NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 22 September
22-09-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
IBM to develop smart ticketing for Dublin | Microsoft plans USD40bn share buyback
IBM is to develop and implement an infrastructure for an Integrated Ticketing System (ITS) across all public transport in the greater Dublin area. The tech heavyweight was chosen by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) to develop and roll out an e-payment system to enable commuters to use a single pre-paid smart card for travel on all buses, trains, trams and coaches in the city. The integrated IBM back-office system will provide ticket and smart card management, central reconciliation and settlement services to all public transport providers. The system is part of Ireland's "Transport 21" project. Work on the project will begin immediately and a phased deployment of the system will start in late 2009. Financial details of the contract were not revealed.
Microsoft has announced it is to buy back some USD40 billion worth of its shares. The software giant said the buyback would last until September 2013 and that it had completed a previous USD40 billion stock repurchase programme. The share buyback gives a strong indication that Microsoft does not plan any large acquisition in the near future. Microsoft also raised its quarterly dividend to USD0.13 a share, up 18 percent over the previous quarter's dividend. For its fiscal year 2008 Microsoft posted revenues of over USD60 billion.
There will be 4 billion mobile phone subscriptions globally by the end of 2008, according to research from Informa Telecoms and Media. The growth in mobile subscriptions has been primarily driven by consumer demand in emerging markets, such as China and India, where in each country there have been over 50 million new mobile subscriptions in the last six months alone. There has also been significant growth in markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Brazil. Mobile subscription growth from 3 billion to 4 billion happened in just five quarters, according to Informa, which said this growth will likely slow in the coming years. The research firm doesn't expect mobile subscriptions to hit 5 billion until the fourth quarter of 2011.
The National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) has announced two new appointments. The move was made to support the centre's investment in a number of new translational research projects. Kevin Jennings and Kevin Smith have been hired as Translational Research Leaders. In these roles they will be responsible for liaising with academia and industry in order to generate, identify and support proposal submissions for digital technology research with strong potential for commercial or social impact. The NDRC is an independent, not-for-profit research centre, which focuses on themes such as healthcare, education, sustainable energy and entertainment.
After a hectic few days at the Seedcamp venture funding competition in London, Irish start-up Decisions for Heroes is preparing to turn its emergency services technology into a fully paid-for service. The young Irish firm -- set up by technical expert David Doran and Robin Blandford, a volunteer cliff rescue climber with the Irish Coast Guard -- was the only Irish company to make it to the finals of the UK seed funding event, which attracted around 400 initial applications. Their technology, which "help[s] emergency services save more lives by making better decisions", is currently up and running in a pilot phase with teams in five countries around the world, and Decisions for Heroes is now planning to start charging for its services. At the Seedcamp event, Blandford said his company envisages it can earn EUR160,000 in re-occurring revenues per year, within 12 months. He estimated the worldwide market for such services to be worth around EUR5 million to EUR7 million, and said the company plans to expand into 42 countries. Although the company failed to secure any of the prize funding, it has been invited back to the next Seedcamp event in December.
Security firm Sophos has launched a service called WebAlert, which notifies customers by e-mail if their websites are being hacked by malicious scripts, Trojans, worms and viruses. Sophos says its experts on average detect one new infected webpage every five seconds, and have identified over 380,000 new webpages carrying malware since the beginning of September. Over 90 percent of those webpages are part of legitimate sites that have been compromised through hacking techniques such as SQL injection. Sophos has come up with a video that uses kids' toys to explain how WebAlert works. Check it out here.
Apple is recalling a number of its Ultracompact USB Power Adapters, which come with the firm's iPhone 3G. The recall specifically affects adapters for iPhone 3Gs sold in the Amercias and Japan. In a notice Apple said that in "certain conditions" the power adapter's metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating a risk of electric shock. While the firm said it has received reports of this happening, no injuries have been reported yet. Apple plans to begin a free exchange programme on 10 October. Users can exchange the recalled plugs at their local Apple Store or through the company's website.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 