Category: Tech News

Entrepreneurship Programme Launch – Deep Dive at Tyndall National Institute. #DeepDive #Cork

A new programme to support entrepreneurs and deep tech start-ups has been launched by Tyndall National Institute.  The Deep Dive programme offers access to seed funding and a portfolio of spin-out ready innovations, from radiation detectors used in the International Space Station to infrared sensors for autonomous vehicles and wearable rehabilitation devices.

Speaking at the launch of Deep Dive, Tyndall’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Declan O’Mahoney said, “Experienced Entrepreneurs and astute business professionals who are keen to join the next wave of high-value start-ups should get in touch to take a ‘deep dive’ with us into this exceptional business opportunity. Tyndall has an exciting portfolio of spin-out ready technologies which answer real market needs and has highly-defensible IP. We are also calling entrepreneurs who have identified a market opportunity that needs a deep-tech solution.”


Carl Jackson (former CTO of SensL), Tyndall’s Entrepreneur in Residence Declan O’Mahoney (former CEO Firecomms) and Joe O’Keeffe (former CEO of InfiniLED) pictured at the launch of Deep Dive, a new Tyndall National Institute programme to support entrepreneurs and deep tech start-ups.
Pic Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

Through Deep Dive, entrepreneurs will have access to initial funding, state-of-the-art facilities at Tyndall and expertise from the researchers involved in developing the core IP in the spin-out.

Tyndall has an incredible track record of successful high-value tech spin-outs which achieved global acclaim. Among the list of multi-million dollar tech companies are SensL which grew to become a global leader in medical imaging and automotive LiDAR and was acquired by ON Semiconductor.  InfiniLED also spun-out to bring Tyndall’s state-of-the-art MicroLED technology to market, which was later acquired by Oculus, part of the Facebook group. Firecomms, based on Tyndall’s technology in the area of compound semiconductor materials and fiber optics was the first Irish high-tech company to be bought by a Chinese corporation, (ZJY Corp).

Deep Dive is part-funded by Bank of Ireland under its technology commercialisation programme with Tyndall National Institute.

“Deep Dive is an exciting part of Tyndall’s entrepreneurship agenda which, in partnership with University College Cork’s Technology Transfer Office, has delivered not only high-value start-ups, but also the infrastructure and talent for Tyndall spin-ins and SME scaling projects,” said Peter Smyth, Commercial Director, Tyndall National Institute.

More information at www.tyndall.ie/deepdive or email deepdive@tyndall.ie

eir broadband scam number to take note of. #eir #broadband #scam

There has been many scams of late citing eir and has been an ongoing issue and one has hit home today to my folks house but what much of the media do is fail to give numbers to people of the said scammers. The number has been reported several times on checking up and appears to be an Indian/Pakistan female, I had a male most likely of same origin call me even recently with a revenue scam which you can hear the recording here. 

 

The modus operandi is still the same claiming to be eir broadband and will hang up when challenged also to note my parents are not eir customers (thank god) I have enough issues with them as is and they are with another provider some years. Just be vigilant and pass the number on and block it if possible,the number  in formats are provided below and just ignore it. The call also appears to be coming via Galway. (0914872635, 00353914872635)

 

 

 

 

Verizon Connect Introduces Engine Connect. #CommercialVehicles #VerizonConnect #Motoring

Verizon Connect has introduced Engine Connect, a powerful tool developed specifically for the special needs of light commercial vehicles, that collects critical data directly from a vehicle’s engine to help monitor for potential vehicles issues, helping prevent mechanical problems and maximize vehicle uptime.

“Engine Connect gives fleet managers a complete view of their vehicles performance, enabling them to identify potential vehicles’ issues before they become costly,” said Derek Bryan, Vice President, EMEA at Verizon Connect. “With a better understanding of vehicle performance, we can help customers save time and money in the future and provide them with peace of mind knowing their vehicles are running optimally.”

Engine Connect analyzes critical data directly from a vehicle’s engine including fuel usage, distance travelled and diagnostics to help track and respond to vehicles in distress. By combining data with GPS location, customers are able to get a complete view of vehicle performance.

Engine Connect can help customers identify driver behavior that is linked to fuel costs. Notable features include the ability to:

  • Keep VIN records up-to-date
  • Capture accurate odometer readings to see how many miles drivers have traveled
  • Automatically receive diagnostic trouble code (DTC) alerts when problems are detected
  • Identify speeding events to help coach drivers and track engine status to see how long an engine has been running or idling to stay on top of maintenance

For more information about Engine Connect, visit www.verizonconnect.com.

Dell empowers virtual reality and classroom creativity at CIT through latest technologies #Dell #VR #CIT

Dell has today announced that its technology is empowering classroom creativity at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) with students enabled to create graphic-intensive Virtual Reality (VR) projects and lecturers gaining more teaching time.

As CIT sought to harness the opportunities of the world of VR for its creative digital media students, it experienced a number of performance-related barriers. Outdated workstations and supporting infrastructure were hindering the third-level institute from rolling out new modules on gaming, VR, animation and application design.

To overcome these challenges and become a leader in VR design education, CIT undertook a programme to update their design labs and selected Dell as its trusted partner. Through the provision of the latest Dell workstations, Alienware gaming desktops and ProSupport Plus, students at CIT now have the tools to harness the power of VR to accelerate their cutting-edge multimedia careers.

In giving students access to emerging technologies, CIT is responding to a growing desire amongst Generation Z, or those born after 1996, 80% of whom want to work with cutting-edge technology in their future career. CIT sought to develop courses that challenge these students and equip them with vital industry skills.

Rose McGrath, Head of Media Communications in CIT said: “As a third level institute that has trained Ireland’s leading artists for the last 100 years, CIT CCAD has prided itself on fostering an innovative learning environment that best positions our students for the workplace of the future.

“However, in recent times outdated technology has meant we have been unable to meet the needs of students and teachers who increasingly undertake intensive VR projects as part of their digital media and e-learning curriculum.

“Our partnership with Dell has proved pivotal in enabling our students to be more creative and use VR to push the boundaries of what they can do with graphics. Without the improved performance from the Dell workstations and Alienware gaming desktops, we wouldn’t have been able to regain 40 minutes of classroom instruction time every day.”

In marking today’s news, Aisling Keegan, Vice-President and General Manager of Dell EMC Ireland, said: “At Dell, we are committed to preparing the future workforce by using the latest technology to spark creativity within the classroom. With 90% of tomorrow’s jobs requiring digital skills, third-level institutions in Ireland must have the tools at their disposal to drive digital transformation.

“By leveraging our latest portfolio of devices, Dell has empowered a creative and immersive teaching environment that is producing impressive academic results. Students have used our devices to create projects ranging from therapeutic activity–based video games to assist patients with Parkinson’s disease, to a VR immersive programme that helps prepare individuals in prison for release.

“CIT should be commended for its leadership in digital transformation. This is an example of third level institutions looking to opportunities unlocked by emerging technologies to prepare the workers of the future. By forging an ambitious strategy for change and embracing technology to make that strategy a reality, Dell and CIT can enhance learning experiences and improve student outcomes both now and into the future.”

Google kills 2.3 billion ads and ads from 1.5 million apps. #Google #Ads #Apps

Google released its annual Trust and Safety in Ads Report, where the company shares key actions and data around its efforts to keep the digital advertising ecosystem safe.

The full blog post, “Enabling a safe digital advertising ecosystem” by Scott Spencer, Google Director of Sustainable Ads, can be accessed here.

Key takeaways from the report are that Google….

·         Introduced 31 new ads policies in 2018

·         Took down 2.3 billion bad ads. Overall, that’s more than six million bad ads, every day.

·         Took down nearly 207,000 ads for ticket resellers

·         Took down over 531,000 ads for bail bonds

·         Took down approximately 58.8 million phishing ads (NOTE: many of these ads were blocked before ever serving)

·         Used improved machine learning technology to identify and terminate almost one million bad advertiser accounts, nearly double the amount Google terminated in 2017

·         Launched 330 detection classifiers to help us better detect “badness” at page level– nearly three times the number of classifiers Google launched in 2017

·         Removed nearly 734,000 publishers and app developers from the Google ad network.

·         Removed ads completely from nearly 1.5 million apps.

·         Removed ads from nearly 28 million pages for violating the publisher policies.

·         Verified nearly 143,000 election ads in the U.S.

·         Removed ads from almost 74,000 pages for violating Google’s policy on “dangerous or derogatory” content

·         Took down approximately 190,000 ads for violating Google’s dangerous or derogatory policy.

Google also continued to tackle the challenge of misinformation and low-quality sites, using several different policies to ensure that Google ads are supporting legitimate, high-quality publishers. In 2018, the company removed ads from 1.2 million pages, more than 22,000 apps, and nearly 15,000 sites across the ad network for violations of policies directed at misrepresentative, hateful, or other low-quality content.

Aer Lingus Mobile App Launches Apple Pay. #AerLingus #Apple #Apps #ApplePay

Aer Lingus today launched Apple Pay as a payment method on the Aer Lingus mobile app.  With 50% growth in Aer Lingus mobile app channels over the past year, the airline is now able to offer customers the convenience of frictionless and secure payments in euro, sterling and dollars.

Apple Pay works by connecting directly to your designated bank account, allowing you to make secure in app payments either by using facial recognition or touch ID. This will be a welcome option for folks whom now use such payment options such as myself and paves the way forward for a cashless life..

 

Dave O’Donovan, Director of Digital and Mobile at Aer Lingus said:

“We are delighted to add the Apple Pay option on our mobile app, as it is another convenient and secure way to pay for your flights.  Guest centric product development is important to AerLingus and as we add more and better functionality on our mobile app, more of our guests are choosing to browse and book flights in this way. We will continue to explore ways to add new functionality to give our guests the best possible experience.”

Phishing hooks a quarter of Irish organisations in the last two years. #Sophos #IrishBiz #Phishing

A quarter (25 percent) of Irish organisations have been compromised by phishing attacks in the last two years, while almost half (46 percent) said they had identified instances of employees replying to unsolicited emails or clicking on links contained within them, according to research conducted for Sophos, a leader in network and endpoint security.

Sophos’s survey of 906 IT directors in Western Europe, which was undertaken by Sapio Research, revealed that larger businesses are most likely to have been compromised by phishing attacks, despite also being most likely to conduct phishing and cyber threat awareness training.

When it comes to phishing, organisations in Ireland performed significantly better than their counterparts in the UK. 45 per cent of UK respondents said their organisations had fallen victim to phishing attacks over the last two years. The rate at which Irish organisations were hit by phishing in the period studied was also better than in France (49 percent), Belgium (28 percent) and the Netherlands (44 percent).

Peter Craig, Security Specialist at Sophos, said: “Criminals are adept at using social engineering to exploit human weakness, so while well-trained employees are an excellent deterrent, even the best end user can slip up.  Organisations need to ensure employees remain vigilant to the threat posed by phishing attacks; ongoing training should be part of that to spot check employees and ensure they respond correctly and continue to follow the guidelines they’ve been given.”

“Phishing affects everyone and is one of the most common routes of entry for cyber criminals. As organisations grow, their risk of becoming a victim also increases as they become more lucrative targets and provide hackers with more potential points of failure. Given the frequency of these attacks, organisations that don’t have basic infrastructure in place to spot people engaging with potentially harmful emails and whether their systems are compromised are likely to encounter some really significant problems.

“Organisations should block malicious links, attachments and imposters before they reach end users’ inboxes, and use the latest cybersecurity tools to stop ransomware and other advanced threats from running on devices even if a user clicks a malicious link or opens an infected attachment.”

  • Across Western Europe, 54 percent of IT directors at companies employing between 500 and 1,000 people told Sophos’ researchers their organisations had fallen victim to phishing attacks in the last two years
  • This compared to 39 percent of 250 to 499 person companies and just 14 percent of firms with fewer than 250 people
  • 50 percent of firms with fewer than 250 people offered training to help employees spot attacks, compared to 78 percent of those with between 500 and 1,000 people
  • 64 percent of Irish companies conduct regular cyber threat awareness training already, while 25 percent said they plan to offer it in the future

CarePlus Pharmacy upgrades IT infrastructure with Novi’s €200k security and mobility deal. #CarePlus #Novi #IT

Novi, the secure IT and cloud service provider, today announces that it has designed and implemented a new IT infrastructure for CarePlus Pharmacy, Ireland’s fastest growing independent retail pharmacy group, in a deal worth €200,000. The new solution will enhance data security and mobile working capabilities for CarePlus Pharmacy customers and all employees.

In 2015, the first CarePlus Pharmacy store opened in Cork and the franchise has since grown to over 60 locations across the country. The CarePlus support team provides IT services to each of these pharmacies and given the speed and scale of the franchise’s growth, the group’s needs quickly outstripped the capability of its IT systems.

Pictured at the announcement that secure IT and cloud service provider Novi has completed a €200,000 IT infrastructure upgrade for CarePlus Pharmacy are (L-R): George O’Dowd, Managing Director, Novi; and Finn McCann, Technology and Systems Director, CarePlus Pharmacy.

Following a competitive tender, Novi was chosen to deliver a comprehensive technology solution for CarePlus based on its end-to-end proactive IT offering and security focus. Security was a major concern for the group, to ensure CarePlus’ sensitive commercial data was secure and safely backed up.

Novi initially oversaw a complete IT migration to a single set of hardware and software to ensure a uniform line of cyber defence with consistent updates across devices. Novi PatchGuard was introduced to automate IT updates to ensure CarePlus systems are always up to date.  Novi then implemented further layers of protection to maximise security, including email protection and a next-generation managed firewall.

Pictured at the announcement that secure IT and cloud service provider Novi has completed a €200,000 IT infrastructure upgrade for CarePlus Pharmacy are (L-R): Finn McCann, Technology and Systems Director, CarePlus Pharmacy; and George O’Dowd, Managing Director, Novi.

CarePlus Pharmacy generates and stores commercial data and intellectual property in-house. Therefore, secure data protection and recovery was another important consideration with Novi Airgap implemented to provide robust offsite backup of servers, safeguarding CarePlus’ data against the event of a disaster or malware attack.

CarePlus also has a growing number of field staff in both sales and support roles. Novi designed and implemented a new remote access solution for CarePlus to allow these users securely and seamlessly access its servers from any location – greatly enhancing remote working capabilities and security.

Finn McCann, Technology and Systems Director, CarePlus Pharmacy said: “CarePlus Pharmacy is the fastest growing pharmacy group in Ireland – with an increasing number of stores and staff, a broader range of services, and an ever-growing customer base.

“Our IT team were spending too much time addressing IT infrastructure issues. Without Novi, we would have been forced to significantly grow our in-house IT team at a time when competition for talent is high. Novi’s expertise solved this problem and enhanced our productivity by eliminating IT downtime and allowing us to focus on our core business.

“As well as enabling growth, Novi has provided us with peace of mind that our data is protected. Despite operating in an environment where the prevalence of SME targeted cyber-attacks are on the rise, Novi has put us at much greater ease knowing we have multiple layers of security features and a secure backup of our systems in place.”

George O’Dowd, Managing Director, Novi, said: “CarePlus customers and franchisees have trust in the brand based on its excellent care and advice. It was important we met this trust by going the extra mile for CarePlus by implementing a comprehensive security solution so stakeholders can be confident their data and system are protected.

“Now, CarePlus has a top-class managed technology infrastructure so even more pharmacies can join the group and adopt the brand confident that they will receive best-in-breed IT systems and support. With secure and reliable end-to-end systems in place, CarePlus can focus on further business growth with minimum need to worry about IT risk or downtime.”

Irish Animation Studio Involved in Latest YouTube Originals Release. #Sherwood #YouTube

Irish studio Giant Animation involved in the latest YouTube Original release.

YouTube has announced the release of SHERWOOD, an animated series based on the mythology of Robin Hood but set in the dystopian future of 2270. The series follows 14 year-old Robin and her friends’ battles with the wealthy Upper City in their efforts to overcome inequality and fight for justice. SHERWOOD is now available on YouTube Premium.

The ten episode series is produced by Giant Animation, based in Glasnevin, Dublin, in collaboration with Baby Octopus (USA) and Toybox (New Zealand).

 

“In this modern telling of Robin Hood, Robin is a girl and she uses technology and code to battle the sheriff of Sherwood. Together with Google’s Computer Science in Media team, we convened an advisory council comprised of thought leaders from organizations across Google. Together we imagined a world of the future and what it meant for design, travel, technology and society,” said Nadine Zylstra, Head of Learning, YouTube Originals. “Sherwood is new series set to inspire young women and girls on their role in technology of the future.”

The all-star voice cast features Anya Chalotra (The Witcher, The ABC Murders, Much Ado About Nothing), Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf, Truth Or Dare), Aneurin Barnard (The Goldfinch, Radioactive, Dunkirk), Jamie Chung (The Gifted, Big Hero, Gotham), Neneh Conteh, Rachel House (Whalerider, Thor, Moana), Ade M’Cormack (Lost, Heroes, NCIS),  and Darrill Rosen (The Misogynists, Richard’s Wedding, First Person Singular) with guest star Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale, Elizabeth, Shakespeare In Love).

YouTube Premium is a subscription service that offers access to YouTube Original series and movies, a streaming music platform, and an uninterrupted, ad-free experience across all of YouTube. YouTube Premium is currently available in Ireland, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru. Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.S, the U.K. and Ukraine.