14 DAY TRIAL // People in Taiwan are currently threatened with the imminent impact of Typhoon Fung Wong, which is expected to make a landfall between Hualien and Taitung this morning. The typhoon's power has been rated at force-13, with winds blowing at 137km per hour. This has prompted the National Meteorological Administration issue an orange-level warning on Sunday, indicating a strong tropical storm or typhoon would arrive within 12 hours. The typhoon could also foil ASUS' plans of launching there the Eee Box on Wednesday.
The Taiwanese manufacturer is set to release the desktop version of its Atom-powered Eee PC this Wednesday, but Typhoon Fung Wong (which stands for Phoenix in Chinese) could force ASUS to delay the launch party. The typhoon is expected to head to mainland China after crossing Taiwan, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.
The Eee Box is a mini-desktop computer system that runs on the same 1.6GHz processor as ASUS' Eee PC, the Intel Atom. It is meant to provide its users with either a Windows XP or Linux operating system, and will sell for around US$300. Designed as a small-sized (it weighs less than 1kg and is only 16 millimeters thick), low power desktop computer system, the Eee Box delivers the very basics in computing. The ASUS Eee Box offer will include several differently colored models, including black, white, pink and pea green, as a couple of freshly surfaced pictures of the product indicate.
It is yet uncertain whether the Taiwanese manufacturer will push back the launch date because of the imminent typhoon. When orange-level warnings are issued, residents are required to stay indoors, while harbors must take all measures to prevent ships from colliding or coming ashore. So far, ASUS has not yet confirmed whether nature is going to impact in any way its plans of launching the Atom-powered Eee Box in Taiwan come this Wednesday.