Microsoft Corp announced software that allows record companies to restrict unauthorized copying of compact discs amid falling sales due to piracy, the Wall Street Journal said, citing Microsoft and record companies. \nVivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group and EMI Group Plc said they're looking at possible inclusion on their CDs of the technology, which was announced at the Midem music conference in Cannes, the Journal reported. \n"What we're doing is making CDs a little less copyable in order to stop redistribution" of music, said Larry Kenswil, president of Universal's eLabs, according to the Journal. \nCD sales fell 7 percent in the first half of last year, a decline that recording companies blame on CD recording and Internet piracy, according to the Journal. \nIn related news, EMI Group Plc, Sony Corp and other record labels, which lost more than US$5 billion of sales to illegal CD piracy and Internet downloading last year, will introduce new licensing agreements in a bid to reduce piracy, the Financial Times said, citing no one. \nLosses linked to piracy rose 20 percent last year from 2001, the paper said, citing industry estimates. Global music sales fell almost 10 percent last year, reducing the retail value of the market to about US$30 billion, its lowest in a decade, the Financial Times said. \nPiracy was responsible for two-thirds of last year's sales decline in the US, the paper said, citing the Recording Industry Association of America. \n"The future could be bleak unless we are more pro-active in both lifting consumer sales and anti-piracy measures," the paper cited Hilary Rosen, chairman of the RIAA, as saying.
EMBRACE CHANGE: Jensen Huang told NTU graduates that instead of worrying about AI itself, they should worry that people with expertise in AI would be taking their jobs Artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining the computer industry, and Taiwanese companies could play a major role in replacing the world’s traditional computers as they are the foundation of the industry, Nvidia Corp cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said in Taipei yesterday. Huang made the remarks while giving the keynote speech at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) commencement ceremony. AI has created immense opportunities, and versatile companies can be expected to take advantage and boost their position, while less flexible firms would perish, he said. “In every way, this is a rebirth of the computer industry and a golden opportunity for the companies of
‘ARCHAIC’: An interpretation of a law that considered Chinese as Taiwanese nationals was scrapped after the death of a Chinese in Kaohsiung led to state reparations An administrative mandate to consider Chinese as Taiwanese citizens was outdated, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, a day after the Executive Yuan ordered that agencies disregard the 30-year-old interpretation. Chen made the remarks at an event held by the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei following changes to the administrative mandate concerning the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例). The previous interpretation of the law was archaic and contrary to the workings of laws and regulations, he said, adding that the order was made to avoid unnecessary problems created by the mandate. The Mainland
NOT BUYING IT: One of the goals of Beijing’s Cross-Strait Media People Summit was to draw mainstream media executives to discuss the ‘one country, two systems’ formula Taiwanese news media insist on press freedom and professionalism, and would never become a tool of China’s “united front” campaign, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, responding to media queries about the lack of Taiwanese media executives at the Cross-Strait Media People Summit in Beijing. Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) was reportedly furious that no Taiwanese media representatives attended a scheduled meeting with him on Thursday last week. “Beijing should take Taiwan’s determination to pursue freedom and democracy seriously. We also hope that it will not use vicious means to interfere with Taiwan’s development into a
IMMIGRATION REFORM: The legislative amendments aim to protect the rights of families to reunify, and to attract skilled professionals to stay and work in Taiwan Foreigners who are highly skilled professionals, top-prize winners in professional disciplines, investment immigration applicants or have made special contributions to Taiwan can soon apply for permanent residency on behalf of their spouses and minor or disabled children after the legislature approved amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The amendments, which were proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan on Jan. 12, aim to attract foreign talent to Taiwan and encourage them to stay. They would take effect once they are signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The amendments involved changing 63 articles, making it the biggest
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