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Created: 16 March 2012

Last Updated: 05 January 2016

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News that the Encyclopaedia Britannica will cease publication after 244 years has led many observers to speculate that the move was forced by the success of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. The move signals another win' for online digital media as the battle between print and the internet intensifies.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica was launched in Edinburgh in 1768 and a new version of the publication was available every two years. With the latest 32-volume collection costing £1,195, in one way it's easy to see why the cost has become prohibitive compared to Wikipedia's free access via the net.

Unknown to many, Britannica has been operating from the US since 1929 although it still retains British spelling.

The publication, available online since 1994, also has several smartphone and tablet apps.

The company said it would continue to sell print editions until the current stock of around 4,000 sets runs out.

Britannica's boss, Jorge Cauz, has predicted that in future many publications will never have a print analogue and will only be printed on digital formats. He also warned that many trade publishers would not survive the ever-increasing dominance of online due to print editions being effectively out of date the moment they are printed.

It is believed that Britannica Online will be free to access in full for a week after being updated, a move designed to showcase its content against Wikipedia.

So it boils down to the quality of each company's database and, more importantly, the quality of the editorial.

In the case of Wikipedia it uses a complex system of volunteer editors which has prompted accusations from some quarters that this has meant provision of inaccurate information.

At the end of the day, particularly for scientific articles, the level of inaccurate information on either site will determine who wins this battle. For the normal person on the street, Wikipedia has already won.

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Created: 02 March 2012

Last Updated: 05 January 2016

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Thousands of new bank redundancies are expected to be announced soon in Ireland. The job cuts will affect a number of institutions and commentators are speculating that the figures being considered will dwarf the recent ones announced by AIB and BOI of nearly 3,000. The news comes on the back of continued bank losses and a delay in implementing these initial job cuts due to negotiations between the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) and the Department of Finance.

AIB, it appears, is close to reducing staff numbers by 2,000 this year. What appears to be on the table is a deal of three weeks’ pay per year of service plus the statutory two weeks. This would bring it close to the package available to HSE workers.

BOI has been trying to finalise its programme of cuts of 750 and although BOI and the IBOA agreed terms last October of four weeks per year in addition to statutory it appears that this is being held up by the Department of Finance which considers the terms too generous.

Sources close to the negotiations say the Department is in constant touch with both banks on the issue to ensure any sign-off is consistent with public sector norms. The feeling is that any deals done must take into account the substantial amount of taxpayers’ money invested in both banks.

As for the other main bank, Ulster Bank is negotiating up to 950 voluntary job cuts, most of them in the Republic. It is offering just three and a half weeks per year, inclusive of statutory terms which is in line with its British parent company, the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The bank has already shed jobs and is ahead of its competitors in this area.

All of this comes at a time when the Government is desperately trying to put some final shape on the restructuring of this sector. It now appears that apart from the numbers already announced by the major banks a further wave of cuts is on the cards.

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Created: 04 February 2012

Last Updated: 05 January 2016

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Facebook is suing Mark Zuckerberg. That makes absolutely no sense - right? Wrong. It just might possibly be true.  Sort of.  Of course Facebook is not suing its own Mark Zuckerberg, but another one in Israel.

Confused yet?  Hang on, it gets better.

The new Mark Zuckerberg was born Rotem Guez and legally changed his name on 7^th December 2011. Zuckerberg (the second) who is an Israeli entrepreneur and has a website MarkZuckerbergOfficial.com, states that he first filed a lawsuit against Facebook, after the social network refused to give him access to his profile, which it had shut down.

According to Israeli site, www.HolesintheNet.co.il, Rotem Guez, has legally changed his name to Mark Zuckerberg after being hit with a lawsuit by the social networking giant.  There must be a lot of people who wish they really were Zuckerberg (or rather, had his money).  Now Guez is one of them – the name not the money.

It all supposedly started when Rotem Guez took Facebook to court in January 2011 because “they were unwilling to return his ‘hacked’ Facebook profile without any apparent, legitimate reason.”

It could be that his main goal is to see if Facebook will continue to threaten and sue Mark Zuckerberg in spite of the publicity. He may stand more of a chance as a Zuckerberg than a Guez.  "If you want to sue me, you're going to have to sue Mark Zuckerberg," Guez reportedly told Facebook. Is that a publicity stunt?

Seemingly, the dispute started when Mark Zuckerberg, when he was Guez, launched Like Store, which sells advertisers Likes for their Pages.

Like Store promises to give companies a boost in traffic by offering Facebook users free content. Since this is in violation of Facebook's terms of service, the social networking giant wanted to shut it down. The site states (translated), “Are you sad no one’s visiting your Facebook Page? We have a solution! Need 1,000 Likes? We’ll get them for you. Need 5,000 Likes? We’ll get them for you. Need 10,000 Likes? We’ll get them for you.” Facebook kicked him off the service for selling Likes and creating fake accounts.

Zuckerberg, I mean Guez, has acknowledged that the Like Store violates Facebook's TOS but he claims many US companies offer similar services.

On 29^th January 2011, Guez, when he was Guez, sued Facebook. The lawsuit was actually filed against Nana10 MASA, Facebook's local affiliate in Israel. He said Facebook was unwilling to return his Facebook profile for no "apparent, legitimate reason."

In September, Facebook responded with a lawsuit of its own. Zuckerberg’s (or should I say Guez’s) site reads:

On September 1, 2011, Facebook, inc. and their law firm ‘Perkins-Coie’, sent Mr. Guez (in return) a revengeful threat of a lawsuit, claiming that Mr. Guez and ‘Like Store’ violated Facebook’s TOS by selling advertisers ‘Fans’ for their ‘Fan Pages’, and stated that only Facebook, Inc. can provide such a service. Facebook, Inc. demanded that Mr. Guez close his company and never access Facebook’s site, services, platform or network for any reason whatsoever.

The letters from Perkins-Coie requested that Guez comply with their demands, first by 15^th September 2011, after which they extended the deadline to 19^th December 2011. The demands were that Guez and his affiliates confirm that they:

1. Have stopped and will not in the future access Facebook’s site, services, platform, or network for any reason whatsoever.

2. Have stopped and will refrain from developing, promoting, selling, offering, and/or using websites or applications, including but not limited to www.like-store.info and i-share.co.il, that sell “Likes,” incentive Facebook users to “like” any page or website or to use Facebook social channels.

3. Have stopped and will not in the future mislead Facebook users; and

4. Have removed references to Facebook from any websites or other promotional material that You control, including but not limited to www.like-store.info and i-share.co.il.

According to Spanish daily El Mundo, in December Guez is said to have legally changed his name to Mark Zuckerberg, without the knowledge of his family or friends

One week later, Guez (now officially Zuckerberg – are you confused yet?) received yet another letter from Facebook.

On 14^th December 2011, just one week after Mr. Guez officialy became Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, Inc. again sent a threat of a lawsuit, not knowing that this time, they are planning on suing Mark Zuckerberg. It gets better!

Perhaps anticipating the media attention he would receive, Zuckerberg has set up an Internet campaign for his new persona, including, in all irony, a Facebook Page and Twitter account, @iMarkZuckerberg, suggesting that he’s ready to hit the world with his new identity. His Facebook page currently has over 3,000 likes (are they all genuine or did he sell some of them to himself), but it remains to be seen whether or not Facebook will take it down.

He has legal documents on it showing that he is, in fact, now Mark Zuckerberg. But, are these documents verified?

It seems that in Israel, Zuckerberg/Guez is only getting local reaction and is being seen as a media stunt and is hurting Israel.

This will make interesting reading.

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Created: 27 January 2012

Last Updated: 05 January 2016

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Technology giant HP, one of Ireland’s leading employers, says it has several investment projects in the pipeline with IDA Ireland. HP hopes to bring some of these to fruition this year but would not go into specifics given the nature of the discussions. The company already employs 4,000 people at its 200-acre facility in Leixlip, Co Kildare, where it manufactures inkjet components. The operation here also provides sales and service for the Irish market in addition to an international financial services division supporting customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Martin Murphy, HP Ireland’s managing director, has said: “Overall HP’s consumer business has been most impacted by the economic downturn, while the corporate business, which operates on multi-year contracts, has not suffered as much. Our local Irish business grew by 8 per cent last year which is good given that the market here shrank by about 4-5 per cent.”

HP Ireland secured significant contracts with Dublin Airport Authority, ESB, Vodafone, and Belfast Metropolitan College last year. Along with Payzone, HP also operates and supports the electronic systems behind the Leap-integrated ticketing system in Dublin.

Interestingly, after discussions at the Global Irish Forum in Dublin Castle last year, HP is currently working on a study to see how Ireland’s costs compare to those in “other locations where it could potentially invest”. Some commentators are concerned that this may affect future investment at the Leixlip plant.

Meanwhile, Murphy added that while public sector technology spending had been stagnant, he expected this to change: “Central government has got to get into a ‘spend to save’ mindset. You can’t achieve the goals the Government wants to achieve without investing in new technology.”

He concluded that while many still questioned HP’s recent $10.3 billion acquisition of Autonomy he saw “big opportunities” for the software in the Irish market.

http://www8.hp.com/ie/en/home.html

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