■ Internet
Microsoft tackles music
The marketplace for legal online music services is about to get more crowded with Microsoft entering the fray. The tech behemoth plans to introduce a song-downloading service next year that will compete with similar offerings from Apple Computer, Roxio's Napster and others. A company spokeswoman declined to provide further details. The company's dominant Windows operating system gives Microsoft powerful leverage, and its deep pockets could allow it to undercut competitors. In addition, Microsoft's Windows Media Player is already pervasive, and can be easily adapted to facilitate an online music store. Apple said it has sold more than 17 million songs for US$0.99 each since it launched its iTunes Music Store in April.
■ Life Insurance
`Death futures' regulated
Trading in "death futures," the buying and selling of other people's life insurance policies, is set to come under regulatory control, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said yesterday. The MAS is seeking to regulate the trading of life insurance policies and limit their sale to sophisticated investors. The contract allows a person, likely elderly, to cash out his insurance policy by selling it to an investor. Purchasers realize a return when the original policyholder dies and the death benefit is paid out. The MAS said it was not opposed in principle to a legitimate secondary market for life and endowment policies in Singapore, but these were "complex" products that bore "significant risks."
■ Software
Sun signs Chinese pact
Sun Microsystems said Monday it had struck a desktop-computing-software licensing agreement with China Standard Software, a consortium created by two government ministries in China. The agreement, which Sun officials said could lead to making Sun's Linux desktop operating system and StarOffice office automation application the standard personal computer software in the world's most populous country, is the first major win for the computer maker, which is a bitter rival of Microsoft in the software market. Sun did not disclose any dollar amounts for the contract, which involves both the Chinese Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
■ Electronics
Casio, Hitachi work together
Japanese electronics makers Casio and Hitachi announced an agreement yesterday to tie up in the development and production of mobile phones at home and overseas. Under the accord, the two companies are to form a joint venture in April with capital of ?3 billion (US$28 million) with 350 employees. The venture, controlled 51 percent by Casio and the remaining 49 percent by Hitachi, will handle the development, design procurement and production of mobile phones. "The agreement is intended to bring greater efficiency in the development of handsets and operational stability, as well as promote this business overseas," the two companies said in a joint statement. With the venture, the two companies aim to cut production and development costs of mobile phones, they said, adding that they would continue using the Casio and Hitachi brandnames respectively for retailing.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)