IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 27 September
27-09-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
Halo 3 clocks up record first-day sales | Google is expanding in Europe
The Irish Times reports that a Bray-based start-up has produced a website that gives independent grocers the opportunity to source goods directly from their suppliers. Retail Connections, the brainchild of three former Nestle executives, is targeting the Irish market initially but plans to introduce a service in the British market next year in advance of a foray into France.
The Irish Examiner says that computers must be introduced in all schools to help improve teaching and management, a conference heard on Wednesday. "To ensure that our schools and colleges are equipped to do their jobs, they must be provided with the ICT facilities essential to maximising services to their students," said Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the Irish Vocational Association, speaking at the association's annual congress in Killarney. "Staff must also be trained in the effective use of these technologies and the reliability of the technology must be guaranteed through the provision of an ICT support service."
The Financial Times reports that Google is planning to expand its staff by a third, with most of the new hirings in Europe. Google plans to hire several thousand engineers in Europe to create a research and development team in the region as big as the one it has in the US. Only 500 of an estimated 7,000 Google engineers are in Europe, but the company has signalled plans to expand the numbers dramatically. "I aim to grow the EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa] engineering team as big as the one in North America. This is why I joined," said Nelson Mattos, Google's new head of engineering in Europe.
According to the same paper, UK regulators are seeking to entice companies into making multi-billion-pound investments in ultra-fast broadband networks, after warning that existing telecoms systems are likely to get overwhelmed by bandwidth-hungry households and businesses. Ofcom, the media and telecoms watchdog, has published proposals to encourage the investments, which it said would produce the most important changes to the UK's telecoms infrastructure in 20 years. The government and Ofcom are insisting the private sector pay for the super-fast broadband networks, which could cost STG15 billion or more.
The paper also reports that Microsoft, which has the third-ranked US web search service, is releasing a major update in an attempt to win market share from Google and Yahoo. The company said the changes to Live Search represented a significant advancement in its core technology and the consumer experience. The new version has specialised content in the entertainment, shopping, health and local categories.
In other news of Microsoft, the Wall Street Journal says that the Halo 3 videogame generated an estimated USD170 million in US sales in its first day of release, a record for the games industry and a big boost for Microsoft's Xbox 360 business. Sales for Halo 3 exceeded first-day sales of USD125 million for Halo 2, which came out three years ago for Microsoft's original Xbox. Microsoft is counting on Halo 3 to help it increase sales of the Xbox 360 -- the only console the game plays on -- during the holiday season as it competes against Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 