In Short

A round-up of other technology stories in brief

New search engine may test Google

Cuil, the search engine co-founded by Irishman Tom Costello and launched this week, may live up to its claims to be a significant challenger to Google according to StatCounter. The web analysis service said that just one day after its launch last Monday, Cuil accounted for one in every 1,000 searches done.

"This is phenomenal when you consider that AltaVista, a search engine founded in 1995, accounted for just six in 10,000 searches," said Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter founder and chief executive.

Of the more than 100 search engines StatCounter tracks, Cuil was in the top 10 in Ireland, Britain and the US.

Helix links with Central Databank

Healthcare software specialists Helix Health have entered a joint venture with Central Databank to provide data back-up services for healthcare professionals. It will enable them to back up patient records automatically and securely to an off-site location. The two firms said the joint venture would be worth €750,000 a year.

Blogger service home to malware

Google's 2008 Blogger (Blogspot.com) service is home to 2 per cent of the world's web-based malware, making it the primary host of malicious code worldwide, according to anti-virus maker Sophos's July security threat report update.

During the first half of the year, Sophos detected an average 16,173 malicious web pages every day, the vast majority financially-motivated attacks. The rate is three times higher than in 2007.

IBM's X-Force 2008 Midyear Trend Statistics report has found that browser plug-ins are now the target- of-choice for cyber-criminals.

Title row downs online Scrabble

Scrabulous, the most popular game on Facebook, was temporarily removed this week for thousands of Scrabble players in the US and Britain. The suspension followed months of wrangling between the creators of the online version and the companies who own the rights to the board game.

DCU in US tech marketing deal

Technology developed at DCU will be marketed to US investors and potential joint venture partners through a deal with Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), Arizona State University's technology venturing arm.

As part of the partnership DCU's commercialisation company, Invent DCU will collaborate directly with AzTE to bring scientific innovations to the market.

Anniversary prizes from Boards.ie

Popular discussion forum Boards.ie has teamed up with the Digital Enterprise Research Institute at NUI Galway to run a competition to celebrate its 10th birthday. Entrants can win over €4,000 in prizes by submitting a creation based on a data set of posts from Boards.ie.