■ Electronics
Media Center on the way
Philips intends to bring a so-called Media Center into stores by the end of the year. The firm revealed the plans prior to a recent international electronics fair in Berlin. The device resembles a DVD recorder, but in fact is a combination of entertainment electronics and a computer. The Showline Media Center MCP9350i can store videos, photos and music in its 250 gigabytes of storage space. These can then be sent on to other audio or video devices for playback, using either a cable or wirelessly. The Media Center also offers two TV tuners to allow one program to be watched while another is being recorded. It also has a built-in DVD and CD recorder and insertion slots on the front for various storage media types. The Media Center is due in December with a Pentium 4 chip, USB 2.0 and Firewire. Philips declined to name a price.
■ Electronics
Mitsubishi pulls PC's LCDs
Mitsubishi Electric Corp will stop production of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) for personal computers as early as 2008 and focus on smaller panels for cellphones, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported, without citing sources for the information. Mitsubishi Electric expects personal-computer panels will make up 10 percent of its total LCD sales in six months through to this month, down from 15 percent at the end of March as it seeks to counter price competition by rivals in South Korea and Taiwan, the newspaper said. Hitachi Displays Ltd, a unit of Hitachi Ltd, will raise production of cellphone panels, the newspaper said. The company's LCDs larger than 10 inches will be mainly for television sets, the newspaper said. Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co, an affiliate of Toshiba Corp, will reduce its LCD panels for personal computers to 15 percent of total sales, down from 30 percent, the newspaper said.
■ Aviation
Fuel monopoly attacked
China Eastern Airlines (東方航空), one of China's top three carriers, has called for an end to the monopoly of fuel supply in the domestic market, which has sent its profits diving, state media said yesterday. "The fuel monopoly system must be broken to let airlines have the freedom to choose where to buy," said Li Fenghua (李豐華), president of China Eastern Airlines Group Co, in a report on the China Daily Web site. China Aviation Oil Holding Co holds a near-monopoly on China's jet-fuel market, limiting the choice for airlines such as China Eastern, which purchases 70 percent of its fuel from the domestic market. "The fuel market, which is monopolized by one company, has put Chinese airlines in an unfavorable position to compete with their overseas counterparts," Li said.
■ Mobile phones
Spice Nepal sets up shop
A privately owned cellular phone company yesterday said it had started services in Nepal, breaking the monopoly held by a state-owned telecommunications company. Spice Nepal Private Ltd said in a statement that it began signing up subscribers over the weekend in Kathmandu, and would spread its service to other cities in Nepal. Spice Nepal's entry into the cellphone market comes after the government opened the telecommunications industry to private businesses in 2000. Until Spice Nepal's entry, only government-owned Nepal Telecom provided cellphone services. It has about 300,000 subscribers.
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
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
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
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source