IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 10 February
10-02-2011
by Sylvia Leatham
Growing number of motorists caught using mobiles | RecruitIreland.com suffers security attack
The Irish Independent reports that increasing numbers of people are illegally importing drugs to treat impotence, cure hair loss and improve their mood. A total of 3,729 packages of illegal medication were seized in 2009, a 19 percent rise on the previous year. However, individuals are not being pursued by the authorities for buying drugs for personal use over the internet.
The paper also reports that more than 110 drivers are being caught every day using their mobile phone behind the wheel. The number of motorists caught texting or making calls on mobiles has rocketed in the past 12 months after a Garda crackdown, according to unpublished penalty points figures from the Road Safety Authority. The figures to the end of January show that an extra 41,737 drivers got points for illegal mobile phone use over the past 12 months.
The paper also notes that attendees at a digital marketing conference were told that only 48 percent of Irish phones are smartphones. Finian Murphy of Mindshare said this is something that needs to be considered by advertisers when it comes to marketing products to mobile users. The most popular smartphone features used on a daily basis are searching and email, with social networking and news not far behind.
The Irish Examiner reports that RecruitIreland.com is back online following a breach of the site's security on Tuesday. Gardai are investigating the attack, in which some 400,000 names and email addresses were accessed by hackers. The website was taken offline immediately after the breach was discovered. "We take this incident and any attempted breach of our database extremely seriously and this has been investigated internally by our own people and externally by security experts," said RecruitIreland.com managing director Tom Crosbie.
The paper also says that pre-tax profits at the European HQ of entertainment technology firm DTS increased by 44 percent to EUR12.2 million in 2009. The US-owned DTS has its European headquarters at the National Technology Park, Limerick. Accounts recently filed by DTS Licensing Ltd to the Companies Office show that it increased its revenues by 14 percent from EUR34.3 million to EUR39.1 million in 2009.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Hewlett-Packard has outlined plans to deliver a tablet computer and smartphones featuring a recently acquired operating system. The new products include a 9.7-inch tablet called the TouchPad, the Pre3 smartphone designed for office workers and the smaller Veer smartphone, which is about the size of a credit card. The phones have touchscreens and sliding keyboards, and all of the new devices run the WebOS operating system that HP acquired last year when it bought Palm for USD1.2 billion.
The paper also says that Cisco Systems has posted an 18 percent fall in profit for its latest quarter, despite a 6 percent increase in overall sales. Fiscal second quarter income fell to USD1.5 billion, or USD0.27 a share, from USD1.9 billion, or USD0.32 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to USD10.4 billion from USD9.8 billion a year earlier. The company also forecast a revenue increase of between 4 percent and 6 percent in the current quarter.
According to the Financial Times, games publisher Activision Blizzard is abandoning its 'Guitar Hero' franchise after a collapse in sales over the past two years. Activision also said it would not produce a new version of its 'Tony Hawk' skateboarding game this year. Development has also been halted on the game 'True Crime: Hong Kong', as the company said it was moving to become a “leaner and more focused organisation”.
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Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 