NEWS IN BRIEF
For the record 10 July
10-07-2007
by Stephen Errity
EUR3.6 million funding for research announced | Lenovo launches new 'energy-efficient' ThinkPad
The Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) announced Tuesday details of EUR3.6 million funding for doctoral and masters students. The council called for applications from potential candidates who have 'excelled in their final year examinations in science, engineering and technology' for its Postgraduate Scholarship Research Scheme (Second Call). The closing date for receipt of entries is 10 August. This year, Sustainable Energy Ireland will be funding 'one or two' doctoral-level programs that deal with energy efficiency in conjuction with the council.
Lenovo has announced the release of its latest laptop, the ThinkPad T61p. The new machine has a 15.4-inch widescreen monitor and an Intel Centrino Pro processor. The company says it has improved the laptop's wireless connection capabilities and it also features an integrated fingerprint reader to improve security. The laptop can run both Windows Vista and several popular Linux distributions. Lenovo claims that its new laptop models are 70 percent more energy-efficient than their predecessors and that they comply with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s new 'Star 4.0' standard. The company also plans to launch a range of desktops in the coming weeks that will also comply with the standard.
Vincent Kennedy has been appointed Motorola's country manager for Ireland. Kennedy will assume responsibility for Motorola's growth and development in Ireland, across its Government and Public Safety, Home and Networks Mobility and Mobile Devices businesses. He will also continue in the role he has held since 2005 as leader of Motorola's Government and Public Safety business. Prior to joining Motorola, Kennedy worked with KPMG Consulting as a senior manager within their systems integration and consulting business. He holds a BA in Economics and Law, an MA in Economics and a postgraduate diploma in Systems Design and Integration.
Online gamers could be spending up to STG2 billion per annum on their hobby within the next three years. That's according to Electronic Arts' director of e-commerce John Burns. He was speaking at a two-day Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) conference in Brussels on the subject of 'the challenges of online gaming'. "Many people play online games and it is not just confined to a hard-core of gamers, it is very broad and widespread," said Burns. He added that due to the accelerating rate of broadband penetration in Europe, the current total of 100 million online gamers is set to soar in the coming years.
The top 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Ireland are to be recognised at an awards ceremony later this year. Organised by Deloitte and Touche, the 2007 'Technology Fast 50 Awards' will take place in Dublin's Mansion House on 18 October. The ranking will feature both private and public-listed Irish-owned technology companies that have 'demonstrated innovative strategies, sound management practices and marketplace vision driving them to achieve the status of high-growth leaders.' This is the eighth year that the 'Fast 50' rankings have been compiled. Entries for the awards close on 8 September and further details can be found at www.fast50.ie.
Irish music download site downloadmusic.ie is set to host its own music festival next week. The Indie Summer Music festival will take place in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim from 19-22 July. Twenty-eight independent bands and 14 singer-songwriters will perform at the event. Video from the shows will be distributed on sites such as Bebo, YouTube and MySpace to help promote the artists involved. Elsewhere, downloadmusic has credited a recent jump in sales to the launch of its new SMS payment service, which allows customers to pay for the music they have downloaded by means of a text message. Eight bands featured on downloadmusic have entered the Irish Top 40 this year, which now includes internet downloads as well as traditional shop sales in its figures.
Internet searches for 'Harry Potter' have jumped recently ahead of the much-anticipated launch of a new book and film from the franchise later this month. The term ranked as the 138th highest volume search query in the UK for the week ending 7 July. This is according to the latest figures from online data firm Hitwise released Tuesday. Young actress Emma Watson is upstaging her co-star Daniel Radcliffe with three times as many queries recorded, making her the sixth most searched-for celebrity in total right now. Just behind Harry Potter is the new US blockbuster Transformers, which is also registering strong interest with net users. Hitwise noted in particular the large volume of Transformers-related queries recorded on video-sharing site YouTube, indicating its effectiveness as a marketing tool for film distributors.
Competition is hotting up in the global anti-malware market in line with increased e-security threats, according to analysts at consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. The industry was worth nearly USD4.7 billion in 2006, a jump of over 17 percent from the previous year. An annual growth rate of over 10 percent has been forecast from now until 2013. Growth has been fuelled by a parallel rise in cybercrime threats, including identity, password and confidential information theft as well as extortion attempts where hackers threaten to crash websites or reveal sensitive data if a ransom is not paid.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 