Alienware and Dell revealed at CES 2023 six new gaming laptops, along with the world’s fastest refresh rate of 500Hzi on a Fast IPS Gaming Monitor and the evolved Aurora R15 gaming desktop with AMD technology.

Alienware’s new 18-inch performance juggernaut

Alienware M Series is designed for gamers who prioritize performance. Rising to that challenge are the all-new Alienware m18 and Alienware m16 powerhouses.

Alienware’s most powerful laptop, the m18ii, is in a performance class of its own, with customization options that span the gamut of new CPU and GPU technology. This includes up-to 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13980HX processors and the full stack of next-gen NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ Laptop GPUs, plus soon-to-be-announced next-gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors and Radeon™ Graphics for mobile. All this performance is enabled by a suite of major Alienware Cryo-tech™ advancements.

These significant improvements to platform thermal capacity (~35% using Full Speed modevii) and cooling pave the way for higher-performance CPUs and GPUs, allowing us to push the total system power to 250Wviii.

Introducing the most luxurious Alienware yet, the first-ever x16

X Series laptops are designed for gamers who expect their Alienware laptop to compliment every aspect of their lifestyle, including beyond gaming. X Series serves as Dell’s innovation portal, bringing many technology breakthroughs in addition to elevating premium materials, finishes and features to the forefront of the product experience.

The new Alienware x16 is the first 16” gaming laptop since 2004 and Dell’s most premium Alienware product yet. Promising more performance, a taller 16:10 display and an improved six-speaker design, the new x16 bests our current x17 in almost every way and does so in a sleeker and more robust full-metal chassis.

Built with top-firing tweeters for clarity and a dual woofer configuration for strong bass, x16 creates a spatial audio experience with its 6-speaker audio. With Dolby Atmos, users will experience rich, layered sound that reveals depth, clarity, and details like never before.

Dell continues to offer per-key RGB keyboard lighting with optional CHERRY MX mechanical keys to complete our most dynamic and customizable lighting experience to date, all controllable via Alienware Command Center.

G Series unveils stylish new design with G16 and G15

Taking a bold new design approach, the G15 and G16 are available in eye-catching colourways, with retro pops of orange and blue set against premium metallics, that are sure to be coveted by those with an appreciation for ‘80s pop aesthetics. Both feature the G-mode key, exclusive gaming function macro keys, and toggle audio keys to enhance the player experience. G15 offers one-zone and four-zone RGB keyboard options with numpad, while G16 offers one-zone RGB and Cherry MX keyboard options.

Looking under the hood, G15 and G16 support graphic-intensive games with ease and consistency, even in marathon sessions, powered by the latest Intel, AMD and NVIDIA technology to help users get lost in their favourite games. And for the first time, G Series receives Alienware-inspired Vapor Chamber Cooling and Element 31 thermal interface.

Commenting on the new gaming laptops, Ryan Gu, Alienware Product Director, said: “As what defines preeminent gaming experiences constantly evolves, Alienware and Dell continue to set itself apart with meaningful high-impact innovation that meets the changing needs of gamers. Whether you’re a competitive or hobby gamer, if freedom without compromise is what you value most, look no further than our intrepid new fleet of high-performance laptops.”

Gu also spoke about the design framework behind the releases: “In 2019, we made a bold move to undergo a complete portfolio redesign to distinguish Alienware’s brand identity from the industry. At the time, the landscape was swarmed by red and black machines. It was at that time we chose to charter a new course for Alienware and retire the iconic space-a...

Prommt, the leading payment request platform, has announced a significant increase in customer adoption by achieving a key milestone over the Christmas period with 3 million payment requests sent to customers across many industry sectors in their home markets within Europe. This success has spurred expansion in other markets and the company is now set to build on their existing customer footprint in North America.

Prommt is a leading paytech solution that is revolutionising the way enterprises request, collect and report remote customer transactions with the ability to send secure, branded payment requests to their customers. Prommt provides businesses with the flexibility to request payments via SMS, WhatsApp, e-mail, Chat (and more) and have them paid via card or directly from the customer’s bank.

Despite the challenging headwinds being experienced by many companies today, Prommt has completed a successful Series A funding round at the end of 2022, which, coupled with the recent surge in customer growth, will support its aggressive growth strategy to new markets including USA and Canada.

During 2022, Prommt enjoyed continued growth across all sectors, particularly in the hospitality, building material suppliers, automotive, and sports industries. The company gained several new high-profile clients, including a leading Premiership football club. Prommt also launched ‘Pay by Bank’, its Open Banking payments initiation capability via its partner Token.

Within six months of launch, over 20 percent of Prommt’s customers have adopted open banking payments as part of the payments mix alongside and complementary to cards. For billers and merchants, Pay by Bank offers significant savings on processing costs and is set to transform cumbersome bank transfers with a slick customer experience that delivers instant account payments.

A new study from Juniper Research found that the value of global payment transactions facilitated by Open Banking will exceed €108.6 billion in 2026, from just under €3.75 billion in 2021. This extraordinary growth rate of over 2,800 percent over the next five years will be driven by increasing user awareness of Open Banking features, supported by greater deployment within Europe, as vendors build on PSD2 (Second Payment Services Directive) APIs to deliver expanding services.

In 2023, Prommt is set to grow its existing US customer base and push further into hospitality, sports services, retail, and building material suppliers across North America. Expansion of the team is also on the cards with a recruitment drive in sales, marketing and product development, building on 2022’s growth.

Commenting on their recent milestone, Donal McGuinness, CEO, of Prommt said, “Prommt has seen some major achievements over the past twelve months and we are excited for what’s in store for 2023. With recruitment and expansion on the horizon, even in uncertain times globally, demand for new fintech and digital payment solutions continues to rise. I believe we will see a continued shift to open banking payments in 2023 with significant growth continuing year on year.”

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Guest post by Kyran O’Mahoney, whois the Chief Technology Officer at the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI)

The internet has not always been widely available. In fact, it was not until the 1990s that the widespread use of the internet intruded into the lives of most advanced societies and economies. Since then, the proliferation of digital experiences has utterly transformed the way in which we interact with each other, consume content and do business. The evolution of technology has had numerous ramifications from the obvious to the entirely unexpected.

Digital accessibility will democratise technology in 2023

The ‘modern’ internet has thus become a public space – one that can be used and shared by all. Its infrastructure provides a platform to create, to communicate and to cooperate. This democratised version of the internet has evolved over time – from the static, linear structure of Web 1.0 to the dynamic, social-media dominated Web 2.0, and the futuristic, interactive Web 3.0. Simultaneously, access to the internet has broadened significantly. While approximately 14 million people used the internet in 1993, Statisca estimates this figure is closer to 5.03 billion today.

In theory, the internet has become democratised, and as a result, products, services, and digital assets are now available globally, to all. However, in practice, we know that this is not the case. The true democratisation of the internet and technology remains an aspiration. Today, the perception of technology as the greatest enabler, comes with a caveat. Despite being widely and globally used, the internet and its technologies are paradoxically, far from democratised. For many, the internet and its assets are simply not accessible. This is no more true than for those living with disabilities – who collectively form the world’s largest single minority group, and are the custodians of the most significant and untapped consumer market.

Technology as an enabler, as an inhibitor

In the most recently recorded census, more than 600,000 people stated that they are living with a disability in Ireland, approximately 13.5 percent of the current population. Looking at statistics outside the Republic of Ireland, we see that an estimated 87 million people or 1 in 4 adults have a disability in the European Union (EU) and the figure is as high as 1.3 billion people or 16% of the population worldwide. Two of the most frequently cited challenges identified at EU level faced by people with disabilities include societal and economic exclusion.

As a person living with a visual impairment, and as a Co-Founder at technology start up, IA Labs, I have been privy to the extraordinary opportunities presented by technology and its role as a tool for mitigating the risk of exclusion. Through technology, I have been facilitated in growing my business remotely, using digital public services, communicating with colleagues, and purchasing products online with ease. In many ways, I have experienced a democratised internet.

Equally, I am often prevented from carrying out every single one of these activities. This is because the website, platform or mobile application that I have attempted to use is inaccessible and fails to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA standard. Regretfully, the majority of websites hosted in Ireland cannot be used by a person living with a disability – seminal research from IA Labs found that 72% of leading Irish companies do not have accessible websites. In response, legislative mandates have been progressed.

Legislation is required, but investment will lead to implementation

Legislation has been proposed at EU and international level to ensure that websites, digital assets and experiences are accessible to everyone – placing the democratisation of technology on a firm legislative footing. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) requires the websites of public and private sector organisations to be fully digitally accessible ...

Siri, Cortana, Ok Google. These robots integrated into our smartphones and computers aim to facilitate research on the internet. How? By allowing users to perform a voice search, easier and faster. Except that this new browsing habit has repercussions on SEO.

Indeed, we do not speak in the same way as we write. 75% of mobile users use voice search in their daily activities. They use voice recognition to call a contact from their phonebook more quickly, ask their GPS for directions, find help for their work or look for an application to download.

Voice search: optimize your SEO

Faced with this new trend, it is obvious that your natural referencing strategy must adapt! Here’s everything you need to know about voice search in a few steps:

State of voice search

The influence of voice search on featured snippets

How to optimize your pages for voice search (according to Google)?

State of voice search

In January 2018, there were already a billion monthly searches made with voice. Voice search is taking more and more place in user habits. Thus 70% of people who use it would not see themselves going back.

This practice is particularly common among millennials who use it, for 37.8% of them, at least once a month. Voice is already very present in commercial transactions and plays an important role in the purchase journey.

This landscape, therefore, confirms the need to take this change into account and to adapt its SEO so as not to sink into Google’s limbo.

Content that provides an answer

Generally, a voice request is posed in the form of a question: “how to do.”, “what are.”, “why the.”, etc. Therefore, your content must absolutely contain the question and a quality answer.

It is therefore time to rework the titles of your articles, as well as the subtitles, to take up the problems of your prospects so that they appear in the search results.

Put yourself in their shoes to choose the formulation that seems most relevant to you and does not hesitate to formulate the question aloud, to check that it is easy to pronounce.

The local search goes to the voice

Adults and teenagers mainly use voice search to find their way around. The voice assistant then uses the GPS built into the iOS or Android smartphone to show nearby results.

You will have to rework your SEO to appear in the queries of Internet users who are in your environment. This is all the more important if you have a business, a restaurant, or any other establishment with a storefront.

Be sure to work on the name of your city and to be correctly located on Google Maps. A Google My Business account becomes essential!

The influence of voice search on featured snippets

Featured snippets or position zero in Google are the pages highlighted when the results are displayed. They correspond to the page that the engine considers being the most relevant for a search.

Featured snippets provide quality, easy-to-read answers, and voice assistants like to use them when a user asks a question. What does that mean? That featured snippets have a big impact on voice search! When an assistant gives an answer, it relies on featured snippets. It is therefore essential to optimize your SEO for “voice search” and to take care of position 0.

There is no code or tag to force the creation of a featured snippet. Only Google decides on this choice. And in the context of voice control, this zero position will be the place of choice to appear in the results.

From keyboard to voice

In the distant days when the internet arrived and queries were entered into search engines via keyboards, internet users were adapting to search engines. They were adjusting the way they made their requests. Of course, as search engines have evolved, so has their ability to understand natural language patterns and the intent behind queries. The algorithms developed by Google have made it possible to adapt to the needs of users.

From now on, the search engine no longer takes the keyword into account: it performs a semantic search to f...

Refurbed, Ireland’s leading refurbished electronic online marketplace, has released interesting data on what Irish consumers bought over the Christmas holiday season. Refurbed’s goal is to become the Amazon of refurbished and sustainable electronic products and over the course of 2022, the company introduced new categories such as game consoles and household appliances, which were all well received by Irish customers. The company, LinkedIn’s Top Austrian Start-Up of 2022, provides sustainable, cheaper electronic alternatives to consumers who want to shop more responsibly and have a positive impact on the environment while also saving and staying up to date with the latest tech.

This Christmas, refurbed found that iPhones dominated as the top sellers with the iPhone 11 taking up 13.4% of sales between the 1st – 31st of December. The iPhone 12 was second and made up 5.7% of sales, while the iPhone SE made up 5.5% of sales this Christmas period. MacBooks and iPads were also very popular making up 15% of refurbed’s Christmas sales. Personal electronic devices weren’t the only thing consumers were buying this December, game consoles, kitchen appliances and household appliances such as robotic hoovers represented 1.5% of sales over the Christmas season. In comparison to December 2021, refurbed saw a 230% growth in customers and a 250% growth in the number of items sold.

As a result of buying from refurbed, this Christmas, Irish consumers saved 217,000 kgs of CO2 and saved 1,380 kgs of e-waste over the month of December alone. Additionally, Irish consumers planted 5,500 trees on the back of their Christmas purchases and as such played a significant role in assisting the rebuilding of Ireland’s forestry through refurbed’s partnership with Reforest Nation.

Refurbed’s devices are 100% sustainable and up to 40% more affordable than purchasing a new device. The refurbishment process that refurbed’s smartphones undergo is up to 40 steps and produces 70% less CO2 emissions compared to the creation of a new device. To offset the remaining 30%, refurbed plants a tree for every product sold. In 2022, refurbed partnered with Reforest Nation, an Irish tree-planting initiative that allows consumers to pick Ireland as a location to plant a tree. Reforest Nation only plants native trees across Ireland, which helps with increasing biodiversity across the country. Refurbed plans to continue this partnership to further reforest Ireland in 2023.

In terms of full year-on-year figures between 2021 and 2022, the company saw over 200% growth in their Irish customers and over 200% growth in orders. Refurbed has noted that the MacBook’s popularity surged in 2022 as it accounted for 9% of the company’s total sales last year. Samsung smartphones also grew in popularity by 14% in 2022.

Speaking on the newly released data, Pádraig Power, Marketing Manager for Ireland at refurbed said, “We at refurbed are thrilled to see the growth in our Irish customer base in just one year. This growth demonstrates to us that Irish consumers are becoming more conscious of their purchases and want to lower their carbon footprint and impact on the environment. Irish consumers are also beginning to see the benefits of refurbished electronic products and are becoming more aware of the importance of picking refurbished over new.

The ambition of refurbed is to get 1 refurbished device in every household in Ireland. At the end of 2021, less than a year after launch, there was a refurbed device in 1% of Irish households. By the end of 2022, with the recent census figures this stands at 2.6%, or 1 refurbed device in every 40 Irish households. This is something that we’re very proud of and keen to build upon over the coming 12 months.

2023 is looking bright, as more and more are becoming engaged with the circular economy, I am looking forward to seeing refurbed’s continued growth throughout 2023. This year will be about impact, and refurbed will be at the forefront of helping reduce c...

HRLocker has announced it has closed its first €2m funding round. The round was led by Hugh O’Donnell’s investment firm, MACX3 Investments Limited, alongside a number of other successful entrepreneurs, family offices and private investors EIIS investors.

HRLocker has ambitious plans for the funds raised. They want to break ground in new international markets, expand their product offering, while continuing to grow their core customer base in Ireland and the UK.

HRLocker’s digital HRIS platform is designed for SMEs with 25 – 500 employees. It manages the entire employee lifecycle and prides itself on being the only HR software solution employers need, with GDPR-compliant features such as employee database, time management, performance management and HR and Payroll reporting. Demand for HR software solutions that automate processes, improve employee experience and meet the needs of remote and flexible working, has risen sharply since the Covid-19 Pandemic. HRLocker delivers a fully evolved employee lifecycle solution that meets and exceeds these demands.

Since HRLocker adapted its market offering to be a pure SaaS B2B product, the company has grown rapidly delivering 139% revenue growth in the 12 months prior to the funding round. Up to this funding round, the business was bootstrapped. Adam Coleman (Founder/CEO) and his team had focused on ensuring strong product market fit, developing a scalable and repeatable sales cycle, while ensuring highly attractive commercial unit economics for the business. Now with c.45,000 daily users and over 700 customers, HRLocker is scaling rapidly and efficiently.

HRLocker is a remote first company. Based in Lahinch, Co Clare, most of its 47 employees are fully distributed across the globe. HRLocker has a unique value based culture that prides itself on being highly flexible and growth orientated.

Adam Coleman, CEO at HRLocker, comments, “Employees are an organisation’s most valuable asset. At HRLocker we’re hugely passionate about making the workplace work better for businesses and their people. We’re constantly improving the platform to ensure it meets the requirements of our customers, whether that’s visualising data for reports or enabling more seamless flexible working. With this investment, we will continue to innovate HR solutions and bring the power of HRLocker to more businesses and to a wider international market.”

Hugh O’Donnell, “When it comes to digital transformation, HR is playing catch up with other business functions, such as finance and marketing. Since the massive shift to remote working in 2020, demand for effective, user-friendly employee management software solutions has exploded. As the first HR information system for growing companies, I firmly believe HRLocker has the team and the technology to be a global leader in this space.”

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Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too.

You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here:

If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at [email protected] now to discuss.

Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at [email protected] now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience.

You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has today announced it has appointed Marc Garner as the new regional Senior Vice President of its Secure Power Division in Europe. Garner is a 17-year veteran of Schneider Electric, and since first joining its graduate program in 2005, has progressed through several leadership positions within the organization.

Schneider Electric Appoints Marc Garner as Vice President of Secure Power Division

In his new role Marc will be tasked with continuing to lead Schneider Electric’s Secure Power Division across Europe, working with country and zone leaders in CEEI, DACH, France, Iberia, Ireland, Italy, and the UK to build the sustainable data centers of the future. Further, through his extensive experience and knowledge within the region, as well as his strong sales and customer-focused background, he is perfectly placed to help customers in Europe navigate the challenges created by the energy crisis and will be integral in accelerating the data center industry’s sustainability ambitions.

“I’m delighted to be appointed as SVP for the Secure Power Division in Europe and look forward to working with our customers across the region to fulfil our mission of being their digital partner for sustainability and efficiency,” said Marc Garner. “I believe that digitalization and electrification are the key vectors for decarbonization, and that our company’s vision for Electricity 4.0 will be vital to help the data center sector transition from a consumer to a prosumer to enable greater resilience of the grid.”

Garner’s most recent role as VP Secure Power Division in the UK and Ireland, saw him responsible for successfully leading the companies first Major Pursuits team alongside its data center, and critical power businesses. Here he worked directly with key customers including hyperscale, colocation and end-user organizations to meet demands for data center efficiency, sustainability, and resilience, and drive growth across the zone.

As SVP, Marc will be responsible for Schneider Electric’s flagship brand of physical infrastructure solutions, APCô, as well as its single and three-phase uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), edge computing solutions and its transactional business across Europe. His team will work with key stakeholders across the Schneider Electric partner ecosystem including its Elite and Alliance IT Solution Partners, Distributors and Specifiers, to catalyze growth across the regions IT, OT, and ET channels.

Following the launch of its mySchneider IT Solutions Provider Partner Program in 2022, the company has focussed its efforts on helping partners to specialize in sustainability, and it intrinsically believes that the skills and expertise of its partner-base will be essential to meet net zero targets.

For more information about Schneider Electric, please visit the website.

About Schneider Electric Schneider’s purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

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More about Irish Tech News

Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too.

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If you’d like to be featured in an up...

Dublin City Council today launched Dublin Discovery Trails – ‘Doors into Docklands’, the first in a series of mobile application (App) based immersive discovery trails with innovative Augmented Reality. The App, which has been co funded by Dublin City Council and Fáilte Ireland’s Destination Town Investment Scheme, will help to further unlock the tourism potential of the Docklands by bringing the area and its story to life for visitors in a new and immersive way.

This App is an innovative way to see the history of the Docklands come to life through Augmented Reality which combines the real-world history with smart technology. This App merges the old and the new, combining history and technology, and will guide the user in their own time on a journey of discovery to some of the Docklands most loved sites and attractions, enabling them to uncover compelling stories of Dublin’s culture, heritage and history via Augmented Reality technology.

You can experience the Guinness barges sailing down the River Liffey, to the Crimean Banquet held in the CHQ and the story of the famine statues. Along the trail you can see the ‘history come to life’ with a 360-degree view of the Custom House fires blazing in 1921, the Scherzer Bridges in 2D animation and Port workers in the Diving Bell toiling at the bottom of the sea. You will also meet many Augmented Reality characters telling their stories from Captain Bligh who surveyed Dublin Bay in the 1800’s to Maggie Doyle telling her tale as a Docker’s daughter.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy, launching this exciting new App said, “This is amazing technology, bringing a part of Dublin alive that most of us have never seen! It’s really exciting innovation and as Lord Mayor, I’m proud to see Dublin at the forefront of smart tourism technology joining the past and the future together. I’d like to take the opportunity to encourage visitors and Dubliners alike to download the App and try out this immersive new experience.”

Dublin City Council directed the implementation of this exciting first trail on Dublin Discovery Trails App, ‘Doors into Docklands’ developed by Peel X. The development of the Docklands Augmented Reality trail was in collaboration with representatives from Fáilte Ireland, Dublin Port Company, OPW, EPIC, Smart Dublin and Dublin City Council Culture Company.

The Dublin Discovery Trails App is a platform on which multiple Dublin tourism agencies and local authorities can develop new and exciting immersive experiences. The underlying tender framework facilitated by Dublin City Council has structured Dublin Discovery Trails as a centralised App to provide immersive experience development across Dublin. Members of this tender framework include Fáilte Ireland, Dublin Port Company, Waterways Ireland and the four Dublin Local Authorities.

The App is a first-of-its-kind development for Dublin City Council and further promotes the capital’s position as a leading ‘Smart City’. The App is aimed at locals and visitors to the City who want to know more about and experience the history of the Docklands from a new and unique perspective. It will transport the user back in time using 3D graphics, animations, and storytelling immersing them in historical scenes and shocking events from the Docklands’ past.

Karl Mitchell, Director of Service Area Management in Dublin City Council said, “The App was jointly funded by Dublin City Council and Fáilte Ireland and the innovative technology that was developed offers a new way for visitors and locals to experience the capital city like never before. This App through its immersive Augmented Reality technology allows users to explore the City’s Docklands in an engaging and exciting way. You can find out more about Dublin’s maritime history, visit famous landmarks and heritage sites, uncover hidden wonders, and experience history and culture in a new fun way.”

Speaking at the launch, Paul Keeley, Director of Regional Development at Fáilte Ireland said, “Tod...

THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022

WINNER 2022

Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

by Chris Miller, Simon & Schuster (UK), Scribner (US)

Power in the modern world – military, economic, geopolitical – is built on a foundation of computer chips. America has maintained its lead as a superpower because it has dominated advances in computer chips and all the technology that chips have enabled. Virtually everything runs on chips: cars, phones, the stock market, even the electric grid.

Now that edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by the naïve assumption that globalising the chip industry and letting players in Taiwan, Korea and Europe take over manufacturing serves America’s interests. Currently, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more on chips than any other product, is pouring billions into a chip-building Manhattan Project to catch up to the US.

In Chip War economic historian Chris Miller recounts the fascinating sequence of events that led to the United States perfecting chip design, and how faster chips helped defeat the Soviet Union by rendering the Russians’ arsenal of precision-guided weapons obsolete. The battle to control this industry will shape our future. China spends more money importing chips than buying oil, and they are China’s greatest external vulnerability as they are fundamentally reliant on foreign chips. But with 37 per cent of the global supply of chips being made in Taiwan, within easy range of Chinese missiles, the West’s fear is that a solution may be close at hand.

THE SHORTLIST FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022

Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World’s Most Secretive Industry by Matthew Campbell, Kit Chellel, Atlantic Books (UK), Portfolio (US)

In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd’s of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. Soon after his inspection, he was murdered.

Dead in the Water is a shocking exposé of the criminal inner-workings of international shipping, an old-world industry at the backbone of our global economy. Through first-hand accounts of those who lived the hijacking – from members of the ship’s crew and witnesses to the attacks, to the ex-London detectives turned private investigators seeking to solve Mockett’s murder – award-winning reporters Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel piece together the astounding truth behind one of the most brazen financial frauds in history.

Influence Empire: The Story of Tencent and China’s Tech Ambition by Lulu Chen, Hodder & Stoughton (UK and US)

In 2017, a company known as Tencent overtook Facebook to become the world’s fifth largest company. It was a watershed moment, a wake-up call for those in the West accustomed to regarding the global tech industry through the prism of Silicon Valley: Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft.

Yet to many of the two billion-plus people who live just across the Pacific Ocean, it came as no surprise at all.

Founded by the enigmatic billionaire Pony Ma, the firm that began life as a simple text-message operator invested in and created some of China’s most iconic games enroute to dreaming up WeChat, the Swiss Army knife super-app that combines messaging, shopping and entertainment. Through billions of dollars of global investments in marquee names from Fortnite to Tesla and a horde of start-ups, Ma’s company went on to build a near-unparalleled empire of influence.

In this fascinating narrative, crammed with insider interviews and exclusive details, Lulu Chen tells the story of how Tencent created the golden era of Chinese technology, and delves into key battles involving Didi, Meituan and Alibaba. It’s a chronicle of critical junctures and asks just what it takes to be a successful entrep...

Enterprise Ireland, the Government agency responsible for developing Irish business globally, has announced the creation of 19,660 new jobs by Enterprise Ireland client companies in 2022. The jobs growth translates into a net increase of 10,841 jobs created last year.

Enterprise Ireland companies now employ 218,178 people, an increase of 5% on the 2021 outturn and 68% of these jobs are outside Dublin.

Employment increased across Enterprise Ireland’s three core economic sectors – Technology & Services (+8%), Industrial and Life Sciences (+5%) and Food and Sustainability (+3%).

Strong employment growth was reported in specific sub-sectors such as:

Climate, Sustainability and Agritech (+13%) — Digital Technology (+9%), — High Tech Construction and Housing (+6%) — Fintech, Financial and Business Services (+6%) — The Life Sciences and Engineering sectors both saw 5% employment growth.

Speaking at the launch of the figures today Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD said: “The employment base in Ireland is already strong as further evidenced by the substantial jobs figures announced today by Enterprise Ireland. 2021 was a record year for employment creation in Enterprise Ireland companies and to see a further 5% increase in total employment in 2022 shows the potential we have to continue to go from strength to strength. But we must not be complacent, and we need to continue to focus on the right things to further build the resilience of business and to keep innovation at the heart of that.

“A real positive of today’s results is the regional balance in terms of both new jobs created and total employment. More than 147,000 people in the regions are now employed by Enterprise Ireland client companies, making an enormous contribution to local economies and communities.

“The Government’s target to have a record 2.5 million people employed by 2024 has already been exceeded. Enterprise Ireland has also exceeded its own employment target for 2022 with these results announced today.

“I firmly believe that with a strong focus on innovation, digitalisation, sustainability and regional development, Enterprise Ireland will continue to enhance their significant contribution to growing and maintaining quality jobs in every region and county in Ireland.

“The White Paper on Enterprise which we published last December together with progressing the recommendations of the SME Taskforce and, in combination with Enterprise Ireland’s own strategy, will help to guide us on our journey to drive the improvements that matter most to small businesses, particularly the evolution towards a green and digital future, which are the twin pillars of our future enterprise policy.

“To help business to adapt and to make the necessary changes we need to build on successful interventions, like the Digital and Green Transition Funds, and to reap the opportunities available.

The results announced today give us a really strong platform on which to further grow and expand our enterprise base and in a sustainable way.”

Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy said: “I am delighted to announce that 2022 was a strong year with our client companies creating 19,660 new jobs, growing net employment by 5%. This compares favorably with the latest CSO Labour Force Survey for 2022 which showed an increase of 3.4% in total employment across the economy.”

“Of note is the significant growth in key sectors of the economy ranging from Lifesciences, Prepared Consumer Food to Technology and Services.”

Today’s announcement takes place at leading Irish tech firm Version 1’s headquarters in Dublin.

Leo Clancy continued, “Enterprise Ireland supported companies like Version 1 play a vital role in the Irish economy, employing more than 218,000 people in cities, towns and villages throughout the country and making an enormous contribution to local economies.

“Supporting Irish-owned companies to achieve greater scale and expand their global footprint is a priority for Enterprise...