishtech, which was formed last year following the acquisition of technology from Microsoft, completed a EUR925,000 round of investment led by Kernel Capital. This brings the total the firm has raised to EUR1.825 million. Inishtech sells its software protection and licensing to independent firms that develop applications on Microsoft's .Net software framework.
Staying with Microsoft, the paper also reports that the software firm unveiled the public release of a test version of Internet Explorer 9 at an event in San Francisco on Wednesday. The new browser includes support for HTML 5 technology as well as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), CSS3 and other web standards. Microsoft is also including a number of privacy and security measures aimed to remove the perception that Internet Explorer is less safe than other browsers. Internet Explorer has seen its market share fall to about 60 percent as Mozilla's Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari browsers have gained in popularity.
The same paper says Strencom, a data network and cloud computing provider, has made a EUR750,000 investment in the company to support its international growth. Strencom also announced seven new jobs as part of the expansion. Strencom’s founder and chief executive Tim Murphy said the investment would be used to fund infrastructure, technology, logistics and staff training. To support its growth into the UK market, Strencom has opened an office near London.
Still in the Irish Times, a number of organisations are in negotiations with Cisco to use the technology platform underpinning "Your Country Your Call" to run similar competitions. Cisco, in partnership with software house BrightIdea, created and hosted the website which allowed competition entries to be lodged, viewed and commented on. Cisco is now in advanced negotiations with the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in Greece to run a similar competition there. It is understood the value of technology and services provided by Cisco for the project totalled almost USD500,000.
The paper reports that videogame Halo: Reach, a key title for Microsoft, racked up USD200 million (EUR153 million) in global sales on its launch day on Tuesday.
Finally, the paper says that Google fired an engineer in July for violating users' privacy, the firm admitted this week. The engineer, David Barksdale, was accused of accessing information about teenagers he had met in a Washington state technology group, according to gossip website Gawker, which first reported the incident. Google would not confirm details of the firing.
The Wall Street Journal report that LG Electronics' chief executive, Nam Yong, has announced his resignation amid difficulties reshaping its mobile phone business for smartphones. He will be replaced by Koo Bon-joon, a member of the founding family of the broader LG conglomerate, the company said. The shake-up is the latest sign of the turmoil that the technological transition towards smartphones is taking on manufacturers. Earlier this week, Nokia's CEO stepped down, with its chairman revealing plans to leave in 2012.
The same paper says BlackBerry maker Research In Motion posted a surge in quarterly profit and revenue, though it added fewer new subscribers than it had expected amid intensifying competition in the US. Profit for the second quarter was USD797 million, or USD1.46 a share, up from USD476 million, or USD0.83 a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased by 31 percent to USD4.62 billion. RIM said it shipped 12.1 million devices, up 45 percent from a year ago, but the company added 4.5 million net new BlackBerry subscribers in the quarter, down from 4.9 million in the preceding quarter.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 