Weekend takeaway: 10 tech stories you need to read right now

31 Oct 2014

Ten nuggets of knowledge for this weekend, including Europe’s Digital Girl of the Year Lauren Boyle, three disruptive technologies that will shape the next three years, and the most cited Irish professor of all time.

1. 9-year-old web developer Lauren Boyle is named EU Digital Girl of the Year

Advocate for girls in STEM and developer of three websites at just nine years old, the remarkable Lauren Boyle from Dublin has been named EU Digital Girl of the Year 2014.

Lauren is the founder of Cool Kids Studio, an initiative that spans three websites she has built herself.

Boyle was recently presented with a Next Generation Award for Excellence at the Irish Internet Association’s Dot IE Net Visionary Awards, while Cool Kids Studio was recognised in the websites category at this year’s CoderDojo Coolest Projects Awards.

2. Three disruptive technologies that will shape the next three years

The internet of things, 3D printing, and biotech/healthcare have been cited as three of the most disruptive technologies that will shape the next three years, according to a new study.

3. Innovation Ireland Forum 2014: complete video highlights

If you missed the Innovation Ireland Forum 2014, catch up right here with video highlights of keynotes and panel discussions.

4. Irish professor Des Higgins in top 10 most cited papers of all time

Irish professor Des Higgins and his work on bioinformatics has placed him in the journal Nature’s top 10 most cited research papers of all time, making him the only Irish person in the ranking.

5. Collison brothers’ Stripe hires top Google exec to spearhead growth

Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison’s Silicon Valley e-payments start-up Stripe is going from strength to strength and has just hired former Google X division executive Claire Johnson as its new head of operations.

6. Ireland named top ranking destination for ‘added value’ of FDI projects

Ireland has retained the top position for the quality of its foreign direct investment and is the top ranking destination for ‘added value’, according to the IBM 2014 Global Location Trends report.

7. Guest column: Ireland’s AutoLaunch Racing in pole position for F1 in Schools contest

After Ireland’s many recent successes in all things STEM, the country is once again poised to bring home the gold – this time in the world championships of F1 in Schools.

8. Being gay is a ‘gift from God’, says Apple CEO Tim Cook

For the first time, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has publically addressed the fact he is gay in an open letter that includes his feelings about being part of a minority.

9. Gigantic plasma space tsunami recreated with help of high-powered lasers

To understand some of the most powerful explosive forces in the universe, a team of researchers is using high-powered lasers to recreate cosmic explosions in the safety of the lab.

10. World gets first glimpse of working build-it-yourself phone

With the announcement of dates for the second developer conference for Google’s Project Ara, the world got its first glimpse of a working prototype that allows the owner to take out and replace components such as Lego.

Tech takeaway image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com