■ 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.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
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