Ireland’s first Twittering Taoiseach to tweet to the nation

The Taoiseach of Ireland Brian Cowen TD is about to follow the example of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama and start writing his own blog and send tweets on Twitter. Sources have told Siliconrepublic.com that Cowen is extremely interested in making use of social media and is planning to construct a blog using WordPress.

It is understood that Cowen and his aides have been mulling over the best approach to take and aides have been working on setting up the WordPress blog and Twitter feed from the Taoiseach’s office. Read More

Courtesy: Silicon Republic

YouTube, Facebook and Twitter 'redirected to China'

Visitors to some of the world's most popular websites - including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter - were reportedly redirected to servers in China this week.

One of the Internet's main DNS root servers was reportedly rerouting traffic via China, giving visitors to those sites first-hand experience of what life is like behind the country's firewall. Sites such as Facebook and YouTube are banned in China, which has infamously strict web censorship rules.

The "hijacked" visitors were either sent to Chinese equivalents of the sites, or shown error messages claiming the sites were unavailable, according to a report on CNet.com. Read More

Courtesy: RTE News

Facebook partners with anti-bullying orgs for web safety

Following a meeting with the UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson Facebook says that it plans to add an extra layer to its reporting function in order to better protect younger users against cyberbullying and sexual predators.

The new layer of functionality will include links to support services i.e. BeatBullying and CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) at the end of Facebook reporting function as well more support and advice as part of Facebook's Safety Centre .

'It's crucial that people who feel they have been bullied online, can quickly get help. That's why Beatbullying are pleased that Facebook are taking the right steps by working with third sector organisations like us and referring their users to a safe environment where they can get the correct support and advice they need," said Emma-Jane Cross, CEO of BeatBulling. Read More

Courtesy: Silicon Republic

Mum of two's autism communication idea

A Co Wicklow based mother of two children with autism, Lisa Domican, has launched a new iPhone application (app) that she hopes will help children with autism better develop their communications skills.

The app, which has already been successfully trialled in the Saplings school in Rathfarnham for children with autism, is called "Grace" (named after Lisa's daughter) and is based on the principle of picture exchange communication. It has been developed by Lisa in conjunction with software developer Steve Troughton-Smith, and with the support of Telefonica O2 Ireland.

The new app is designed to be used in a similar way to how the existing Picture Exchange Communication System is used by parents and tutors of children with autism - allowing them to build sentences using a book of laminated pictures attached to a board by Velcro. Read More

Courtesy: RTE News

Facebook Tool Pays Out For Pizza Orders

Facebook users whose friends have a penchant for pizza could find themselves cashing in with the launch of a new advertising tool.
Social networkers who add the new Domino's Pizza advert to their profile or blog will earn a cash reward every time one of their contacts clicks on it to place an order.

How much they earn will depend on how much their friends spend - each sale will generate a revenue of 0.5% of the order value. An order of a large Pepperoni Passion pizza for £16.99 would therefore pay out 8.5p. Dan Clays of digital agency BLM Quantum, which launched the tool for Domino's, said it was an extension of affiliate marketing, in which a third party is rewarded for advertising on behalf of a firm. Read More

Courtesy: RTE News

Taoiseach on visit to Silicon Valley

Taoiseach Brian Cowen continues his trip to the US today, meeting technology entrepreneurs in California’s Silicon Valley. This morning, Mr Cowen will meet senior executives from leading US multinational companies with successful investments in Ireland.
He will then meet Irish businesses who are successfully doing business in the United States, before addressing a major business lunch in Silicon Valley.

A spokesman said he will focus on the Government’s economic recovery plan, with a particular emphasis on the smart economy and the implementation of the report of the Government’s Innovation Taskforce. He will also stress the firm action that has been taken to stabilise the public finances, reduce the deficit and restore and reform the banking system.He is also due to hold talks with the president of Stanford University, Dr John Hennessy. Stanford is one of the leading universities in the world with a global reputation for science, research and innovation.

Later, the Taoiseach will open a new Irish Innovation Centre in Silicon Valley. Read More

Courtesy: Irish Times

Competence Centres just the business for third-level research

THE LAUNCH this week of Competence Centres by Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan was a formality for an industry-led research initiative that is already under way. Five of the proposed nine centres have received €1 million in start-up funding. The centres are the latest in a long line of Government research and development (R&D) initiatives, but they are a step that all involved say is significantly different.

A joint venture between Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, the Competence Centres address the biggest challenge for third-level research: turning ideas into marketable applications with commercial value. In the past, blue-sky projects have been criticised for soaking up funding with little chance of commercial payback.

The programme was kickstarted by a call for private consortiums to come forward with ideas, prompting multinationals and indigenous start-ups to join forces with academia in pursuit of common goals. The endgame is intellectual property with commercial applications owned by the university, but licensed first to participating companies. Read More

Courtesy: Irish Times

Google opens new apps store for businesses

In a move aimed at fueling the momentum so far with 2m businesses now adopting Google Apps, the internet giant has opened a new Apps Marketplace chock-full of third party cloud apps like payroll and productivity software.

The Google Apps Marketplace allows Google Apps customers to easily discover, deploy and manage cloud applications that integrate with Google Apps.

More than 50 companies are now selling applications across a range of businesses, including:

Intuit Online Payroll: A small business application that offers business owners a new way to efficiently run payroll, pay taxes and let employees check paystubs all within one integrated online office environment.

Manymoon: The company's free work and project management application for Google Apps makes it simple for businesses and teams to organise and share information including tasks, projects, documents, status updates and links with co-workers, customers and partners. Read More

Courtesy: Silicon Republic

Irish language app for Patrick's Day debut

To celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge and St Patrick's festival, Irish IT company Maithú is launching two Irish language applications for the iPhone and Google Android App stores.

The Get the Focal Irish Translator is a two-way English/Irish translator with a database of over 13,000 words.

The app can be found on the iTunes and app stores as a free download.

Maithú is also developing a premium version to includep ronunciations so you'll be speaking Irish in no time, expanded online search for over 120,000 words and full sentence translation for €2.99 from the iTunes App Store.

More details are available on http://www.getthefocal.com/

Citizens need web skills for future jobs

Citizens need to prepare for the future jobs market and engagement in society through enhanced web skills, the European Commission said today.

Bringing a close to the EU’s E-Skills Week, Martin Territt, director of the European Commission Representation in Ireland, emphasised that developing e-learning strategies are a core part of the commission's newly launched Europe 2020 Agenda, which road maps the future economy.

Read More

Courtesy: Silicon Republic