Sky is launching its “Summer of Sport” campaign in Dublin today with GAA star Bernard Brogan. The campaign, valued at €1.2 million, will run on TV, print, outdoor, and online from May to July. The campaign features boxer Katie Taylor, Kilkenny hurling star Henry Shefflin, Dublin GAA star Bernard Brogan, Paralympian hand cyclist Mark Rohan, and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given.  Filmed as they were training, the TV ad captures the energy and effort these athletes and players have put into preparing for the summer tournaments. This year sees one of the most exciting summers for sporting events with the Euro 2012 Championships, the Olympic Games, and the Irish…

Croke Park Stadium has announced that the Etihad Skyline tour on the roof of the historic ground will open to the public on Friday, 1 June. Sponsored by Etihad Airways, the roof-top tour of Croke Park boasts spectacular panoramic views of Dublin city and its surroundings from 44 metres or 17 storeys above the ground. With an investment of over €1m and the creation of 10 jobs, the opening of the Etihad Skyline at Croke Park is expected to bring even more visitors to what is already Dublin’s most visited attraction. Some 100 tonnes of painted galvanized steel have gone into creating a 0.6-kilometre walkway, which was fabricated in Portlaoise…

An interactive tutorial for improving Spanish has won the senior animation category in the national Scratch competition, which gives primary and secondary school students the chance to learn how to use computer programming. 2nd year students Eleana Skelly and Kate Campbell from Alexandra College Dublin were declared winners for their project ‘Learn Spanish’. Returning winner Abdullah Mohammed from Carrigaline Community School Cork was declared winner of the Scratch Competition National Finals Senior Games Category. His 2012 winning entry is a multi level maths tutorial game. This annual competition is run by Lero (the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre), sponsored by the Irish Computer Societyand hosted in IT Tallaght. The finals…

Irish bookseller Eason is soon to launch an own-branded e-reader, a spokesman for the company has revealed. This comes the wake of Monday’s announcement that Waterstones with link with Amazon to sell Kindle e-readers and create wi-fi areas in-store where customers can download e-books. Eason had already stated it would create dedicated wi-fi areas where customers could download e-books from the Eason website as part of a €20m plan to modernise the chain. However, this is the first time the company has stated it will launch its own branded hardware. The move will be similar to that implemented by US bookseller Barnes & Noble, which has its own branded e-reader,…

Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) has welcomed 60 students aged 10 to 16 into the college to take part in an initiative created by teen programmer James Whelton. With the support and encouragement of entrepreneur Bill Liao, the first CoderDojo opened in Cork and has now come to ITB. In its third week, students come each Saturday for two and a half hours to learn how code, develop websites, apps, programmes, games and much more all with a bit of fun and imagination thrown in.  There are three more weeks to run at the ITB CoderDojo but another Dojo will be starting soon. In addition to learning to code, members…

Some 28pc of Irish businesses are in the process of deploying or planning desktop virtualisation projects, according to a new survey. Commissioned by DataSolutions, the survey of 546 companies reveals that of those interested in desktop virtualisation, 16pc were looking at an immediate project, with a further 46pc saying they had a project planned for 2012. One of the big drivers of desktop virtualisation for these Irish businesses continues to be cost, including the associated reduced total cost of ownership and the reduction in Windows 7 migration costs. Data Solutions said these findings are similar to the results of a similar survey in 2010. This year, however, mobility and the…