IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 10 March
10-03-2011
by Sylvia Leatham
Kenny names new Cabinet ministers | Retailers warned of mobile top-up scam
The Irish Times reports on the launch of the Science Gallery's Memory Lab exhibition, where visitors can participate in real experiments that will be used in formal scientific research. The exhibition opens to the public on Friday and continues until 4 April.
The Irish Independent reports that Ireland's two biggest universities fail to rate among the world's top 100 for teaching and research, in the view of international academics. The new World Reputation Rankings are based on the universities' standing among experienced academics and do not take into account other criteria usually used for such tables. Irish universities are, however, among the top 26 in Europe, according to the latest global league table. Trinity College Dublin is ranked 14th in Europe, while University College Dublin is ranked 26th, in a table published by the London-based 'Times Higher Education' magazine.
The paper also reports that Taoiseach Enda Kenny has named his new Cabinet. Among the new appointments are Pat Rabbitte as Communications Minister, Ruairi Quinn as Education Minister, Michael Noonan as Finance Minister and Richard Bruton as Enterprise Minister.
The paper also notes that Magnet Networks has announced the addition of Dail and Seanad TV to its line-up of stations that can be watched live on a PC for free. Magnet WebTV already carries free live broadcasts from RTE 1 and 2, TV3, 3e and TG4. Magnet WebTV now has over 10,000 registered users, and just over 50 percent view at least once a week.
The Irish Examiner reports that shopkeepers have been warned of a scam that defrauds phone companies. A Garda spokesman said the scam involves people going into shops looking for mobile phone top-ups, handing over a credit card to pay, using their mobile phone to take a photograph of the top-up number while the card is being processed, feigning surprise when the credit card doesn't work and leaving the shop with the top-up number stored on their mobile.
According to the Financial Times, Sony has promoted Kazuo Hirai, the head of its PlayStation videogames division, to be its second-ranking executive and the presumptive successor to Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and chief executive. The Japanese group has named Hirai representative corporate executive officer and executive deputy president. The 50-year-old manager has been in close contention with the head of Sony’s consumer electronics divisions, Hiroshi Yoshioka, to take eventual control of the company. Sir Howard is to remain both president and chairman.
The Wall Street Journal reports that US senators John McCain and John Kerry are circulating proposed legislation to create an "online privacy bill of rights," according to sources, a sign of bipartisan support for efforts to curb the Internet-tracking industry. McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, are backing a bill that would require companies to seek a person's permission to share data about him with outsiders. It would also give people the right to see the data collected on them. The bill is expected to be introduced ahead of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing next Wednesday on online privacy.
The paper also says that Hewlett-Packard's board of directors is under fire from an influential shareholder advisory group that contends HP's new chief executive, Leo Apotheker, was too actively involved in remaking the computer maker's board. A HP spokeswoman said the advisory group, Institutional Shareholder Services, misinterpreted what took place during the process of selecting directors.
The same paper reports that China's antitrust regulator has extended its review of Motorola Solutions' sale of its network equipment business to Nokia Siemens Networks, delaying for the second time a USD1.2 billion deal that is integral to Motorola's restructuring. US-based Motorola and Nokia Siemens, a joint venture of Finland's Nokia and Germany's Siemens, said they remain committed to closing the deal. A representative for Motorola said the company expects the deal to close in the second quarter. The companies originally had expected the sale, announced in July, to close last year.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 