IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 13 January
13-01-2011
by Deirdre McArdle
Bord Gais invests EUR2m in OpenHydro | PC shipment sales hit by tablet growth
The Irish Times reports that President Mary McAleese officially opened the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition on Wednesday, and called the event "a national grid of intellectual energy". Judging started immediately after the opening ceremony and will continue Thursday and Friday. The top four projects including the top two individual and top two group projects will be announced at an awards ceremony Friday evening. To see footage of the opening ceremony, see ENN.ie.
In more news of the event, the paper reports on a system developed by two students that could provide a solution to people using their mobile phones while driving. The system jams all mobile phone use unless the car's handbrake is on. "[The system] sends out a frequency that is in the same frequency used by mobile phones," explained Abeer Shahid, one of the students from Abbey Christian Brothers in Co Down. The two signals mix, making conversation or texting impossible.
Also reporting on the BT Young Scientist event, the Irish Independent says more schools were booked in to visit the event this year than ever before, according to a BT spokesperson who credited this to the ramping up of social media like Facebook and Twitter.
The paper also reports that Bord Gais has bought a small stake in renewable energy company OpenHydro, forming a joint venture to develop the country's first underwater tidal farm. Bord Gais will initially invest up to EUR2 million in the Irish company, which aims to design and manufacture marine turbines for generating renewable energy from tidal streams.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon is to start selling the iPhone from 10 February starting at a price of USD199, the same price as rival AT&T, which has had the iPhone to itself since its launch in June 2007. The deal with Verizon will provide an important new source of sales for the iPhone, and support Apple's fight against the growing popularity of Android-based smartphones in the US market.
The Financial Times reports that global PC shipments grew less than expected in the fourth quarter, largely due to a surge in purchases of Apple's iPad. IDC said PC shipments increased by 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 from a year earlier, instead of the 5.5 percent gain it had predicted. If tablets were considered PCs, the overall market would be showing strong growth, with IDC estimating a 19 percent gain in volume from 2009 to 2010. IDC also estimated that manufacturers shipped about 17 million tablets in 2010, the vast majority of them from Apple. Research firms IDC and Gartner both warned that the PC market would come under pressure as consumers turned to tablets, game consoles, smartphones and other devices rather than replace home and portable computers.
The paper also reports that Demand Media, an internet start-up that mines search engine data to generate stories on popular topics, said it hoped to raise as much as USD138 million in its forthcoming initial public offering. The company, which owns popular websites including LiveStrong and eHow, will offer up to 8.625 million shares, which will be priced between USD14 and USD16, valuing the firm at around USD1.25 billion. Shares will list on the New York Stock Exchange.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 