■ Internet
Microsoft tackles music
The marketplace for legal online music services is about to get more crowded with Microsoft entering the fray. The tech behemoth plans to introduce a song-downloading service next year that will compete with similar offerings from Apple Computer, Roxio's Napster and others. A company spokeswoman declined to provide further details. The company's dominant Windows operating system gives Microsoft powerful leverage, and its deep pockets could allow it to undercut competitors. In addition, Microsoft's Windows Media Player is already pervasive, and can be easily adapted to facilitate an online music store. Apple said it has sold more than 17 million songs for US$0.99 each since it launched its iTunes Music Store in April.
■ Life Insurance
`Death futures' regulated
Trading in "death futures," the buying and selling of other people's life insurance policies, is set to come under regulatory control, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said yesterday. The MAS is seeking to regulate the trading of life insurance policies and limit their sale to sophisticated investors. The contract allows a person, likely elderly, to cash out his insurance policy by selling it to an investor. Purchasers realize a return when the original policyholder dies and the death benefit is paid out. The MAS said it was not opposed in principle to a legitimate secondary market for life and endowment policies in Singapore, but these were "complex" products that bore "significant risks."
■ Software
Sun signs Chinese pact
Sun Microsystems said Monday it had struck a desktop-computing-software licensing agreement with China Standard Software, a consortium created by two government ministries in China. The agreement, which Sun officials said could lead to making Sun's Linux desktop operating system and StarOffice office automation application the standard personal computer software in the world's most populous country, is the first major win for the computer maker, which is a bitter rival of Microsoft in the software market. Sun did not disclose any dollar amounts for the contract, which involves both the Chinese Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
■ Electronics
Casio, Hitachi work together
Japanese electronics makers Casio and Hitachi announced an agreement yesterday to tie up in the development and production of mobile phones at home and overseas. Under the accord, the two companies are to form a joint venture in April with capital of ?3 billion (US$28 million) with 350 employees. The venture, controlled 51 percent by Casio and the remaining 49 percent by Hitachi, will handle the development, design procurement and production of mobile phones. "The agreement is intended to bring greater efficiency in the development of handsets and operational stability, as well as promote this business overseas," the two companies said in a joint statement. With the venture, the two companies aim to cut production and development costs of mobile phones, they said, adding that they would continue using the Casio and Hitachi brandnames respectively for retailing.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
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