■ Telecoms
Intel targets phone chips
Intel chairman Craig Barrett said on Wednesday he expects the company to reach a double-digit share of the global chip market for mobile phones in the next few years. Barrett, who is attending the World Summit on the Information Society, said the chipmaker was looking toward the future and demand for mobile phones. "Our market share is still pretty small, but we hope to leverage our success in other industries and reach double-digit growth within the next few years," he told reporters. He did not say what the company's market share was, but hinted it was much less than 10 percent. Barrett said he planned to lobby national regulators at the summit to help push the growth of WiMax, a long-distance wireless Internet connection developed by the company.
■ Telecoms
Nokia buys Intellisync
Expanding its arsenal to compete with BlackBerry, Nokia Corp is paying US$430 million to acquire Intellisync Corp, a provider of wireless e-mail and data services that first made its name with software to synchronize Palm handhelds with computers. The deal, announced on Wednesday, comes two months after Nokia barged into the crowded field of BlackBerry rivals by becoming the first major handset maker to unveil its own brand of mobile e-mail service. With Intellisync's technology, Nokia said it will be able to offer the abilities to connect any device to any data source, application or network. Nokia is offering US$5.25 per share in cash for each share of Intellisync based in San Jose, California.
■ Semiconductors
Thinnest wire developed
A state-funded research team of South Korean scientists has developed the world's thinnest metallic wire for semiconductor chips, the science and technology ministry said yesterday. The wire, developed by Yonsei University's Center for Atomic Wires and Layers, measures just two nanometers in width, the ministry said. One nanometer is one billionth of a meter. The new technology breakthrough is expected to help in the development of new semiconductors capable of handling more data at faster speeds, it said. Global memory chip leader Samsung Electronics currently uses 70-nanometer technology for its commercialized chips and has plans to upgrade to 50-nanometer.
■ Internet
Chinese user profiled
A typical Chinese Internet user is a young male who prefers instant messaging to e-mail, rarely makes online purchases and favors news, music and games sites, according to a new study. According to the study, released on Thursday at the Brookings Institution in Washington, about two-thirds of survey participants use the Internet for news -- often entertainment-related -- or for online games. About half download music and movies. They also tend to prefer instant messaging to e-mail, and they are relying on the Internet more frequently than before to contact others who have the same professions, hobbies and political interests. Three-quarters of users surveyed have never bought anything over the Internet, and only 10 percent make purchases even once a month. Among those who do buy online, most pay for entertainment while others buy phone cards, or computer hardware or software.
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
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
‘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)