INTERNET
Yahoo, Facebook talk truce
Facebook and Yahoo are in patent war truce talks that could end a legal battle between the companies, according to court documents available online on Wednesday. “The parties are currently engaged in settlement negotiations to resolve this dispute,” attorney Kevin Smith of the Yahoo legal team said in a filing asking a federal court to allow the companies more time to negotiate. “The parties believe that a further extension will facilitate settlement.”
TECHNOLOGY
Apple fined for 4G claims
Apple was yesterday fined A$2.25 million (US$2.29 million) for misleading Australian consumers about the local 4G capability of its next-generation iPad, in a case brought by regulators. The tech giant was also ordered to pay A$300,000 in costs by the Australian Federal Court. Justice Mordy Bromberg found that Apple misled people with claims in its advertising implying that the “iPad with WiFi + 4G” could connect with fourth-generation cellular networks in Australia, when it could not.
DELIVERIES
UPS to launch TNT takeover
US delivery giant United Parcel Service (UPS) will launch a 5.16 billion euro (US$6.77 billion) takeover bid of Dutch firm TNT Express today, the two companies said in a statement. “The offer period commences on 22 June 2012 at 9:00 hours Amsterdam time (3:00 am New York time, 0700 GMT) and ends on 31 August 2012 at 18:00 Amsterdam time (noon New York time, 1600 GMT) unless extended,” the statement said.
EUROZONE
Current account plummets
The eurozone’s current account surplus dropped to 4.6 billion euros (US$5.8 billion) in April from 10.3 billion euros the previous month, European Central Bank data showed yesterday. The current account on the balance of payments, which includes imports and exports in both goods and services plus all other current transfers, is a closely tracked indicator of the ability of a country or area to pay its way. Over the 12 months to April, the current account showed a surplus of 18.8 billion euros, compared with a deficit of 18.6 billion euros in the corresponding period a year earlier, the data showed.
HONG KONG
Inflation and growth slow
The territory’s inflation cooled to 4.3 percent last month, the slowest pace since February last year, after economic growth moderated along with food and rental costs. The rise in the consumer-price index from a year earlier compared with April’s rate of 4.7 percent and matched the median estimate of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The underlying inflation rate, excluding distortions from temporary government subsidies, was 5.1 percent.
GERMANY
Tax revenue down 4.3%
The country’s Ministry of Finance says its tax revenue was down 4.3 percent last month compared with a year earlier — a drop that follows a long sequence of steady rises, but the government says was due largely to a technical changeover. The ministry said in its monthly report released yesterday that taxes collected last month totaled 40.26 billion euros. It said the year-on-year drop was caused largely by a switch in the way taxes on dividends are paid, leading to delays in collecting those taxes — and it expects much of the missing money to come in over the coming months.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained