taiwan

Apple reportedly reaches deal with TSMC for next-gen chips

Apple and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company have reportedly reached a deal on next-gen Apple chips, extending all the way to silicon called the A9.

TSMC and its chip-design partner have secured a 3-year deal for Apple's A series chips, according to report on Monday at Digitimes.

"A deal whereby TSMC replaces or supplements Samsung, the incumbent supplier of Apple processors," the report said.

TSMC would be used for Apple's future A8, A9, and A9X chips, Digitimes said.

There is no mention in the article of the expected A7 chip (Apple's latest is the A6/A6X, … Read more

Taiwan: Come for the tourism, stay for the free Wi-Fi

Taiwan is making it easy for foreign tourists to stay connected.

The government recently announced that international travelers to the country will be able to access free Wi-Fi at 4,400 hot spots at indoor public spaces throughout the country. By showing a passport, tourists can open an account on the 1Mbps iTaiwan Wi-Fi network that's found at major tourist spots, transportation hubs, cultural establishments, and government offices, covering much of the island nation.

… Read more

Samsung probed for allegedly bashing rival HTC online

The Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission has reportedly launched an investigation into Samsung on allegations that the phone-maker was paying students to post negative online comments about HTC devices, according to AFP. HTC is one of Samsung's most staunch rivals.

Supposedly, the South Korean tech giant hired students to both write the inflammatory comments about HTC products and also recommend Samsung cell phones. The commission says that this type of behavior is akin to false advertising. According to AFP, the Fair Trade Commission spokesman Sun Lih-chyun said, "The case was set up last week after we received complaints." … Read more

iPhone pricing said to draw scrutiny in Taiwan

Apple apparently is receiving some scrutiny in Taiwan over iPhone pricing.

The country's Fair Trade Commission said today that it plans to investigate allegations that Apple has been interfering in how Taiwan's telecom operators are setting iPhone prices, according to a report from Taiwan's Central News Agency.

The question of whether the U.S. tech giant has violated fair trade rules depends on whether the Taiwanese carriers are seen "as distributors of iPhones or consignment-based sellers," the report said. If Apple were to be found guilty, the maximum fine reportedly would be NT$25 million (… Read more

Apple's next-gen iPhone chip being prepped

Apple and its manufacturing partner are readying the next-generation processor expected to land in future iPhones and iPads.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, is expected to tape out -- one of the final steps before manufacturing -- Apple's A7 chip this month, according to a report in Digitimes.

That will set the stage for pilot production by TSMC this summer and commercial production by the first quarter of 2014.

The A7 will use TSMC's future 20-nanometer manufacturing process -- which isn't expected to be ready until 2014.

Apple, in fact, is designing products now based on … Read more

Sony PS4 event skewered in animated parody

Taiwanese animator Next Media Animation is taking yesterday's Sony PlayStation 4 event to task.

Sony announced its next-generation video game console at a press event in New York, but the PS4 itself was a no-show.

Sony says the PS4 features a PC-like body architecture, x86 CPU, enhanced PS GPU, 8GB of unified memory, a local storage hard drive, and an updated DualShock 4 controller.

The animation group created a video mocking the PS4 at yesterday's press event. Sony treated members of the press to experience what using the next-generation console might feel like with live demonstrations, but did … Read more

Apple Maps outs secret military site, irks Taiwan

The Apple Maps team can't seem to catch a break. The glitches with the new Maps app that Cupertino home-brewed for iOS 6 have been serious enough that even Mad Magazine is having a laugh about the fiasco.

More serious is the grumpy face Taiwan's Defense Ministry made when it saw a satellite image of one of its top-secret long-range radar bases that had been accessed with an iPhone 5.… Read more

The 404 1,069: Where we say goodnight to the bad guy (podcast)

The dating Web site eHarmony got hit by the same group that released a list of LinkedIn member passwords yesterday, so be sure to change your passwords for both if you have accounts.

Buzzfeed also parsed through the list of leaked passwords to reveal some pretty depressing sentiments from employees. While many accounts used overly simplistic passwords like "LinkedIn" or "password1," some of the more disturbing pass phrases include things like "suicide," "solonely," "iwishiwasdead," and "divorce." They're still not very strong in terms of security, so be sure to add a special character or a number during the bleak changeover.… Read more

Google building data center in Taiwan to meet greater demand

Google's upcoming data center in Taiwan will join those already being built in Hong Kong and Singapore as a sign of increased demand in Asia for the company's online services.

Costing a total of $700 million, the three data centers are being geared to provide users "with the fastest and most reliable access possible to all of Google's services," according to the company.

"More new Internet users are coming online everyday here in Asia than anywhere else in the world," Google said on its Web page for the new data center. "They … Read more