■ Software
New Office for Apple
The latest version of Microsoft Corp's Office software for Apple computers will be in stores in the third week of next month, the company said. The announcement was scheduled for yesterday. Jessica Sommer, a Microsoft product manager, said Microsoft is scheduled to send the latest version of Office 2004 for Macs to manufacturers on April 14, paving the way for the product to get to store shelves the following month. Online retailers were also to begin offering the software for pre-order yesterday, Sommer said. The new software will cost the same as the previous version, she said. Office for Macs currently sells for anywhere between US$149 for educators to US$499 for the full professional version.
■ United States
Boeing suspension to end
The US Air Force is preparing to end an eight-month suspension on Boeing Co bidding for government rocket contracts, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday. Air Force and Boeing officials expect to announce an agreement in the next few weeks that paves the way for the No. 2 US defense contractor to resume bidding for contracts valued at up to US$5 billion up to 2010, the daily said, citing confidential sources. The Air Force stripped Boeing of US$1 billion in launch contracts and suspended three of the company's units from bidding on new rocket business last July over an industrial espionage scandal. Officials took the step after concluding that Boeing improperly came by thousands of pages of documents from rival Lockheed Martin Corp that gave Boeing an unfair advantage in the bidding process for a rocket launch contract.
■ Cellphones
Motorola ships V600
Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest maker of mobile phones, has begun shipping its V600 camera phone to AT&T Wireless Services Inc after four months of testing delays. The V600 lets customers take photos, send e-mail and make calls in 125 countries. It is available on AT&T Wireless' Web site for US$174.99 after a US$195 rebate, and will be in most of AT&T Wireless's retail stores by next week, AT&T spokesman Ritch Blasi said. Motorola is relying on the V600, already on sale in Europe, to win back market share lost to bigger competitor Nokia Oyj of Finland. Motorola's handset sales fell 3 percent in the fourth quarter in part because component shortages caused shipping delays for some phones.
■ Semiconductors
KEB proposes Hynix sale
Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), controlled by a US investment fund, proposed yesterday that creditors sell up to 20 percent of their stake in Hynix Semiconductor Inc. The proposal from bank president Robert Fallon came in an interview with the Yonhap news agency, a bank official said. Creditors including KEB hold a combined 81.4 percent stake in Hynix and are banned from selling their holdings until December 2006 as part of a bailout for the world's third largest microchip maker. Hynix, which accounts for 30 percent of South Korea's memory-chip exports, escaped insolvency last year with a 3.2 trillion won (US$2.8 billion) bailout arranged by creditors. KEB, taken over by US investment fund Lone Star in January, holds a 13.8 percent stake in Hynix.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS