Citing company sources, Agence France-Presse reported from Sydney that China had secretly tried to charm Australian weapons maker Metal Storm Ltd. into selling its amazing high-speed electronically charged shooter technology.

Apparently it can pump out a million rounds a minute—in the right Chinese hands, that would be enough to take out North Korea’s 1-million-man army with one pull of the trigger. (Well, that’s a stretch, but after South Korea, China ranks as Dear Leader Kim Il Sung’s most nervous neighbor, so you can understand why the People’s Republic might be interested.)

Tech development was reportedly funded in part by both the United States and Australian governments.

AFP said Metal Storm COO Ian Gillespie confirmed that the company had fielded inquiries from an individual “acting on behalf of the Chinese” after Mike O’Dwyer, the developer of the technology who left the firm two years ago, told a local TV network the Chinese military had offered him $100 million-plus to move to China.

IPTV Virtually Arrives in Korea

The Korea Times reported South Korea is ready to switch on Internet protocol TV (IPTV), now that the Ministry of Information and Communication and the Korean Broadcasting Commission have sorted out protocols.

The issue has been complicated by the fact that IPTV falls under both the telecommunications and broadcasting areas, two large empires that are packed with bureaucrats always ready for a good smash-up.

But now everyone has agreed and is moving to the pilot project phase—and deciding which consortia of telcos and broadcasters will get to do the trials. The Times said there would be several groups trialing IPTV, each one piping programming to clusters of several hundred households.

As often happens, the public sector is just now catching up with where the private sector has already traveled. Fixed-line operators, including the country’s No. 1 and No. 2 telecoms, KT and Hanaro, already offer IPTV-type services.

Hanaro’s Internet-based video-on-demand service, which already boasts 60,000 subscribers, launched in July. The company maintains its VOD service can be easily expanded into conventional IPTV, which offers interactive functions, limitless channels, and other advantages over conventional TV.

In fact the only thing really holding up everyone is a regulatory framework setting out the rules of IPTV engagement. Citing a recent iSuppli report, the Times said worldwide IPTV subscribers will top 63 million by 2010, up from 2.4 million last year. It’s even conceivable some of those won’t be Korean by then.

Right now, 80 percent of South Korea’s 48 million people are broadband subscribers—but by the time you read this, it might be 100 percent. Koreans are absolutely enthralled when it comes to the Internet.

Foreign Investment Down in China and India

Quoting an IBM Business Consulting Services study, Singapore’s Business Times said the city-state ranked third regionally and eighth globally in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects recorded last year. Singapore drew 168 projects in 2005 and only 113 in 2004.

More interesting, China and India—the two countries topping the global bribe index as reported herelast week—led the way as FDI destinations. But both recorded declines in new project growth: China recorded 933 in 2005, as against 1,248 in 2004, while India recorded 699 new projects in 2005, down 3 percent from 2004.

The Business Times did not say how projects added up in actual dollar terms from one year to the next. Of the 8,075 projects recorded in 2005, Europe accounted for 39 percent, Asia 31 percent, and North America 18 percent, according to the report.

Rising Indian Content

Reporting on the rise of Indian content in global IT products, the Times of India said Adobe India had commercially released “Made in India” products—Contribute 4.0, Captivate 2, and Premier Elements 3.0. Other products fully developed in India, the daily said, were Page Maker 7.0, Frame Maker, RoboHelp, PostScript, Acrobat Reader on handheld devices, Acrobat Reader on Linux, Photoshop Album Starter Edition, and Premiere Elements.

“Such successes are not new or unique to the company, as companies like Microsoft and Texas Instruments too have shifted a significant part of R&D to their Indian units,” the Times said.

Contact the writer:JMcCormick@RedHerring.com

del.icio.us

Digg this

Slash it