■ semiconductors
Chip breakthrough reported
Intel Corp and university researchers announced a breakthrough on Monday that could lead to a laser-producing chip that could vastly improve computing power at a low cost. Intel said the researchers for the company and the University of California at Santa Barbara developed a process that could allow the production of hybrid silicon-laser chips to use laser beams instead of wires to transfer data. The use of photonics, or optical data transfer, could vastly increase the speed of computers while keeping costs down, the researchers said. The use of lasers could allow communication between chips within a system, bypassing many of the bottlenecks on existing computer chips.
■ Entertainment
Sharp goes with Blu-ray
Sharp Corp said it will start selling recorders that use Blu-ray high-definition disks early next year. The Blu-ray format, developed by Sony, can store between five and 10 times as much data as a conventional DVD, and is competing with Toshiba Corp's HD DVD to become the standard for recording and playing high-definition movies and other content. Mikio Katayama, executive director in charge of Sharp's LCD panel and TV business said the company would start selling Blu-ray recorders. Samsung Electronics, Apple Computer and Dell also support the Blu-ray format, while the HD DVD standard is backed by NEC, Intel aand Microsoft.
■ Steel
Mittal has hopes for China
Lakshmi Mittal, president of steel giant Arcelor-Mittal, hopes that China may allow foreign ownership of its steel interests by 2008, according to an interview with the Financial Times published yesterday. "I'd hope some day the Chinese government would allow this [foreign ownership] to happen, perhaps in the next two years," he said. Arcelor-Mittal, by far the world's biggest steelmaker after a recent takeover of the European group Arcelor by Mittal Steel, has cited Asia and the Middle East as key areas of expansion. Arcelor-Mittal has three joint ventures with operators in China, which accounts for almost one-third of global steel production and consumption.
■ Internet
Microsoft inks China deal
Microsoft Corp will provide China Telecom Corp, China's biggest Internet service provider, with a Web search to try raise the carrier's share of the Chinese Web market. Microsoft will provide its Live Search service to 25 million China Telecom customers, the two firms said a briefing in Beijing yesterday. Microsoft is working with China Telecom to raise its share of the nation's Internet market, whose users may double in five years, according to researcher IResearch Inc. The world's biggest software maker has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on its search engine to lure customers away from Google Inc.
■ Automobiles
Tokyo seeks more luxury
Toyota Motor Corp, which failed to meet its domestic sales target for the Lexus brand last year, will introduce its Lexus LS sedan in Japan to raise its share of the luxury segment in the world's second-largest auto market. Toyota expects to sell 1,300 units of LS sedans a month, it said in a statement yesterday. Toyota expects total global sales for the Lexus brand to reach 470,000 this year and surpass 500,000 vehicles next year.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry
RSS