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■ MEMORY CHIPS
Short DDR2 supply expected
Two of Taiwan's memory-chip manufacturers warned earlier last week that the industry will continue to see DDR2 dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips in short supply during the first half of this year. DRAM is used primarily in personal computers. DDR, or double data rate, is a faster type of DRAM that consumes less power. Second-generation chips (DDR2) deliver performance benefits over their first-generation (DDR1) counterparts. Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) vice president Pai Pei-lin (白培霖) told an investor's meeting on Jan. 23 that memory chip supply will be very tight until March, specifically for DDR2 chips. Demand is estimated to exceed supply by about 30 percent during the period, he said. Owing to the shortage, the company predicted a 10-percent increase in DRAM contract prices next month, he said. Global memory chipmakers won't be able to produce enough DDR2 chips to meet demand for at least for two more quarters, ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) chairman Chen Min-liang (陳民良) said on Wednesday. Nanya Technology is the nation's second-largest memory-chip maker, after Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體). ProMOS is the third-largest.

■ COMPUTERS
Light notebooks panned
Notebook computers weighing less than 2.5kg are practical, but still have problem areas including batteries with short lifespans. Batteries for use in mobile notebook computers should last longer than four hours, according to the German computer magazine c't. A test of 11 notebook computers showed that while most of them are equipped with a 14-inch display, only one of the batteries lasted longer than four hours. While some of the notebooks ran longer with an additional battery, the notebook became heavier.

■ SOFTWARE
Microsoft eyes Seadragon
Microsoft Corp is acquiring Seadragon Software, a Seattle-based company developing technologies that could be used across several of the software giant's businesses, the Seattle Times reported, citing a person familiar with the deal. Seadragon, which has 10 employees, has developed technology that lets people quickly view large images from a personal computer or other device, the newspaper said. Neither Seadragon nor Microsoft would comment on the matter, the Times said. Seadragon was founded in Princeton, New Jersey, in 2003 by Blaise Aguera y Arcas, then a graduate student at Princeton University, the newspaper reported.

■ TELECOMS
Complaints grow in China
Complaints by China's mobile-phone subscribers rose last year because of fees the users were charged for text-message services they either didn't want or hadn't realized they were using, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing data from the China Consumer Association. Complaints related to telecommunications services rose 13 percent last year from 2004, the report said. Among the most common complaints were that users were charged for services activated by sending a reply to a text message from an unknown number, Xinhua said. China, the world's largest cellphone market by users, had 393.4 million mobile subscribers as of the end of last month, according to data from the Ministry of Information Industry. The number of short text messages sent rose 39.9 percent to 304.7 billion from a year earlier.


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