Irish businesses may be paying a heavy price for their employees' addiction to the Net, according to a new survey conducted among 800 employees across Europe. The Web@Work Survey 2001 found that 90 per cent of those polled felt the Internet could be addictive while 40 per cent admitted to personal surfing at work for more than three hours each week. Half of those surveyed said they had booked holidays online at work with over a quarter taking advantage of company Net time to shop or watch sporting events.
OUR FRIEND'S ELECTRIC: American scientists have created the first functioning cyborg. The half-living halfrobot machine links the brain of an eel-like fish to a Swiss robot. When it detects light the robot's electronic eyes send a signal to the brain which commands the robot's wheels to roll to the source.
ACCENT IMROVEMENTS: Stephen Hawking is to replace his American accent with an English one thanks to an Indian software developer. Prof Hawking dislikes the American accent of his electronic voice that's transmitted from the computerised machine fixed to his wheelchair.
IN SYNC: Parthus Technologies has joined the SyncML initiative, a common protocol designed to allow all mobile devices and applications to synchronise data across any network. Parthus's work with the SyncML initiative is part of its effort to create fully interoperable system-on-chip solutions that reduce the cost and time-to-market of deploying next generation mobile Internet applications.
LEAVE IT TO MR O'BRIEN: An Irish consortium, whose shareholders include Denis O'Brien and Ossie Kilkenny, have launched Jamaica's first GSM mobile phone service - Digicel. It has over 80 per cent population coverage, covering all the major cities, towns and roads.
ALL ABOUT AOL: America Online has said worldwide membership for its online service has surpassed 29 million, and is up about one million in the last month.
IN VERY BRIEF...Major record labels are planning to file legal documents opposing efforts by Napster to get a rehearing in a San Francisco appeals court.. . .Microsoft posted third quarter profits and revenues that topped Wall Street estimates as it bucked the technology slump with strong sales of Windows 2000. . .