A project which aims to introduce computers into the lives of thousands of school children in the Ballymun area is being inaugurated by the President, Mrs McAleese, and the Mayor of San Jose, Susan Hammer, with the aid of online video-conferencing facilities, this evening. The Computers in Schools Project, backed by the EU Urban Initiative, the Department of Education and Telecom ╔ireann and managed by the Ballymun Partnership is the most comprehensive, community-driven schools' IT project in Ireland. Over 150 PCs and mountains of educational software have been distributed to Ballymun's 11 schools to develop computer-assisted learning for the area's 3,216 students. The Dublin schools will be linked to matching schools in San Jose.
BANKING ON IT: Online banking looks set to reach a new landmark when the first financial institution to operate exclusively over the Web goes live next week. CompuBank, compubank.com, a Houston-based bank backed by $6 million in private funding, got the go-ahead in July to operate across the US from the Comptroller of Currency. An initial deposit of $200 will be required after which customers will be able to pay an unlimited number of bills electronically for a flat fee.
GENUINE DISPUTE: A Microsoft executive testified that his company did mean to persuade Netscape not to compete against it in the market for browsers, according to testimony cited in a court ruling this week. In a decision rejecting Microsoft's attempt to have government antitrust allegations thrown out, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson said the testimony created a "genuine dispute" about whether Microsoft may have violated the nation's antitrust laws. He set October 15th as the new date for the start of the landmark antitrust trial.
ALL-IRELAND ALL OVER: Tinet and Doras are to provide a live Webcast of the All-Ireland football final between Galway and Kildare next Sunday. The Webcast mirrors what was done for the hurling final last week and is provided in association with Setanta Sports and the Internet Television Company who plan to take a direct feed from Croke Park and run it alongside live commentary of the game. RealVideo is required and should probably be downloaded well in advance from doras.tinet.ie.
EMPLOYEES' MARKET: Almost 85 per cent of software companies in Ireland are experiencing skills shortages yet remain bullish and plan to increase staff numbers by 25 per cent over the next 12 months, according to the Irish Software Association's Annual Business Survey published last week. The study shows that the biggest overall shortage is in the software engineering sector where 78 per cent of respondents reported recruitment problems. 28 per cent of those surveyed admitted there was a shortage of project managers and almost a quarter believe there is a dearth of graduates looking for jobs. Pay them more?
SAPS AGREEMENT: The Dublin-based software company CBT Systems, leading providers of interactive educational software for IT training, last week announced the signing of an expanded agreement with SAP America to co-develop and comarket interactive Web-based training. Under the terms of the renewed agreement, SAP and CBT Systems will work together to develop and market a comprehensive curriculum for Sap users.
DISK DRIVE DAD DIES: The father of the disk drive, Reynold Johnson, died last week at the ripe old age of 92. Johnson invented the IBM RAMAC 350 in 1956 and was also responsible for multiple-choice test forms and the half-inch videotape format pioneered by Sony. He also held more than 90 other patents but will probably be best remembered for his contribution to high-speed computing.
PCS FOR FREE: PCs will soon be free as companies give the machines away to lure Internet users, according to Marc Andreessen, the executive vice president of Netscape Communications. Speaking at George Gilder's annual Telecom Conference, which deals mostly with the future of computer networking and Telecommunications, Andreessen compared the future of PCs to cellular phones, which are now being given away for half nothing to entice subscribers onto competing mobile phone networks. In the future money will be made by providing Internet services and not through either software or hardware sales, Andreessen claims.
SIMPLE SCANNERS: Hewlett-Packard has introduced a new portable device that performs a function no notebook computer, cellular phone or Palm Pilot can match: it copies documents with the same speed and quality as an office copier. Called the CapShare 910, the device is about as big as a compact CD player and weighs less than a pound. But it can copy all sorts of documents, from business cards to newspaper articles and memos, with a simple swipe down the page.
INTEL IN BLOOM: Intel bucked the recent trend of bad news in the semiconductor industry and announced last week that it now expects a better third quarter. Intel said that, due to strong demand in North America and Europe, it now expects revenues will be eight to ten per cent above second quarter revenues of $5.9 billion.
IN BRIEF...Eastman Kodak and Seagate have announced the formation of an alliance to create and refine an improved technology bridge between Advanced Photo System and the PC. . . Oracle has announced record first quarter results for the period ended August 31st. . . Compaq and Microsoft have announced an alliance aimed at easing the way in which corporate computer operating systems developed by the companies work together. . . WorldCom completed its $40 billion acquisition of MCI Communications Corp last week after gaining final regulatory approval. The deal combines the second and fourth biggest long-distance companies in the US to create a new company, MCI WorldCom. . . Cisco Systems has agreed to buy the portion of privately held Clarity Wireless that it does not already own for $157 million of Cisco common stock. . . Lotus Development Ireland has announced its intention to assist the Irish Legal Aid Board by linking 30 law centres across the country to a central database in Dublin. . . Helmut Kohl took his re-election campaign online last Friday, fielding questions for two hours in a live chat session. The German Chancellor once confused the `Information Superhighway' with the Autobahn. . .