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

Broadband funding considered

The Department of Communications is considering how to advance Fine Gael’s “New Era” commitment to bring high-speed broadband to a million Irish homes, Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte told a telecoms conference yesterday.

Mr Rabbitte said his department would engage with the industry to establish best how the State could co-invest to help deliver the infrastructure.

Speaking at a conference organised by internet telephony firm Blueface, he said the State would only invest if there was a clear “case of market failure”.

Chef at work on restaurant menu

The Absolute Hotel Spa in Limerick has added QR codes to its restaurant menus, allowing guests with smartphones to access exclusive video content showing dishes being prepared by chef Mark Wixted.

When a guest takes a picture of the QR code with a smartphone it directs them to a video of a “dish of the month”.

Call for flights to US west coast

The Irish Technology Leadership Group has written to Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar calling for their support for direct flights between Ireland and the west coast of the US to resume.

It has the support of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a network of 300 Californian companies with more than $2 trillion (€1.34 trillion) in annual revenues.