■ Computing
Software sales heading up
Sales of security software in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan are projected to increase to US$1.7 billion by 2010 from US$805 million last year, an industry research group said yesterday. Spending on security software, which includes programs to protect against viruses and spam mails, will be driven by some of the region's fast growing economies including India and China over the next five years, International Data Corp said in a report. "Demand for protection against viruses, spyware, spam and other malicious code underpinned the growth in this market," the research firm said. IDC projects the market will grow more than 15 percent on a compound annual growth rate basis from now till 2010.
■ Internet
Google shuns Web browser
Google Inc CEO Eric Schmidt on Wednesday told industry analysts the online search engine leader is unlikely to create its own Web browser, even though the company remains worried about being slighted by the next version of Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer. Responding to a question during a conference call, Schmidt said Google sees little need to develop its own browser because most people seem satisfied with Explorer and rivals such as Firefox, Apple Computer Inc's Safari and Opera. Google already has a search toolbar installed in Firefox as part of its partnership with the Mozilla open source software project that introduced the browser in 2004. "We would not build a browser just for the fun of building a browser," Schmidt said. Schmidt reiterated Google's concerns about Microsoft programming the next version of its Internet Explorer to steer more traffic to its own Internet search engine. Google informally complained to the US Justice Department about Microsoft's plans, but regulators decided they did not need to intervene.
■ Music
Microsoft develops players
Microsoft Corp is developing portable music players with NTT DoCoMo Inc, Toshiba Corp and other companies to compete against Apple Computer Inc's iPod. Microsoft is working with eight companies in Japan to offer audio players and content compatible with the Windows Media Technology operating system, the company said on Wednesday. Napster Japan, NTT Communications Corp and Aoyama Capital Co will provide content and other services, the statement said. The partnerships may challenge Apple's dominance in Japan's ¥34.3 billion (US$304 million) Internet music download market. Microsoft's link with DoCoMo and Toshiba may give its music software and media business a bigger foothold in Japan, where more people access the Internet from mobile phones than from personal computers. Japan's music downloads rose to ¥10.5 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, up 58 percent from the beginning of the year, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
■ Casinos
Macau casino revenue rises
Revenue from Macau's 19 casinos topped 12.7 billion patacas (US$1.6 billion) in the first quarter of this year, up 8 percent compared with the same period last year, the Macau government said yesterday. Macau has seen a surge in casino development in the last five years after the government ended a 40-year gaming monopoly held by Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Ho (何鴻燊).
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