In Short

A round-up of today's stories in brief.

Google forms handset alliance

Google has formed the Open Handset Alliance with 33 other companies, including mobile operator T-Mobile and phone makers HTC and Motorola.

Google said it would release an open source software platform called Android which will include an operating system and web browser for mobile phones. It is expected phones using the software will be available in the second half of next year. Google said Android would bring a far richer internet experience to mobile phones.

Broadband take-up grows

Broadband penetration grew faster in Ireland in the year to June last than in any other OECD state, according to new figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The take-up of broadband in Irish homes is still low at 13.1 per cent - significantly behind the average of 31.7 per cent for EU nations.

Radiohead fans slow to pay

Almost two-thirds of internet users who downloaded the new Radiohead album In Rainbows chose to pay nothing for it, according to data from monitoring company ComScore. Of the 38 per cent who chose to pay for the download-only album, the average price paid was $6 (€4.13).

Mashup event this weekend

A major European conference on the Web 2.0 phenomenon known as mashups will be held in Dublin's Guinness Storehouse this weekend.

The event will feature classes, lectures and contests. The term mashup refers to the creation of new web services by taking data or content from a variety of other services.

www.mashupcamp.com/ dublinflyer.html

Call for pilot NGN in Clare

Shannon Development has called for a pilot next generation network (NGN) to be deployed in the Co Clare town. Chief executive Kevin Thompstone said Ireland should be leading rather than following when it comes to telecommunications advances.

Intranet 'not useful' - survey

The Irish Computer Society and pTools' annual survey of corporate intranet usage has found that almost one in three users find their company intranet is not useful in relation to their daily work.

Half of respondents said the search function was ineffective and 80 per cent believed navigation and search need improvement. The most common usage is for accessing staff and personal contact details like phone directories.