What's Smartone's HomePhone+?

SmarTone-Vodafone stirs the market with fixed-line package

SmarTone-Vodafone's promotion of its new fixed-line service heralds a shake-up in the mature Hong Kong telecommunications market.

The mobile business arm of Sun Hung Kai Properties last week introduced its Home Phone Plus plan for residential fixed-line users, offering a flat voice plan with value-added services including voice over internet protocol access for HK$118 a month.

A dedicated phone set would be provided for free if users committed to an 18-month contract, the company announced last week.

PCCW dominates the fixed-line segment with a market share of almost 70 per cent, serving more than one million homes. The balance is shared by Hutchison Telecom, Wharf T&T, Hong Kong Broadband Network and New World Telecom.

Residential fixed-line service penetration reached 95 per cent at the end of February, data from the Office of the Telecommunications Authority shows.

"Over 60 per cent of local families said that a phone is still a must at home," SmarTone chief executive Douglas Li said, citing a survey conducted by his company. "This is a family-shared phone and represents the location of the family. It is not affected by mobile substitution."

Mr Li said there was still plenty of room to lure users from competitors.

As a mobile operator, SmarTone-Vodafone can make use of the coverage provided by the 2G mobile network to deliver the service. The dedicated phone set is connected to the GSM mobile network, so that once a user switches on, an over-the-air network setting can be applied to fix the phone network signal at a customer's home. The network signal could be reset when a customer changed address, Mr Li said.

"We deploy a new auto network zoning technology with our new home phone service," he said. "This is a self-developed technology that helps guarantee the network coverage of the home phone."

However, an executive at a rival operator said SmarTone-Vodafone's mobile network might not perform well in some residential high-rises, and signals might be poor in some harbour locations.

SmarTone-Vodafone's tariff is set at a premium compared with plans of as low as HK$30 per month at some operators.

Mr Li said the company would compete on the quality of its offerings, rather than on price.

For calls using the internet, users can register their own internet phone account, such as that offered by Skype, on the Home Phone Plus account. Such calls can go through the home phone.

Meanwhile, PCCW is promoting its fixed-line product as a home multimedia hub. Its newly launched Eye service enables users to watch television programmes, learn languages and place bets on Mark Six through a broadband phone.

"Multimedia content is about personal preferences. With multimedia services, I believe the 3G mobile phone is much more suitable," Mr Li said

SCMP. Apr 1, 2008.

Adobe Launching Free Version of Photoshop Online

Adobe is taking a note from startups nipping at the edges of its core products, and has now launched a free version of its Photoshop picture editing software. Called Photoshop Express, the service is available directly through any browser though it will only work on Flash 9, so you may have to upgrade. Users have to register for the account, and get 2GB of free storage. Also, it also has ties to social networking sites like Facebook and other image-sharing sites, reports News.com (I am still waiting for the verification e-mail from the service to try it out).

Adobe intends to offer more premium features down the line, which include a printing service, more storage, support for audio and other media, and the ability to read additional image file types (the service works with .JPGs now.). It also plans to build an offline client, which will surely cut into its Photoshop revenues, but better to undercut itself than let others do. Some pics of the software are here.

This of course will be bad news for the likes of Picnik (a service we have used regularly here before) and others in the startup space.

Washington Post.

An interview with "Dr. House"

Hugh Laurie hits America’s funny bone

THE British comedy actor Hugh Laurie is the unlikely star of a hit new show on American television. Critics have been raving about his “career-shifting” performance as a misanthropic doctor in the drama series House.

Laurie plays Dr Gregory House, a cranky hospital doctor lacking a bedside manner, with a flawless American accent. It is a far cry from his upper-class twit roles in Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster, which helped to make his name in Britain.

“I’m enjoying the character,” Laurie said during a break from filming. “There is something appealingly adolescent about him. He is dramatic and intense at times but he can be very witty. I get the best of all possible worlds.”

If Americans knew Laurie at all, it was as the father of a talking mouse in Stuart Little, the children’s film. Bryan Singer, director of X-Men, the science fiction series, and who is an executive producer of the new show, had not heard of Laurie but was “floored” by his audition. He had no idea the actor was British.

“I was very lucky to sneak under the wire,” said Laurie, who was not sure what he was auditioning for from the two-page script. He assumed his tape would be thrown unwatched in the bin. “It actually worked to my advantage that he had never heard of me.”

The series began slowly last autumn but was propelled into the top 10 when Fox gave it a slot after American Idol, the ratings giant. The audience for House doubled overnight and has continued to grow weekly, reaching more than 18m viewers last week.

“This rarely happens in American television. It’s a bona fide hit. The word of mouth is really strong,” said Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly.

“People love its blend of mystery and meticulous character study and have fallen head over heels for Hugh Laurie’s complicated doctor.”

House walks with a cane, is addicted to painkillers and has little time for patients, believing that they habitually lie to doctors. His prickly character is loosely based on Sherlock Holmes. In the show he obsessively ferrets out the truth about patients’ unusual medical conditions. He is equally brusque with his colleagues, whom he quizzes impertinently about their private lives.

In last week’s episode he uncovered the infidelity that led a woman who had never been to Africa to contract sleeping sickness. Among his memorable quips is: “Have you ever seen an infected, pierced scrotum?” George Clooney in ER was more obviously dishy and sympathetic to his patients, yet the dishevelled Laurie, 45, is showing unexpected signs of sex appeal.

“It’s a very amusing and perfectly absurd comparison. George Clooney is very easy on the eye, I’m the ogre on the set,” Laurie said modestly.

There are traces of sexual tension at the hospital, nevertheless.

“House has one aspect that drives women crazy,” said Jenson. “He’s so aloof. There is a young woman doctor who is becoming hopelessly enamoured of him because she is constantly seeking his approbation.”

The series also reveals the moody doctor to be an old boyfriend of his female hospital boss.

In real life Laurie’s wife, Jo Green, and their children have remained in London while he finishes filming. “I feel like I’m working on an oil rig right now,” he said. “I’m away from home a lot.”

After all the acclaim Fox has signed up for a second series. Television critics have hailed House as “one of TV’s great shows”, Laurie’s character as a “magnificent creation” and his performance as “grumpy, guarded and brilliant”.

The actor, who has suffered from depression in the past, now has to cope with the demands of success. “Making a new show every eight days is punishing. It’s the quantity that’s the problem. It’s like eating lobster. By the 70th plate you start to go off lobster,” he said.

“We’re doing in eight months what I did over four years with Stephen Fry in Jeeves and Wooster.”

Laurie remains close to his old circle of British friends such as Fry, whom he met at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and one of his earliest girlfriends was Emma Thompson, the actress. Laurie’s British chums have been supportive of his American career. “Stephen has been very kind,” he said. “He’s seen one or two episodes and seems to approve but maybe they’re all sniggering up their sleeves.”

It remains to be seen whether British audiences will take to Laurie’s freshly minted American accent. “I think I will probably shock and disgust everybody. English people are naturally embarrassed by affectation,” he said. “If you are in France and your friend starts speaking French to the waiter it’s worse than watching a person go to the lavatory. The same may apply here.”

The Times.

Teens turn deaf ear to risks of MP3 players

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenagers seem to know that loud music can damage their hearing, yet most see no reason to lower the volume on their iPods, a small study suggests.

In focus-group discussions with students at two high schools in the Netherlands, researchers found that the teens were generally aware that blasting an MP3 player could harm their hearing. Yet most said they usually played their own device at maximum volume and had no plans to change that.

Like many teenagers, the students often denied their own personal risk. Most knew the general hazards of loud music, but believed they had a "low personal vulnerability" to hearing loss, the researchers report in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Given this, lead researcher Ineke Vogel told Reuters Health in an email interview, "we strongly recommend parents to inform their children and to discuss with their children the use of MP3 players and the potential long- term, irreversible consequences for hearing capacity."

Parents can also look for signs of a problem, like when a child complains of ringing in the ears or sounds being "muffled," according to Vogel and co-researcher Dr. Hein Raat, who are both based at the University Medical Center Rotterdam.

Based on the focus-group discussions, though, many parents may be unaware of the hearing risks posed by MP3 players, the researchers note. Of the 73 students in the study, few said their parents had warned them that playing the devices too loud could harm their hearing.

It may also be necessary for MP3 manufacturers to make changes, the researchers note in their report.

Many students in the study said they did not know how to tell when their MP3 players were too loud. Volumes at or above 90 decibels (dB) are believed to be hazardous, Vogel's team notes, but noise levels need to reach 120 dB to 140 dB to become uncomfortable or painful.

Manufacturers, according to the researchers, could equip MP3 players with an indicator that displays the volume level in terms of decibels, along with a signal -- such as a flashing light -- that goes off when decibel levels reach the danger zone.

For now, Vogel and her colleagues recommend that, as a general "rule of thumb," MP3 users set the volume no higher than 60 percent of its full capacity when using "ear bud" style headphones, like those that come with iPods.

With over-the-ear headphones, they recommend 70 percent as the maximum.

Just as there are safety standards for occupational noise exposure, Vogel and her colleagues suggest that more long-range studies are needed to develop safety guidelines for "leisure-time" noise exposure.

Reuters.

McDonald's Egg McMuffin inventor dies at 89

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Herb Peterson, who invented the ubiquitous Egg McMuffin as a way to introduce breakfast to McDonald's restaurants (NYSE:MCD) , has died, a Southern California McDonald's official said Wednesday. He was 89.

Peterson died peacefully Tuesday at his Santa Barbara home, said Monte Fraker, vice president of operations for McDonald's restaurants in that city.

He began his career with McDonald's Corp. as vice president of the company's advertising firm, D'Arcy Advertising, in Chicago. He wrote McDonald's first national advertising slogan, 'Where Quality Starts Fresh Every Day.'
Peterson eventually became a franchisee and was currently co-owner and operator of six McDonald's restaurants in Santa Barbara and Goleta, Fraker said.

Peterson came up with idea for the signature McDonald's breakfast item in 1972. He 'was very partial to eggs Benedict,' Fraker said, and worked on creating something similar.

The egg sandwich consisted of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle with the yolk broken, topped with a slice of cheese and grilled Canadian bacon. It was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin.

The Egg McMuffin made its debut at a restaurant in Santa Barbara that Peterson co-owned with his son, David Peterson.

Fraker said that, although semiretired, Peterson still visited all six of his stores in the Santa Barbara area until last year when his health began to deteriorate.

'He would talk to the customers, visit with the employees. He loved McDonald's,' Fraker said.

Fraker, who said he worked with Peterson for 30 years, said 'he was amazing as far as giving back to the community.'
'He embraced the community and the community embraced him,' Fraker said. 'We loved the man.'
Peterson is survived by his wife, son and three daughters.

A public memorial service will be held April 23 at All Saints by the Sea church in Montecito.

CNN Money.

Massive ice shelf collapsing off Antarctica

Scientists are citing "rapid climate change in a fast-warming region of Antarctica" as the cause of an initial collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf. The damage got started at the end of February when an iceberg dropped off and triggered the "runaway disintegration" of a 160-square-mile portion of the 5,282-square-mile shelf.

The ice shelf, which scientists speculate has floated in the Antarctic region for hundreds of years, is succumbing to recent rises in temperature in the area--an average of 0.9 degree Fahrenheit every 10 years for the last 50 years.

This series of pictures that show the beginning of the breakup were taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer sensor, which flies on its Earth Observing System Aqua and Terra satellites.

Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center/NASA

Click the link to CNet News for more information.

Do you want to own a Tablet Macbook?

Review: Modbook Tablet Is a Designer's best friend forever

One look at Axiotron's slate Modbook tablet and it's clear the company has given Apple's 13-inch entry-level laptop the full Steve Austin treatment. Well, minus the 20:1 bionic eye with infrared capabilities. Nevertheless, the end result is a better, (slightly) faster, and, yes, even stronger Mac tablet. Sure, it's the only Mac tablet for now, but this baby is certain to give anyone who dabbles in the dark graphical arts exquisitely rendered heart palpitations.

One minor nit before we start examining the goods. Some reviews have described the Modbook as a touchscreen device. While, technically, this is true, it's important to note we're not talking capacitive touching here. In fact, you can only use the provided Wacom digitizer pen and its 11 nibs as an input device. While that lack of skin on screen action, coupled with its high price, probably keeps the Modbook from being a truly mainstream device, it is by no means a deal breaker.

The tablet touts both Bluetooth and the standard two USB ports should you want to use it with a full-size keyboard and mouse. Hell, you can even mount it on your wall or hook it up to an external monitor via the standard mini-DVI port (like we did), if you prefer a slightly larger screen to show off your squiggly Garfield drawings.

In fact, given that the Modbook is essentially a niche device, it's still impressively versatile. It comes pre-loaded with Apple's Leopard, including the OS's surprisingly accurate built-in Inkwell handwriting recognition software. Using their formidable engineering kung fu, the folks at Axiotron also crammed a GPS unit into the Modbook, which -- ahem -- lets you geo-locate to your heart's content.

As far as looks go, Modbook stays true to Apple's overriding aesthetic sensibilities. It's clear Axiotron has done some Frankensteining here and there (the bottom portion of the tablet is identical to the MacBook while the top half is basically a Wacom Penabled Digitizer), but the Modbook still looks like something Steve Jobs could potentially unveil from an envelope. Both the shell and interior display frame are built from aircraft-quality magnesium alloy -- not that anodized crap. Axiotron also went for the trifecta of metal plating -- that's nickel humping copper and topped off with a little chrome for good measure. While that combination certainly attracts smudges, it's also extremely scratch-resistant.

Our only major quibble with the Modbook is its lack of graphical zing and relatively small screen. For designers, Intel's standard GMA X3100 with 144 MB of SDRAM doesn't exactly do the trick, and it would've been nice to include something like Nvidia's GeForce 8600M GT cards that come standard on MacBook Pros. Similarly, the 13-inch screen size, while bigger than other slate-style tablets out there, still isn't the ideal dimension for a device that purports to be ideal for artists and designers.

So yeah, it's clear the Modbook isn't for everyone. If your days consist of endless spreadsheets or you're some hack banging out gadget reviews, the $2,300 base price is a hard thing to justify. That said, the fact that Axiotron has transformed a run-of-the-mill MacBook into a hyper-specialized device is probably a smart move considering Apple is undoubtedly working on its own mainstream 'Macblet'. —Bryan Gardiner

WIRED: Built-in GPS. Badass handwriting recognition software accurately renders chicken scratch into coherent words. Durable screen and shell makes porting this pricey device a relatively worry-free ordeal.

TIRED: Did we mention this is a pricey (US$2,290) device? Stylus pen occasionally loses connectivity or freezes and requires reset. Heavy; weighs as much as a 15-inch Macbook Pro (5.5 lbs).

US$2,290, axiotron.com

Wired.

Olympic torch lit despite protest

The Olympic torch has been lit at a ceremony in Greece that was briefly disrupted by pro-Tibet activists.
Protesters from media rights group Reporters Without Borders broke through the cordon of 1,000 police officers in Olympia as China's envoy spoke.

Activists had vowed to protest over the violence in and around Tibet.

The torch will now be carried in an around-the-world relay through 20 countries, before arriving in Beijing for the start of the Games on 8 August.

As Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Olympic organising committee, spoke ahead of the torch lighting, three men broke into the ceremony venue.

One ran up behind him attempting to display a black flag depicting the Olympic rings made from handcuffs.




The men were from the France-based media rights watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders, or RSF), which has called for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the games.

They were quickly bundled away by police and Mr Liu continued his speech uninterrupted.

The live television coverage, beaming the scene around the world, quickly cut away from Mr Liu and the protesters until they had been removed.

"We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace, without denouncing the dramatic human rights situation in the country," RSF said in a statement.

Later, as the torch began its journey, pro-Tibet activists unfurled banners and shouted slogans before Greek security wrestled them away.

'Boycott unwanted'

Actors dressed in ancient Greek costume then lit the torch in the traditional manner by using a parabolic mirror to focus the sun's rays.

There were fears that stormy weather would prevent the torch being lit in the customary way.

The ceremony, beside the Temple of Hera, was moved forward by an hour and the sun shone through a break in the clouds.

The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, has defended the decision to hold the Games in China saying: "The major political leaders don't want a boycott".

In his speech during the ceremony, Mr Rogge said the Olympic torch relay and the Games should take place in a peaceful environment.

"The torch is the link between all athletes and citizens of this world; between all of us who believe in Olympism and the virtue of sport. It has the force to unite humanity and to stand for harmony."

He told the Associated Press news agency on Monday that he was engaged on a daily basis in "silent diplomacy" with Beijing on Tibet and other human rights issues.



Tibet unrest

Tibet activists are angered that the torch's 136,000-km (85,000-mile) route will take it through the Himalayan region and Mount Everest, which straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet.



China sent troops to Tibet in 1950 and since then there have been periods of unrest and sporadic uprisings as resentment of Beijing's rule has persisted.

The latest round of anti-China protests began in Tibet's main city, Lhasa, on 10 March - the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising - and gradually escalated.

Lhasa saw at least two days of violence and there have also been protests in provinces which border Tibet.

China says 19 people were killed by rioters and accuses Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of inciting the violence.

The Tibetan government in exile says at least 130 people have died in a crackdown by Chinese troops and deny any role in the protests.

BBC News.

Shanghai villagers told to make way for Disney park

Work on Shanghai's Disneyland - set to pose serious competition to the struggling Hong Kong Disney park for the crucial mainland tourist trade - could begin as early as the first half of next year, villagers living on the site have been told.

This emerged little more than two weeks after the city's mayor, Han Zheng , announced that Beijing's approval had been sought for the park to go ahead.

If the start date is confirmed it would mean the first phase would be operating soon after the 2010 World Expo shoves the city into international spotlight.

About 4 sq km of land belonging to four villages in the Chuansha area of Pudong have been earmarked for the park, according to villagers who have been told they will have to move to nearby Shilong.

About 3,200 families, many of them farmers, live in the four villages - Qigan, Zhaoxing, Jiajia and Xueqiao, about 40 minutes' drive from the city centre.

Residents said leaders of their village production teams, who told them about the plans, had said Qigan and Zhaoxing were earmarked for the first phase and they would have to go by early next year.

The Hong Kong government would not comment on whether it knew of the plan before Mr Han's disclosure on March 6.

A non-executive director of Hong Kong Disneyland is understood to have been told informally during a visit to Shanghai in February.

The Shanghai city government was also non-committal, with a spokesman saying: "We don't have any particular department to deal with questions about Disney."

Alannah Hall-Smith, Disney's vice-president for corporate communications in Asia Pacific, said: "There is no deal and there is no announcement."

A Qigan resident, giving his name only as Mr Hua - the village's clan name - pointed to a field in front of him, saying: "This is where they said a Disneyland will be built. The whole area, about 4 sq km."

He said he had "no special feeling" about the plans, although he didn't want to move. "They've been talking about it for 10 years but nothing has happened so far," he said.

A woman said most people did not want to move.

"We have a quiet and inexpensive life here," she said. "We farm and eat what we produce, and things are also cheap here. They said the Disneyland in Hong Kong was too crowded and a new one was needed to be built in Shanghai. Is it true?"

Despite the imminent move, villagers say there has been no word on compensation.

Mr Han broke the news about the Disney plan on the sidelines of the National People's Congress meeting in Beijing.

He said the project would be divided into several stages to reduce commercial risk and avoid any extreme impact on the Disneyland in Hong Kong, which is battling to meet its attendance targets.

Mr Han made a similar announcement in Beijing in 2006 but the plan was put on hold after the then-Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu was implicated later that year in a corruption scandal involving social security funds.

Apo Leong, director of Asia Monitor Resources Centre, said: "Disney should comply with international standard on resettling those affected. It should discuss it with the people, instead of just telling them to leave. It also needs to comply with international environmental standards."

SCMP. Mar 24, 2008.

Hong Kong-born Ma Ying-jeou wins Taiwan's Presidential Vote

TAIPEI (AFP) — Taiwan's opposition candidate Ma Ying-jeou surged to a landslide victory Saturday in a presidential election dominated by concern over the economy and hopes for better ties with China.

"This is a victory for people who hope for change and openness and reform," he told his jubilant Kuomintang (KMT) supporters after trouncing ruling party chief Frank Hsieh by almost 17 percentage points.

Soft-spoken and Harvard-educated, Ma has promised to work for closer ties with Beijing, including a peace treaty to end decades of hostilities, and to revive Taiwan's stuttering economy.

US President George W. Bush sent his congratulations to Ma, saying his win was a new chance for China and Taiwan to resolve their differences.

"I believe the election provides a fresh opportunity for both sides (China and Taiwan) to reach out and engage one another in peacefully resolving their differences," he added in a statement.

The vote had been closely watched by Beijing and Washington for signs of a new approach after eight years of recurring tensions under outgoing President Chen Shui-bian.

Final official figures by the election commission showed that Ma won 58.45 percent of the vote, and Hsieh 41.55 percent.

"Your voices are heard. People have the right to demand a better life. Only change can bring hope, only change can provide opportunities," Ma said as his supporters partied with songs, dancing and firecrackers.

At the same time, Hsieh conceded defeat in front of despondent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters at his own headquarters.

"We accept defeat. It's my own defeat, it's not the defeat of the Taiwanese people. Please don't cry for me," he said.

Ma will formally take over on May 20, when Chen steps down after serving a maximum two terms.

His victory gives the KMT overall control of the nation, as they had also crushed the DPP in parliamentary elections in January on the back of economic malaise and weariness at the strained relations with China.

Soochow University professor Liu Bih-rong, who specialises in cross-strait relations, said predicted relations with China would now improve at a faster pace.

"It shows that the Taiwanese people have given the KMT the mandate to open direct links and push for the one common market with China," he told AFP.

Ma told a press conference he would strive to improve relations with both China and the United States, but that before any peace treaty with Beijing it had to dismantle the more than 1,000 missiles targeted on the island.

Otherwise, "we have already reached some consensus on the normalisation of economic ties, direct air links, and on allowing more Chinese tourists, and it will be relatively easy to reach an agreement on those issues," he added.

China still claims Taiwan for itself and has threatened an invasion if it declares independence, confining the US-allied island to a murky limbo of de facto but unrecognised sovereignty.

The two have had virtually no direct links since the island split from the mainland in 1949 after a civil war.

Ma has proposed an overhaul of economic ties to allow Taiwanese companies access to the vast mainland market while permitting Chinese investors to pump funds into the economy here.

The island is the world's 17th largest economy, mainly on the back of its information technology sector, but is losing jobs and investment to mainland China, while incomes are stagnant.

Separately, two referendums on joining the United Nations failed to muster enough turnout to make them valid, with less than 36 percent of voters making the effort.

The referendums were controversial because Taiwan lost its UN seat in 1971 to China, which has blocked its 15 attempts since then to rejoin.TAIPEI (AFP) — Taiwan's opposition candidate Ma Ying-jeou surged to a landslide victory Saturday in a presidential election dominated by concern over the economy and hopes for better ties with China.

"This is a victory for people who hope for change and openness and reform," he told his jubilant Kuomintang (KMT) supporters after trouncing ruling party chief Frank Hsieh by almost 17 percentage points.

Soft-spoken and Harvard-educated, Ma has promised to work for closer ties with Beijing, including a peace treaty to end decades of hostilities, and to revive Taiwan's stuttering economy.

US President George W. Bush sent his congratulations to Ma, saying his win was a new chance for China and Taiwan to resolve their differences.

"I believe the election provides a fresh opportunity for both sides (China and Taiwan) to reach out and engage one another in peacefully resolving their differences," he added in a statement.

The vote had been closely watched by Beijing and Washington for signs of a new approach after eight years of recurring tensions under outgoing President Chen Shui-bian.

Final official figures by the election commission showed that Ma won 58.45 percent of the vote, and Hsieh 41.55 percent.

"Your voices are heard. People have the right to demand a better life. Only change can bring hope, only change can provide opportunities," Ma said as his supporters partied with songs, dancing and firecrackers.

At the same time, Hsieh conceded defeat in front of despondent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters at his own headquarters.

"We accept defeat. It's my own defeat, it's not the defeat of the Taiwanese people. Please don't cry for me," he said.

Ma will formally take over on May 20, when Chen steps down after serving a maximum two terms.

His victory gives the KMT overall control of the nation, as they had also crushed the DPP in parliamentary elections in January on the back of economic malaise and weariness at the strained relations with China.

Soochow University professor Liu Bih-rong, who specialises in cross-strait relations, said predicted relations with China would now improve at a faster pace.

"It shows that the Taiwanese people have given the KMT the mandate to open direct links and push for the one common market with China," he told AFP.

Ma told a press conference he would strive to improve relations with both China and the United States, but that before any peace treaty with Beijing it had to dismantle the more than 1,000 missiles targeted on the island.

Otherwise, "we have already reached some consensus on the normalisation of economic ties, direct air links, and on allowing more Chinese tourists, and it will be relatively easy to reach an agreement on those issues," he added.

China still claims Taiwan for itself and has threatened an invasion if it declares independence, confining the US-allied island to a murky limbo of de facto but unrecognised sovereignty.

The two have had virtually no direct links since the island split from the mainland in 1949 after a civil war.

Ma has proposed an overhaul of economic ties to allow Taiwanese companies access to the vast mainland market while permitting Chinese investors to pump funds into the economy here.

The island is the world's 17th largest economy, mainly on the back of its information technology sector, but is losing jobs and investment to mainland China, while incomes are stagnant.

Separately, two referendums on joining the United Nations failed to muster enough turnout to make them valid, with less than 36 percent of voters making the effort.

Agence France-Presse