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

3 Jul 2015

Ireland gears up for cyber war, Brianna Wu on #gamergate and 40,000 jobs for Cork and Kerry

Ten nuggets of knowledge to take away for the weekend, including: Ireland gears up for cyber war, Brianna Wu on #gamergate and 40,000 jobs for Cork and Kerry.

1. Cork and Kerry to get 40,000 jobs boost in new south-west action plan

As many as 40,000 jobs will be created in Ireland’s south-west region of Cork and Kerry as part of a regional jobs strategy revealed this morning by Jobs Minister Richard Bruton TD.

2. Ireland gears up for cyber war – new strategy to protect critical infrastructure

Ireland’s Government has published the country’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, which outlines how Ireland will defend its computer networks and sensitive infrastructure like water and electricity in the event of a cyber attack.

3. Is music streaming the saviour of CD and vinyl sales?

The ever-growing exposure to music at our fingertips was supposed to herald the end of tangible music sales. To be fair, downloading ate into CD sales like nobody’s business, but can streaming be considered music’s saviour?

4. Brianna Wu: ‘The video games industry has a problem, and it’s not the players’

Entrepreneur, engineer and games developer Brianna Wu looks back on the whole Gamergate controversy as being reflective of a wider problem in the video games industry and not just the players.

5. Eircom’s next 1Gbps fibre village will need a good story to tell

With a deadline set for 15 September, good storytelling and creativity will determine Eircom’s selection of the next 1Gbps village in Ireland that will get kitted out with 1Gbps fibre before the rest of the country.

6. Hassle.com acquired by Helpling – Irishwoman’s start-up to go global

Hassle.com, a kind of Hailo for cleaners founded by Irishwoman Jules Coleman, has been acquired by Berlin-based Helpling. Coleman said the acquisition will expand Hassle.com beyond Europe to provide household services in the US and elsewhere.

7. How the universe will end theory leads to ‘Big Rip’ in the universe

With the general consensus among cosmologists being that our entire universe was created following the Big Bang, it is now believed that its demise will come with great violence during an event that is being called the ‘Big Rip’.

8. Infosys creates US$10m fund for Irish start-ups

Technology giant Infosys has set aside US$10m from its global Innovation Fund for Ireland-based start-ups, the company has revealed.

9. Microsoft Windows 10 won’t reach all 1bn eligible devices on 29 July launch day

In four weeks, on 29 July, the next Microsoft operation system Windows 10 will be made available. However, not all 1bn eligible devices will get it on day one, but instead it will arrive in phases.

10. AMAgeddon turns Reddit dark as Victoria Taylor fired from the social media site

Popular subreddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) has been switched to private following the sudden, unexplained firing of Victoria Taylor, the site’s director of talent and key administrator.

BBQ image via Shutterstock

 

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

editorial@siliconrepublic.com