■ Internet
Yahoo answers top 5 million
An online information-sharing forum operated by Yahoo Taiwan Inc has gathered more than 5 million resolved answers since it was established 18 months ago, company officials said yesterday. The "Knowledge+" search service -- the Yahoo Taiwan equivalent for the English-language "Yahoo! Answers" -- has seen an average 12,000 questions being answered per day over the past 18 months, the officials said. The single-month non-repeated visits amounted to more than 6.7 million, they said. In February, the top three question categories that received the most responses from users were "science and health," with 210,000 responses; "computer and Internet," with 170,000 responses; and "video and audio entertainment," with 150,000 responses, according to the officials.
■ Trade
EU, Asian ministers to meet
EU finance ministers were to talk about Europe's efforts to cope with globalization in Vienna yesterday, before they start a two-day meeting with Asian ministers. Chief executives from Nestle SA, Volkswagen AG and Telefonica Moviles SA were to meet ministers to explain how they believe the EU can remain an attractive business location as Europe tries to capitalize on the current upswing in export demand and create more jobs. Responding to global changes by trying to protect national economies could damage growth, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Friday. The world response to high oil prices were to dominate talks yesterday between the EU and 13 Asian countries -- Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
■ Internet
Touts snatch up .eu domains
Internet touts have used a legal loophole to buy thousands of Europe's new Internet addresses, thwarting attempts to crack down on cybersquatters and unscrupulous traders. The new addresses, ending in .eu, went on sale on Friday. Existing trademark owners were given four months to apply for their name before domains were opened up to the public, but thanks to a confusing clash of trademark laws across Europe, some dealers were able to claim ownership of words such as "green" and "student" and buy them privately. In Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, trademarks can be registered for as little as US$199 and approved within 24 hours. Dealers are then able to sell the domain on the open market, often for more than US$12,000.
■ Media
Time Inc cuts 250 jobs
Time Inc, the magazine unit of Time Warner Inc, cut 250 jobs on Friday as part of an ongoing shakeup at the publisher of Sports Illustrated and People. Including the latest layoffs, Time has cut more than 450 of its 12,000 jobs since December. That's when the unit's chief executive, Ann Moore, appointed Nora McAniff and John Squires as co-chief operating officers, in an effort to cut costs, speed decision-making and accelerate its expansion beyond print. "This is not just about cost-cutting. We are reallocating our assets as we continue to evolve from a magazine publisher to a multi-platform media company," said Ali Zelenko, a Time spokeswoman. The latest round of job cuts chiefly affects mid-level to junior-level business personnel across most of the company's more than 150 titles.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six