■ Robotics
Fujitsu creates Maron-1
Japanese high-tech company Fujitsu Ltd said yesterday it would begin sales of a robot that was capable of programming video-cassette recorders and guarding homes. The Maron-1, a vacuum-cleaner-shaped guard robot with powered wheels and rotating cameras for eyes, is to go on sale in Japan Friday for around ¥298,000 (US$2,500). The first confirmed buyer was a condominium developer in Japan's southern Oita prefecture who intends to use the robot for security, a company spokesman said. "Maron-1 will find wide use in homes, small businesses and nursing or assisted living facilities as a valuable assistant in everyday life," Fujitsu said in a statement.
PHOTO: AFP
■ Mobile phones
Swiss ban pre-paid chips
The Swiss parliament banned anonymous pre-paid chips for mobile telephones on Wednesday after intelligence warnings that members of al Qaeda were using them to make calls without being traced. Swiss law enforcement officers had warned that members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities, were using Swiss pre-paid phone chips abroad. "It is true that we said members of al Qaeda, people who work in the field as well as heads ... were using this kind of pre-paid card from Switzerland," said Claude Nicati, deputy attorney general.
■ Cable operators
Netcom stakes grabbed up
Newbridge Capital Ltd, a US$1.2 billion San Francisco-based fund, and a Softbank Corp fund will each take 24.5 percent stakes in Asia Netcom, which gained control of bankrupt cable operator Asia Global Crossing Ltd. Asia Netcom "is one of the low-cost providers and has one of the most extensive and innovative networks," Lee Daniels, president of Newbridge Capital Japan LLC said in a phone interview from Shanghai. China Netcom Corp, a unit of the country's second-largest fixed-line carrier, this week completed the purchase of Asia Global Crossing's assets. China Netcom will take a 51 percent stake in Asia Netcom with Newbridge Capital and the Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund holding the remainder, Daniels said.
■ Telephones
Smart handsets builts
Smart telephones may one day be able to sense when you are too busy to be interrupted and ask the caller to leave a message. Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania are working on the technology that could be used in instant messaging systems and office and mobile phones. Tiny microphones, cameras and sensors reveal body language and computer software analyses the signals to determine whether someone is too occupied to take a call. Pounding a computer keyboard, closed office doors, speaking to another person and the time of day are possible signals of being busy. Four people at work rated how busy they were as sensors monitored the signals. The ratings were correlated with behaviours.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft