IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 10 Janaury
10-01-2011
by Sylvia Leatham
Fine Gael's new website hacked | Bus Eireann to roll out real-time info
The Irish Times reports that four institutes of technology in Dublin are to make a joint bid for redesignation as a new-style "technological university". The four seeking redesignation are the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, and the Institute of Technology Tallaght. The move comes ahead of Tuesday's publication of the Government-commissioned Hunt Report on the third-level sector. This rules out the establishment of any new universities but holds out the prospect of some institutes being redesignated as technological universities, provided strict criteria are met.
The paper also says that the Irish arm of internet security firm Symantec returned to the black last year with pretax profits of EUR73 million, in spite of a decline in revenues. According to accounts just filed by Dublin-based Symantec Ltd, the company posted a pretax profit of EUR72.9 million in the year to the end of 2 April 2010, following a pretax loss of EUR6.6 million in 2009. The US-owned company's revenues declined 8 percent, from EUR1.48 billion to EUR1.36 billion, last year. The main factor behind the increase in pretax profits was a foreign currency gain of EUR50 million on intercompany transactions in 2010, the accounts state.
The Irish Examiner reports that Fine Gael's new website was hacked on Sunday night, and a message was put up stating "nothing is safe, you put your faith in this political party and they take no measures to protect you". The hack is credited to Anonymous, an online protest community which calls itself "a leaderless movement" working to oppose internet censorship worldwide. The message on Fine Gael's website goes on to say "they offer you free speech yet they censor your voice. Wake up."
The paper also reports that Dublin and Cork Bus Eireann commuters will soon be able to access real-time passenger information, thanks to new technology being rolled out by the local authorities and the Department of Transport. The information, indicating the expected arrival times for the next three buses, will be made available at over 500 bus stops in the two cities, first in Dublin and then in Cork. The estimated arrival times of buses will be calculated on the Bus Eireann fleet management system. Using GPS, it will work out how far the bus is from the stop and calculate how long it will take to cover that distance.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the president of Nintendo has acknowledged that the company's recent warning against young children playing its new hand-held 3D game machine could hurt its sales, but said the 3DS isn't a "dangerous" product. "We are being proactive about informing our customer, even though it may not necessarily be positive for our sales," said Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president. The health-related warning, which said children six years old and younger shouldn't play games in 3D mode on the soon-to-be released 3DS hand-held game device, was meant to be a precautionary measure to inform customers, said Iwata. He did not deny the view that concerns over possible litigation was one of the factors behind the warning, but he also said that it was not the main reason. The company said on its website last month that looking at 3D images for long periods of time could have an adverse effect on eyesight development.
The paper also says that Walt Disney is discussing making video from some of its TV networks available on television sets embedded with Yahoo's internet-TV software, according to sources. Yahoo Connected TV software is built into a wide range of TV sets and allows media companies to create applications that people can use as they watch TV. Disney is keen to test the water with new digital models for distributing video, according to sources.
The Sunday Independent reports that WikiLeaks has demanded that Google and Facebook "unseal [any US court] subpoenas they have received" after it emerged that a court in Virginia had secretly ordered Twitter to hand over the details of accounts of five people associated with the WikiLeaks group. The five people include founder Julian Assange; Bradley Manning, the US serviceman accused of stealing sensitive government cables; Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir; and Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp. The order demanded that Twitter hand over details of source and destination IP addresses used to access the accounts, which would help investigators identify how the named individuals communicated with each other, as well as e-mail addresses used.
According to the Sunday Times, Digital Sky Technologies is poised to take a stake in micro-blogging site Twitter. The Russian investment firm is expected to take part in a new funding round for the micro-blogging site that will price it at around USD4 billion. Just last week DST ploughed USD50 million into Facebook.
The Sunday Business Post says that John McGuire, co-founder of IT firm Trintech, is set for a USD13 million windfall with the sale of Trintech being finalised this week. The firm was bought by private equity firm Spectrum for USD129.4 million. Trintech management and staff, who hold a 9 percent stake in the firm, will also benefit.
The same paper reports that 31 percent of Irish firms plan to spend more on information security controls in 2011, compared to a global average of 46 percent, according to an Ernst & Young survey. The survey also found that while Irish firms were increasingly adopting new technologies, one in three firms said they did not have an IT risk management programme to deal with the risks associated with use of new tech.
Commercial broadcaster TV3 has objected to RTE's planned line-up of stations on the new digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform, the Sunday Business Post reports. RTE has proposed a new news service, additional children's programming and a 'plus one' station. TV3 CEO David McRedmond criticised the plan, calling it too ambitious at a time when RTE was losing money. RTE claims the proposal is in line with its counterparts in the rest of Europe.
The paper also notes that journalist Mark Little has invested EUR75,000 into his online news site Storyful, bringing his total investment to over EUR200,000.
The paper also writes that telecoms software firm Ammeon posted a 33 percent drop in turnover and shed 19 staff in 2009 as a result of trading conditions. Revenue for the year came in at EUR5.3 million, down from EUR8 million in 2008. It also posted a net loss of EUR452,000 for the year.
The same paper notes that internet telephony provider Blueface has served its 100 millionth business call; gaming software firm Havok won the annual Game Developer Front Line award; medical devices firm Crospon has received clearance to market its imaging catheter in the US market; online music service we7 has announced plans to launch in Ireland on 17 January; and the Firefox browser overtook Internet Explorer to become Europe's leading browser in December 2010, according to StatCounter.
Finally, the Sunday Business Post reports that Ocuco, a Dublin-based developer of opthalmic software, has completed the first phase of a EUR2 million contract with Italian optical retail chain Salmoiraghi & Vigano. The first phase saw Ocuco install Acuitas Enterprise software in 375 branded Salmoiraghi & Vigano stores; the second phase will see it install the software in 125 franchise outlets.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 