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

All the brightest heads are stuck firmly in the cloud

CLOUD COMPUTING:ALL TECH EYES are in the clouds these days with the Government's inclusion of cloud computing sector in its Action Plan for jobs, its new Cloud4Gov initiative, and Microsoft's confirmation last week that it is to expand its "mega data centre" in Dublin. To harness the renewed focus on the sector, NUI Galway and Hewlett-Packard have announced a new Masters in Cloud Computing Research. Designed by the JE Cairnes School of Business Economics at NUI Galway together with Hewlett-Packard Galway's Cloud Services Innovation Centre, the new degree is a programme of advanced research on high-value, business-focused aspects of cloud computing and services.

Cloud computing allows businesses and individuals to use software and access data and services on remote servers, typically using a web browser or mobile application. The MSc in Cloud Computing Research is a one-year full-time or a two-year part-time course, commencing in September 2012. Last year, a report by Goodbody Economic Consultants into Ireland’s Competitiveness And Jobs Opportunity in Cloud Computing claimed that sales in this sector by Irish firms could reach €9.5 billion a year by 2014 and provide jobs for 8,600 people.

The Goodbody report on cloud computing can be viewed at:

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New programme aims to upskill entrepreneurs for the future

ENTREPENEURS:THE GOVERNMENT has launched a new programme offering entrepreneurs a six-month intensive course to develop their ideas. Operating nationally, the New Frontiers Programme is funded and co-ordinated by Enterprise Ireland and will be delivered locally by 13 Irish Institutes of Technology.

Initially 250 applicants will be accepted on to the programme where their business idea will be tested to see if it has the potential to form the basis for a viable company. Of these, 150 applicants will qualify for the six-month intensive core element of the programme which will focus on developing the person as an entrepreneur. Participants will receive financial support of €15,000 from Enterprise Ireland as well as office space in the Institute of Technology’s incubation centre, mentoring and access to networking opportunities with potential investors.

It is expected that the programme will produce a pipeline of companies eligible for Enterprise Irelands high-potential start-up (HPSU) supports. The Minister of State for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock (with Dr Lisa Keating of Enterprise Ireland, above) said “the New Frontiers Programme will have the potential to deliver up to 100 new companies per annum”.

See enterprise-ireland.com/newfrontiers

Clear app takes the humble to-do list to a smarter new level

SMARTPHONE TECHNOLOGY:THE MOST HYPED smartphone app of the year so far isn't a snazzy social networking start-up, a retro photography tool or an ingeniously designed news aggregator – on the contrary, the much-anticipated Clear is a fresh take on the humble to-do list, and has generated lots of breathless coverage since its launch on Apple's App Store this month.

The secret is in the app’s exceptionally innovative design, and in particular its first-of-a-kind user interface. Instead of relying on the usual array of buttons, arrows and calendars that characterise the competition, Clear only offers simple lists, navigated by touchscreen gestures such as swipes and pinches, with varying colours and sounds offering feedback. The result is surprisingly intuitive and efficient, and successful – they sold 350,000 copies of the app in its first nine days on release.

A joint effort by developers at Realmac Software and the new Impending studio, Clear is attracting praise not just for its simplicity, but also for pioneering a new era of user-interface design – after five years of touchscreen devices, old conventions have been augmented by a whole range of new usage idioms, such as pulling down on lists to refresh, or swiping sideways to delete. Clear has embraced these new conventions to the degree that, as touchscreen interfaces continues to develop in years to come, expect many more apps to be described as “Clear-like”.

As blogger Matthew Panzarino put it, capturing the mood, “Clear may change how we use our devices forever.”

– Davin O’Dwyer

Read Davin O'Dwyer's blog on the controversy over who exactly invented email at irishtimes.com/blogs/innovation