5 types of US visa applicants required to make social media public

5 types of US visa applicants required to make social media public

2025-12-10

If you intend to work or study in the US, take note. Starting Dec. 15, the US is requiring applicants for certain types of US visas to adjust their privacy settings and set their accounts to public.

The rule applies to five types of visas. They are: short-term employer-sponsored work visas, dependent family visas, academic student visas, vocational student visas and exchange visitor visas. On a Facebook post on Wednesday, the AIT said the measure aims to facilitate vetting necessary to establish applicants’ identities and admissibility to the US.

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#US #USvisa #visa #travel

美國簽證新規定! 社群隱私設定須從"不公開"改成"公開"

2025-12-10

美國在台協會，今天(10日)在臉書公告，12月15日起，要申請部分美簽的民眾，必須將社群帳戶設為"公開"，以便身分審核。

受限的五種簽證，包括須雇主擔保的短期工作簽、還有附屬的家屬簽證，以及學術學生簽、職業學生簽和交流訪問簽。AIT特地發文公告，強調帳號公開，是為了進行必要審查，確認入境資格。

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Palace Museum to discuss creative product ideas suggested by public

The southern branch of the National Palace Museum is currently showing an exhibition featuring the trade, art, and culture of maritime Southeast Asia. One visitor especially liked a batik sarong on display, and asked the museum to use its pattern and sell it as a silk scarf. The suggestion was met with enthusiasm, getting lots of comments online. Others suggested making a mug out of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, or an earbud case out of a Qing Dynasty snuff bottle. The museum has heard all their creative ideas, and will actually meet to discuss their feasibility.

Lin Yung-chi
FTV reporter
At the National Palace Museum, the gift shop has plenty of creative products to take home with you. Aside from the usual postcards, there’s this silk scarf I’m wearing with the painting Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains. Even the Mao Gongvessel can become a cup holder.

One visitor after seeing an early 20th century batik sarong with bouquet motifs on exhibit said in a post that if the museum made it into a silk scarf, they would definitely buy it. The comments section quickly became a wish list. Someone suggested making the recently trending Treaty of Shimonoseki into a mug or a scarf. Another said that the finely carved snuff bottles would make a beautiful earbud case.

Visitor
I think it’s a real selling point. To me, it’s super appealing.

Visitor
That vase thing could also be an umbrella stand.

Visitor
If your place is big enough, the Mao Gong vessel could be used for incense.

The museum actually saw all of these wishes!

Huang Yung-tai
Museum deputy director
Winter is here, so we can make wool scarves. Using these images would be great. And that one suggestion to make an AirPod case from a snuff bottle, I think that would be very effective. Of course, we first have to find a manufacturer and they have to agree. Actually, everyone reached a consensus in record time.

The museum has actually engaged in many unexpected collaborations before, even making a water dispenser. Its collection of cat images over time is a favorite. It has even made snacks.

Huang Yung-tai
Museum deputy director
Penghu has a double heart rock formation. We previously exhibited our meat-shaped rock in Penghu. So how did we combine these two? You are the “flesh of my heart,” or beloved one.

The museum as of October already made more than NT$300 million from its creative products, up 20% from the same period last year. You can’t take the artifacts home with you of course, but you can collect as many of these products as you want!

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2025-12-10

Memory shortage to drive laptop prices up 15% to 20%

2025-12-10

Edtech Taiwan showcases latest in AI-powered educational tools

AI applications are becoming ubiquitous. Now, they are even being used in education. At the Edtech Taiwan expo, the latest in AI-powered educational tools were on display. They included an all-in-one real-time interactive teaching platform that helps teachers prepare lessons, interacts with students in class and even generates real-time questions for students to assess their learning progress. Even learning how to play a sport such as golf can be helped along by AI.

This is an indoor golf driving range that uses simulators and AI-powered projections. The AI assists schools’ track training data and enables players to improve more quickly.

Liu Chin-ming
Lecturer in educational technology
When you press “generate,” the lesson prep AI will come up with a teaching plan, learning objectives, teaching content and exercises, all to help you prepare well.

The all-in-one real-time interactive teaching platform generates learning objectives, along with practice questions and exercises based on textbooks in various academic fields.

Liu Chin-ming
Lecturer in educational technology
The AI can analyze a student’s performance in class. This allows teachers to understand how well the students have grasped their lessons.

After students finish answering questions on tablets, the AI can immediately correct their papers, giving teachers more time to prepare lessons or help students with their weak spots.

Chen I-an
National Tsing Hua University
Sometimes we need to stimulate the students’ curiosity, but that’s quite difficult. So, with the help of AI, we can create some new ways of thinking. However, sometimes after using AI, students may lose focus because they only see the AI’s answer and don’t reflect on the question. Therefore, in class, we still guide the students to integrate their own ideas with AI before they show them to us.

Lien Yu-jen
ViewSonic Academy president
In my 15 years of teaching, I have always taught Chinese language. In the past, we had to rely on publishers and technology companies for all kinds of hardware and software. But now, every teacher has their own teaching assistant right with them. Teachers can easily use the electronic whiteboard and interactive screens in the classroom to call up their teaching materials and these materials are even customized for them.

Using AI means a much reduced amount of paper consumption, and the customized teaching materials on offer means that students can, as the saying goes, learn twice as much with half the effort.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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#technology #education #Edtech #AI #digitallearning

2025-12-10

Insider provides insights into green restaurant trends for 2026

Taiwan now boasts more than 540 certified green restaurants. At this year’s Green Dining Guide annual awards, 11 establishments achieved the 3‑Star recognition for the very first time. FTV reporter Stephany Yang sat down with Hannah Macey, from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, to discuss emerging green dining trends and her insights into Taiwan’s sustainable food industry.

Taiwan now has over 540 certified green restaurants. The Green Dining Guide annual awards ceremony honored green and sustainable hospitality businesses.

Taro Ho
Green Dining Guide co-founder
The reason the two chefs won the ambassador title is that they have continuously promoted eco-friendly and sustainable dining. Green dining is not just about making money, it also embodies community care, collaboration with farmers, and food education. Our hope is to bring together more members of the food and beverage industry who are willing to use organic, eco‑friendly, or animal welfare-friendly ingredients. Through procurement, we can support these responsible producers.

Hannah Macey
Sustainable Restaurant Association
It is now the world’s leading sustainability certification tailored for the hospitality sector. It is built on ten impact areas covering how you design your menus and source your ingredients. Through to how you engage with the local community and treat your staff in your restaurant space. Through to your environmental impact. So, looking at everything from the energy emissions and carbon emissions on site. Through to the environmental impact throughout your value chain. Something I really noticed yesterday and really noticed through my conversations with the Green Dining Guide, is this real capacity to support farming networks in your country. It seems very interconnected it seems a lot easier than my experience learning about other countries. I learned that it is easy to do direct delivery from farmers. I know that there is a 24‑hour postal service I learned about, which is very cool. Also, you got these Indigenous native people that live in your mountains and live in your regions that have not shifted their farming or gone with the Western modern ways of farming. They have stuck to their principles. These Indigenous farmers have really got this amazing capacity for a diversity of plants and diverse species, all really tasty because these species are grown with the real soil.

In 2025, Taiwan’s green dining movement reached a major milestone with the official launch of the Food Made Good Standard, introduced in partnership with the Green Dining Guide and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. As part of this initiative, Hannah Macey from the SRA visited two certified green restaurants to witness the impact firsthand.

Hannah Macey
Sustainable Restaurant Association
I had the pleasure yesterday. I am in Taiwan for the week. I had the pleasure yesterday to visit two of the restaurants—a two-star and a three-star restaurant—in Central Taiwan yesterday. I visited From Heart to Table in Puli Township and Liao’s Studio which is close to Taichung. From Heart to Table, who are here today, and I went to visit yesterday. Some examples of things they do is for instance, they serve buckwheat tea. I know buckwheat is quite a common tea drunk here, and then they use that buckwheat after to form one of their dishes. So, it is a circular approach to the ingredients. Sort of re-purposing that tea which would often be chucked in the bin. It is about repurposing that. Also, something very fascinating I also loved learning about the leopard cats and learning how they are only using suppliers, only using farmers who aren’t using chemicals on their soil, and really bringing the leopard cats into their farming ecosystem.

Seafood and beef have long been staples on menus worldwide. How can people eat more sustainably?

Green Dining Guide co-founder
Taro Ho
Right now in Taiwan, we have a “Taiwan Seafood Choice Guide” available online. It shows which fish species are becoming increasingly scarce, and people are advised to avoid eating those species. However, many Taiwanese citizens are not yet aware of this issue; they may only say things like “don’t eat large fish” or “don’t eat shark fins."

Hannah Macey
Sustainable Restaurant Association
Beef is one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters. The stats for beef in comparison to other animal products is vast. I know this is an issue globally. We all eat a lot of beef but I just noticed it here. One thing we really push at the SRA and with our conversations is how do you lower the amount of beef on your menu? Something that I shared earlier is collaborating with butchers and taking a “whole animal” approach to the beef. Working with diverse cuts, not just the prime cuts, but also the secondary cuts.

The award ceremony also hosted several forums, gathering professionals from different fields to discuss sustainable dining and future directions.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

#GreenDining #Green #Sustainability #Restaurant

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Disability groups criticize Taipei Main for inaccessible infrastructure

Nearly 600,000 people access Taipei Main Station every day. But nine advocacy groups recently blasted the station for being extremely inaccessible to the disabled. Lawmakers took to wheelchairs to see for themselves. Not only did they find the signage unclear, they also had trouble finding any elevators. Even though it was right in front of them, they had to go around, spending 40 minutes to locate the entrance. They called on the transportation ministry to improve the facilities, and Taiwan Railway in response said it would think of improvements.

Disability advocacy groups recruited legislators Kuo Yu-ching and Chen Ching-hui to experience for themselves the challenges that wheelchair users face when trying to navigate Taipei Main Station.

They wanted to go downstairs, but couldn’t find an elevator anywhere.

Not only is the signage unclear, but the path intended for wheelchairs was incomplete. They wandered around the main hall aimlessly until they finally found a sign...

Even the ramp was full of dangers, the floor just inches away. Turns out the elevator was outside, forcing them to go around the building again. Advocacy groups denounced the state of the facilities, saying they desperately need improvement.

Liu Chin-chung
Spinal Cord Injury Foundation
At Taipei Main, you need these signs to tell you where to go, but you’ll never find it. I’ve really asked five different people and spent 40 minutes looking before.

Lu Hung-wen
Taipei Blind Welfare Association
At first, I couldn’t even find a single guide point. Where’s the tactile pavement? I couldn’t find it.

Nine groups, including the League for Persons with Disabilities, Blind Welfare Association, Spinal Cord Injury Foundation, and Alzheimer’s Disease Association, got together to bring attention to the problem. In response, Taiwan Railway vowed to make improvements. After all, the station serves as the gateway to Taiwan. Nearly 600,000 people access it every day. But people with disabilities are left with nowhere to turn, complaining that Taipei’s reputation as a friendly city is nothing but a slogan.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

#Taipei #TaipeiMain #trainstation #disability #accessibility #wheelchair #elevator #advocacy #publictransport #blind

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