■ Internet
Windows media player tested
Microsoft took an important step on Wednesday in its bid to dominate sales of online music when it released the public test version of its new Windows Media Player, one that for the first time will work with a variety of online music stores and subscription services. Microsoft said that it would release the final version of Windows Media Player 10 later this year. It will compete against rival media platforms from Real Networks and Apple, but Microsoft is hoping to make the new media player the standard online platform for playing and purchasing both music and movies over the Internet. "We are testing a new concept currently called the `Digital Media Mall' that offers a selection of online music stores and video services that work seamlessly in the player," Microsoft said.
PHOTO: AFP
■ Aviation
Sky-high advertising offer
Brand new Australian budget carrier Jetstar is offering to paint its fleet of 14 Boeing 717 aircraft with the logo of any advertiser willing to pay handsomely for airborne promotions, news reports said yesterday. The Qantas offshoot would also accept advertising on overhead lockers, tray-tables and even sick bags, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. It quoted airline officials as saying "tip to tail" branding would bring "considerable PR exposure for your brand." Jetstar was launched on May 25 and operates at 14 airports.
■ Software
Indian firms' revenues soar
Indian software revenues jumped 30.5 percent to US$12.5 billion in the year ended in March and a similar rise is expected this year, the country's leading industry group NASSCOM said yesterday. The National Association of Software and Service Companies forecast that revenue would increase 30 percent to 32 percent in the current financial year to around US$16.3 billion. "Despite the challenges such as low growth of IT spending globally, a jobless recovery in major markets and appreciation of the rupee, the Indian software services industry has been able to maintain its growth momentum," association chairman Jerry Rao said.
■ Trade
Farm talks stumble on
The WTO's 147 member states locked horns on Wednesday to discuss the thorny issue of farm trade, with three groups offering their own answers on how to move talks forward by an end of next month deadline. Tim Groser, New Zealand's ambassador to the WTO who is chairing the three days of consultations, said there were signs of a desire to devise a framework for agriculture negotiations by July 31. But Groser warned participants against holding back until the last minute. Many countries feel that market access for farm products is the hardest hurdle to overcome.
■ China
Beijing ups IPR protection
China yesterday unveiled a national strategy aimed at beefing up intellectual pro-perty rights (IPR) protec-tions even as pirated ver-sions of latest Hollywood blockbusters like Troy and Shrek 2 were available in Beijing stores. The govern-ment has put in place a new national stra-tegy which will begin with an education campaign, the deputy commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office told the China Daily. The strategy will include "an educational program to deepen IPR knowledge among officials," the paper said.
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
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
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
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique