In Short

A round up of today's other stories in brief

The amount of digital data in existence at the end of 2007 hit 281 billion gigabytes - 10 per cent bigger than previously estimated, according to a study by IDC and sponsored by storage maker EMC. That equates to 45 gigabytes of information for every person on Earth, or more than 17 billion 8GB iPhones. The growth in data is being driven by an increase in internet access in emerging countries, sensor-based applications, data centres supporting "cloud computing" and the popularity of social networks comprised of digital content created by many millions of users.

Dublin-based internet television start-up Babelgum has launched what it claims is the first ever online film festival. Film director Spike Lee will announce the winning made-for-web film at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Privately-held Babelgum allows free viewing of video content online and is backed by billionaire Italian telecoms entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia.

TalkTalk brings in new phone package

TalkTalk, the landline telephone company owned by Carphone Warehouse, has introduced Talk Complete, a new package which includes unlimited calls any time to Irish landlines; 30 mobile minutes to any network, any time; 200 international minutes to landlines in any country; line rental; free calls to other TalkTalk customers; and a 1MB broadband connection, for €55.99 a month.

Cruickshank, the specialist patent and trademark law firm, has said that contrary to popular belief software is patentable in Europe. Michael O'Connor from the firm made the claim at an event in San Diego this week where the company also revealed it is beginning a drive to educate US technology and software firms about European software patents.

Mr O'Connor said requirements for European software patents are much more stringent than those applying in the US and confusion arises because of differences in Europe compared with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Virtual St Patrick's Day parade on way

A virtual St Patrick's Day parade will be held in the internet virtual world Second Life this Sunday, March 16th. The virtual parade, hosted by Tourism Ireland, will include 20 Irish and Celtic themed floats, and is part of a three-day Discover Ireland Festival which will be hosted in a virtual Dublin that has been created in Second Life.

Office workers prefer e-mail to meeting

New research from Damovo has found that Irish office workers prefer to e-mail colleagues, customers and suppliers (41 per cent) than meet them face to face (32 per cent) or talk to them by desk phone (19 per cent) or mobile phone (4 per cent). Talking is still more popular in Irish offices than in the UK - a similar Damovo survey showed that 65 per cent of UK workers prefer e-mail.