IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 10 October
10-10-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
FG councillor criticises YouTube for 'gay' video | IBM and Linden Lab to create 'universal avatars'
The Irish Times reports that the Irish entertainment and media industries are predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.7 percent between now and 2011, when they could be worth at a combined USD4.2 billion. The data is contained in PricewaterhouseCoopers' latest Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, which forecasts that the fastest-growing sectors in Ireland will be internet access and advertising, video games and television distribution.
The paper also says that new technology could reduce the rate of fatal accidents by up to 35 percent, a workshop on road safety was told in Dundalk on Tuesday. The technology requires building a database on all the speed limits on the country's roads and linking this to the acceleration system of cars so that no matter how hard you press the accelerator, the engine will not respond. Prof Oliver Carsten, professor of transport safety at Leeds University, told the workshop organised by the cross-border body Co-operation And Working Together that trials using the technology, known as Intelligence Speed Adaptation, have been run in many other European countries.
The Irish Independent says that mobile operator Three Ireland racked up accumulated losses of EUR152 million by the year ended December 2006, according to accounts just filed at the Companies Office. The operating loss for that year was EUR88 million, more than double that of 2005. Turnover at the company was EUR20.5 million in 2006, compared with EUR1.3 million the previous year.
The same paper says that a county councillor has criticised video-sharing website YouTube for failing to remove a video which purportedly suggests he is involved in a gay relationship with another local businessman. The two-minute long video, which was anonymously posted on the site almost three weeks ago, uses actual footage of Fine Gael councillor Enda McGloin from Drumshanbo in Leitrim and local businessman Hubert McCormack. In the video, which is categorised as comedy, the two men's heads have been superimposed onto the bodies of scantily clad male models.
The Irish Examiner reports that two out of three people who use the internet every day log onto a social networking site, according to statistics due to be released later this week by UK internet analysis firm comScore. The figures show that more than 934,000 people in Ireland are using social networking sites for about five-and-a-half hours on average every month.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo, which owns a 39 percent stake in Alibaba Group, will buy stock valued at about USD100 million in an initial public offering by the Chinese internet company's business-to-business subsidiary, according to a source. The IPO by Alibaba.com Corp, which is scheduled for later this month, is expected to raise as much as USD1 billion, making it the biggest to date by a Chinese internet concern. Alibaba.com pairs small and medium-sized manufacturers, mostly in China, with global buyers through its website and offers related support services.
According to the Financial Times, Carphone Warehouse is confident of its supply of the Apple iPhone, which it will begin selling on 9 November. The group, which has negotiated a period as the exclusive third-party high street seller of iPhones in the UK, said on Wednesday it was "very confident" of having enough of the handsets to meet demand across all its stores. The remarks came as Carphone issued a mixed second quarter trading statement and confirmed market expectations for its interim and full-year results. The second-quarter figures show progress on its drive to move customers onto higher margin unbundled lines but slower-than-expected growth in mobile subscriptions.
The paper also reports that IBM and Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, are joining forces to develop "universal avatars" that will allow users to move freely between virtual worlds as easily as they surf websites. Inhabitants of virtual worlds such as Second Life, Entropia and Gaia currently have no way of visiting other worlds, although companies see enormous potential in facilitating such a borderless virtual society. IBM and Linden plan to develop 3D characters that would be able to travel seamlessly between multiple worlds. Standards for secure transactions to take place would also be a priority.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 