SOFTWARE
Microsoft Office relaunched
Microsoft Corp unveiled a new version of its Office suite aimed at traditional PC users as well as the fast-growing tablet market in a major overhaul of the ageing workplace software. The revamped Office makes use of cloud computing and is compatible with touch screens widely used in tablets. It comes as Apple and Google make inroads into the workplace, long Microsoft’s stronghold. Office is Microsoft’s single-biggest profit driver. Microsoft last updated Office in 2010, when it incorporated online versions for the first time. The full version of Office 15 is expected to be available early next year.
PHARMACEUTICALS
GSK secures Genome bid
UK drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) PLC has secured its takeover of longtime partner Human Genome Sciences after agreeing to pay more, a move to expand GSK’s drug portfolio in crucial areas: biologic drugs and treatments for the hundreds of millions of people with diabetes and heart disease. The two companies said on Monday that GSK will pay US$3.6 billion, or US$14.25 per share, for the US biotechnology company. The final price is up from GSK’s previous offer of US$13 per share and almost double the US$7.17 closing price for Human Genome shares on April 18, the last trading day before GSK’s initial offer was publicly disclosed. Under the agreement, GSK gains full ownership of two experimental drugs plus Human Genome’s only marketed medicine, Benlysta — the first new drug approved in about 50 years for lupus, a chronic immune disorder believed to affect about 5 million people around the world.
ELECTRONICS
LG faces TV tech theft case
LG Display Co said 11 people, including six of its own employees, have been charged with stealing advanced television display technology from rival Samsung. LG Display said yesterday that it was charged along with the 11 for alleged theft of OLED technology between 2010 and last year. Three of those charged currently work at Samsung Display, a display-making unit of Samsung Electronics Co. LG denied that it or its employees were involved in the technology theft. Samsung said LG Display systematically stole its display technology and poached Samsung employees.
FINANCE
IMF extends loan to Portugal
The IMF said on Monday it was releasing 1.48 billion euros (US$1.82 billion) in new funds to troubled Portugal after Lisbon passed a performance review under its bailout loan program. The financial body said Lisbon was on track to narrow its fiscal deficit under tough austerity measures required under the 78 billion euro joint IMF-European Union rescue program launched in May last year.
TECHnology
Samsung buys CSR unit
British chip firm CSR has sold its mobile phone connectivity and location technology to Samsung for US$310 million in cash in a deal that boosts the South Korean company’s patent portfolio. Samsung will also invest US$34.4 million in buying a 4.9 percent stake in CSR at a price of 223 pence a share, CSR said in a statement yesterday. CSR chief executive Joep van Beurden said the deal unlocked value for shareholders and would enable the company to focus on areas where it had a leading market position, such as audio, automotive, indoor location, imagining and Bluetooth.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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