Dr Peter Gallagher, solar physicist and former NASA employee, led the team from Trinity. He said the app has been getting 3,000 to 4,000 hits from around the world each day.
“We get everyone from secondary school students to professional astronomers using it. Also, those working on GPS systems want to know what’s going on in the sun. If there is an explosion it can affect their GPS systems.”
Gallagher said the team’s aim is to develop the app further as activity on the sun increases.
“Over the next year three years things are going to get active, with the sun at its most active in 2012 and 2013.”

Speakers include Dr Genevieve Bell, anthropologist and researcher, and Luke Williams, author, professor and fellow at Frog Design.
Two recruiting events will take place during the conference which will be held at The Convention Centre Dublin.
“The whole theme of the conference is building bridges and connecting people in Europe with other parts of the world. There will be a lot of stuff happening both on and off line and on Twitter,” says Byrne.
Tickets for the full conference are almost sold out but the organisers have just released day passes which will be of interest to locals. You can also sign up for workshops, which will take place at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology.

In the meantime it is investing €3.3 million into its research and development programme.
The new ‘high-value’ jobs will be created mostly in sales, engineering, development and product management. They’ll be based across the firm’s Dublin operation and at its regional office in Galway.
OpenJaw is headquartered in Dublin but has offices in Galway, Madrid, Frankfurt and Dallas.
The new jobs will bring the total number of people employed by the firm to 169, 151 of whom will be employed in Ireland.
OpenJaw’s customers include airlines, online travel agencies and hotel chains.
Kieron Branagan, CEO, OpenJaw Technologies, said the firm sees great opportunities for ongoing growth.
“Our growth strategy is aimed clearly on greater penetration of the global travel market.”

Organisers expect about 300 people to attend the invitation-only event.
It provides a great opportunity for entrepreneurs, investors and their friends to network, according to Paddy Cosgrave, DWS organiser.
“It also provides a chance for a number of Irish start ups to speak and exhibit. For those hiring or looking to get hired there’ll be opportunities too,” he said.
Cosgrave hopes the summit will become a regular part of the DWS calendar of events.
“This is a great opportunity for companies to show off their latest product developments and for investors to see the great talent we have here.
“Dublin is clearly buzzing when it comes to tech and we want to meet that demand.”

Company: Pixel Wolf Studios an independent game development studio based in Dublin, currently focusing on game developments for release on the iOS and Android mobile marketplaces. You can find out more information at www.pixelwolfstudios.com.
Job description: As the company is so fresh and the team is so small, our roles are very much intertwined. At the moment everyone does a fair share of everything whether it’s working on new game ideas, puzzle designs, programming or graphic design.
Likes: The atmosphere in the office right now is buzzing. No two days are the same. There’s always something to be done. I really enjoy the problem solving aspects of my work. When programming games from scratch you have to think of what you want the game to do and then figure out a way to do it within the restraints of whatever programming language you’re using at the time. There’s a lot of thinking outside the box with this job. Other times I’m working on graphic design or keeping up with the Irish dev community.
Career ladder: I always knew I wanted to work in the game design industry. When I finished school I took a look at what courses were available here in Ireland that would open game development opportunities for me; at that time a lot of the courses were focusing on computer science, and that can lead down a very technical and specific road in the gaming industry. I wanted to have more of creative input into the games I would be creating; so I moved to London to study Computer Game Design (Story Development) and after that I returned to Ireland. By then the industry had flourished a little here and I decided to do a masters in Digital Games. As the masters was coming to an end, it was obvious that the gaming industry in Ireland was really starting to blossom. The timing was perfect to establish a studio. I’d recommend others who are considering the same to be more pro-active about it now rather than later. It takes two minutes to contact other studios that are out there. You’d be surprised at how supportive everyone in the community is. Speak to as many people as you can to get a strong idea of what would be involved and if you still really feel like you want to do it then just go for it
Qualifications: I received a BA (hons) in Computer Game Design (Story Development) from the University of East London and have just finished studying a Masters of Science in Digital Games at Dublin Institute of Technology.
Working hours: The atmosphere in the studio is so relaxed so there’s no exact start time precisely. Usually we start between 9am and 10am and work until around 6pm. Or if there’s a deadline looming we might stay back later than that to make sure that everything is polished.
Breaktime: Where the studio is located there’s a lot of choice for lunch. The Guinness Enterprise Centre has a café on site and Thomas Street is just a minutes walking distance too. Generally lunch time is a chance to chat with others about what you’re working on currently and get a fresh point of view. We usually go over the tasks for the rest of the day to keep us on track too.
Social media credentials: Keeping up appearances is an important part of such a digital company. It allows your clients and target audience to keep up to speed with how your company is growing. And it really helps that the rest of the community here in Ireland is so welcoming. We try to keep our social media channels open and up to date as often as we can. You can follow us on twitter and like us on Facebook.
News sources: Considering the size of the industry there’s a lot to keep up with. My first stops usually include The Gaming Liberty, Edge Magazine’s online forum and GameDevelopers.ie to keep up to date with the Irish developer scene.

Onsite or offsite: When we’re working on a project we’re generally in the studio however we do travel to client’s offices and studios for regular meetings to keep everyone up to date on our progress.
Digital strategy/vision: Since all of our projects are digital and the digital industry is so dynamic and ever changing, it’s important that we keep up to date with new digital technologies and trends. Keeping up to speed with gadgets and their specs helps us to decide which devices to develop for and which channels will be opening up.
I love Mondays because: When you’re in the middle of a development cycle your day can become filled with programming issues and graphic asset refinements and you can easily get tied up and lost within all the work. So over the weekend I always try to make some time to play, whether it’s new games on the scene, golden oldies or whatever demo I can get my hands on. So when Monday comes I’m always bursting with inspiration and enthusiasm to create something new. I have pages filled with sketches and notes from ideas I’ve had over the weekend and I like to discuss them and build little sample games to see what might be the next big Pixel Wolf Studios project.

Ireland is to be the location for the sixth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM) this year. It takes place from 4 to 8 June at Trinity College Dublin.
The event has become a must on the calendar of those in computer science, linguistics, communication and the social sciences.
The deadline for abstract submissions to the conference are due in this Friday, 13 January.

Mediacontact.ie’s annual conference has been rebranded to Media Future. A number of international and national media speakers have attended the event over the past three years.
This year’s conference takes place on 14 and 15 May at The Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. Fifty early bird tickets were released yesterday for €125.

The company is looking to recruit both graduates and experienced specialists in areas such as Java, SAP, cloud computing, mobility and workplace collaboration technologies.
Around half of the Dublin-based positions will be for graduates, and will be separate from the firm’s graduate recruitment programme that takes place around October each year.
The technology jobs are also in addition to those being created at Accenture’s Analytic Innovation Centre in Dublin. In May last year, the firm announced it would create 100 jobs, and continues to recruit for those positions.
Accenture provides management consultancy, technology services and outsourcing to clients, which include Microsoft, Kerry Group and the Revenue Commissioners.

In Ireland, the firm will offer unlimited access to its site for €6.99 per month. However, it is introducing itself to the Irish market by offering a free, one month trial.
Users can watch both local and global TV programmes and films on their laptops, game consoles, blu-ray players, tablets and smartphones.
At launch, the firm is offering programmes from BBC, Channel 4’s 4oD and ITV, as well as CBS, NBCUniversal and Twentieth Century Fox, among others.
Worldwide, Netflix has 23.6 million subscribers. It has reportedly grown to become the biggest source of web traffic in the US since it was established in 1997.

The app has been shortlisted from over 7,240 app nominations worldwide. Previous winners of the award include Angry Birds and Instagram.
App developer and founder of Greyhorseapps.com Elaine Heney relishes the challenge of making great apps.
“With the recession and European economic challenges, now is a great time to push the boundaries and create innovate products.”
The Tipperary-based firm’s roots were planted in 2004, when Heney set up irishhorsemanship.com to find people who share an interest in good horsemanship.
She set up Greyhorseapps.com in 2010 after a friend asked for permission to use the content from irishhorsemanship.com for an app.
The firm has since published over 30 apps to iOS and Android.
Voting for the Best Ever Awards ends on 24 January.