Asia

Three Asian electronics firms have agreed to plead guilty and pay $585 million in fines for conspiring to drive up the prices of LCD screens used in computers, TVs, cell phones and other electronic devices.

In a plea deal filed Wednesday, LG Display Co. Ltd., Sharp Corp., and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. agreed to cooperate in an antitrust investigation headed by the U.S. Justice Department. The plea agreement was filed in federal court in San Francisco.

LCDs, or liquid crystal display monitors, are the glass display screens on many laptop computers, cell phones and new TVs.

Attackers bent on shutting down large Web sites -- even the operators that run the backbone of the Internet -- are arming themselves with what are effectively vast digital fire hoses capable of overwhelming the world's largest networks, according to a new report on online security.

In these attacks, computer networks are hijacked to form so-called botnets that spray random packets of data in huge streams over the Internet. The deluge of data is meant to bring down Web sites and entire corporate networks.

Online auction house eBay said Monday it will place a global ban on the sale and purchase of ivory products on its site. The announcement comes nearly a year after the company banned cross-border trading of ivory products.

eBay, one of the largest marketplaces for ivory, first decided to ban international trade of ivory in January 2007 after a wildlife group found that nine out of 10 ivory products sold on eBay was illegal. Trade of ivory products in the U.S. was still accepted until now. The global ban will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009.

Electronic Arts Inc. is turning to online games to boost its limited presence in Asia, the Asia president of the U.S. video game maker said Tuesday.

EA's main business in the West comes from packaged games software for consoles and personal computers, but online games are more popular in Asia, EA President for Asia Jon Niermann told The Associated Press in an interview.

"It's night and day," Niermann.

Niermann was attending the launch of "Need for Speed Undercover," which features a character played by actress Maggie Q.

We here at 3QD have been fans and friend

When Sam Hurst, a professor at the University of Kentucky, developed touchscreen technology nearly four decades ago, he probably had no idea his innovation would be the basis for a popular consumer interface and change the way humans and machines interact.

We have come a long way since Hurst's touch technology, which is now used in several products, including smartphones.

When Sam Hurst, a professor at the University of Kentucky, developed touchscreen technology nearly four decades ago, he probably had no idea his innovation would be the basis for a popular consumer interface and change the way humans and machines interact.

We have come a long way since Hurst's touch technology, which is now used in several products, including smartphones.

U.S. companies are still exporting harmful electronic waste and the Environmental Protection Agency is doing little to stop it, according to the Government Accountability Office. On Wednesday, GAO officials testified before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment.

In January 2007 a rule took effect that required U.S. companies to notify the EPA before exporting cathode ray tubes to foreign countries. CRTs are harmful to humans and the environment because they contain lead, a known toxin.

Under pressure from the United States and Asia, the European Union proposed Monday to eliminate taxes on imports of newly developed high-tech goods in the hope of avoiding a lengthy and costly World Trade Organization dispute.

Brussels said it wants to "update and expand" a 1996 WTO agreement that ended tariffs on information technology equipment by granting the special treatment to new products that have entered the market since the accord went into effect.

The U.S. says these new products are already covered by the deal, and charges the 27-nation bloc with breaking the rules.

TNC, a Korea-based software company also known as Tatter and Company, has been Googled, according to Chang Won-Kim, TNC's cochief executive.

Chang announced Google's acquisition of TNC, which occurred Friday, in his personal blog.

Chang, who shares the CEO title with TNC's founder, Chester Roh, said he believes the reason for the acquisition is because Google has very little market presence in Korea and Asia.

"We will commit ourselves to increasing Google's market share in Korea," Chang wrote.