IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 18 July
18-07-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
Sony to stop making cheaper PS3 model | Harry Potter allegedly leaks onto net
The Irish Times says that the HM Riverdeep group is projecting annual profits before tax and finance costs of some USD1 billion after bedding down its USD4 billion purchase of Reed Elsevier's US education arm. The Reed deal will create an organisation with an enterprise value of more than USD10 billion. Goldman Sachs said in a note that the combined group's pro-forma market share in the US educational publishing market will jump to nearly 40 percent.
The paper also notes that Capital Bars is now offering free wireless internet access in its Dublin bars and hotels, following a deal with Free-hotspot.com. The deal covers all of the hotel and bar group's properties including Cafe En Seine, Break for the Border, Zanzibar, the Grafton Hotel and Trinity Plaza. In exchange for free internet access, users are asked to view an ad before getting online. Further ads are served up at regular 45-minute intervals while the user remains online. Free-hotspot.com said it plans to have 100 free hotspots in its Irish network by the end of the year.
The same paper reports that ComReg has given the clearest indication yet that the regulator will use new powers against Eircom if local loop unbundling is not delivered before the agreed September deadline. "There aren't any circumstances that we would find acceptable grounds for a delay," said ComReg commissioner John Doherty.
In other news of Eircom, the paper says that talks between management and trade unions will resume on Wednesday at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), in a bid to avert threatened industrial action at the company. It is understood that Eircom will give its response to proposals put forward on Monday by the LRC aimed at heading off the dispute, which could commence on Thursday.
The Irish Independent reports that EBS Building Society has warned its members to be wary of phishing e-mails sent by fraudsters trying to steal money from online accounts. EBS sent out a warning notice stating: "It has come to our attention that a fraudulent e-mail is in circulation, claiming to be from EBS Building Society. This e-mail is entitled 'SPAM-LOW: security guide'."
The Irish Examiner reports that a Meteor mobile phone mast, believed to have disrupted television signals in Mitchelstown, Cork, is to be switched off on Thursday. Last week, county manager Martin Riordan said he was preparing a legal case against Meteor and that in the interim he would ask it to switch off the mast. His comments came as more than 50 people affected by disruptions protested outside County Hall. At a meeting of the council's northern division on Tuesday, councillor Kevin O'Keeffe said he'd been informed by the local authority's enforcement section that Meteor had agreed to turn off the mast.
According to the Financial Times, LogicaCMG has posted a steep fall in first-half UK revenues as the IT consultancy group beefed up its board to accelerate the search for a new chief executive to replace Martin Read, who leaves in September. The company said first-half sales in the UK fell 9 percent compared with the previous year and that it expected full-year revenue to be below the 2006 level. LogicaCMG said Jim McKenna, current chief operating officer, would become interim chief executive following Read's departure.
The paper also says that Sony has come under fire after it emerged that it is planning to stop manufacturing the 60GB version of the PlayStation 3 console, scarcely a week after announcing a surprise USD100 price cut in the US market. The move will leave only an 80GB, USD599 model available in the US. Sony said on Tuesday it would have "ample supplies" of the USD499 60GB console for the foreseeable future. Analysts said the decision to confirm plans to phase out the cheaper model would likely shift purchasing decisions, with individuals simply waiting to buy a console until Sony lowers the price on its 80GB version.
The Wall Street Journal says that several alleged copies of the new Harry Potter book are hitting internet sites, including photo-sharing service Flickr and video site YouTube. Photographed pages allegedly from the highly anticipated final book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series began flooding file-sharing services on Tuesday. Publisher Scholastic Corp would not confirm whether any of the material online is authentic, although it did say it has found fakes. The book is scheduled to go on sale this Saturday.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 