■ Computers
Apple adds mouse buttons
Just weeks after announcing a switch to Intel-based chips, Apple Computer Inc on Tuesday unveiled another change that brings it closer to the mainstream -- a new computer mouse with four programmable buttons and a scroll ball. The introduction of the US$49 device came after decades in which Apple insisted that a single button mouse was adequate for managing computer tasks. The new Mighty Mouse doesn't actually feature separate buttons. Instead it has two touch sensors near the front that can be used like a two-button mouse, or as a single-button for Apple traditionalists. Pushing down the scroll ball can also act as a button while squeezing the mouse from both sides also can launch applications or bring up menus.
■ Piracy
Web rebels test `darknet'
Internet rebels on Tuesday began preliminary testing of a new weapon that threatens to scuttle efforts to stop illicit online music swapping. Internet privacy activists at Freenet Project posted word on their Web site that they were looking for kindred technology renegades to test a refined version "darknet" software designed to keep file swappers anonymous. The new software is being heralded as "scalable," which means it would enable large numbers of computer users to freely share files online without revealing their identities, said Doug Tygar, a computer professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "Even if this version of Freenet doesn't meet its goals, I can assure you they will continue to refine their software. It is just a matter of time before anonymous file sharing networks become available," Tygar said.
■ Oil industry
Indonesia asks for loan
Indonesia's cash-strapped government has asked China to provide a loan of up to US$1.5 billion to fund oil imports by state-owned oil firm Pertamina, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said yesterday. Indonesia submitted the request during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's state visit to China last week as a means of supporting the rupiah, Bakrie told reporters. Pertamina is responsible for all of Indonesia's oil imports. Although Indonesia is the sole Southeast Asian member of OPEC, falling investment in oil exploration and extraction in the country has reduced output in recent years and made the country a net oil importer.
■ Fraud
Bank settles Enron claim
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has agreed to pay US$2.4 billion to settle investors' claims that it helped hide losses at the fallen energy trader Enron Corp through a massive accounting fraud. The settlement announced on Tuesday with the Toronto-based bank -- Canada's fifth-largest financial institution and the operator of the securities firm CIBC World Markets -- was the biggest individual payout so far in the long-running debacle. Combined with similar agreements with Citigroup Inc, JP Morgan Chase & Co and others, the settlements have now reached more than US$7 billion, said lawyers for the investors who lost tens of billions in Enron's 2001 collapse. Some 50,000 Enron stock and bond holders led by the University of California's board of regents filed claims as part of the lawsuit. Investors claim a number of global banks and brokerages helped Enron continue to operate and raise money even as the company was imploding.
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
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
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