Lately the Apple Company has been discouraging queues in front of its shops for security reasons. There were countless incidents in the past that Apple just wanted to avoid this time. Stampedes, pushing and shoving aren’t the best for company’s image. Having these in mind the company had set dates for pre-orders, and shipped the devices directly to customers on the first day of actual availability. Another thing that Apple did was allowing customers to book a product and retrieve it later from the store at predetermined hours. This practice really helped to clear the queues.

So, this time during the release of iPhone8, iPhone8 Plus, and Smart Watch Series 3 crowds that gathered outside Apple Stores around the globe weren’t that big. The three latest devices didn’t cause enough excitement to make people camp outside Apple Stores and square off for the final clash deciding who is the first person in the country to have their hands on an Apple gadget. A lot of people decided to wait for the release of iPhone X later on this year, too.

A few places in America saw longer queues outside Apple Stores. Many of the people lined up outside were citizens of other countries, where the new iPhones are not available yet or are available for more expensive prices. Reportedly outside of San Francisco’s store there were about a hundred people lined up on the morning of the release but it was a sheer exception, most other location stayed quiet and saw tens of people at best.

Taiwan

In Taiwan the situation was no different, Apple customers could easily book a time when they could come to pick up their device and there was no really a reason for anybody to line up. Taiwan Observer’s correspondent went to check what was happening outside of the newly opened, official Apple store that only started operating in Taiwan on July 1^{st 2017}.

Upon arrival there was only one person sitting on a little blanket outside of Taipei 101 mall’s door in which Apple Store is located. Bronson didn’t want to be interviewed either by our correspondent or any of the traditional media reporters that came later. Later on he needed to go to work and he didn’t want his boss to find out what he did before the start of his shift. He agreed to a photo but only after he wore a surgical mask disguising his identity. At night the scene outside of Taipei 101 mall was quite eerie, there was only Bronson and a few of other people in little groups perched around stairs leading to Taipei 101 station and at the tables nearby. In the morning around 6 am reporters affiliated with traditional media started to appear. First there was a cameraman and a lady anchor, Bronson explained to them how he booked his new iPhone8 but refused to be interviewed. Later on another cameraman came and took a few takes of what was happening inside the store. Just before 7 there were about three other crews all waiting for the release. At 8 am the doors opened and happy Bronson alongside a few other Apple enthusiast entered the mall and went to the first shop on the right, which happened to be the Apple Store. The TV crews followed them closely. Customers got their new phones and watches, a couple got interviewed and without much pomp and circumstance the day continued as any other.

Availability

The new iPhone is now available in United Arab Emirates, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Virgin Islands US, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the United States.

From Friday, September 29, they will also be available in Andorra, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia as well as Greece.

Tropical storm Talim was officially upgraded to a typhoon  last night. The typhoon has changed direction and will no longer envelope the whole island as earlier reports suggested. Residents in northern Taiwan have been warned that even though the typhoon isn’t going to directly impact Taiwan, they should still take precautions and watch the local weather reports for changes or warnings. Since they are in the typhoon’s periphery, this could lead to heavy rain and high winds in the area.

The Central Weather Bureau shows the tracking of the storm is headed north and could make its way past Taiwan by Thursday night. The CWB is expected to issue a sea warning on Tuesday, but could also issues a land warning later as the typhoon progresses closer to Taiwan.

Updates:

17/9/12, 1:06 pm: An official typhoon warning was released by the CWB. (image below)

17/9/12, 5:01 pm: As of this point in time there are no work or school cancellations. (in response to a Facebook comment)(image below)

17/9/13, 3:40 pm: CNA reports “Taiwan is not likely to issue a land warning for Typhoon Talim as the storm’s path has shifted northwards, but the northern half of the island could still be hit by heavy rain, the Central Weather Bureau said Wednesday.”

17/9/13, 3:44 pm: Flight cancellations: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3252052

17/9/13 3:50 pm: work and class are as usual https://www.dgpa.gov.tw/typh/typh/ndse.html

17/9/13 3:52 pm: new tracking for the typhoon

Keep checking this article for updates or follow our Facebook page (Taiwan Observer) for breaking coverage.

Typhoon TALIM tracking (above)

Wind map with region map for probability of wind speeds over 60km/h (above)

Wind map 2 (above)

Official Typhoon warning (above)

Work and school cancellation 2017/9/12 17:01 (above)

Images from the Central Weather Bureau

Earlier in the week, committee members for the Ministry of Labor’s annual Minimum Wage Review Committee proposed a 30% increase in the minimum wage in Taiwan. For about 6 hours the issue of increasing the minimum wage was deliberated. The committee decided to implement an increase of  NT$ 991 to the monthly minimum wage. It was previously NT$ 21,009, now its going to be set at NT$ 22,000. This is nowhere near the 30% increase that was proposed by some committee members; instead it is a 4.72% increase. The hourly minimum wage will also be boosted. The current hourly minimum wage stands at NT$ 133, but will be raised to NT$ 140, an increase of 5.26%. Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠)  made the final call to set the amount at NT$22,000.  These new minimums will affect 2.07 million workers in Taiwan. Local and foreign workers will be affected by the same increase.

Some members of the Taiwan Observer community have asked whether this will affect domestic caregivers. Taiwan’s Labor Standards Act does not entitle foreign nationals working as domestic caregivers in Taiwan to the statutory minimum wage that other workers receive. Unfortunately right now we don’t know whether domestic caregivers will be receiving a wage increase soon, but we will keep the community updated on any developments.

The proposed hike needs to be approved by the Executive Yuan before taking effect on Jan. 1, 2018.

Power went down in Taipei at around 4:51 pm. This is due to 6 generators went down at a power plant affecting Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Miaoli, Nantou and Chiayi counties.

The black out has lead to traffic signals going out and officers sent to deal the the jam. Intenet speeds have slowed down, says Chungwha Telecom, more reports on the situation are coming out by the minute. Currently Taipower has said that they could have the plant back online by 8pm tonight, but this isn’t sure.

It was human error that caused the shut down, the technical operation encountered an error and forced the plant to shut down, says CNA.

Reports say that even the presidential office has been hit by the blackout, while this may or may not be true the traffic lights outside the office were reported to be out.

Mr. Wang who was caught in the black out said “I was waiting in line for a restaurant but the power went out so we stood there a few minutes and decided to leave since they weren’t going to be able to make us any food it looked like.”

Live updates:

10:45 pm — The Sunmoon lake hydroelectric plant has been running overtime to deal with demand in the area. Taipower personnel say this is the first time in 38 years they had continuous hydroelectric power generation.

10:28 pm — The number of households effected by the outage continues to decrease. Taipower has lifted emergency designation of the power station.

8:45 pm — Global mall has said it will close early due to irregular power supply.

About 90 Gogoro powering stations are offline according to reports on Apple Daily.

8:30 pm — Observers from Kaoshiung report that there is a black out there too, images below. There were people stuck in an elevator for over an hour between the 4th and 5th floors of a Kaoshiung apartment building. The people were out when power came back on.

8:20 pm — Apple Daily reports 143 people were trapped in elevators and 139 have been rescued.

Taipower hopes to have fully restored power by midnight tonight.

7:35 pm — Economic Affairs Minister Lee Chih-kung has resigned, Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said. Here is the video.

Key updates from China Post

“7:05 p.m., KEY UPDATE: Energy officials speaking at the press conference have clarified what happened at Tatan Power Plant. All six of its coal-powered generators went down at 4:51 p.m. This essentially meant that the entire plant was offline; it’s only other power generation infrastructure is a wind turbine, which yields only a negligible amount of energy.

7:00 p.m., KEY UPDATE: There is a press conference ongoing right now. Temporary power rationing has been in place since 6 p.m. It is being implemented in three shifts, with different energy users affected for one hour at a time; it’s expected to end after the third shift.

The power rationing will affect 6.68 million households: 2.37 million in the first shift, 1.95 million in the second and 2.35 million in the third.

State-run gas firm CPC Corp. says it takes full responsibility for the crisis.”

Twitter users have posted photos of the situation, a blog called Foreigners in Taiwan shared these.

Central News Agency put out these photos

Observer, Paul F. from Kaohsiung reports people stuck in an apartment building elevator.

Wekids kindergarten has been renowned in New Taipei as an ‘aristocratic’ educational establishment. However it was discovered today that they kept 61 students above the permissible capacity.

Wekids kindergarten and their Elementary School department are located in New Taipei City’s Xinzhuang district. Every time inspectors from the Education Bureau turned up to check the number of kids, Wekids staff would rapidly contact one another through the Line messaging app about the impending threat. They would frantically hide the unfortunate students and cram them into the principal’s room or other available offices. Kids were also duped into believing that this was an official fire drill in case the parents asked their children about how school went that day. Air conditioning units in the those rooms were turned off causing kids to become drowsy and sleepy during such “fire drills,” which in reality were obviously the Education Bureau’s official visits.

The Board of Education was informed yesterday about the suspicious case, and went to investigate without notifying Wekids about their visit beforehand. A person stood in front of the school checking how many kids are going in and making sure no kids are drive away from the scene. Upon the discovery of the hidden children, Parker Chen (陳靜儀), the principal of the campus, said that the kids came back to pick up their “diplomas of completion of kindergarten education,” a claim the parents immediately disproved. The principal also claimed that the students were ‘picking up a few things’. Wekids students’ graduation ceremony took place on July 22 and their semester ended on July 28th, meaning that the students in question shouldn’t be there.

Yesterday’s visit revealed that the original number of 150 students is fictitious and the real number of students stands at 211, 61 students above the maximum capacity. The inspectors also found out that the school’s area didn’t comply with Education and Health & Safety regulations. For these breaches Wekids will be charged NT$ 6,000 and NT$ 3,000, respectively.

It is quite difficult to hide what’s happening in the classrooms from the parents, as they can constantly monitor the situation through security cameras that are connected to the internet. Still, Wekids played a dangerous game and lost. Some long-term teachers remarked, “This has been going on for several years and the school never got caught.” They also shared very interesting LINE messages:

T1: Director! Education Bureau inspectors are in the building!

T1: Shall we turn off the security cameras?

T2: If parents see what’s happening they will call to enquire.

T1: Baby class’s no 4 parents are asking why there are so many people

T3: To the principal’s room

T3: Go to the auditorium.

T3: If you don’t make any sounds you will be fine.

T1: We are on the 4th floor.

T4: Tell foreign teachers to hide properly!

T5: Principal was asking about school buses, not the security cameras. Don’t worry

The school has been given one month to improve their system and make the necessary arrangements that will meet the Board of Education’s expecations, lest they be forced to dismiss the extra students. According to Taiwan’s law, the next penalty for the school will be NT$ 15,000.

Next week , August 1-4, will see driverless buses hit the street from 1 am to 4 am for a test run. The buses have already been in operation at the National Taiwan University campus. The test will be conducted on a closed section of Xinyi road bus lane between Fuxing South Road and Dunhua South Road. The route the driverless bus will travel  is 463 meters long. The bus can hold up to 12 people and will have focus groups testing the bus and providing feedback on the last 2 nights.

Mayor Ko of Taipei showed his support for the project and said “The government should be bold, embrace innovation, and experiment” 7Starlake Co. is the company behind the bus, their president(Martin Ting) said he is hoping that if the test goes well they will want to do a larger scale test in the future.

The driverless buses can be used at peak hours to take pressure off the traffic system, and to relieve drivers from having to do late night shifts. These all come as part of Taiwan’s plan to show it is a place for innovation and that they are leaders in the smart city space. The French Office in Taipei director, Benoit Guidee, said France would love to work more closely with Taipei in its smart city initiative.

So don’t worry if you see blocked off streets at 1 am and a ghost bus floating around next week. It’s just the tech companies and the government running tests.

The Central Weather Bureau  is expecting typhoon NESAT to make landfall in Taiwan on Saturday or Sunday. The tropical depression has been gaining strength and is headed for Taiwan. It will hit Hualien County on the eastern coast first, then make its way over the mountains and on to China’s eastern coast.

Images: Central Weather Bureau website

With this in mind if you were planning on going to the Hot Air Balloon Festival maybe you’ll need to take a rain check in the morning before heading out, Taiwan Observer will try to post and update if the event is canceled .

Update(17/7/27): A list of canceled events across Taiwan

http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3220487

Dominican International School in Taipei has proven itself to be one of the top achieving schools in Taiwan in the College Board’s Advanced Placement exams once again.

With a success rate of 94% as compared to the Taiwan average of 91%, and the global average of 60%, they once again upheld their steady achievement of top results in this external exam that is set and scored in the USA. This means that 94% of the DIS students who wrote the College Board AP exams, achieved 3 or higher scores, where the maximum is a score of 5.
Furthermore, 65% of the exam papers written by DIS students achieved the top scores of 4 (90-94%) and 5 (95 – 100%). Another great DIS achievement is that Ms Susan Wu’s students, who wrote AP Chinese Language and Culture, achieved a full house of 5’s for the sixth year.
College Board (in the US) is the examining body for Advanced Placement courses. Each course covers the breadth of information, skills, and assignments found in the corresponding university course. AP courses are taught by highly qualified teachers at DIS whose syllabi have to be accredited by College Board. The Teachers responsible for teaching Advanced Placement Calculus, English Literature and Composition, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Macroeconomics are all holders of PhD degrees.

Several DIS students achieved AP Scholar with Distinction Awards, granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. One of the students, Anthony Su, was in Grade 10 when he qualified for this award. He has the distinction of being accepted into the US Naval Academy this coming fall, a very rare achievement, even more prestigious than entering an Ivy League university.

As a fully accredited school, Dominican International School, Taipei is committed to not only helping struggling students reaching their potential, but to develop academically talented students to reach new heights. The school reviews its teaching resources annually and AP students and teachers make use of the latest academic materials available, which include online components for self-study, review and homework.