■ Internet
Google Video goes Aussie
Google Inc on Thursday launched an Australian version of its video hosting site, Google Video, that will include content from domestic media groups. The site follows will offer video snippets posted by the public as well as material from media companies including the Australian Broadcasting Corp, television's Network Ten television and newspaper company Fairfax Digital. Initially, user-generated and professional content would be ad-free and available for download at no cost, said Richard Kimber, Google's managing director of Southeast Asia.
■ Aviation
JAL seeking to avoid strike
Japan Airlines Corp is in talks with one of its labor unions to avoid a strike tomorrow and Sunday over the company's planned merger of its domestic and international services, a company spokesman said on Thursday. One of the airline's labor unions, comprising pilots for its domestic services, warned earlier on Thursday that it will go on the two-day strike, said Geoffrey Tudor, a spokesman at the airline commonly known as JAL. "We are still negotiating with the union," Tudor said. "If the strike takes place, it will only affect our domestic services. It would have no impact on international flights."
■ Electronics
Watches to offer caller-ID
In a partnership with Sony Ericsson, Fossil Inc on Thursday announced a new line of timepieces that will show who's calling on your cellphone. The main advantage is that the system lets users quickly and discreetly know who is calling, without having to dig their phone out of their pocket or purse, said Bill Geiser, Fossil's vice president of watch technology. The system uses the Bluetooth wireless standard to beam caller ID information from select cellphones made by Sony Ericsson to a tiny display on the watch face. The watches will be available by the end of next month. Prices will range from US$200 to US$250.
■ Travel
Suvarnabhumi airport opens
Bangkok's sleek new international airport officially opened on Thursday against the backdrop of last week's coup, recording thousands of passengers and a few computer gremlins on its first full day of operations. More than 800 flights with 120,000 passengers were due to pass through the Suvarnabhumi airport on the first day. While overall operations went smoothly, computer and mechanical glitches slowed down some early handlings, causing delays for arriving passengers who had to wait an hour to collect luggage. Thailand is hoping the airport will boost the kingdom's US$12 billion a year tourism industry, opening at the start of the peak tourist season.
■ Computers
Seagate plans new plant
Seagate Technology, the world's biggest maker of computer hard-disk drives, said on Thursday it will invest more than US$800 million to build a third plant in Singapore and create up to 3,000 jobs. Jerry Glembocki, a Seagate senior vice president, said the new facility would make Seagate in Singapore the world's single largest producer of recording media. A spokesman for the US-based company sai the project is worth S$1.3 billion (US$819 million), with construction to take four years in all although manufacturing should begin in the first half of 2008.
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
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘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)