■ Electronics
Toshiba makes tiny fuel cell
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp said yesterday it has developed the world's smallest direct methanol fuel cell to be used in mobile communications tools such as cellphones and personal digital assistants. The full cell, which carries 25cc of high-concentration methanol, is able to run roughly six times longer than a lithium battery. The prototype of the methanol fuel cell, weighing 130g, can produce one watt of electricity for roughly 20 hours, Toshiba said. The use of fuel cells is environment-ally sound as it does not produce any toxic emissions as a byproduct of power generation, a spokesman said.
■ Semiconductors
Merrill Lynch blasts Sun
Struggling tech giant Sun Microsystems took a hit Thursday from Merrill Lynch in the form of an analysts' note that said the company could become "irrelevant" if it continues its current course. In an open letter to Sun Microsystems chief executive Scott McNealy and board members, computer hardware analyst Steven Milunovich called on the company to make thousands of job cuts and eliminate certain product lines. "Sun faces a crisis," the analyst wrote. "Sun must become profitable quickly, so headcount reductions are unavoidable; 5,000-7,000 seems a ballpark number," Milunovich said. The analyst added that Sun should sharpen its focus. "We think there is a place for Sun as a mission-critical computing vendor adding value in operating software as well as in systems architecture and management," he said.
■ Electronics
Firms to draft protocol
Some 100 Japanese and foreign firms will team up to draft a wireless communications protocol to enable the operation of multiple digital home appliances, such as television sets and DVD players, with a single remote control, a report said yesterday. The project would use high-speed wireless Internet technology aiming to bring to market in fiscal 2005 appliances that meet this new standard, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. Corporate participants include Japanese electronics giants Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Sharp Corp, NEC Corp and Sanyo Electric Co as well as foreign-affiliated firms like Microsoft Co and IBM Japan Ltd, the report said. The Telecommunications Ministry will allocate frequencies for Internet-enabled appliances based on the trial results. These common frequencies would make it possible to operate appliances made by different manufacturers via the same remote control.
■ Aviation
Boeing says it is on track
Boeing Co delivered 65 commercial airplanes in the third quarter, off 9 percent from a year ago but roughly on pace to meet its latest full-year projection, the aerospace manufacturer said Thursday. Boeing said the deliveries pushed its total for the first nine months of the year to 210. The company has said it anticipates delivering 275 to 290 planes for the year, a significant drop from 381 last year and 527 in 2001 when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks sent the airline industry into a crippling slump. Chicago-based Boeing is expected to be displaced by Airbus as the world's largest commercial jet manufacturer when full-year figures are in. Airbus' defense and space unit is on a pace to easily surpass the Seattle-based airplane division as the company's No. 1 revenue-generating unit this year.
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
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