■ Internet
ICANN drops adult site idea
Faced with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography Web sites, the Internet's key oversight agency voted to reject a proposal to create a red-light district on the Internet. The decision on Wednesday from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reverses its preliminary approval last June to create a ".xxx" domain name for voluntary use by the adult entertainment industry. ICANN chief executive Paul Twomey said the decision largely came down to whether the creation of "xxx" might put ICANN in a difficult position of having to enforce all of the world's laws governing pornography.
■ Communications
Time may bid for wireless
Time Warner Inc's cable TV unit is considering a bid for cellphone spectrum licenses together with three other cable companies and Sprint Nextel Corp. The chief executive of Time Warner Cable, Glenn Britt, told an analyst conference in New York on Wednesday that the group will file an application with the Federal Communications Commission that would allow it to participate in an auction of spectrum for advanced wireless services, which will begin on June 29. Time Warner Cable is already in a partnership with Sprint and three other cable TV companies -- industry leader Comcast Corp, Cox Communications Inc and Advance/Newhouse Communications Inc -- to offer cellphone service to cable customers. The consortium has said it plans to market Sprint's cellphone service in seven test markets by the end of the year, a Time Warner Cable spokeswoman said. Britt said it was not yet clear whether the group would bid for the spectrum or what its plans for the licenses would be.
■ Communications
Music videos in the offing
Japan's top mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc, said yesterday it will start a next-generation service letting phone users download music videos, aiming to outdo its rivals' success with online music. The new service, which will start as soon as next month, uses a high-speed data transmission technology to allow downloads at 10 times the speed of DoCoMo's third generation (3G) FOMA handsets. It will be part of the 3G-pioneering company's "3.5 Generation" telephones. "With the release of our new handsets this summer, we will upgrade a variety of our services including the music-downloading and e-wallet services, some of which will only be available with our 3.5G next-generation handsets," said Hiroto Nakagawa, spokesman for NTT DoCoMo.
■ Appliances
Whirlpool to lay off 4,500
Whirlpool Corp, the world's largest appliance maker, will close three plants and eliminate some 4,500 jobs -- more than 5 percent of its workforce -- to cut costs after its US$1.68 billion purchase of Maytag Corp, the company said on Wednesday. Whirlpool said the aim is to restore competitiveness at Maytag, which has kept manufacturing concentrated in the US. Former Maytag washer and dryer plants in Herrin, Illinois, and Searcy, Arkansas, will close by the end of the year, Whirlpool said. The planned job cuts include 1,800 salaried employees. Overall, the firings represent 5.6 percent of Whirlpool's 80,000 workers, Bloomberg said. About 1,500 position at other locations will be added eventually, Whirlpool said in a statement. Whirlpool bought Maytag in March.
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