vnunet.com Asia news wrap: Friday 11 November

Asia news wrap: Friday 11 November

Ahead of a regulatory ruling that may force it to withdraw Windows from South Korea, Microsoft announced it had settled an antitrust lawsuit, but regulators said the agreement would have no effect on their decision.

Microsoft Korea said today that it will pay $30m in cash and advertising bookings to Daum Communications and enter into an unspecified business partnership with the Korean company.

Daum sued Microsoft and complained to the government in 2001, alleging that the inclusion of instant messaging software with Windows amounted to unfair competition with Daum's own messaging application.

Daum operates a Korean-language portal that is ranked amongst the world's 50 most-visited websites, according to Alexa Internet.

"The agreement will not affect our deliberations on this case at all. Even if Daum drops its accusation, we will keep it going since the existence of a plaintiff is not required for us to continue our probe," commented a Korean FTC (Fair Trade Commission) spokesman, according to the Korea Times.

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Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corporation yesterday announced a PC-based security system which detects potential criminals in areas such as shops and warehouses.

"The DX-PC55Pro software analyses various behavioral patterns of people in images taken by monitoring cameras, and can pinpoint persons who show suspicious behaviors such as staying in a place for an improperly long period of time or entering an off-limits area. The software is also capable of displaying clos e-up photos of the faces of persons on the PC screen," Japan Today said, quoting a Kyodo News report.

Mitsubishi Electric conducts extensive research into technology suitable for surveillance and identification applications. Published research includes techniques for shadow removal, identification of happy and sad facial expressions, and tracking of individuals based on facial recognition.

In related news, the Tokyo city government today announced plans to install surveillance cameras in all 1,331 of the city's public elementary schools by 2008, at a cost of approximately $8.5m. In 2001, eight children were killed by a knife-wielding man at an elementary school near Osaka.

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Japanese businesses will be able to buy and sell second-hand computers online from December. Unlike existing online auction services, such as eBay, Aucnet's service will include professional product appraisal, stored data removal and delivery.

The service will be targeted at direct business to business sales, and computer dealers. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association estimates the country has an annual market for two million second hand PCs.

Aucnet, which reported operating revenues of over $140m last year, is Japan's largest online car auction operator and is attempting to expand internationally. The company's car auctions are already open to foreign buyers in some countries.