A digest of the top business and technology news stories from the past week.
IIA CEO scoops ‘Professional Businesswoman of the Year’ award
The chief executive of the Irish Internet Association Joan Mulvihill has been honoured with the IMAGE Magazine Professional Businesswoman of the Year award.
Since she took the helm, Mulvihill has overseen the development of the IIA’s annual conference, the Digitise the Nation campaign, the NetVisionary Awards and various training programmes around the country.
She also drove July’s successful Government lobbying on the Digital Skills Retention Policy, various conferences and events, and the launch of the IIA’s Diploma in Digital Marketing in conjunction with Irish Times Training.
Under her leadership, the IIA has attracted new event sponsorship and membership through the delivery of internet seminars and conferences, and has collaborated with other organisations to take the lead in championing the Irish open data movement.
Vicki O’Toole, MD of packaging company JJ O’Toole Ltd, was named winner of the overall IMAGE Businesswoman of the Year Award.
Chef and businesswoman Clodagh McKenna bagged the Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
The Young Businesswoman of the Year prize, aimed at inspiring achievers under the age of 35, went to Ciara Troy, CEO of Oishii Foods.
The inaugural Creative Businesswoman of the Year was introduced this year to recognise women who have forged a successful career from pursuing their creative passions. The inaugural title was awarded to freelance producer and director, Lynda McQuaid.
Presidion to create 20 graduate jobs over three years
SPSS Ireland has rebranded itself as Presidion and plans to expand to the UK and recruit 20 graduates in Ireland over the next three years.
Most of the roles on offer will be analytics consultants for those with a maths and statistics background and analytics account managers for those with market and business degrees.
The analytics software and services company was established in Dublin in the mid-Nineties and has since become IBM’s biggest partner for predictive analytics. It services more than 500 accounts and thousands of customers in Ireland.
Facebook IPO may come in Q2 of 2012
Social networking giant Facebook is preparing to issue its first public stock offering in Q2 of 2012, which could raise up to US$10bn, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The US$10bn figure is based on a US$100m valuation of the company, which is based in Palo Alto, California.
The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed sources “familiar with the matter” and reported it is unknown just when Facebook’s IPO would come in the second quarter.
Facebook is expected to pass the 500-shareholder mark by the end of this year. That would force it to file financial data with the Securities and Exchange Commission, even if the company chooses not to raise US$10bn in IPO.
Apple says it has stopped supporting Carrier IQ on its devices
Apple recently stopped supporting the controversial Carrier IQ network diagnostic software, the company said. A furore has arisen over the use of Carrier IQ in iOS and Android smartphones to collect personal information.
Carrier IQ’s network diagnostic technology is installed on millions of smartphones worldwide and is used to transmit network diagnostics to carrier networks. However, a storm of controversy has arisen over what kind of intelligence Carrier IQ sends back to the network.
In recent days, security researcher Trevor Eckhart posted a video in which he revealed that a large quantity of information can be derived from a smartphone. However, what is not truly understood is what is being done with that information.
Carrier IQ has refuted claims it provides more than diagnostic information.
“We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update,” Apple said in a statement.
Australia extends Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban for a week
An Australian court has extended the block of sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 after Apple filed an appeal against the decision to lift the ban, which was due to happen 2 December.
Reuters reports that the ban of the tablet in Australia will continue until 9 December to let the High Court hear Apple’s appeal. The court will decide next week if Samsung can continue selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia before a final hearing in 2012.
Samsung said in a statement that Apple “had no basis for appeal” and the Korean company would vigorously oppose it.
Earlier in the week, the court lifted the temporary ban on the Android tablet, noting that because the average lifespan of the device was 12 months, blocking the sale of the tablet would effectively kill it off in Australia, giving Apple the victory.
It’s the latest move in Apple and Samsung’s ongoing smartphone and tablet patent disputes which span across the globe, including Japan, the US and Europe.
LinkedIn opens first Latin American office in Brazil
Business social network LinkedIn is spreading its wings – to São Paulo, Brazil, where the company has opened its first office in the country.
The São Paulo office will serve as regional headquarters to nearly 14m LinkedIn members across Latin America, providing support for growth and development in the region.
LinkedIn has appointed Osvaldo Barbosa de Oliveira as country manager of LinkedIn Brazil. He will lead efforts to increase awareness and adoption of LinkedIn in Brazil, with a focus on sales, marketing, user engagement, strategic partnerships and general operations.
Oliveira will also continue to help grow LinkedIn’s member subscriptions, marketing solutions and hiring solutions in Brazil.
Stay informed – get daily updates on the latest happenings in technology directly to your inbox.
