The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has shelled out over €2.3m in consultancy fees in the last 12 months.

Traffic jams of the future may cause dangerous data snarl-ups, as cars packed with entertainment, and safety and navigation features, vie for airwaves with smartphones, tablets and networked features in other vehicles, according to a study.

The main talking point at this week’s Geneva Car Show is likely to be a vehicle that may never be built: the Apple car.

A year ago, pundits were declaring that the personal computer was dead. Smartphones and tablets were cannibalising sales, and the once-revolutionary PC seemed unnecessary — and boring.

Hollywood stars and political leaders have angrily described the decision to pull a film about the assassination of the North Korean leader as a defeat for free speech.

Sony Pictures Entertainment made the shock decision to cancel the Christmas Day release of controversial comedy The Interview amid the threat of terrorist attacks from hackers and America’s largest multiplex chains pulling the film from their screens.

Apple introduced a faster, slimmer iPad Air 2 last night, tacking on modest improvements such as a fingerprint sensor to its mainstay tablet in time for what is expected to be a hotly contested Christmas market for mobile devices.

A huge cyber attack against JPMorgan Chase this summer compromised customer information for about 76 million US households and seven million small businesses, the bank said.

Russian hackers have stolen 1.2bn usernames and passwords in a series of internet heists affecting 420,000 websites — in what is likely to be the biggest data breach ever recorded.

Russian hackers have stolen 1.2 billion user names and passwords in a series of Internet heists affecting 420,000 websites, according to a report.

Microsoft has posted earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations in Satya Nadella’s first quarterly earnings release as chief executive, offering new justification for his focus on cloud computing.

Facebook is preparing to join the mobile payments race with remittances and electronic money services on the social network, the Financial Times reported, citing several sources.

Tablet computer sales soared last year with Android-powered devices dethroning iPads atop a booming global market.

Usernames and passwords of some of Yahoo’s email customers have been stolen and used to gather personal information about people they have recently corresponded with.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has reported a worse-than-expected net profit in the fourth quarter, despite aggressive cost cutting and a one-time gain.

Keenly-awaited Xbox One consoles launched in more than a dozen countries as day dawned in respective time zones.

Lenovo Group, the world’s biggest personal computer maker, has said its latest quarterly profit rose 36% as sales of smartphones and tablet computers more than doubled.

Smartphones have made up the majority of mobile phone sales worldwide for the first time, according to new figures.

The sophistication of a global network of thieves who drained cash machines around the globe of $45m (€35m) in mere hours sent ripples through the security world, not merely for the size of the operation and ease with which it was carried out, but also for the threat that more such thefts may be in store.

Worldwide mobile phone sales fell last year as economic turmoil hit shopper appetite, research firm Gartner said.

Microsoft bills Windows 8 as a “reimagining” of the personal computer market’s dominant operating system, but still has a lot to do before the makeover captures the imagination of most consumers, a poll has shown.

Apple has agreed to buy fingerprint reader AuthenTec for approximately US$356 million (€289 million) as the maker of iPhones and iPads looks to strengthen its digital security capabilities.

Nokia’s net loss more than tripled in the second quarter on sagging sales of smartphones, a market in which the company is struggling to regain ground lost to rivals including Apple and Samsung.

Apple has unveiled the next version of its mobile software, adding maps and integration with Facebook to extend its lead over Google in the market for handheld devices and downloadable applications.

Nokia has been bumped off the top spot as the world’s largest mobile phone company after 14 years at the peak, according to research.

EMC is building a cloud computing innovation centre to be called Cloud4Gov, which could save the state anything up to 50% on its IT costs.

APPLE Inc moved a step closer to accessing some 33 million potential iPhone users in China, as regulators authorised specifications for a device that would run on the network of China Telecom Corp.

MICROSOFT views Ireland as a hotbed of mobile app development, according to the IT giant’s in-house “architect evangelist” Josh Holmes.

SONY’S tablet computers failed to excite reviewers, who criticised the pricing and quality of the devices, underscoring the battle Sony faces regaining its consumer electronics crown.

RESEARCH by Gartner shows PCs and monitors contribute about 40% of all business CO2 emissions.

Microsoft's quarterly revenue fell from the previous year for the first time in its 23-year history as a public company, while its profit dived 32%, it said today.

SAMSUNG unveiled the world’s first solar-powered mobile phone at an industry show in Barcelona yesterday where the sector is showcasing the new technology it hopes will drive demand through the economic crisis.

IRELAND is one of the top 30 locations in the world for outsourcing.

Up to 450 jobs may be lost in Ireland as computer giant Dell plans to cut up to 10% of its global workforce in the next 12 months.

US computer maker Dell said today it planned to lay off more than 8,000 employees over the next year as part of an ongoing restructuring.

Microsoft is scrambling to update its Windows Media software after a hacker released a programme that circumvents a safeguard designed to prevent people from freely copying digital movies and songs.

DELOITTE has been elevated from Challenger to the Leader quadrant in Gartner’s 2006 CRM (customer relationship management) Magic Quadrant report.

IONA Technologies boss Peter Zotto says the group’s new software solution, Artix, will return the company to the success it enjoyed with CORBA, the package that launched it worldwide.

US computer giant Dell has seen a 28% rise in quarterly net profit to a record $1.02bn (€818m), despite steep falls in prices of personal computers.

Mobile phone giant Nokia reported a further sales slump today despite a range of new handsets aimed at clawing back market share.

Nokia Oyj’s market share fell in the first quarter to the lowest in about five years as clients picked clamshell and camera phones made by Motorola and Samsung Electronics, researcher Gartner has said.

Mobile giant Nokia’s share of the handset market fell sharply this year as rival firms won over phone users, figures showed today.

EMC Corp, the world’s third-biggest maker of data-storage systems, agreed to buy software rival Legato Systems Inc. for $1.3 billion in stock, to sell more higher-profit programs and rely less on sales of machines.

According to Gartner Data quest, the global shipments for the PC industry shrank in 2001, for the first time since 1985.