Stories by Dan Nystedt

Ultra-low cost mobile phones a hit, group says

Sales of a pair of ultra-low cost mobile phones aimed at poor nations have exceeded expectations since their launch at the beginning of the year, prompting the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) Association (GSMA) to extend the program that led to their creation.

Google to launch censored China search service

Google plans to launch a search service aimed at Chinese users this week that will block results deemed sensitive to Beijing, a decision the company struggled with before deciding its better to provide some service rather than none at all.

Google founders, CEO keep $US1 salaries

The co-founders and chief executive of Google will each be paid salaries of just $US1 this year, the same as their salaries last year, according to a company filing to market regulators on Monday.

Taiwan legislature takes on Microsoft

Taiwan's legislature has passed a resolution asking the government to reduce its purchases of Microsoft products by 25 percent this year, a further sign the world's largest software company is running into resistance in Asia.

Cellular revenue hit record high in 2005 says iSuppli

Mobile phone industry revenue reached an all time high US$115.1 billion last year as more people around the world either upgraded to better mobile phones or became subscribers, according to market researcher iSuppli.

CES - Accton may beat Netgear with first Wi-Fi VOIP phone

Taiwan's Accton Technology plans to launch two wireless handsets by the middle of February that allow users to place calls over the Internet at little or no cost using Wi-Fi, potentially beating U.S. rival Netgear to market with the first Wi-Fi phones designed for VOIP (voice over Internet protocol).

Icahn sour on possible Google, AOL deal

A deal between Google and America Online would be "disastrous" if it means the popular Internet property won't be able to seek mergers or business deals with other companies, billionaire investor Carl Icahn said in an open letter to the board of directors of Time Warner.

UMC fined for late reporting of accounting error

United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), the world's second largest contract chip maker, received an NT$50,000 (US$1,510) fine from the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) for its failure to report accounting errors in a timely manner to shareholders.

Report: Time Warner CEO says AOL not for sale

Time Warner is not interested in selling its America Online (AOL) unit, and instead is seeking only a partner to boost advertising revenue, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Nokia trades barbs with supplier, denies wrongdoing

Nokia on Tuesday denied acting unfairly towards Taiwanese supplier of DSL (digital subscriber line) products that took out front-page newspaper advertisements berating the mobile phone giant's contract practices. Nokia cited quality problems with some equipment supplied by YCL Electronics.

Via releases security kit for Linux, Windows developers

Via Technologies, the Taiwanese chip developer, has released a software developer kit aimed at strengthening data protection by ensuring that writers of Windows and Linux code can tie their security features to the hardware encryption capabilities of Via's C7 and C7-M microprocessors.

Xerox sees profits rising 10 to 15 percent in 2006

Xerox, one of the world's largest printer makers, expects to increase its earnings per share by 10 percent to 15 percent next year in part by capturing new growth opportunities such as color printing, the company said in a Monday statement.

Nvidia CEO unveils VoIP vision

The future of wireless communications could be a world without mobile phones, where Wi-Fi signals pick up your voice commands from a chip-enabled lapel on your breast pocket, then VoIP converts the voice signals to data and sends them across the Internet to powerful servers that can identify the caller's voice and connect them immediately to the person they are trying to find.

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