■ Playstation 2
Sony to sell Web adapters
Sony Corp, the world's biggest maker of video-game consoles, will start selling equipment to hook its PlayStation2 to the Internet through retail stores in May, seeking to add users to its online game service in Japan. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc will sell adapters for ¥3,980 (US$33) at stores throughout Japan, the company said. The adapters will also be sold as a package with hard disk drives, the price of which has yet to be announced. PlayStation2 users currently have to buy or rent the devices from Internet providers such as NEC Corp's Biglobe and Fujitsu Ltd's Nifty Corp unit. Sony is trying to widen the gap with new rival Microsoft Corp by winning more online customers. Microsoft Xbox adapters are already available at stores. Sony plans to boost the number of online PlayStation2 users in Japan from 200,000 at present.
■ Computers
NEC works on `quantum'
Researcher in Japan have made a major step in the quest to develop a quantum computer -- a still largely hypothetical device -- Japanese electronics giant NEC said yesterday. In what they claimed was a world first, researchers at NEC and the state-funded Institute of Physical and Chemical Research successfully enabled the interaction of pairs of solid-state elemental particles in a circuit. The interaction -- known as quantum entanglement -- may enable scientists to build a computer capable of calculating in milliseconds what it would take today's supercomputers hundreds of millions of years to computer. The researchers published their results in the British science journal
Part of a quantum computer's power would stem from its ability to make multiple calculations simultaneously. Data units in a quantum computer, unlike those in today's machines, can exist in more than one state at a time.
■ ACNielsen
Former staff charged
Twelve former ACNielsen employees have been charged with falsifying interviews and questionnaires in a survey conducted for the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the anti-graft agency said yesterday. The 12 were arrested in July following a complaint alleging that a manager of ACNielsen (China) Ltd took bribes in exchange for allowing fake questionnaires, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said. The researchers were assigned to interview tourists leaving Hong Kong from the Chek Lap Kok airport between February and July last year, it said. The ICAC said some of them submitted questionnaires though they were absent from work. The Hong Kong Tourism Board and ACNielsen cooperated during the investigation, the agency said.
■ Research
China to spend billions
China will invest as much as 700 billion yuan (US$85 billion) in the next five years to develop genetically modified crops, a new mobile-phone standard and other new technologies, said Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua. Last year, China spent 104.3 billion yuan, or 1.1 percent of the country's growth domestic product, on scientific research and development. Xu estimates China's central and provincial governments invested as much as 30 billion yuan in research and development.
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
SECURITY: Taipei presses the US for arms supplies, saying the arms sales are not only a reflection of the US security commitment to Taiwan but also serve as a mutual deterrent against regional threats Taiwan is committed to preserving the cross-strait “status quo” and contributing to regional peace and stability, the Presidential Office said yesterday. “It is an undeniable fact that the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent democratic nation,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) reiterated, adding that Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. The statements came after US President Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese independence. Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had pressed him not to support Taiwan. Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying
The subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Kumamoto, Japan, turned a profit in the first quarter of this year, marking the first time the first fab of the unit has become profitable since mass production started at the end of 2024. According to the contract chipmaker’s financial statement released on Friday, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), a joint venture running the fab in Kumamoto, posted NT$951 million (US$30.19 million) in profit in the January-to-March period, compared with a loss of NT$1.39 billion in the previous quarter, and a loss of NT$3.25 billion in the first quarter of
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
RSS