■ Search Engines
Google may need help
Google, the highly touted Internet search firm that offered shares to the public this month, has weak corporate governance policies, according to a report by a shareholder service organization. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), in a report obtained Tuesday, said Google's overall ranking on corporate governance is just 0.2 percent in comparison with Standard and Poor's 500 firms -- in other words, it outranked just one of the other companies. ISS, which rates some 7,500 companies on issues of responsibility to shareholders, cited in its report, dated Aug. 19, "lingering questions about the company's substandard governance structure."
■ Software
Windows gets update
The software giant Microsoft Corp announced that it will release its corporate update for Windows XP on Wednesday. Tuesday's announcement came after the Seattle-based company delayed the automatic release of the so-called Service Pack 2 to allow technology administrators at companies, enterprises and other large organizations to assess the update and possibly block its deployment. The array of software updates is the largest ever released by Microsoft and was primarily designed to improve security, and block pop-up ads and spyware. Security experts have already found holes in the software update while corporate information-technology managers worry that it will clash with existing applications.
■ Photography
Kodak eyes imaging firm
Eastman Kodak Co, the world's largest photography company, agreed to buy National Semiconductor Corp's imaging business for an undisclosed price, to expand its line of sensors for products such as camera phones. The transaction will be complete in the next few weeks, the companies said in separate statements. Kodak, based in Rochester, New York, said it will open a new office in Sunnyvale, California, and hire about 50 of National's employees. National's business that makes image-sensing chips will become part of Kodak's group that designs sensors for professional and industrial customers. The deal will help Kodak as it tries to boost sales of parts for electronics such as digital cameras. Chief Executive Daniel Carp has been making acquisitions to add digital products and services as sales of consumer film decline.
■ Investing
Multimanager funds gain
Multimanager mutual funds are gaining in popularity, the Wall Street Journal said in its "Fund Track" column, citing a study to be released this week by Cerulli Associates, a US research firm. Global assets in accounts with multiple managers grew 28 percent, to US$678 billion, in 2003 and are likely to go on growing at a 14 percent compound annual rate until 2008, the newspaper cited the study as saying. The multimanager category includes both funds of funds, which buy shares of other funds, and manager-of-manager funds, which use several fund managers to handle different portions of their total assets, the Journal said. Multimanager funds offer diversity and expert advice in choosing funds.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
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