NEWS IN BRIEF
For the record 22 June
22-06-2007
by Emmet Ryan
Minister for Communications welcomes broadband figures | eBay makes second attempt at Chinese launch
The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, has welcomed the latest ComReg figures on broadband subscriptions. The statistics revealed that there were 602,000 broadband subscribers in Ireland as of the end of March 2007. "I am delighted that the growth in broadband subscribers remains so strong. The figures released by ComReg show an increase of nearly 85,000 in broadband subscribers since the end of 2006. This is the highest quarterly growth rate since the rollout of broadband began in Ireland," said Minister Ryan.
The European Commission is to launch a Europe-wide public-private research partnership in nanoelectronics, called ENIAC. The project has an expected budget of EUR3 billion which will be provided by industry, member states and the commission and aims to create a strong nanoelectronics research and manufacturing sector in Europe. Between 2008 and 2013, 60 percent of the expected EUR3 billion nanoelectronics research fund will come from industry and the rest from the commission and member and associated states.
Citrix Systems has seen its revenues and market share grow in the global application delivery controller (ADC) market, according to a report from Gartner. From the fourth quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007 the Citrix NetScaler web application delivery product line posted market share gains in the ADC segment.
IT security firm Trend Micro has called on internet users to be on their guard after a criminal gang located outside of Europe compromised thousands of popular Italian websites over the last few days, attacking unsuspecting web users around the world. "These web threats are silent, invisible to the unprotected consumer and therefore more dangerous than common viruses. The attackers are using multiple malware to try to remain undetected and deliver the final punch, a keylogger that intends to solicit personal information such as banking information or passwords" said Anthony O'Mara, vice president EMEA at Trend Micro. Trend Micro has noted around 400 infected users in Ireland.
US Telecoms operator AT&T has hired 2,000 temporary store workers ahead of the launch of the Apple iPhone. AT&T will be the only US carrier to offer the device when it goes on sale 29 June. The iPhone was first announced in January and combines a music and video player with a web browser and a touch-sensitive screen in place of a keyboard.
Yahoo has made its first big move since appointing Jerry Yang as chief executive by announcing the purchase of college sports website Rivals.com. Yang took over Yahoo this week after the abrupt exit of predecessor Terry Semel. Rivals.com reports on American football, basketball and other sports in more than 100 colleges and universities, as well as focusing on high school sporting prospects. The site competes with Scout.com, which was bought by News Corp for USD60 million last year. College sports are highly popular in the US and information about them has significant commercial value. Users of the Rivals.com website, which has about 185,000 subscribers, pay about USD10 a month to access information on results, drafts and scholarships. No financial information was disclosed.
The New York Times reports that eBay is on track to rejoin the online auction business in China this summer, but with tight restrictions on sellers in order to clamp down on sales of counterfeit goods. This marks eBay's second attempt to break into the Chinese market after the collapse of the company's EachNet venture, and the first with a local partner. This time eBay has partnered up with TOM Online and the online auction house has decided to use an escrow service, where payments will be held until buyers are satisfied with their purchases, in order to win over consumer confidence.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 