Posts Tagged ‘news’

DCU graduates may get Seanad vote

Monday, June 29th, 2009

DCU graduates may get Seanad vote
March 2008
The College View
By Cian Ginty

Renewed efforts for reform of the Seanad would open voting to students from DCU and other third level institutions.

Expanding the university vote beyond students of Trinity College and the National University of Ireland (NUI) is viewed as the first step to wider reform in voting rights.

Unlike a move to give voting rights to the general public, expansion of third level voting can happen without a constitutional referendum.

In the Seanad last week Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley revealed a short timetable for reform based on a 2004 all-party report and new consultation.

Gormley said he is “anxious” to see Seanad reform advanced with an all-party consensus before the next general election and he “committed to ensuring” reform happens while he is Minister.

“Aside from the disparity between graduates who are entitled to vote and those who are not, the system has been criticised because it confers a basic democratic right to certain people and therefore denies it to others solely on the basis of educational achievement,” Gormley said in the Seanad.

“However, given the constitutional opening, reform should focus initially on the area of widening the third level franchise.

“I am anxious to see Seanad reform advanced based on all-party consensus before the election of the 24th Seanad… I am committed to ensuring some of these reforms are made while I am Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government,” he added.

The all-party report on Seanad reform in 2004 recommended the inclusion of DCU, Saint Patrick’s College in Drumcondra, the National College of Art and Design, the University of Limerick, the Institutes of Technology, and colleges governed by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council.

Currently the third level vote fills six seats – three from Trinity and three from the NUI.

Eleven senators are appointed by the Taoiseach, and the remaining 43 are voted on by local councillors.

The report was the 12th such report on changing how the Seanad is elected and works, but Gormley has said he will introduce legislation by the end of this year with or without consensus.

The Minister thanked Senator Joe O’Toole for his work on this issue, while also noting that there is not full consensus on reform.

“Senators have said they want to see a whole package and not a piecemeal approach. I do not believe it is piecemeal. We can have a number of smaller reforms,” Gormley said.

“It is vital to have some reform because if there is no reform, people will say we are stuck in a situation where nothing is happening at all. Once we get the ball rolling we can then see what further reforms are possible.

“If consensus cannot be reached it is my intention to introduce legislation by the end of this year that is as close as I can identify to such a consensus. Part of such legislation will include the extension of the university franchise to ensure elections to the 24th Seanad will be conducted with an increased electorate,” he added.

It is understood to be the first time advancements have been made beyond reports, with the Minister laying down a timetable and saying after all-party consultation he would look to have a “final meeting over the coming weeks”.

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Commuters to face Metro chaos

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Commuters to face Metro chaos
October 2008
The College View
By Cian Ginty

Traffic congestion around DCU is expected to incease dramatically when construction of the Metro North gets underway.

The Ballymun Road will be effectively turned into a construction site during the works.

Unlike the city centre section of the proposed light railway line, which is to be tunnelled, the section from just south of DCU to the boundary of Dublin Airport is to use ‘cut and cover’.

Both methods deliver similar results but cut and cover causes greater disruption at construction.

According to the files submitted by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) to An Bord Pleanala, impacts of the project include extra traffic congestion due to a planned reduction of the number of lanes on the Ballymun Road.

Motoring commuters are likely to be affected more than public transport users as bus lanes are to be maintained throughout. However, due to disruption at junctions in the nearby areas, Dublin Bus services are also predicted to be dramatically slower.

“The average bus speed throughout the city is predicted to decrease by 27 percent, a drop of 4kph.

“Furthermore, the bus kilometres lost to queuing per hour is predicted to increase by over 250 percent as a result of construction,” says the Environmental Impact Statement.

The bored tunnelling from the city centre will end in Hampstead Park beside DCU where cut and cover will be used along the university side of Ballymun Road up as far Collins Avenue/Glasnevin Avenue junction where the alignment will switch to the middle of the road.

The impact statement for Metro North says there will also be “temporary severance” to a number of junctions, although works are to be done in a “phased manner” and major junctions are to be “kept operational at all times”.

Access from the Ballymun Road to the western vehicle and pedestrian entrance to DCU, which the RPA simply refers to as “the pedestrian access to DCU”, and the nearby Albert College Drive will be temporal closed off for an undefined time.“There will be some severance of Albert College Drive, however, residential properties will be accessible via alternative access.

The pedestrian access to DCU, next to Albert College Park will be unusable for a short period. Access to DCU will be by the main entrance on Collins Avenue,” states the submission to An Bord Pleanala.

The bus stop at that entrance – used by the majority of students getting buses towards the city centre – is also set to be moved and two buildings will be demolished to make way for the proposed DCU Metro North stop.

A large part of Hampstead Park will also be dug up and used during construction. Trees at the university gates and numerous trees along the Ballymun Road will be removed.

There has been widespread media speculation that Metro North would be scrapped in the budget. However at a Department of Transport press briefing last week this was denied by the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey.

“Provisions have been made to continue work on critical public transport projects of Metro North and the Dart Interconnector. Despite our more constrained economic circumstances we cannot and will not stop planning and providing for future public transport solutions,” Dempsey said.

The Minister said funds have been made available for planning and “enabling works” for the line. After that stage, funding from Public-Private Partnership will be in place. The Government payment for the Metro would then be spread across 30 years.

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Confusion over funding of Mortimer’s campaign

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Confusion over funding of Mortimer’s campaign
April 2009
College View
By Maeve Feehan & Cian Ginty

An expenses receipt with the name of the GAA Academy director was handed in by the unsuccessful SU presidential candidate and DCU footballer, Conor Mortimer, the College View can reveal.

This newspaper has seen a copy of the receipt, which was handed into the electoral committee for the SU elections. On the Campus Print receipt for €135, the name field is marked “Declan Brennan” and department written as “DCU GAA”.

Declan Brennan, director of the GAA Academy, said he and the academy had nothing to do with Mortimer’s campaign. He said: “I had nothing to do with Mortimer’s campaign at all and the GAA Academy most certainly did not pay for his posters. I never signed anything and have no idea what receipts you’re talking about so be careful what you say.”

However, those involved in Mortimer’s campaign gave contradictory reports for why the receipt with Brennan’s name on it was submitted.

Mortimer’s campaign director, Aron Clogher, echoed Brennan in saying the GAA Academy had nothing to do with the funding of the election spend. However, Mortimer told another version of the events to the College View.

“Well you see that was just a case that I didn’t have the cash in my own back pocket at the time,” Mortimer commented in a phone interview last Friday when asked why the GAA Academy were named on the receipt he handed in.

Clogher said: “Both Declan Brennan and the academy had nothing to do with Mortimer’s campaign at all. He paid for everything himself including his posters.”

He added that the mix up may have been an error due to the same person organising the printing for the campaign and the GAA Ball on the same day. However, in a follow-up phone call, he could not confirm if this was the case, but said: “That may be the situation, that was my thoughts on it. I’m not saying that’s what happened.”

With regards to playing football, Mortimer said it did not influence his decision to run. He said: “I just really wanted to stay in DCU another year. I wanted to do something positive and bring a bit of change to the college. You know, improve the social aspect.”

Asked if he was disappointed in not winning, Mortimer commented: “Yeah. I mean, I’m not upset or anything. You have to park these things and move on. We came into it fair late, just the Friday before. Sure, I gave it a go.”

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Microsoft unveils XNA Game Studio

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Microsoft unveils XNA Game Studio
12-06-2007
ENN.ie
by Cian Ginty

Microsoft’s XNA games tools were showcased to Irish developers using Xbox 360, Guitar Hero and Wii controllers at the Irish Microsoft Technologies Conference.

Microsoft was continuing in its attempts to entice game developers with its cross-platform games coding system XNA. A slightly unorthodox XNA presentation showed Guitar Hero and Wii controllers in use with Windows Vista in Dublin late last week.

Held at Cineworld in Dublin city centre, the Irish Microsoft Technologies Conference attracted around 500 developers and IT professionals, according to the organisers. Robert Burke of Microsoft Ireland demonstrated XNA, which is aimed at both amateur and professional developers.

Noting the Xbox 360 Guitar Hero plastic guitar controller was ‘just a controller’ Burke showed the attendees how XNA could be used to adapt controllers to games. Burke’s demonstration was later wound up using a simple self-developed game featuring the Guitar Hero controller and a version of the Irish rugby song ‘Ireland’s Call’ recorded from a recent Croke Park match.

The central feature of XNA allows games studios to develop games for both PC and Xbox 360 without much of the effort traditionally associated with creating games for multiply formats. Xbox 360 controllers that use Bluetooth for wireless, or standard USB ports for wired, can be used on PC games.

At the demonstration Burke also showed a working example of how developers could make the controller of the Wii — made by rival console maker Nintendo — work with Windows games with the addition of just a simple Bluetooth receiver. Although this trick will not work with Xbox 360.

XNA has a low entry barrier for amateur developers; XNA Game Studio Express can be downloaded free from Microsoft’s MSDN website. There is a premium edition and publishing games to Xbox requires a licence.

Responding to some criticisms of XNA and developing for Xbox, Burke said developers cannot tap into the Xbox Live network code or the video camera for the console.

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World Cyber Games Ireland announced

Monday, June 29th, 2009

World Cyber Games Ireland announced
04-07-2007
ENN.ie
By Cian Ginty

Details of the regional heats for the World Cyber Games Ireland 2007 have been announced for Dublin and the Midlands.

World Cyber Games Ireland — the Irish qualifiers for the World Cyber Games in Seattle — are to be held again this year at the Digital Hub, and will take place on 15 and 16 September. Last year 136 participants fought it out to represent Ireland at the global event, which is commonly dubbed the gaming Olympics.

Players will have to prove that they are over 18, be an Irish passport holder, and should be available to travel to Seattle in October for the finals. The Irish event is supported by the State agency the Digital Hub, Microsoft, and website LanParty.ie.

In order to get to the Irish qualifiers in September gamers must first make it through the regional competitions. The regional heats in the Midlands, organised with Midlans.net, will take place on Friday, 20 July to Sunday, 22 July at the Streete Community Centre, Streete, in Co Westmeath. Meanwhile, the Dublin regionals, in association with the GameCon, will be held at the Griffith College Conference Centre on Friday, 17 August to Sunday, 19 August.

The Midlands event has a capacity of 400 players, while the Dublin affair can hold up to 250 players. Both are being held along with regular ‘LAN parties’ — multiplayer games events where gamers play against each other for competition and fun over LANs or local area networks.

Details of a third regional leg in Galway have yet to be made public.

The World Cyber Games Finals in Seattle will see gamers from around the world fight on over 10 games. But due to issues with gaming sponsorship in Ireland, Irish gamers are limited to three games; Counter Strike 1.6 on PC with a team of five, Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox, and FIFA 07 on PC.

Last year at the World Cyber Games Finals a gamer named ‘KeyserSoze5′ on team Ireland gained a respectable 12 points but failed to qualify out of group A in the Xbox game Project Gotham Racing. Unfortunately, others on the Irish team failed to win more games then they lost.

For more information on the regionals and qualifiers see www.worldcybergamesireland.com/.

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Halo 3 hits 1 million pre-orders

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Halo 3 hits 1 million pre-orders
10-08-2007
ENN.ie / theregister.co.uk
by Cian Ginty

Halo 3 has already reached 1 million pre-orders in North America alone, making it the fastest selling pre-ordered game in history.

Over a month before it’s set to hit shelves, Halo 3, one of the most eagerly-awaited titles of the year, has apparently reached the million mark of pre-orders and set a new precedent for the video games market, according to Microsoft.

“What we’ve experienced is nothing short of phenomenal,” said Bob McKenzie senior vice president of merchandising at games retailer GameStop, in Microsoft’s press release. “Halo 3 has eclipsed many previous records and will prove to be one of the must-have items of 2007.”

Originally intended for a PC launch, the first Halo game went on to be the showpiece title for Microsoft’s Xbox console, and the series has continued to be a keystone title on the Xbox ever since. The third Halo game from Bungie Studios is expected to hold the same key place on the Xbox 360 console.

After some minimal online and “guerrilla” marketing Microsoft is now lining up large mainstream campaigns to push the game even further both in North America and Europe. In order to promote the game in the US Microsoft is making deals with large brands such as Burger King, 7-Eleven, and Mountain Dew.

“This September, Halo 3 will push video game entertainment into the forefront of mainstream culture,” said Chris Di Cesare, Microsoft’s director of creative marketing. “Teaming up with some of the world’s strongest and most recognizable brands is trailblazing new paths and cementing video games as big entertainment on par with major event films, and is a testament to the excitement and anticipation intrinsically linked to Halo 3.”

The game is to be released in three editions; standard, limited and ‘legendary’ — the extra edition coming with extras such as artwork and behind-the-scenes documentaries, and even a figure of the main character’s head. Halo 3 is due on 26 September in Europe and a day earlier in the US.

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Java conference to attract 500 developers

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Java conference to attract 500 developers
26-10-2007
ENN.ie
By Cian Ginty

The first Irish Java Technology Conference (IJTC) in three years is to take place in just over two weeks at the Cineworld Complex, Parnell Street, Dublin.

The event, which is expected to attract over 500 software developers and students, is spread across three days from 7-9 November. It is organised by IrishDev.com in association with the Dublin Java User Group.

Proceedings will kick off on Wednesday, 7 November with an opening keynote address, followed by a panel discussion, ‘Through the looking glass’, chaired by ENN’s own Ralph Averbuch.

Thursday, 8 November and Friday, 9 November will see 23 lectures by 18 guest speakers, covering enterprise, web, desktop and mobile development, along with areas such as the iPhone, robotics, and Sun Microsystems’ Sun Spot project (or small programmable object technology). The speakers come from a range of companies and groups such as Iona Technologies, Sun, Apache, Red Hat, Interface21, and Microsoft.

The organisers said that the IJTC is “100 percent community owned and driven”. They also noted how rival firms — Sun and Microsoft — set aside market differences to support innovation and the Irish technology community.

Graduates with Java skills are increasingly sought after in Ireland, according to Stephen Kirk from CPL Recruitment. “Today, there is a strong demand for Java skills in the Irish software industry and at CPL we are experiencing market growth fuelled by new Java technologies and platform frameworks.”

Registration for the conference via http://ijtc.firstport.ie/ costs EUR189. The event is sponsored by AOL Ireland, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft Ireland, CPL Resources, Hosting 365, Iona Technologies, Data Edge, and Xoetrope.

The Dublin Java User Group is a 160-strong voluntary organisation that aims to provide a forum for discussion of Java issues amongst developers, users, and IT professionals. Irishdev.com is an online news channel for Irish developers.

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First Irish games rental service launches

Monday, June 29th, 2009

First Irish games rental service launches
10-08-2007
ENN.ie
by Cian Ginty

GameSenders, operating from gamesenders.ie, has just launched as Ireland’s first online games rental service.

Currently with just one employee, the Clonmel-based small company with big ambitions is looking to take a bite out of the Irish games rental market.

“With regard to renting from GameSenders compared to real world, well, the obvious advantage is overheads and the savings acquired can be passed to my members through cheaper rentals,” claims Neil Jones, who describes himself as the CEO, CFO, VP, chairman, GM and all-round dogsbody of GameSenders.

The online rental firm says it is the only Irish company renting games for the Nintedo Wii and DS consoles, and claims that it has Ireland’s largest selection of games on next generation consoles.

Talking to ENN, Jones said, “members of the service pay a set monthly fee and this is all they pay, there is no hidden fees or contracts to worry about. Initially I will hold a stock of games that I feel will be in demand; however, it will be the wish list of each member that will dictate future releases to be presented for rental.”

The rental service comes at three monthly pricing levels – ‘bronze’ with one game at a time and a max of two per month at EUR14.99; ’silver’, also one game at a time but unlimited rentals per month at EUR18.99; and ‘gold’, which introduces the option of two games at a time at EUR24.99.

The GameSenders catalogue currently includes games for Sony’s PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and Nintendo’s DS and Wii.

Jones, who says he is an avid gamer, feels that the new service will fill a gap in the market by delivering games directly to users’ doors at reasonable pricing.

“I’m fortunate to have a professional group of backers who are committed to the success of GameSenders through financial, accounting and marketing support. To date I have used a ‘brass neck’ attitude in supply and storage negotiations setting the business up, and have been pretty successful. Right now the time has come to take things to the next level.”

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Will the fake Steve Jobs please stand up?

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Will the fake Steve Jobs please stand up?
07-08-2007
ENN.ie
by Cian Ginty

An anonymous blogger who has been lampooning Apple boss Steve Jobs for over a year has been revealed as a journalist with Forbes magazine.

On the blog called, ‘the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs’, Daniel Lyons, an editor at Forbes, had been taking on the role of Jobs as if to reveal the Apple boss’s blunt inner thoughts — that is, until the New York Times got on the case.

“Well it had to happen. Honestly, I can’t believe it’s taken this long. But as you may have heard, I’ve been busted by a newspaper reporter. My cover has been blown,” wrote Lyons on Sunday at fakesteve.blogspot.com.

“Now you’ve ruined the mystery of Fake Steve, robbing thousands of people around the world of their sense of childlike wonder,” wrote the Forbes journalist, sounding annoyed at the discovery. “To bust a fellow filthy hack without mercy and spoil the fun for everyone, in a quest for personal aggrandizement.”

With plans already in place to move the blog to the website of Lyons’ employers, Forbes.com, some commentators have suggested the magazine publisher was behind the outing. However, the New York Times maintains it was old fashioned groundwork by its reporter that blew the story open.

While still anonymous to the public, Daniel Lyons signed a book deal to write a paper version of his blog to be called “Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody”. When showcasing the book to the publisher, his agent only said the author was a writer at a business magazine and a novelist.

The Times claims the book deal was its starting point. From there the newspaper said it compared writing styles and then simply phoned Lyons to confirm the story. He reportedly told them: “I have not been that good at keeping it a secret. I’ve been sort of waiting for this call for months.”

Lyons’ upcoming book is being described as less like a blog, with ‘well-plotted satire’. In it, the ‘fake’ Jobs will get advice from friends including Bono, Al Gore, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison.

“One bright side is that at least I was busted by the Times and not Valleywag [a tech blog]. I really, really enjoyed seeing those guys keep guessing wrong,” Daniel “Fake Steve” Lyons blogged in reply to his outing.

He is to continue blogging under the guise of the Apple CEO and his inner thoughts. His book is due to be released in October.

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