IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 11 October
11-10-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
Panasonic planning videogames return? | Google working on self-driving cars
The Wall Street Journal reports that Panasonic, which abandoned the videogames market nearly 20 years ago, is developing a hand-held game system, according to two people familiar with the matter. The new device, called the Jungle, will target hardcore gamers and aims to challenge console makers Nintendo and Sony. The people familiar with the matter said the product being developed by Panasonic is a gaming machine being promoted at the website welcometo.thejungle.com. Details about when the product would launch and the price of the new machine haven't been finalised, according to reports.
The paper also reports on Google's announcement that it is developing technology that lets cars drive themselves. In a blog post Sebastian Thrun, a Google engineer and a professor who leads a robotics and artificial intelligence research lab at Stanford University, said the company's automated cars already have driven a collective 140,000 miles. The cars, which were manned by trained operators, used "video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to 'see' other traffic, as well as detailed maps…to navigate the road ahead," he said. The company didn't say what it would do next or whether it would seek to eventually make money from the venture.
The Financial Times reports that people in China and the Middle East are the busiest and most enthusiastic internet users. A TNS survey ranked the online populations it sees as the most highly engaged in the internet through the time spent using it and people's attitudes to the technology. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and China topped the list, with about 55 percent "highly engaged". Turkey, the third-largest nation represented on Facebook, was the only European country to appear in the TNS top 10. The survey also revealed that people spend more time social networking than they do on e-mail in Latin America, the Middle East and China, with mobile access driving internet uptake. People in these areas of the world are more likely to post blogs, photos or videos online, and value internet access more highly than those in more developed markets. People in markets where broadband access has been available for longer still largely prefer e-mail and PCs over mobile and social media.
The paper also says that Mail.ru (formerly known as Digital Sky Technologies), Russia's largest internet group, which owns about 10 percent of privately held Facebook, has plans to float a subsidiary that includes part of the Facebook stake. The IPO will offer a stake of about 25 percent in the firm's London listed subsidiary. The subsidiary will include about a quarter of the group's shareholding in Facebook, stakes in Russia's two biggest social networking sites, Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki, and Mail.ru, the country's largest e-mail provider. The group decided to include part of the Facebook stake in the listing to generate more interest in the company amongst global investors.
The Sunday Tribune reports that a new website has been set up documenting the strangest images on Google's Irish Street View. The images on Streetviewireland.com include a dog creating a traffic jam on a rural road, multiple pictures of people "mooning" the van, and "rainbow" effects near a Luas. It is also running a number of photo series' documenting the worst estates and Garda patrols. Despite fears about privacy prior to the service's launch here, Google said it has only received a low number of requests to remove images, while the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner said it has received about 30 inquiries on the subject.
The Sunday Tribune also reported that the next generation of mobile phones, known as long-term evolution (LTE), could disrupt cable TV. According to trade body Cable Europe, the technology will interfere with cable TV if used within six metres of a set-top box. This is due to the frequency it uses, and the fact that European standards for cable TV box shielding and wiring insulation were not set at a strong enough level to prevent interference. Ireland is expected to change to fully digital TV by 2012.
The Sunday Business Post reports that Dublin-based Curam, a software company, has raised EUR2 million in new investment funding. The new funds were raised between July 2009 and May 2010, with more than EUR550,000 coming from US venture capital firm Fidelity Ventures. Founders John Hearne and Ronan Rooney also invested in the company.
The paper briefly reports on Heaton's opening of a new online store, a contract win for software services firm Percana with British Friendly, and the purchase of Lagan Technologies by US-based Kana Software for about EUR33.1 million.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 