TECHNOLOGY
AmTran faces patent probe
Taiwan-based LED TV assembler AmTran Technology Co (瑞軒) and its California subsidiary, AmTran Logistics Inc, are facing an investigation by the US International Trade Commission. In a statement released on Thursday, the commission said AmTran has been accused of infringing on patents asserted by Graphics Properties Holdings Inc, a patent-holding company in the US that filed a complaint with the commission on May 17 demanding an investigation. In addition to AmTran, the complainant has alleged that Japan’s Panasonic Corp and Toshiba Corp, China’s ZTE Corp (中興) and Vizio Inc, a US-based TV brand owned by AmTran, stole its technology. According to the commission, the investigation will involve certain electronic products, including notebook computers, tablet computers, desktop computers, TV sets and high-definition camcorders, along with DVD players that have display and processing capabilities.
TELECOMS
Operators, Hon Hai team up
The nation’s two biggest telecoms yesterday announced that they will sell 70-inch LCD TVs made by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for NT$58,800 along with their Internet TV service packages. It is an extension of the partnership between Chung-hwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and Hon Hai that began in November last year, when the companies teamed up to sell Hon Hai’s 60-inch LCD TVs. Chunghwa Telecom said it has attracted 12,000 subscribers for its Internet TV service.
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],”
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
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