A round-up of other technology news in brief

Dublin joins social network Foursquare

With little fanfare, Foursquare, the location-based social network – and game – was launched in Dublin this week. Foursquare is a mobile application which allows users to “check in” at locations such as cafes, bars and other public spaces and to share this information with friends.

It is also possible to give recommendations of things to do in a city which appear on other users’ feeds. Foursquare is billed as providing “new ways of exploring your city”, and players earn points and are awarded badges for discovering new things.

Foursquare has proven extremely popular since it was launched in the US last March, and this week it added support for 14 European cities.

3 Ireland mobile offers access to Twitter and Facebook 

Mobile network 3 Ireland this week launched the INQ Mini 3G, which it says is the first mass market phone to have integration with social networking applications such as Facebook, Skype and Twitter.

Such features are normally reserved for high-end smartphones. The “candybar” INQ is also significantly smaller than most smartphones. It has a mobile e-mail client and also acts as a 3G modem connecting to a laptop through USB. All applications can be updated over the mobile network.

The INQ Mini 3G will retail on prepay for €99, and a Christmas promotional offer includes the phone, €50 of credit and free texts for three months for €129.

Design Week sets 24-hour challenge

A unique 24-hour universal design challenge is being held in Dublin today and tomorrow as part of the Institute of Designers in Ireland’s Design Week 2009.

Competing designers will be presented with a brief at 11.30am and will have 24 hours to come up with a design which has actual market potential.

All of the designs must be accessible to all consumers, regardless of their age, size or disability.

Designers from a range of disciplines are invited to apply to take part.

For more information, log on to www.designweek.ie

Irish tech firm in service deal

Irish software firm NewBay has provided Portugal’s Optimus Telecomunicações with its LifeShare suite to provide customers with access to social networks including Facebook, MySpace and hi5.

Subscribers to the mobile network will be able to upload content to these services directly from their phone using NewBay’s software. The service can be configured so that subscribers are sent a text message when activity occurs on their social networking pages.