The working group studying how Internet domain names are registered in Ireland has held its first meeting, Eoin Licken reports. The group was formed after the ".ie" domain registry decided last month to relax rules preventing individuals or companies from registering more than one domain name. Until now, those wishing to register several names had to register them outside the .ie domain.
The working group could recommend simply increasing the number of domains per holder, or creating sub-domains corresponding to trademark categories (as in Britain, where companies can register in the ".co.uk" sub-domain).
The committee held its first meeting at UCD on Friday. It includes two registry staff, representatives from three Internet service providers and lawyers from Matheson Ormsby Prentice and Tomkins and Co. The legal presence reflects a growing concern that, like registries elsewhere, the Irish registry could get sucked into legal disputes over names. Another working group is expected to be formed later this year to look at the issue of formally separating the registry from UCD.
Chip Dangers: A six-month investigation by USA Today has found that the microchip industry regularly breaks environmental health regulations, and the factories failed to fully train their workers about the hazardous and deadly chemicals used.
More Seagate Cuts: Computer disk-drive maker Seagate is to cut a further 8,600 jobs, reducing its total workforce by about 10 per cent. Last month 1,400 workers lost their jobs at its Clonmel factory in Co Tipperary.
Microsoft Raided: Microsoft was under pressure on opposite sides of the Pacific last week. Japanese trade officials raided its Tokyo offices but the software giant was confident it was in "full compliance" with Japan's anti-monopoly regulations. Meanwhile its court case with the US Justice Department over Internet software has been adjourned until this week.
Navy In Hot Water: Gay activists in the States have strongly criticised the US navy after it obtained confidential subscriber information from America Online. Senior chief petty officer Timothy McVeigh (no relation to the Oklahoma bomber) was confronted by navy investigators in Hawaii - they claimed to have evidence linking him to an AOL "member profile" that they reckoned was "gay".
Yes Ministers: Traditional bulky red boxes used to carry British Ministers' "homework" are to be replaced by a new hi-tech electronic box. The computer uses voice recognition and fingerprint identification and has videoconferencing capabilities. Reflex Magnetics Ireland in Waterford is the Irish agent for the technology, which was shown off at Whitehall last week. Meanwhile French PM Lionel Jospin admitted on Friday he can't use a PC, but said it was vital for the rest of France's public administration to get wired.
3COM Teleworking: 3Com's new SuperStackAE II Remote Access 3000 for teleworking will be available in Ireland next month. It incorporates US Robotics Total Control technology. "Off-site workers will be able to use the company network with the same security and access as if they were sitting in the office," says 3Com Ireland's Brendan Garry.
Oracle Java Server: A free trial version of Oracle Application Server 4.0 will be available on the Net next month at www.oracle.com - it lets organisations manage applications on a single server, rather than on hundreds of desktop PCs. The server can also be 100 per cent Java programmable.
In Brief . . . 1997 was the eighth consecutive record year at Intel - revenues of $25.1 billion were up from $20.8 billion in 1996. . . Digital had revenues for its latest quarter of $3.32 billion - marginally down on the same quarter in 1996 but its net income more than doubled. . . The European Commission is expected to adopt a policy paper on global co-operation on legal and technical problems caused by the Net before next month's meeting of EU telecoms Ministers. . . Teachers in Britain are to receive a £235-million training boost to equip them for the information age: National Lottery cash will be used to train 450,000 teachers. . . Irish-owned company Precision Software has opened new offices at Castlewood House, Rathmines, Dublin. . . Dunaszekcsoe in southern Hungary has opened the world's first "cemetery" for tamagochi electronic pets. . .
Opera Lovers: Last week's URL about the Opera Web browser software was correct (www.operasoftware.com) but we accidentally added the email address of Ruth Gallagher for a separate story about UCD - apologies to both.
MicrofileNo. of names currently registered with IEDR, the ".ie" domain registrys1] : more than 3,500; this is expected to double by next August.
No. of Web pages indexed by HotBot last monthBO]: more than 110 million
No. indexed by the largest search engine, AltaVista: 100 million.
Ireland has the highest per capita ownership of Sony Playstations in the world - no. of Playstations sold in Ireland since its launch in 1995s3]: 164,000
The Relevant Knowledge "Top 20 Web Properties" list for December 1997, ranked by no. of "unique visitors in the US aged 12 plus" (in millions)BO]: 1 Yahoo/Four11 (17.4); 2 Netscape (14.0); 3 Excite/Webcrawler (10.9); 4 Microsoft (10.6); 5 AOL (9.5); 6 Geocities (8.0); 7 Infoseek (6.8); 8 Lycos (5.6); 9 MSN (5.0); 10 AltaVista (4.7); 11 CNET (4.3); 12 Hotmail (3.9); 13 ZDNet (3.5); 14 CNN (3.0); 15 WhoWhere/Angelfire (2.8); 16 RealNetworks (2.6); 17 Tripod (2.4); 18 USA Today (2.3); 19 Wired (2.2); 20 Amazon (2.0);
Sources: 1 IEDR; 2 www.searchenginewatch.com ; 3 Sony Ireland; 4 www.relevantknowledge.com
Modem Worldwww.ebs.ie
The EBS's links include the building society's Isle of Man offshoot, and it has info on the South Dublin Boys Football League. www.aim-irl.com/greenguide
The Green Guide, from recycling to vegetarianism and alternative medicine. www.eu.microsoft.com/typography/
The Euro currency symbol is included in new versions of Times New Roman, Arial and Courier New for Windows in Microsoft's range of free TrueType fonts. ireland.iol.ie/ckennedy/fontframes.html
Excellent free fonts with a "Celtic" feel. www.arthouse.ie/selfrescuemechanism
Self Rescue Mechanism, an online exhibition by Alan Phelan and Jim Dingilian working simultaneously in Dublin and New York, culminates next month in an installation at Arthouse in Dublin. www.titanicmovie.co.uk
Titanic film's official site. www.st-patricks-day.com
It's around again. . . links to St Patrick's Day sites.
DiaryJanuary 20th: Alan Bateman (Javasoft) will give a talk on JavaOS to the Irish Java Users Group, TCD Arts Building, Usher Lecture Theatre (Room 2037), 6.30 p.m. - info: chorn@lionet-technologies.com
January 21st: Ireland On-Line hosts live online chat with James Cameron, director, writer etc of Titanic, 7 p.m. at http://home.iol.ie/1/articles/titanicchat (he's also on http://onlinetonight.msn.co.uk). Submit questions in advance.February 10th: Microsoft Professional Developers Day at Microsoft Ireland in Sandyford Industrial Estate, Co Dublin, aimed at professionals developing commercial Web sites, intranet applications and e-commerce solutions. Cost per attendee £99 plus VAT. - info: tel 0044 990 228 885 or 0990 228 885 from Northern Ireland, or http://www.microsoft.com/ireland
Textbites"The consumer will be in total control. We're moving from the era when the advertiser controlled everything through broadcasting to what I call `pull-casting'
- where the consumer decides what he wants to see and when he wants to see it."
- A former IBM advertising executive talking to the LA Times about how online advertising will require a new marketing approach.
"We tried begging, bribing, everything. This is not subtle. We have gotten on our knees collectively on this."
- Apple board member Larry Ellison on the board's attempts to persuade interim CEO Steve Jobs to stay on.
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