■ Computers
Keyboards can go in washer
If you accidentally spill a drink over your computer's keyboard, you can clean it in the dishwasher, the Munich-based magazine Chip reports in its special edition Tipps & Tools. Open the keyboard, take out the foil with the switch contacts and clean them with a damp cloth, the report recommended. "The keyboard casing and the silicon mat can go in the glass compartment, and you can put the keys in the cutlery basket," it said. The keyboard can be put back together after washing it at low heat.
■ Music industry
DoCoMo to buy Tower stake
NTT DoCoMo plans to buy a 40 percent stake in Tower Records Japan Inc, which will make it the biggest shareholder in the music retailer, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without saying where it got the information. DoCoMo may pay about ?10 billion (US$84.5 million) for the stake, it said. The tie-up may help the spread of DoCoMo's mobile payment service in Tower Record stores throughout Japan, the newspaper said. The companies are also considering cooperation in a music distribution business which Tower Records plans to start early next year, the report said.
■ Semiconductors
Infineon mulls restructuring
Infineon Technologies AG, a German chipmaker, is considering splitting off the company's memory-chip unit, management-board member Loh Kin Wah told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper. The company is examining its structure and considering breaking up the whole group, Loh said, according to a pre-release of an article to appear in tomorrow's edition. The firm's supervisory board will discuss the plans in its next meeting, the paper said, citing no one. Chief executive Wolfgang Ziebart said on Oct. 18 that the German company may examine its structure "more seriously" this year.
■ M&A
Mergers rise globally
Low interest rates and companies flush with cash are fueling the highest level of mergers and acquisitions activity worldwide since the 1990s, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Merger and acquisition volume year-to-date has risen to more than US$2.3 trillion, the most since a peak of US$3.3 trillion in 2000, the newspaper said. Targets this year have included MBNA Corp, AT&T Corp and Reebok International Inc. The Journal said most mergers today seek to meld similar companies and cut redundant costs. There are, however, some troubling signs amid the merger boom, including the highest price-to-cash flow prices in five years and the large amount of debt assumed in some private-equity deals, the newspaper said.
■ Japan's economy
Too soon for tax increase
Japan needs to resolve its decade-long deflation before considering an increase in the consumption tax, the ruling party's top policy-maker said yesterday. Hidenao Nakagawa, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, said reducing bloated budgets and battling deflation should come before any talk of tax hikes. Media reports said that Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, who retained his post in the Oct. 31 Cabinet reshuffle, has suggested that he wants to submit a bill in 2007 to raise the consumption tax, a form of value-added tax, from the current 5 percent.
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
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
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