■ INTERNET
Google shares hit US$700
Shares in Internet search behemoth Google surpassed US$700 for the first time on Wednesday, cementing the technology firm's position as one of the US' most valuable companies. Google's shares closed up 1.7 percent at US$707.00 amid wider market gains as investors continued to snap up its shares. Its share price has multiplied by eight since its stock market debut in August 2004. The shares, which have rocketed US$100 in the past three weeks, were boosted by better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and news reports that Google was holding talks with Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel to market mobile phones packed with Google software.
PHOTO: REUTERS
■ GAMING
Game over for Famicom
It could soon be game over for the Famicom, the vintage family computer that two decades ago set Japan's Nintendo on a path to become a global video game icon. Nintendo has decided to stop repairing the Famicom, the console that wowed the world with Super Mario Brothers and Dragon Quest, because stocks of spare parts are running out, company spokesman Ken Toyoda said. The family computer, which was sold as the Nintendo Entertainment System in the US and Europe, made its world debut in Japan in 1983. It went on to sell almost 62 million units worldwide and was followed by the Super Famicom, repairs of which will also be halted.
■ NETWORKING
Cisco expanding in China
Network gear maker Cisco Systems Inc yesterday announced a multi-year, US$16 billion series of initiatives to expand in China with investments in manufacturing, venture capital and education efforts. "We're going to the next chapter for Cisco in China," Cisco CEO John Chambers said at a news conference. The ventures include a partnership with Alibaba Group (阿里巴巴), China's biggest online commerce firm, to develop business services for small and medium-sized firms, he said.
■ ENERGY
LG to set up consultancy
LG Electronics Inc said yesterday it would start a new business to help customers improve energy efficiency, a move it sees protecting the environment and boosting sales of its commercial air conditioners. LG said in a statement that the energy consultancy, to be launched next year, "will work with customers through the entire process of establishing an energy system for public buildings, from suggestion to planning, ordering, operational supervision and maintenance of the energy system."
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
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
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