■ Software
Microsoft gets ultimatum
The EU has given software giant Microsoft eight days to submit the secret protocols of its Windows operating system to rivals or face the prospect of more fines, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in an interview published in the Guardian newspaper yesterday. "I don't have eternal life," Kroes said. "I am not impressed if someone says 90 percent of the information is already there when we need 100 percent. It's a jigsaw and some parts are missing ... In my opinion, this information should have been here a couple of months ago."
■ Internet
Ad sales hit new high
Internet advertising in the US reached a new high of US$4.2 billion in the third quarter, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of growth, according to a study released on Tuesday by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers. It conducted the quarterly online ad study for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an industry trade group. US revenues in the third quarter grew 2 percent from the US$4.1 billion in the second quarter and 33 percent from US$3.1 billion a year ago. Keyword ads displayed alongside search results generally are the most lucrative. Despite continued growth, Internet advertising accounts for only about 5 percent of all US advertising revenues.
■ Entertainment
iPods get ticket to fly
Apple Computer Inc said on Tuesday that its iPod media players will be integrated with the entertainment systems of six airlines. Passengers on United Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines,Emirates, KLM and Air France will be able to power and charge their iPods during flights and watch video content from their iPods on seat-back displays. The service will be available on the airlines beginning in the middle of next year. It will likely help solidify the iPod's dominance in portable players' market. The in-flight deals are similar to ones that Apple has made with more than a dozen automakers to have iPod-compatibility built into car audio systems.
■ IPR
Google insures itself
Google Inc has set aside more than US$200 million in its just-completed takeover of YouTube Inc to cover possible losses on the deal, creating a financial cushion that might protect the Internet search leader if it is hit with legal bills for the frequent copyright violations on YouTube's video-sharing site. Without elaborating in a statement issued late on Monday, Google said it is withholding 12.5 percent of the stock owed to YouTube for one year "to secure certain indemnification obligations." The Internet giant disclosed the escrow account in an announcement marking the completion of its much-anticipated YouTube acquisition.
■ Aviation
Qantas drops alliance plan
Qantas Airways will scrap its bid to forge an alliance with Air New Zealand after competition watchdogs warned they would block the deal, it said yesterday. The two airlines, which carry 80 percent of passengers on the lucrative routs between the two countries, had wanted to coordinate all flight activities, including setting schedules and ticket prices for their codeshare. But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a draft decision earlier this month that such an agreement would effectively kill competitiveness across the Tasman Sea.
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