ireland

Amping up its music game, Google Music is expanding its reach to seven more countries. The Web giant announced today that consumers in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, and Portugal now have access to the free music storage service.

With this service, users can store up to 20,000 pre-purchased songs on Google Play and stream them via an Android smartphone or tablet or the Web. Several of the countries that now have access to Google Music will also get the "Artist Hub," which is a platform for independent and local artists to sell music directly … Read more

Intel has the go-ahead to construct a $4 billion plant in Ireland where it will design the next generation of 14 nanometer processors.

The chip giant received the OK from Ireland's lead planning agency, according to Ireland-based tech news site Silicon Republic. With that approval a done deal, the project just needs authorization from Intel's board to move forward.

Construction is expected to take two years and could create 3,500 construction jobs and 800 full-time permanent positions. The plant will be located at Intel's campus in Leixlip, County Kildare, where 4,000 people already work, Silicon … Read more

The U.K. is accusing Facebook of dodging taxes in 2011. According to the Guardian, tax experts said that the tech company reported lower sales figures than estimated and explicitly set up its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, to reap the benefits of lowered tax incentives for corporations.

"The U.K. is being taken for a ride," Tax Research U.K. director Richard Murphy told the Guardian. "Facebook is taking standard practice for these IT companies to a new high, or low, depending on how you look at it."

Facebook paid $313,345 to the U.K. … Read more

Netflix can now count 1 million subscribers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Membership ranks hit that number just seven months after the video service debuted in the two countries. Combined, that earned them a record for the fastest growth among all regions worldwide, according to Netflix.

Users are spending more time catching TV shows and movies online, says a YouGov survey commissioned by Netflix. A full 10 percent of people in the U.K. spend at least two hours each day watching their favorite shows via the Internet.

Comedy and drama are the top hits among Netflix members in … Read more

When Netflix users in the U.S. are sick of their queue or feel like they've already seen much of what's been offered on "Watch Instantly," they can just scroll down to the "Recently Added" subhead and see if the video service has anything fun and new to watch.

Until today, only U.S. and Canadian users had this feature. Now, people in the U.K., Ireland, and Latin America can see all of the new titles that Netflix has "recently added," announced the streaming service today.

Apple plans to add more employees to its European headquarters in Cork, Ireland, the company announced today.

Over the next 18 months, Apple plans to add 500 employees to its Ireland-based operation to help "support our growing business across Europe." Apple currently has 2,800 employees in Cork. In order to make room for the new hires, Apple will build a three-story office building next to the existing facility, according to Ireland's RTE News.

Although Apple hasn't said what kind of jobs will be created in the move, Cork provides a host of back-office and supply-chain … Read more

Making good on its promise to sell streaming players internationally by the beginning of 2012, California-based Roku announced today that both the Roku LT and Roku 2 XS are for sale in the U.K. and Ireland.

This comes hot on the heels of Netflix's expansion of video streaming in those same countries.

"Roku launched the first ever streaming player to deliver Netflix to consumers in the U.S. and now we are among the first to bring Netflix to residents of the U.K. and Ireland," said Clive Hudson, Roku's vice president and general manager … Read more

Netflix has brought its streaming video to the United Kingdom and Ireland, marking a new challenge to Amazon and its competing Lovefilm service.

The service costs 5.99 pounds ($9.24) per month in the U.K. and 6.99 euros ($8.88) per month in Ireland, Netflix said today.

Expanding internationally is not simple, because content providers such as TV and movie studios require new deals for new geographic regions. Netflix has been bulking up its distribution deals in recent months, and now it's got a sizable list of allies for Ireland and the U.K.: All3Media, the … Read more

Facebook today announced plans to change parts of its service in Europe following an audit by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC).

In a blog post this morning, the company said that the three-month audit by the DPC resulted in a close look at the company's various privacy features, some of which will be adjusted to better comply with the report's findings.

"We are pleased that following three months of rigorous examination, the DPC report demonstrates how Facebook adheres to European data protection principles and complies with Irish law," said Richard Allan, Facebook's EMEA's … Read more