COMMUNICATIONS
New iPhone lost in bar again
Technology news Web site CNET on Wednesday reported that a new version of Apple’s coveted iPhone went astray in a bar in a replay of an embarrassing loss that took place last year. An Apple employee lost a yet-to-be released iPhone model in a tequila bar in the San Francisco Mission District in July, according to CNET. Apple electronically tracked the device to a San Francisco home, but the resident denied knowing anything about the missing iPhone, which may have been sold for a couple of hundred dollars at online auction house eBay, CNET said. The report prompted speculation whether the missing iPhone was a next-generation model expected to be unveiled by Apple this month or next month.
BRAZIL
Brazil cuts interest rate
Brazil’s central bank on Wednesday made a surprise half-point cut in its main interest rate to 12.0 percent, citing a “deterioration” in the global economic outlook. The move reverses course for the South American economic power, which had seen a series of rate hikes over more than a year to rein in inflation. Many analysts had expected the central bank to keep its main rate unchanged, but the monetary policy committee said it took the action in the face of weaker forecasts from the world’s main economic blocs. The vote on the committee was 5-2. Finance Minister Guido Mantega meanwhile said that Brazil “must act as a protective measure to stop worsening [global] economic conditions from affecting Brazil’s economic strides.”
THAILAND
Inflation rate races up
Thailand’s inflation rate accelerated last month to the fastest pace since 2008 as rising food prices countered a decline in oil costs. An index of consumer prices climbed 4.29 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday, compared with a 4.08 percent pace in July. The median of 11 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 4 percent gain. The Bank of Thailand signaled it may be nearing the end of monetary tightening after raising the benchmark interest rate for the seventh straight meeting last month.
COMMUNICATIONS
Sony eyes Android market
Sony Corp says its goal is to become the biggest player in Japan’s growing Android tablet market. The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant, which unveiled its first tablets to the world on Wednesday, is also taking aim at the iPad’s commanding lead on its home turf. Sony will launch Japan sales of the Tablet S on Sept. 17. The smaller, dual-screened Tablet P will hit stores by November. Sony marketing executive Akihiro Matsubara said in Tokyo yesterday that Japan’s tablet market is expected to hit 2 million units this fiscal year through March and expand to 3.2 million the following year. The iPad holds about 85 percent of Japan’s tablet market, though Android-based tablets are expected to gain ground.
ACQUISITIONS
IBM agrees to buy i2
IBM has agreed to buy British security analytics software firm i2 for an undisclosed sum, it said on Wednesday, as it continues to devour companies that can help its clients deal with growing mountains of data. Privately held i2, which says its software helped US forces track down former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003, is based in the English university town of Cambridge and has 350 staff in Britain, the US, Canada and Australia.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last