A round-up of other technology stories in brief.

Online training aid for lawyers

Legal publishers First Law and e-learning firm PrimeLearning have teamed up to produce an online training resource for solicitors and barristers. FirstCPD.com provides continuing professional development (CPD) training online using video and audio content that can be played on an MP3 player.

Ultimately the joint venture will expand to provide training for other professionals.

Irish firm to open in Gdansk

Irish systems integrator Kainos will open an office in Gdansk, Poland next month. Initially employing seven, the office is expected to have 20 staff within the next 18 months. This will support the development of SpeechStorm, its suite of hosted voice recognition applications.

The Polish move was prompted by a drop in the number of IT graduates available in Ireland.

Kainos has been growing steadily in the last year and now employs 220 consultants.

MobileAware has bet site

Irish software firm MobileAware has deployed a mobile betting site for bookmakers William Hill. The service, available to 400,000 active account holders, provides a range of services including sports results, live betting, bet-in-running, commentary, an arcade and a My Account facility. MobileAware says the service can be accessed from "any mobile device, across any mobile network".

Dublin firm wins web deal

Dublin-based content management software firm TerminalFour has won nine contracts to power university websites in Ireland, Britain and the US.

The combined value of the contracts is €1.3 million and includes deals with University College Dublin, University of Glasgow and the University of Virginia.

The company said the deals underline the importance of an accessible and dynamic website in attracting prospective students.

Microsoft privacy policy

Microsoft has announced an advanced privacy policy for its Live Search service and other online advertising offerings.

In common with Google, Microsoft will now make users' search queries anonymous after 18 months by "permanently removing cookie IDs, the entire IP address and other identifiers from search terms".

Microsoft said it will also give customers more control over what information is used to personalise Live Search and later this year will join industry group the Network Advertising Initiative.

RFID likened to dotcom bubble

Heavey RF, an Irish firm which specialises in the use of radio frequency technology in a range of applications, claims that radio frequency identification (RFID) is being over hyped by systems integrators and is now in a situation akin to the dot com bubble. In a report entitled RFID.Bomb? the firm states: "If you are an Irish company which does not have an RFID strategy you have absolutely nothing to worry about. RFID is not as reliable as bar-coding and can never be as cost effective."

Network 3 to cut charges

Mobile network 3 will cut European roaming charges for its customers at the end of August when the new European Commission regulations come into force and claims its will be a third cheaper than other Irish networks.

3 customers will be charged 39c a minute to make a call in the EU and 19c a minute to receive one.