ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
October 3, 2016
No longer invite only,
“robo-cars” offered to Singaporeans
By Annabelle Liang
The Associated Press
S
COMPETITIVE GAMING. Two models in game costume pose for
fans before the 2016 Coca-Cola League of Legend Summer Final match
between the Rox Tigers and KT Rolster at Jamsil gymnasium in Seoul,
South Korea. South Korea started the e-sports industry in the early 2000s,
and it continues to be a world leader in competitive gaming. There are not
only professional video game players, but also broadcasting channels and
professional leagues for different kinds of games. South Koreans can eas-
ily watch professional gamers playing on both television and the internet.
(AP Photo/Jungho Choi)
In South Korea, the crowd goes
wild for competitive gaming
By Jungho Choi
The Associated Press
EOUL, South Korea — South Korea started the
e-sports industry in the early 2000s, and it
continues to be a world leader in competitive
gaming. There are not only professional video game
players, but also broadcasting channels and professional
leagues for different kinds of games. South Koreans can
easily watch professional gamers playing on both
television and the internet.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and
Tourism, e-sports was a $410 million industry in South
Korea last year. The country of 50 million has more than
18,000 PC cafés, filled with gamers trying to perfect their
skills. Lists of the world’s top players in popular games
such as League of Legends and Starcraft are filled with
South Korean names.
There were two final matches of League of Legends and
Starcraft 2 professional leagues in recent weeks. Rox
Tigers, a six-member team of players in their late teens
and early 20s, won the 2016 Coca-Cola League of Legends
Summer League with a victory over KT Rolster. Young
players shed tears for their hard work and practice after
becoming champions.
For StarCraft, a team named Jin Air Green Wings
became the champion, with KT Rolster again finishing
second. More than 5,000 fans watched the best plays of
professional gamers each day.
S
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EASY
Difficulty
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level: Easy
Puzzle #59283 (Hard)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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journey, Iagnemma said.
“It’s an evolution to identify where
are the easy parts, where are the
trickier parts, where we need to
spend more time,” he said.
Iagnemma would not say how
many rides nuTonomy provided in
the trial period but said thousands
signed up for the invited trial within
the first 48 hours. The company said
there have been no problems.
The company expects its six-car
fleet to grow to a dozen by the end of
the year. It plans to make its
Singapore taxi fleet fully self-driving
by 2018.
Single
$1,337
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Japan naming 88
manga, animation
landmarks to
boost tourism
Continued from page 3
Chunky. Hefty. Big-boned. For parents of overweight children, it’s all
too easy to minimize reality. But the consequences of a heavy childhood
may actually result in a generation of children with shorter life spans
than their parents.
Encourage physical activity and better
nutrition. Do whatever it takes to get
your kids as active as kids once
were. Activity and weight-bearing
exercise will help your child live
stronger, and live longer. For
more advice and information,
visit orthoinfo.org,
aap.org/obesity
and posna.org.
To qualify, monthly gross income less than:
# 20
#68546
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Rides will be free for at least two
months.
“We will be combining nuTonomy’s
self-driving car software with Grab’s
app, with their proven fleet routing
technology and their mapping
capabilities,” said Iagnemma.
The cars — modified Renault Zoe
and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics —
have a safety driver in front who is
prepared to take the wheel and a
researcher in back who watches the
car’s computers.
If a pick-up or drop-off point is out
of approved testing perimeters, the
driver will take over for the rest of the
Once, kids played like their lives depended on it.
If only kids still did.
Premium
assistance
(Part B)
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last issue’s
puzzle
ROBO RIDES. A driver leaves his hands off the steering wheel of an autonomous vehicle during
a test drive in Singapore. Autonomous vehicle software startup nuTonomy has made rides on its
self-driving taxis available to the general public in Singapore for free, expanding a first-in-the-world
run that was initially invitation only. (AP Photo/Yong Teck Lim, File)
New help for
Medicare costs!
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INGAPORE — Autonomous
vehicle
software
startup
nuTonomy has made rides on
its self-driving taxis available to the
general public in Singapore for free,
expanding a first-in-the world run
that was initially invitation only.
While
multiple
companies,
including Google and Volvo, have
been testing self-driving cars on
public roads for several years,
nuTonomy announced in August it
was the first to offer autonomous taxi
rides. It beat Uber, which started
offering rides in autonomous cars in
Pittsburgh in mid-September.
The Singapore trial was limited to
a 2.5-square-mile business and
residential district called “one north.”
NuTonomy CEO Karl Iagnemma said
the test area has since been doubled
by the government. The approved
route does not include any highways.
NuTonomy, a spinoff from the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology,
announced the public can now book
self-driving taxis through an app by
Grab, the biggest ride-hailing compa-
ny in Southeast Asia. The companies
announced a year-long partnership.
To book a ride, passengers have to
select the ‘robo-car’ option on Grab’s
app, which has been downloaded
more than 20 million times. Passen-
gers must be older than 18, book in
advance, and sign a liability waiver.
Prescription
cost assistance
(Part D)
To qualify, monthly gross income less than:
Single
$1,485
(no resource limits)
(savings and other resources
are less than $13,640)
Couple
$1,803
Couple
$2,003
(no resource limits)
(savings and other resources
are less than $27,250)
Call Oregon Medicare Savings Connect:
Toll-free 1-855-447-0155
This publication was produced by the State of Oregon with i nancial assistance
through a grant from the Administration for Community Living. These comments do not
necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
and the grantee should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
manga-related products for
sale.
The government’s Japan
Tourism Agency has begun
to study not only the
numbers of tourists coming
to Japan, but what
compelled their visits. The
agency’s survey of French
and Thai people found that,
although the two groups
varied on what they hoped
to do, they both said they
became interested in Japan
through movies and other
entertainment content.
“But we are still not
taking full advantage of
such
resources,”
said
agency commissioner Aki-
hiko Tamura. “A lot of work
still needs to be done.”
AP videographer Koji Ueda
contributed to this report.
ASTHMA
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ask a
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Help us find a cure.
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