A look at Siliconrepublic.com’s top trending stories from the past week.
World’s first 4D flight lands in Stockholm
The world’s first-ever 4D flight has taken place. The Airbus A320 test aircraft took off from Toulouse and headed to Copenhagen before swooping in over Stockholm, landing at 11am (EST). The group behind the flight (SESAR) says the test flight is the first step towards achieving more predictable flights in European airspace.
Almost half of garda stations have no internet
Almost 300 of Ireland’s 700 garda stations have no access to the internet or email, it has been reported. RTÉ reported on figures contained in a reply to a parliamentary question by Fianna Fail’s justice spokesman Dara Calleary, TD.
Eason is the first Irish brand to hit Pinterest
Eason is the first Irish brand to bring its presence to social pinboard site Pinterest, using it to highlight its business and product range. Pinterest is an online pinboard where users can organise images and share them with friends. The service is growing quickly, seeing its traffic increase by 429pc between September and December 2011. It has more than 10m unique visitors and is reportedly in the top 5 social referrers to websites and blogs.
New course taps into Ireland’s cloud innovation
A new diploma in cloud strategy is aiming to help people tap into Ireland’s cloud-based innovation. University College Cork (UCC) and the Irish Management Institute (IMI) have just announced the course, which they are jointly developing with Microsoft Ireland.
Government’s Action Plan for Jobs aims at growth sectors
The Irish Government has launched its first Action Plan for Jobs, which includes more than 270 actions to be implemented in 2012 to improve supports for job-creating businesses and remove barriers to employment creations.
Police, social services visit dad who shot daughter’s laptop
The YouTube video of a father shooting his teenage daughter’s laptop in response to a rant she posted on Facebook has led critics of his parenting method to call police and child protective services to his home in Albermarle, North Carolina.
NASA pioneers 3D earthquake mapping with geologists
Geologists have come up with a new 3D tool that studies how earthquakes change landscapes, paving the way for scientists to have more insight into how earthquakes behave. The research team studied the earthquake that struck near Mexicali, northern Mexico, on 4 April 2010.
Google’s Valentine’s Day Doodle helps melt cold, cold hearts
Google’s new Valentine’s Day animated Doodle featuring Tony Bennett’s cover of Hank Williams’ ‘Cold Cold Heart’ begins as a paean to unrequited love before blossoming into a love story with a nice, mushy ending. You could almost anticipate a Google Doodle these days for any occasion, but the animated doodle is certainly a work of art.
Quad-core iPad 3 launch tipped for 7 March
Apple’s next tablet computer, the iPad 3, is tipped to launch on 7 March rather than 29 February’s leap year date as originally rumoured. The new tablet is expected to be powered by a quad-core chipset and 4G LTE network capabilities, according to the latest set of rumours.
Minister Pat Rabbitte to open Digital Ireland Forum
Pat Rabbitte, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, will give the opening address at Silicon Republic’s Digital Ireland Forum on 23 March in the Convention Centre in Dublin.The minister will open proceedings at this year’s Digital Ireland Forum, while keynote speakers include serial tech entrepreneur Sean O’Sullivan – the latest addition to Dragons’ Den – and Emer Coleman of Government Digital Services in the UK, recently named in Wired magazine’s Top 100 Digital Power Influencers List 2011.
Review – hands-on with the PlayStation Vita (video)
The PlayStation Vita gaming console represents an interesting new opportunity for Sony to get to grips with the fast-growing mobile data world and potentially create a whole new apps ecosystem.
Google+ to hit 400m users by December 2012 (info graphic)
A new info graphic charting the rise and rise of Google+ predicts Google’s social network will hit 400m users by 31 December 2012. Some 20pc of Google+’s users are students, followed by software engineers (2.6pc) and consultants (1.9pc). Pop star Britney Spears has the most followers on Google+ with 1.9m followers, according to a new info graphic on Visual.ly.
Apple CEO Cook predicts massive iPhone growth, tablets will overtake PCs
With the handset market poised to grow to 2bn units and Apple having sold 24pc of the available smartphone market (37m units) in the last quarter, nine out of 10 buyers are buying something else, leaving enormous room for growth for the iPhone, Apple CEO Tim Cook told a Goldman Sachs Technology Conference.
MasterCard to create 130 new jobs at global technology HQ in Dublin
More than 130 new technology jobs are to be created at MasterCard’s new technology operations, which will be headquartered in Dublin. The highly skilled jobs will be created with IDA Ireland support. Recruitment has already commenced. MasterCard has had an office in Dublin since 2008. It acquired Orbiscom in 2009 for US$100m.
Eircom misses payment to lenders
Incumbent telecoms operator Eircom said it has not made the bond payment to lenders that was scheduled for 12 February. Eircom, which is lumbering under a massive €3.65bn debt, is expecting to receive offers by potential buyers in mid-March.
Ireland: a green tech epicentre
With a Green IFSC, Ireland is emerging as a financial hub for the global green-tech industry. What will this mean for clean-tech entrepreneurs and start-ups?
Whitney Houston’s funeral to be streamed online
Fans of singer Whitney Houston will be able to watch her funeral online on 18 February. That’s the date Houston’s friends and family will gather to remember her at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey.
How to understand the Pinterest phenomenon (info graphic)
After recently hitting 10m US monthly unique visitors faster than any independent site in history, Pinterest is the latest social networking phenomenon. A new Visual.ly info graphic tells you what Pinterest is all about.
Game on! We’re at the start of something big
For a long time we told ourselves that the notion of Ireland producing big-budget gaming titles was a myth, deluded even. But I’m becoming less sure that it is impossible. Let’s just say the Games Ireland Gathering 2012 this week revealed a wealth of pent-up ambition. The genie is out of the bottle.
CoderDojo is going international, says teenage entrepreneur (video)
Teenage coder and entrepreneur James Whelton talks about the impact of CoderDojo and how it is going international. The coding movement has spawned a massive following, a big waiting list and many more are on the way across Ireland, the UK and very soon, the US.
O2 confirms plans to shut down O2.ie email service
Telefonica-owned O2 Ireland has confirmed it plans to shut down its O2.ie email service, which is used by 16,000 people. Technical disruptions have hit the system, and a spokesman explained customer numbers had been declining.
How CIT is addressing the IT skills shortage
Tim Horgan, head of the Cloud Computing Centre of Excellence at Cork Institute of Technology, talks about what needs to be done to encourage more people to enter the tech sector and what CIT is doing to boost students’ skills.
New Aertv movie channel to showcase 10 JDIFF shorts
Irish free online TV service Aertv.ie is launching a new channel – Aertv Movies – to coincide with this year’s Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.
