IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 18 November
18-11-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Paddy Power creates Irish jobs | Google launches Boutiques.com
The Irish Times reports that Silicon Valley executives visited Limerick on Wednesday to meet Irish technology firms, at a conference organised by the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG). As well as addressing trends in technology and company financing, a panel of Irish and Irish American businesspeople discussed how the relationship between Silicon Valley and Ireland could be used to benefit the Irish economy.
The paper also notes that an opponent of the leadership of Taoiseach Brian Cowen is planning to launch a website called "Fianna Fail Nua", aimed at revitalising the party. Jerry Beades, a north Dublin businessman and member of the Fianna Fail national executive, said there had been an initial meeting attended by "a number of people" on 29 September. "It's reached the end of the road. The IMF are in town and it's really time for Brian Cowen to go, and he should go tonight," said Beades.
The paper also says that a report by economist Colm McCarthy recommends that the Government double betting tax to 2 percent of bookmakers' turnover and that the charge is expanded to online gambling. The report, commissioned by organisations representing the racehorse breeding and racing industries, states that both generate EUR1.1 billion a year for the economy and employ around 14,000 people. The racing and breeding industries are lobbying to have the 1 percent levied on all bets in bookie shops increased and extended to online and telephone wagers, which are not currently subject to the charge.
Meanwhile, the Irish Examiner reports that bookmaker Paddy Power has announced the creation of 500 new Irish-based jobs, to come on stream over the next three years. The jobs will be spread across the company's retail outlets and its online business centre at its Tallaght headquarters.
The same paper says that a number of Government departments have published their "action plans" for generating millions of savings through the Croke Park deal. Most of the plans published on department websites use broad brushstrokes language to identify where savings will be made. Few give concrete details on the amounts of money each of their proposals would actually generate, but they do set timeframes for implementation. All speak about the redeployment of staff where applicable and the appropriateness of shared services.
According to the Financial Times, Google and Hachette Livre have struck a groundbreaking deal allowing the world's second-largest retail book publisher to control the scanning and electronic sale of its out-of-print French language titles. The agreement, covering about 50,000 mostly forgotten works of French literature and non-fiction still under copyright, is unlikely to bring in big revenues for the French group. But it is a symbolic victory for publishers around the world trying to protect their businesses against the encroachment on their territory of the internet.
In other news of Google, the Wall Street Journal reports that the internet giant has launched a fashion e-commerce site, Boutiques.com. The site uses human curators, visual recognition and machine learning technology to recommend items to shoppers. The items come from hundreds of online merchants such as Ralph Lauren, Steve Madden and Juicy Couture, and the site directs shoppers to where the items can be purchased elsewhere on the web. The online apparel and accessories industry was worth USD19 billion in the US in 2009.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 