Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 536
07-10-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
Twitter is not for sale says new CEO | Skype and Cisco draw battle lines
Maths bonus points to be trialled in 2012
This week the path was cleared of obstacles for the introduction of bonus points for students sitting higher-level maths in the Leaving Certificate. On Monday, NUI Maynooth became the fifth university to support the Government's scheme, which is aimed at improving the standard of maths at second level by encouraging more students to sit the higher-level paper. NUI Maynooth said it will introduce the plan in 2012 for a trial period of four years.
On Wednesday, University College Cork, whose academic council had previously spoken out about the scheme, gave its conditional consent to the introduction of bonus points for higher level maths. "In order to avoid the widespread confusion among students that would arise from a diverse sectoral approach, UCC will work with the other universities to agree on a bonus points scheme for implementation in 2012/13." UCC said it would introduce bonus points on a two-year trial and will carry out an evaluation of the implications of the decision during that time: "The results from this study will inform a review of the bonus points process and future decision-making."
Finally, on Thursday, NUI Galway became the last of the seven universities to give its approval to the scheme. While agreeing to support the introduction of bonus points, NUI Galway has warned that the scheme should not be considered a "complete" solution to the problem. NUI Galway deputy president Prof Jim Ward suggested that supports need to put in place to improve the teaching of maths at second level.
Over the coming weeks the universities will work out a plan for the scheme, including how many points will be awarded to students who sit the higher-level paper. The Irish Times estimates that students could gain 40 extra CAO points for taking higher-level maths.
Along with the Project Maths initiative, which is considered a long-term approach to improving the standard of maths at second level, the Government is hoping that by providing bonus points as an incentive, more students will sit the higher-level maths paper. Only 16 percent of the 58,000 Leaving Cert students took higher-level maths in this year's exams.
HP CEO choice signals change
After an eventful few months during which its CEO Mark Hurd was forced to resign and subsequently joined Oracle, Hewlett-Packard has named his successor. In a somewhat unusual choice, the PC maker has hired former CEO of SAP Leo Apotheker to serve as its new chief executive. The appointment surprised analysts because HP reached not only beyond its own ranks, but outside its home country.
Appointing Apotheker indicates that the HP board is keen to focus a little more on the sales side of its business. The ex-SAP chief made his name at the business software firm by expanding its sales operations around the world. However, some analysts have expressed concern with Apotheker's software background, suggesting he lacks the knowledge of consumer hardware and software necessary to lead HP effectively. Apotheker will take up the position at HP in November.
Not everybody is happy about Apotheker's appointment. In fact, the Financial Times reported that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is furious at the move. The outspoken Oracle chief claims Apotheker had been in charge of SAP at a time when it was stealing Oracle's software, referring to events after SAP's 2005 takeover of software maintenance company TomorrowNow.
According to a federal lawsuit that Oracle filed against SAP in 2007 and which is scheduled for trial this November, the SAP board knew TomorrowNow routinely stole Oracle wares and continued the practice until October 2008, six months after Apotheker became co-chief executive at SAP. In pre-trial filings, SAP conceded both copyright and computer violations but argued that the damage was significantly less than the USD1bn or more Oracle is seeking. HP has not responded to Ellison's comments.
Twitter is not for sale says new CEO
Also naming a new CEO this week was micro-blogging site Twitter. On Monday the site's co-founder Evan Williams stepped down from the top position, promoting chief operating officer Dick Costolo to his CEO seat. "I am most satisfied while pushing product direction. Building things is my passion, and I’ve never been more excited or optimistic about what we have to build. This is why I have decided to ask our COO, Dick Costolo, to become Twitter's CEO. Starting today, I’ll be completely focused on product strategy," said Williams in a blog posting.
Costolo's appointment led analysts to speculate about Twitter's future. Costolo this year was credited with launching Twitter's first plans for generating advertising from its service, and has since taken the lead in promoting the service to advertisers. As CEO his focus will likely focus solely on making Twitter profitable, although in an interview with the Telegraph he insisted his goal was not to prepare Twitter for a sale. "No, I am not prepping Twitter for a sale…We've both [Evan Williams and Costolo] done that selling a start-up thing to big companies like Google, and don’t want to do it with Twitter," he said to the Telegraph.
One of the features that Twitter hopes will help it to generate revenue is its Promoted Tweets feature, which launched in April. This week the site launched Promoted Accounts as part of "Suggestions for You", which suggests accounts that people don't currently follow and may find interesting. "Promoted Accounts are suggested based on a user's public list of whom they follow. When an advertiser promotes an account, Twitter’s algorithm looks at that account’s followers and determines other accounts that those users tend to follow," Twitter explained in a blog post.
Also this week, Twitter said it is making Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends available beyond Twitter.com, and is currently testing syndication of Promoted Products with third parties. It said HootSuite has already launched Promoted products, and is confident that others will also buy in.
Skype and Cisco draw battle lines
Another high-profile change at the top happened at internet telephony firm Skype this week. The firm named former senior manager at Cisco Tony Bates as its new chief executive. Bates was most recently in charge of Cisco's enterprise, commercial and small business division where he had responsibility for its switching and routing business, as well as collaboration and datacentre offerings. Bates' appointment is the latest twist in the growing competition between Skype and Cisco, as Skype tries to push deeper into the business communications market, and Cisco makes moves into the consumer segment.
In fact, Cisco unveiled its first consumer product on Wednesday, a USD599 device for videoconferencing from the living room. Called Umi (pronounced You Me), the system includes a set-top box for a high-definition television set, remote control and camera that sits on top of the TV screen. The product will ship on 14 November and go on sale at Best Buy retail stores in the US. There will be a USD25 monthly charge for the service. Initial analyst reaction suggests that the high price for Umi could be a barrier to adoption; chief rival in the consumer space, Skype, offers video calling via PCs or laptops for free. Skype has 560 million users, 40 percent of whom use its system for video calls, Skype claims.
In saying that, analysts are quick to point out that Cisco's core business is routers and switches, equipment that itself forms the basis of web video. And while it now has both enterprise and consumer videoconferencing end-user products, the success of videoconferencing itself is where Cisco will make its money.
As for Skype, the appointment of Bates comes just two months after Skype filed plans for an initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and could be seen as a savvy plan by Skype to boost its perceived value to investors prior to market floatation.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 