A round-up of other stories in brief.

Texting could benefit airlines

Adopting the use of the humble text message and related mobile technologies could make airlines and airports more efficient, according to an aviation management expert.

Paul O'Neill, a partner in Deloitte's aviation and transport services division, cited low-cost airline Air Asia as an example of what can be achieved. It introduced an SMS booking service in August 2003 and now sells 28 per cent of its tickets by mobile phone.

Text messages on phones coupled with iris scans, fingerprints or other biometric information could reduce ticket fraud and make security controls more efficient, Mr O'Neill told an airline industry conference in Dublin this week.

Ireland's tech glass 'half full'

Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur Bill Coleman, who co-founded software company BEA Systems, said Ireland should not be disappointed that Intel decided to locate its latest factory in China and not in Ireland.

Speaking at the Create & Innovate conference in Dublin City University, Mr Coleman said employment in such factories was falling due to automation, adding that they were not high-value jobs.

He said Ireland should adopt the "glass half full" outlook and focus on the fact that Google located here.

Mr Coleman has said he is considering Ireland for the European headquarters of his latest venture, Cassatt.

Tech checks for small businesses

Small businesses will be able to avail of heavily subsidised technology assessments through a new Government-backed programme, Tech-Check.

Independent experts will analyse businesses and advise how they can best use technology to increase their productivity and profitability.

Tech-Check is being funded to the tune of €2 million a year, enabling up to 2,000 business to take part.

Data leaks in 60% of firms

About 60 per cent of companies in the US, Britain, Australia, France and Germany have had data leaks in the past year, some of which could have resulted in catastrophic losses of data similar to the recent theft of 46 million credit card numbers from discount clothing chain TK Maxx.

Only 6 per cent of companies can say with confidence that they have not experienced data leakage problems in the past two years, while three out of five say some data exposure has occurred in the past 12 months, according to a survey by Datamonitor and McAfee.