newsfox.digest
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2003. Feb. 17., H, 23:17:21 CET
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News of the day
Message digest by newsfox from 02/17/2003
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1. API acquires journaliststoolbox.com
More than 17,500 resources for journalists
(pte030217004)
2. European venture investment scenery recovering
UK in front of France and Germany
(pte030217009)
3. Study : Online publishing's future uncertain
Growth is strong, but also commercial pressures on publishers
(pte030217011)
4. Publishers hope for revenues from mobile payments
Researchers expect annual growth rates of over 100%
(pte030217013)
5. Brain Force squeezes out a profit
Double EBIT in spite of slow turnover
(pte030217019)
6. Mobile giants create ‘push to talk’ standard
Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens hope to establish unified market
(pte030217025)
7. Cyberspace medical school to launch
IVIMEDS finds backing, better access for rural students
(pte030217031)
8. Europe losing hightech ground
Technology gap to US expected to grow by 4.5 per cent
(pte030217036)
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http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030217004
API acquires journaliststoolbox.com
More than 17,500 resources for journalists
New York (pte, Feb 17, 2003 08:25) - The American Press Institute has
acquired The Journalist's Toolbox, a web site for journalists that
focuses on using the Internet as a reporting tool.
JournalistsToolbox.com, which offers links to more than 17,500 resources,
plus content on research and reporting techniques for journalists, will
be incorporated with other online information and training services
produced by API for news professionals. It is accessible now from API's
Web site, at http://www.americanpressinstitute.org
Mike Reilley, a former Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune reporter and
editor, founded the site in 1996 as part of an online resource page for a
news-writing course he taught at Northwestern University. Reilly will
continue to edit and update the Toolbox for API.
The Journalist's Toolbox will be part of a growing publishing initiative
at API overseen by The Media Center, an API unit focused on Internet
publishing and media convergence knowledge, techniques and strategies. In
addition to presenting an annual series of seminars, study tours and
master classes, The Media Center publishes NewsFuture, a Web and e-mail
journal for senior staffers and executives in the multi-platform news
publishing industry, and oversees all digital publishing initiatives for
API. The Media Center is a partner of http://www.cyberjournalist.net a
Web site for journalists that focuses on the Internet, media convergence
and new technologies. (end)
Submitter: pressetext.europe
Contact: Newsfox Desk,
E-Mail: editor at newsfox.com,
Phone: ++43-1-81140-319
___________________________________________________________________________
+++ pressetext.europe +++ newsfox.com +++ pressetext.europe +++
http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030217009
European venture investment scenery recovering
UK in front of France and Germany
London (pte, Feb 17, 2003 09:20) - After five consecutive quarters of
steep decline, European venture investment was flat in the fourth quarter
of 2002, according to a survey by Ernst & Young and VentureOne. The glass
is half-full, says the report, as the debris caused by the internet
investment fiasco is slowly clearing. http://www.alternativeinvestor.info
With E878m invested in 223 transactions, the fourth quarter of 2002 was
just 1 per cent less than the level of the previous quarter - although
the number of deals was a full 13 per cent down. The report sees this as
long-awaited encouragement for European venture-backed companies.
The past three years have seen a radical shift to later-stage investment,
which has tended to mean larger, if fewer, recipients. In 2000, 70 per
cent of all venture capital rounds were seed and first-round financings.
By 2001, allocation had balanced out somewhat, and seed and first rounds
constituted 46 per cent of the rounds. With investors leery of new
commitments, pickings were slim for early-stage companies in 2002: Just
35 per cent of the venture capital transactions completed in Europe were
seed and first rounds; 65 per cent were second and later, as venture
capitalists concentrated on stabilizing existing portfolio investments.
The legacy of the dot.com years is beginning to weigh less heavilly on
the troubled venture captial industry. According to Steve Harmston,
VentureOne Director of European Research: "The substantial decline in
investment into young innovative unlisted firms by venture capitalists in
2002 is part of the wider post-bubble shake-out in capital markets. Those
firms that raised small first-time funds in the late 1990s and early 2000
lost heavily in the Internet-led investment boom and now face significant
challenges. Pension funds and other institutional investors are unwilling
to provide them with new funds to invest, and they can't exit existing
investments."
Today it is another IT sector that is feeling the heat: fourth quarter's
relatively good news is all the more surprising in light of a significant
fall-off in the amount invested in software companies. Only E135m were
invested in 56 venture capital deals, declines of 45 per cent and 27 per
cent respectively, from 3Q'02. Healthcare and products and services
companies picked up the slack. Led by the biopharmaceuticals segment,
healthcare investment rose 33 per cent, to E385m for the quarter, and
products and services gained 25 per cent, to E142m. Nevertheless, for the
year as a whole, software shared the limelight with biopharmaceuticals:
Together, the two segments attracted 53 per cent of all euros invested in
venture-backed companies, with totals of E1.2bn and E1.1bn, respectively.
From a regional perspective, the UK, France, Germany, and Sweden
continued to dominate European venture investment throughout 2002, with
investment in these countries accounting for roughly three quarters of
the total amount. The UK is far and away the strongest country in both
transactions and amount invested, but the number-two position, held in
2000 and 2001 by Germany, has shifted to France. UK-headquartered
entrepreneurial firms accounted for E1.5bn of the total European
investment in 2002-more than the amount invested in France (E732m) and
Germany (E575m) combined. (end)
Submitter: pressetext.europe
Contact: Newsfox Desk,
E-Mail: editor at newsfox.com,
Phone: ++43-1-81140-319
___________________________________________________________________________
+++ pressetext.europe +++ newsfox.com +++ pressetext.europe +++
http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030217011
Study : Online publishing's future uncertain
Growth is strong, but also commercial pressures on publishers
Zurich (pte, Feb 17, 2003 09:25) - The cogitations of 20 top news
publishing businesses have been recorded for posterity by the German
consultancy, Interactive Publishing. The report, based on discussions at
the company's recent symposium on the subject, provides a comprehensive
panorama of current thinking.
http://www.interactivepublishing.net/works/ipreport/
The group of 20, made up of senior online publishing specialists from
many of the biggest players including Le Monde, WallStreet Journal, VG,
the Guardian and La Stampa, were asked to discuss where their industry
will be going between now and 2005, to identify key stumbling blocks -
and to define the success factors.
Speakers were agreed that online news publishing is undergoing a period
of uncertaintly, largely as a result of commercial pressures on
publishers in general, with inevitably lower budgets. But the underlying
growth in the market for online is strong, with fast growing user-bases
and a rapidly improving technical infrastructure.
Those attending the symposium were all positive about medium-term and
long term growth, with 'optimists' predicting a faster development than
the 'pessimists' amongst the group. They shared much the same vision of
the industry in the next few years: coherent cross-media strategy; more
targetting of content to small, more specialist markets; a greater
commitment to and understanding of the needs of advertisers. Speakers
agreed that only 20-30% of the revenue potential for their companies had
been realized in the online environment.
Advertisers, it was claimed, continue to underestimate the brand-building
power of online, but it was also agreed that the industry itself could do
more in terms of developing and spreading new standards and metrics.
Success in attracting secure and substantial advertising support will
rest on publishers' willingness to invest in this area, and to cooperate
nationally and internationally.
Another emerging trend, according to those present, is that of parallel
development of multiple revenue streams, allowing for the exploitation of
both paid-for content and advertising-led models. There was agreement
that the argument is not so muc between which is most appropriate but how
both can co-exist. There was a clearly expressed conviction that neither
subscription not advertising pricing was sophisticated enough, and that
advertisers must, and gradually will, understand the power of online
media, and pay accordingly. (end)
Submitter: pressetext.europe
Contact: Newsfox Desk,
E-Mail: editor at newsfox.com,
Phone: ++43-1-81140-319
___________________________________________________________________________
+++ pressetext.europe +++ newsfox.com +++ pressetext.europe +++
http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030217013
Publishers hope for revenues from mobile payments
Researchers expect annual growth rates of over 100%
London (pte, Feb 17, 2003 09:35) - The mobile subscription
payment business is set to boom thanks to the growth in new markets
including the supply of specialist digital content, says a new report.
Mobile payments revenues will grow to USD20bn in 2005 worldwide,
according to the ARC Group – an annual growth rate of over 100%. The boom
will be fed mainly by new types of transaction including premium SMS
messages, which can be reverse billed or easily charged to subscribers'
accounts along with airtime and prepaid top up services for a wide
variety of digital content which is purchased remotely online.
http://www.arcgroup.com
Local point of sale payments (proximity payments) will begin to develop,
allowing mobile users to pay for goods and services in retail outlets and
at vending machines. The newer generation of ATMs and vending machines
will increasingly be able to communicate with mobile phones, giving
consumers the opportunity to gain access to virtual cash and to build up
loyalty bonus points.
According to Richard Jesty, lead author of the report: "These new payment
trends are already happening in the Asia Pacific region. We're seeing
vending machines that are able to talk to mobile phones and provide not
just canned drinks but personalised city guides and entertainment
information. Longer term, ARC Group sees the option of being able to use
a virtual credit card as offering significant potential in the
macropayments sector where the value is under USD15. This may allow
publishers with specialist content to access the mobile content market
more cost-effectively. Both Visa and Mastercard are working with the
network operators and banks to test a number of mobile payment methods,
ranging from a point of sale retail system to a server-based 'electronic
wallet'. These mobile payment systems will enable virtual debit or credit
cards to be used for online purchases on the internet.
(end)
Submitter: pressetext.europe
Contact: Newsfox Desk,
E-Mail: editor at newsfox.com,
Phone: ++43-1-81140-319
___________________________________________________________________________
+++ pressetext.europe +++ newsfox.com +++ pressetext.europe +++
http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030217019
Brain Force squeezes out a profit
Double EBIT in spite of slow turnover
Unterschleißheim (pte, Feb 17, 2003 10:51) - Brain Force Software AG
http://www.brainforce.com, an IT services company listed on the Nemax,
announced today that it has closed the fiscal year 2002 on a positive
note. Of all subsidiaries, the German locations were the most profitable,
bringing in 39.6 per cent of turnover.
Earnings before interest and taxes rose by 100.72 per cent, leading to a
significant upswing from minus 9.1m in the previous year to plus 65,400
euros.
In spite of a general drop in turnover from 65.78m to 58.97m euros, Brain
Force managed to increase its EBITDA to 1.9m euros, which company
representatives say points toward the company’s strong earning power.
By the end of the year, Brain Force’s EBIT had jumped to 247,300 euros,
compared to 101,400 in the fourth quarter of the previous year. Capital
resources increased by 11.8 per cent to 11.05m euros, while liquid assets
amounted to 2.54m euros and the volume of orders rose to 14.03m euros.
In addition to Germany, Brain Force has subsidiaries in Italy, Spain,
Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Great Britain. The final
end-of-year results will be presented at a press conference at the end of
March.
(end)
Submitter: pressetext.europe
Contact: Newsfox Newsdesk,
E-Mail: editor at newsfox.com,
Phone: + 43 – 1 – 811 40 – 319
___________________________________________________________________________
+++ pressetext.europe +++ newsfox.com +++ pressetext.europe +++
http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030217025
Mobile giants create ‘push to talk’ standard
Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens hope to establish unified market
Espoo (pte, Feb 17, 2003 11:45) - Ericsson http://www.ericsson.com, Nokia
http://www.nokia.com and Siemens http://www.siemens.com have joined
forces to create an open standard to ease the adoption of push to talk
technology over GPRS, as announced in a Nokia press release today.
Based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), push to talk is a two-way
form of communications that allows users to engage in immediate
communication with one or more receivers, similar to Walkie Talkie, by
pushing a button on their handsets. Users receiving the transmission hear
the sender's voice automatically without having to answer the call. The
technology uses the capabilities of the IMS as specified by 3GPP for
setting up IP connections between mobile phones.
Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens say their collaboration will create
interoperable technology that will allow mobile phones and networks to be
used for push to talk communication on a variety of radio access
networks.
Initial trials are expected to take place in the second half of 2003.
Once the specifications for an open push to talk standard have been
defined, these will be submitted to the relevant industry bodies.
Senior Vice President Technology at Ericsson. Dr. Jan Uddenfeldt said:
"This collaboration will ensure that push to talk builds on the future
proofed and standardized third generation core network IMS. It will only
have to be integrated once and is easily maintained, which brings great
cost benefits to the operators.”
Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens have invited mobile network operators and
other manufacturers to join them in creating an open, multi-vendor market
for push to talk in the GSM evolution path (GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA).
According to Nokia, AT & T Wireless and Cingular Wireless have said they
would support the new standard.
(end)
Submitter: pressetext.europe
Contact: Newsfox Newsdesk,
E-Mail: editor at newsfox.com,
Phone: + 43 – 1 – 811 40 – 319
___________________________________________________________________________
+++ pressetext.europe +++ newsfox.com +++ pressetext.europe +++
http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030217031
Cyberspace medical school to launch
IVIMEDS finds backing, better access for rural students
Edinburgh (pte, Feb 17, 2003 13:04) - An international virtual medical
school (IVIMEDS) headed by the University of Dundee
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/ has found the backing it needs to launch its
first online classes by 2004.
Up to 50 leading medical schools, including Harvard Medical School, have
agreed to support the project.
Professor Ronald Harden of the University of Dundee presented the plan to
train doctors over the Internet at the recent World eLearning Conference
in Edinburgh www.elearninternational.co.uk/. The organisers spoke of a
‘watershed moment’ for the virtual school.
The concept of IVIMEDS is not to replace the various national medical
schools, but to complement traditional methods of teaching. It should
mainly provide the earlier years of a medical curriculum (2 years of a
4-year course or 3 years of a 5-year course) with an emphasis on distance
learning delivered over the Internet.
Proponents of the cyberspace medical school say it can reduce the
substantive teaching workload of medicine lecturers, as well as offer a
highly flexible curriculum.
But the main feature of IVIMEDS is that it should give students in
developing or rural areas direct access to medical experts. Through
lectures and demonstrations via video link, students can even test their
skills on virtual patients – provided they have access to the Internet.
This could reduce the problem of students in rural areas having to move
to the cities to establish their medical careers.
In a University of Dundee press release Professor Harden said: "It is no
exaggeration to say that announcing the go-ahead of the international
virtual medical school constitutes a historic moment for global medical
education. In 10 years, when people look back at how health professionals
trained across the world, the launching of IVIMEDS will be seen as a
watershed.”
Harden has called the project a "cost effective answer to a range of
problems including shortage of trained doctors, widening access to the
profession across cultural and academic boundaries and, for rural
communities, conquering the 'tyranny of distance' that discourages those
with potential from going away to train."
IVIMEDS is to be funded through pledges from medical schools, government
agencies and charitable trusts and foundations. According to TV Meets the
Web, total funding for the project is estimated at 3.75m euros.
(end)
Submitter: pressetext.europe
Contact: Newsfox Newsdesk,
E-Mail: editor at newsfox.com,
Phone: + 43 – 1 – 811 40 – 319
___________________________________________________________________________
+++ pressetext.europe +++ newsfox.com +++ pressetext.europe +++
http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030217036
Europe losing hightech ground
Technology gap to US expected to grow by 4.5 per cent
Amsterdam (pte, Feb 17, 2003 15:08) - The European IT market is losing
ground in competition with the US, as outlined in a Forrester market
research study http://www.forrester.com presented today.
For 2003, European IT expenditures are projected to reach about 647
billion euros, compared to 865 billion euros in the US.
Germany is expected to remain the greatest economic force in Europe over
the next 24 months, but Great Britain will most likely replace Germany as
the most important IT market in Europe by the end of 2003.
Overall, Forrester predicts a 2.4 per cent decline in software turnover,
stagnation among hardware firms, and a 1.2 per cent rise in IT services
(excluding telecommunications) in Europe. The telecommunications services
sector is predicted to grow by 2.2 per cent.
While large software groups such as SAP, Oracle or IBM can expect five to
ten per cent growth, many smaller IT services and software companies in
Germany or Great Britain could be forced to fold, the study projects.
Forrester analyst Charles Homs said: "These multinationals still have
enough of a budget for IT services like outsourcing and consulting.” This
is one reason he thinks Great Britain will see 1.6 per cent growth in IT
services, while many smaller countries could see their market decline by
0.5 per cent.
The market for mobile telecommunications and services may prove the most
successful in spite of high debts and low turnover among the larger
firms, as the number of mobile clients in Europe is expected to increase
by six per cent this year.
(end)
Submitter: pressetext.europe
Contact: Newsfox Newsdesk,
E-Mail: editor at newsfox.com,
Phone: + 43 – 1 – 811 40 – 319
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