IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 21 October
21-10-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
HP to create 50 Irish jobs | eBay posts rise in profits, revenue
The Irish Independent reports that 21 percent of Irish children between the ages of nine and sixteen go online on devices such as an iPod Touch or Sony PSP -- double the EU average. According to the EU Kids Online survey, 28 percent of Irish kids surf the net from a mobile phone, in line with the EU average. The survey also revealed that Irish children are the least likely to publish their address or phone number on social networking profiles -- 7 percent compared with an EU average of 14 percent. Some 9 percent of Irish nine to sixteen year olds have seen sexual images online in the previous 12 months, and 4 percent experienced online bullying, ranking 21st of the 23 countries surveyed for both figures.
The paper also writes about the nationwide rollout of a new network of mobile speed cameras. The camera vans, provided by private company GoSafe, will move from location to location every couple of hours. Hundreds of roads will be clearly identified as a location where the cameras may be located, and the list will also be available on the Garda website. Countries where mobile cameras have been deployed have seen a 50 percent increase in compliance rates. The new system will go live in November.
The paper also reports that at the end of this month BT is to take over the emergency calls service after winning the contract last year through a public tendering process. "BT has been running the service since August but Eircom staff will no longer be providing back-up as of Friday, October 30," a spokesman said. It is understood a number of changes will be made to the service including new technology which will help locate people when they don't know exactly where they are. BT's partner to provide the service is call-answering firm Conduit.
According to the same paper, IBM has announced it is moving its low-end, mid-range server manufacturing unit from Mulhuddart to China with the loss of 190 roles. However the company said the affected workers would be offered redeployment to high-end jobs as part of a recruitment drive for its Dublin operations. In a statement, the company said that moving the unit to China by next March would place it closer to its growth markets and suppliers. "IBM remains committed to its Irish operations with continued presence not only in Mulhuddart but also...in Dublin, Cork and Galway."
In more news of jobs, the paper also reports that Hewlett-Packard is to create 50 jobs at its base in Co Kildare. HP said it was creating positions for "highly-skilled, multi-lingual graduates" to work as support for Microsoft software programs. HP Ireland's managing director Martin Murphy said the company could add a further 70 people at a later date depending on the success of the new hires.
The Irish Examiner reports that academic research portal, Rian, has recorded nearly half a million page views since its launch in July. The portal features more than 12,300 items ranging from masters degree research theses to articles in international academic journals, and puts Ireland ahead of many leading economies in opening the doors on its research work. The development of the site -- www.rian.ie -- was funded by the Higher Education Authority strategic innovation fund. It is run in a similar manner as an internet search engine, allowing users to search for publications based on topic, the author, institute, the agency which funded research, or the year of publication.
The paper also writes that dairy farmers will soon be able to protect their milk prices from market volatility by locking their sales into an online futures trading service -- Liffe's Dairy Skim Milk Powder Futures facility. The new dairy hedging service will be provided by in Ireland by Delta Index.
The Wall Street Journal reports that eBay posted third-quarter profit of USD431.9 million, or USD0.33 a share, up from USD350 million, or USD0.27 per share, a year earlier. Revenue edged up to USD2.25 billion, from USD2.24 billion a year ago. eBay's results were buoyed by the strong performance of its PayPal online payments service where revenue climbed 22 percent to USD838 million. eBay also said the performance of its marketplace had stabilised, logging a 3 percent rise in the total volume of goods sold through eBay, excluding autos. For the full year, eBay now expects per-share earnings of USD1.67 to USD1.70 on revenue of USD9.05 billion to USD9.15 billion, up from its prior estimates of USD1.60 to USD1.65 and USD8.8 billion to USD9 billion.
According to the Financial Times, Apple has brought Facetime, its free video calling service from the iPhone and iPod touch to Mac computers, and said a version of the App Store would come to its home and mobile computer lines within three months. During demonstrations at Apple headquarters on Wednesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said other aspects familiar to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners, such as the ability to flick from one screen to another, would come in summer 2011 with the next version of the Mac OS X operating system.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 