Taiwan-based Accton Technology Corp unveiled in Tokyo yesterday what it is touting as the world's first mobile phone with built-in Skype software that can be used to make free calls over the Internet without the assistance of a personal computer.
The company said in a press release that the WiFi SkyFone WM1185-T wireless mobile phone will benefit more than 50 million customers of Skype as well as companies and households which have not yet used Skype, because they can use it to make peer-to-peer (P2P) Internet calls to any phone users in the world without having to switch on their computers.
As the world's fastest growing P2P Voice-over-IP software, Skype has already been downloaded by more than 190 million people worldwide. It is used by more than 4 million people simultaneously at any given time, the company said.
In recognition of Skype's vast potential, the company said that it began developing telecommunication devices using the Skype technology one year ago and that it has come out with products suitable for families and companies.
The company said that it is one of Skype's partners around the world and that the WiFi SkyFone WM1185-T is the world's first mobile phone which can be used to make Internet calls independent of any computer.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
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