■ Computing
New graphics chip unveiled
Samsung Electronics, the world's top memory chip maker, said yesterday it has developed a new graphic memory chip which is the world's fastest in processing mass visual data. GDDR4 is the latest of the graphics double-data-rate memory chip series largely used for computer graphic cards. It can process 4 gigabytes of data, equivalent to eight DVD-class films, per second, the South Korean firm said. The new graphic memory chip has increased the data-processing speed of currently available ones by two-thirds, the company added.
■ Technology
Ericsson in TV company bid
Swedish wireless equipment maker Ericsson AB said yesterday it offered to buy Norway's Tandberg Television ASA for 9.8 billion kronor (US$1.6 billion) in cash as it tries to position itself for the convergence of the telecoms and television industries. The company's offer is about 10 percent higher than one made in January by American company Arris Group Inc. Ericsson said buying Tandberg would allow it to offer complete networks for the fast-growing technology area of television over the Internet. It also brings Ericsson new customers such as cable and satellite operators.
■ Real estate
China battles surging prices
China's government is promising more low-cost housing for the poor amid efforts to restrain surging home prices, a government newspaper reported yesterday. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan (曾培炎), speaking at a government meeting on house prices, promised to put more real estate up for sale and offer "more and better houses to low-income families," the China Daily said. The government is trying to restrain a surge in house prices and force developers to build more low-cost housing following a frenzy of construction of villas and other luxury projects.
■ Finance
NTT, McDonald's team up
NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's biggest mobile-phone operator, will offer its electronic payments services at McDonald's Japan Holdings Co restaurants, letting users pay for meals by swiping their handset across terminals. DoCoMo and McDonald's Japan will invest ¥300 million (US$2.5 million) to establish a company that promotes the service through e-mail advertisements, Masanori Goto, a spokesman for the company, said by telephone yesterday. The service will be available from October and will include the "iD" credit and "Toruca" debit payment systems. McDonald's Japan will own 70 percent of the new company, with DoCoMo controlling the rest, the companies said today at a press conference in Tokyo.
■ Finance
Citigroup appoints new CFO
Citigroup Inc said on Sunday that it has named Gary Crittenden as its chief financial officer. Crittenden, formerly executive vice president and chief financial officer at American Express Co, will begin his new job on March 12. He will report directly to Citigroup chairman and chief executive Charles Prince. "Gary has demonstrated an exceptional ability to help the organizations he has worked for to generate superior value by supporting the successful execution of their business strategies with the development and implementation of sophisticated financial strategies," Prince said in a written statement.
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)