BUSINESS

Weekend Takeaway: The business of tech, the tech of business


21 Sep 2018

view of grey skyscrapers from an office window on a high floor of a building.

Image: Who Is Danny/Shutterstock

Essential weekend reading about the business of tech, from venture capital funding to IPOs, analytics, innovation and e-commerce.

Google’s ads boss says trust is the biggest issue facing the web

Man in glasses in navy jumper gesturing with his hands in reply to a question at a tech conference.

Google’s Sridhar Ramaswamy pictured at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York. Image: Noam Galai/Getty Images/TechCrunch/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The head of Google’s global ads business, Sridhar Ramaswamy, believes in the open web, but warns trust is crucial. He talks to John Kennedy.

Wake-up call as Irish venture capital falls and seed funding crashes

Image of euros with an arrow pointing downwards spiral.

Image: DnDavis/Shutterstock

Irish venture capital funding falls for the first time since 2011, while seed funding for early-stage start-ups crashes almost 40pc.

Hot ticket Eventbrite raises $230m in IPO

Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz on stage at the Female Founders Forum in Dublin, 2014. Image: Conor McCabe Photography

Eventbrite fares well on its first day of trading.

Retailers missing out as Ireland’s e-commerce spend reaches €12.3bn a year

Picture of a shopping trolley filled with goods standing on a computer keyboard.

Image: Madcat_Madlove/Shutterstock

Retailers are letting sales slip through their fingers to overseas websites while just three in 10 SMEs can take orders through their websites.

Government announces new mandatory cybersecurity requirements

Power lines with a blue and pink sky at sunset.

Energy providers will be under the remit of the new cybersecurity rules. Image: Lumppini/Shutterstock

Minister Denis Naughten, TD, has announced important new security requirements for critical national infrastructure in Ireland.

Equinix spends €5m on Dublin land to build more data centres

Man in grey suit pictured standing in data centre.

Equinix managing director for Ireland and emerging markets, Maurice Mortell. Image: Equinix

West Dublin is still booming in terms of data centres and soaring data volumes.

Innovators across Ireland lauded at Invention of the Year Awards

Prof Cian Ó Mathuna, Kieran Meade, Dr Aleksandra Augustyniak smiling in business clothing.

From left: Prof Cian Ó Mathúna, Kieran Meade and Dr Aleksandra Augustyniak. Image: Cathal Noonan

A plethora of fascinating projects received accolades at the Invention of the Year Awards, from a neonatal bovine vaccine to a ‘Photoshop for audio’.

Meet the ‘stats ambassadors’ taking the fear out of numbers

group of nine young people standing with hands behind their backs in front of a whiteboard.

Participants at the RSS statistical ambassador training day, with Joy Leahy and Dr Norma Bargary in centre. Image: bigTimages/RSS

Ireland now has two ‘stats ambassadors’ to boost the understanding and reporting of statistics. Dr Norma Bargary and Joy Leahy spoke to Dr Claire O’Connell.

Amazon unveils a smorgasbord of new connected devices

AmazonBasics microwave on a wooden counter in front of a blue wall.

AmazonBasics microwave. Image: Amazon

Amazon is planning to dominate the smart home market with Alexa-connected clocks and microwaves.

It’s a fast way to Tipperary as Siro expands to Nenagh and Roscrea

Picture of a pin on a map of Ireland pinpointing Roscrea.

Image: Dmitrijs Kaminskis/Shutterstock

Two more Tipperary towns to be connected to Siro’s 1Gbps network.