Fans of MP3 players might find it frustrating when the batteries run out in the middle of listening to their favorite tunes. Help is at hand, however, as a local company has produced a solution to battery-life problems, which it will unveil at the CeBIT technology and communications trade show next week in Hanover, Germany.
Micro-Star International Co (
"There are just too many MP3 players available on the market presently, and with Apple's iPods taking the market by storm, we have to make our products stand out somehow," Vincent Lai (
The prototype MP3 player will have a small solar cell that supplies power the unit. This will come in handy as a support option in addition to the standard electrical charging mechanism, he said.
In the near future, the company has plans to produce MP3 players that run entirely on solar power, replacing electricity altogether, added Ryan Yang (
The new MP3 player, whose production costs will be 10 percent higher than other players in the same category, is expected to come with a 1.8-inch liquid-crystal-display screen and hard drive options of 4GB and 8GB.
"The prototype will make its debut at the CeBIT show in Germany next week, and depending on the response and the number of orders, we intend to introduce it locally around the middle of this year. Production will start on a small scale initially," Yang said.
MP3 players are not the first Micro-Star product to make use of solar energy, as the company has previously experimented with using it on portable computers, which were unveiled in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The second-generation of notebooks now come with a separate, modular solar cell instead of a bulky attached cell, which will make the battery recharging easier and increase performance, according to Lai.
However, the notebooks are still in the "concept product" stage, and they are not expected to be mass produced in the near term until the technology is more mature, he added.
In a bid to diversify the company's business portfolio, the motherboard maker started to tap into the consumer electronics segment in 2003, unveiling MP3 players, portable media players and notebooks.
The segment now contributes over 10 percent to the company's total revenues and the percentage is expected to pass the 20 percent mark sometime this year, Lai said.
Motherboards and graphics cards still make up the bulk of revenues contribution at over 60 percent, he added.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday decided to shelve proposed legislation that would give elected officials full control over their stipends, saying it would wait for a consensus to be reached before acting. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) last week proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Village Chiefs (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例), which would give legislators and councilors the freedom to use their allowances without providing invoices for reimbursement. The proposal immediately drew criticism, amid reports that several legislators face possible charges of embezzling fees intended to pay
RSS