Business Briefs

■ Investment
FSC to loosen bank limits
Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission said it plans to allow banks to invest in mutual funds and private equity certificates, and allow lenders meeting certain requirements to increase holdings of bonds and securities. The commission unveiled a draft to regulate banks' investments in securities, saying the new rules will help boost the financial market and strengthen banks' awareness of risk management, the regulator said in a statement issued late on Friday on its Web site. According to the commission, banks with a capital adequacy ratio of more than 10 percent and overdue loan ratio of below 2.5 percent would be allowed to increase investments in securities. It is estimated that 16 banks met the requirements, which would increase investment in stocks and bonds by NT$948 billion (US$30 billion).

■ Robotics
Swimming robot developed
A robot with undulating fins attached to motors has been developed in Singapore with the aim of eventual use in marine studies and surveillance operations, researchers said yesterday. The biomimetic robot that mimics organisms is the creation of a team at Nanyang Technological University. "Nature's design took millions of years to perfect," the Straits Times quoted zoologist Diong Cheong Hoong as saying. "We cannot copy it precisely, but we've definitely succeeded in getting the design right." Three prototypes were produced over two years. The first and third are modeled on the stingray, with fins along the sides of the plastic-encased body. The second prototype mimics the swimming motion of the knife fish, with fins along the bottom.

■ Electronics
iPod phones in the works
B Softbank Corp and Apple Computer Inc are planning to jointly develop mobile phones that have built-in iPod digital music players and can download songs directly from Apple's iTunes Music Store, news reports said yesterday. The Japanese Internet service company and the US computer company are expected to launch handsets with the iPod functions as early as this year in Japan, Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai reported, citing unnamed sources. The two companies also plan to develop a phone that can download songs using Softbank's wireless communication network next year, the paper said. Kyodo News agency had a similar report. Officials of the two companies were not available for comment yesterday. Softbank entered the mobile phone business last month after it acquired British mobile phone company Vodafone's struggling Japan unit.

■ Entertainment
BBC airs virtual concert
The BBC planned to rock in virtual reality yesterday with a simulcast of its Radio 1 Big Weekend Music Festival inside the popular online game Second Life. The three-dimensional online world, operated by San Francisco-based Linden Lab, is filled with thousands of people who interact, buy property and create their own customized avatars, which are graphic representations of the users. Second Life's virtual residents will be able to watch artists including Pink, Snow Patrol and The Streets or listen to them on a radio that plays within the game. In the real world, the UK public broadcaster's festival is taking place in Dundee, Scotland. "There's a festival area with huge video screens, where residents will be able to ... watch the festival," Radio 1 spokesman Jamie Austin said.