TECHNOLOGY
NTNU unveils watermarking
A team from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) yesterday unveiled a novel digital watermarking technology using hybrid halftone dots that has been granted patents in Taiwan and the US. The technology relies on a method that mixes amplitude modulation halftone dots and frequency modulation halftone dots to produce a watermark and enables hidden patterns to be detected by copying machines and optical scanners. Wang Hsi-chun (王希俊), a professor in NTNU’s Department of Graphic Arts Communication, who leads the team, said although the watermark cannot be perceived by the human eye, it will become visible when a document embedded with it is scanned or duplicated using a copying machine. “Because of this, people can highlight their copyright and protect their intellectual property,” Wang said, adding that the technology is highly practical and can be used to produce customized notebooks and office paper. The same technology can also be used to embed audio watermarks in paper, Wang said.
HEALTH
CDC sponsors comic books
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced a new strategy for promoting the concept of disease prevention to the younger generation — comic books. The center has adopted the approach to communicate to a wider public, including students, through language that they are familiar with, CDC Deputy Director Lin Ting (林頂) said. A year ago, the CDC got in touch with a popular young online comic artist named Sana to brainstorm ways to “revolutionize” the means of spreading information, Lin said. The comic book includes 48 stories about how to keep disease at bay and will soon be distributed to schools of all levels.
TOURISM
‘Happy stay’ poll ends today
An online poll sponsored by the Tourism Bureau of the most popular hotel and guesthouses nationwide ends today as part of its efforts to promote tourism in the country. According to the bureau, Kindness Hotel Han Shen in Greater Kaohsiung, Kue Kuan Motel in Changhua and Moon Area Motel in Yunlin were the leading votegetters in the hotel category as of yesterday. Happy 88 in New Taipei City (新北市), Canaan and Xinyuan in Yilan topped the guesthouse category. The “happy stay” poll has drawn about 650,000 votes since it began on Dec. 2 last year, bureau officials said. The top 100 places will be put to a seven-member panel, which will pick out 10 finalists for each of the two categories. The winners will be announced in the middle of next month, the officials added.
TRAVEL
THSR ridership hits high
Taiwan High Speed Rail’s (THSR) annual ridership for last year reached a record-high 36.9 million passengers, a 14.19 percent increase over the previous year, according to the company. It also recorded a daily average of 101,000 rides last year amid steady growth in ridership since the THSR started operations in 2007, THSR Corp public affairs manager Christina Tao (陶令瑜) said. The figures indicate a big jump in performance compared with 2009, when the daily ridership averaged 88,000, Tao said, adding that they could be attributed to successful alliances between the THSR and local travel agencies. She said special travel packages have drawn attention from both domestic and foreign travelers. The company said it hopes to increase the average daily ridership to 105,000 this year.
NATURE
Zoo annouces pangolin birth
Taipei Zoo’s program to keep and breed pangolins, an animal notoriously difficult to raise in captivity, has scored another success. Zoo director Jason Yeh (葉傑生) said in a statement that a baby pangolin, the fourth born in captivity at the zoo, was born on Dec. 9 and now weighs 260g, compared with its birth weight of 105g. Pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, forage with their long and sticky tongues, with ants and termites their major food source, but reproducing their natural diet in captivity has been problematic. Yeh said he did not anticipate having similar problems with the baby pangolin, which at present is doing little more than sleeping, feeding on milk and occasionally climbing on the back of its mother. The toothless pup was found by zoo staffers last month in a hole its mother made after they tried to move her to a heated room during a cold spell.
POLITICS
KMT attracts 290 hopefuls
A recruitment drive by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) attracted almost 300 applicants for 20 jobs with a starting salary of NT$30,000 a month, party officials said. It is the first recruitment drive held by the party in 10 years after it spent much of the previous decade trying to streamline its operations, officials said. The first stage of the drive — a written exam — was held on Sunday and attracted 290 applicants. The exam covered official document writing and essay writing, with the essay question topic being “My feelings about work,” a KMT party official said. The 20 people who are hired will have to complete a training program and work for a three-month trial period at one of the party’s chapters. If they make it through the trial period, they will be given a two-year contract with a starting salary of NT$30,000. The successful candidates will be announced on Jan. 26.
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
NINTH MONTH: There were 11,792 births in Taiwan last month and 15,563 deaths, or a mortality rate of 8.11 per 1,000 people, household registration data showed Taiwan’s population was 23,404,138 as of last month, down 2,470 from August, the ninth consecutive month this year that the nation has reported a drop, the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday. The population last month was 162 fewer than the same month last year, a decline of 0.44 per day, the ministry said, citing household registration data. Taiwan reported 11,792 births last month, or 3.7 births per day, up 149 from August, it said, adding that the monthly birthrate was 6.15 per 1,000 people. The jurisdictions with the highest birthrates were Yunlin County at 14.62 per 1,000 people, Penghu County (8.61
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