Asia
Panasonic earnings update
October 31, 2012 10:43 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsPanasonic Corp. said Wednesday it expects to book a group net loss of 765 billion yen for the current business year through March, incurring a hefty loss for the second straight year due to massive restructuring costs amid a continued slump in its mainstay electronics operation.
Fujitsu announces new ARM cortex-based bridge SoC
October 31, 2012 10:26 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsFujitsu Semiconductor America today introduced an Interface Bridge SoC that incorporates 10 different interfaces, more than any other similar single device. Designed for advanced Wi-Fi television tuner applications, the new MB86E631 combines a dual-core ARM@ CortexT-A9 processor and multiple interfaces, including...
Hitachi to buy Horizon Nuclear
October 30, 2012 3:57 pm | News | CommentsJapan's Hitachi Ltd. has agreed to buy British atomic power company Horizon Nuclear Power Ltd. from its German owners for 696 million British pounds ($1.12 billion). The companies announced the deal Tuesday, ending months of uncertainty after the 50-50 owners of Horizon...
In Vietnam, U.S. relies on pirate site to network
October 29, 2012 10:53 am | by CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press | News | CommentsIt's a wildly popular website laden with unlicensed songs and Hollywood movies, a prime exhibit of the digital piracy that is strangling the music industry in Asia and eroding legitimate online sales around the world. But a few clicks inside the free-to-download bonanza that has pushed Vietnam's Zing...
High court hears closely watched copyright case
October 29, 2012 10:14 am | by Mark Sherman, Associated Press | News | CommentsCostco, eBay, Google and the nation's top art museums are backing a Thai graduate student against book publishers, the movie and music industries and other manufacturers in a Supreme Court battle over copyright protections with important implications for consumers and multibillion dollar annual sales online and in discount stores.
China ministry probes Qihoo browser over blogger complaints
October 26, 2012 2:40 pm | News | CommentsChinese authorities are investigating the country's top anti-virus software firm Qihoo 360 Technology after a prominent blogger criticized its web browser, alleging improper practices such as mining of user data, Qihoo said in a posting on its official microblog account.
Taiwan's HTC reports 79 percent drop
October 26, 2012 4:26 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsTaiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp. on Friday reported a 79 percent drop in third quarter profit as intensifying competition from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. hurt sales. HTC said its profit totaled 3.9 billion New Taiwan dollars ($99 million) on revenue of NT$70 billion in the three...
Fishing for answers off Fukushima
October 25, 2012 5:19 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsJapan's "triple disaster," as it has become known, began on March 11, 2011, and remains unprecedented in its scope and complexity. To understand the lingering effects and potential public health implications of that chain of events, scientists are turning to a diverse and widespread sentinel in the world's ocean: fish...
Son-Tinh Moving Into South China Sea
October 25, 2012 4:10 pm | by NASA | News | CommentsTropical Storm Son-tinh soaked the Philippines and is now moving into the South China Sea. NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of the storm as the bulk western half of the storm had already moved over water. On Oct. 25, 2012 at 0525 UTC (1:25 a.m. EDT) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer...
NASA satellite shows Son-tinh over Philippines
October 25, 2012 10:31 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsThe latest tropical storm in the western North Pacific Ocean has already spread its clouds and showers over the Philippines, as seen in NASA satellite imagery. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image as it flew over Tropical Storm Son-tinh today, Oct. 24.
ZOLL establishes Japanese subsidiary
October 24, 2012 12:19 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsZOLL Medical Corporation, a manufacturer of medical devices and related software solutions and a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Asahi Kasei, has established Asahi Kasei ZOLL Medical Corporation (AZM) as its Japanese subsidiary effective November 5. AZM will advance the expansion and development...
Japan's large-scale PV power exhibition
October 22, 2012 7:53 pm | by SEMICON | News | CommentsPVJapan 2012, the leading photovoltaic exhibition in Japan, will take place on December 5-7. PVJapan is the best event for industry stakeholders to gain knowledge of Japan’s renewable energy industry, including solar energy. Leading-edge technologies will be exhibited on the show floor...
SEMICON Japan 2012: Focus on Next-Generation Technology Challenges — with Keynotes from Toshiba, Intel, Xilinx and TSMC
October 22, 2012 12:53 pm | by SEMI | News | CommentsSEMICON Japan 2012, one of the largest exhibitions in the world for semiconductor manufacturing and related processing technology, will take place at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on December 5-7. Today, SEMI announced an exceptional lineup of keynotes speakers
Tokyo court finds Apple doesn't infringe Samsung patents
October 22, 2012 12:09 pm | by CNET | News | CommentsJapanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported over the weekend that Apple won a pair of cases against Samsung over the last several weeks. The first, which came down in mid-September, found that Apple did not infringe a Samsung patent...
Murata builds new factory in the Philippines
October 22, 2012 11:02 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsMurata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. celebrated the completion of its newest plant in Southeast Asia. The factory, Philippine Manufacturing Co. of Murata, Inc. (PMM), a new subsidiary of Murata, is located in Tanauan City in Batangas Province, Philippines...
Japan’s first MR-conditional pacemaker system
October 19, 2012 11:38 am | by Medtronic | News | CommentsMedtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), today announced the Japanese regulatory approval and launch of the Advisa DR MRI™ SureScan™ pacing system. The Advisa MRI system is the first and only MR-Conditional pacemaker available to patients in Japan, the world’s second largest market for medical devices.
Renesas Electronics releases new power supply
October 19, 2012 10:22 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsRenesas Electronics releases new power supply ICs that cut microcontroller power supply system component counts by 50 percent and significantly reduce standby mode power. Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions...
Wind shear adversely affects Tropical Storm Maria
October 19, 2012 9:58 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsTropical Storm Maria is moving away from Japan and strong wind shear is pushing its rainfall east of the storm's center, according to NASA satellite imagery. On Oct. 18 at 0845 UTC (4:45 a.m. EDT), NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite saw that rain associated with...
Sony to close factory, cut workforce by 2,000
October 19, 2012 5:40 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsSony Corp. says it plans to close a factory in central Japan, tweaking its restructuring plan by cutting 2,000 jobs from its workforce in moves expected to save it $385 million. The company's Minokamo factory, in Gifu prefecture, employs 840 people making lenses for digital cameras, lens blocks...
Apple Loses Appeal in Tablet Patent Dispute With Samsung
October 18, 2012 12:27 pm | by Stan Schroeder | News | CommentsApple lost its appeal of a UK court’s ruling that Samsung did not copy the iPad with its Galaxy tablet, Reuters reports. In July, Britain’s High Court ruled in favor of Samsung, explaining that Samsung’s Galaxy tablet, despite certain similarities, is simply “not as cool.”
KDDI to sell nine new smartphones
October 17, 2012 10:22 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsKDDI Corp. said it will launch nine new smartphone models capable of a high-speed data communication service in Japan, a move likely to further intensify competition among mobile phone carriers to pursue better infrastructure. Of the nine models that are capable of using the LTE high-speed network, eight will hit the market on Nov. 2.
Fault underneath Oi Nuclear Plant to be checked
October 17, 2012 10:06 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsJapan's Nuclear Regulation Authority said Wednesday that it will conduct an on-site inspection on Nov. 2 to confirm whether there is an active fault underneath the sole nuclear power plant operating in the quake-prone country. The outcome of the inspection at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear plant...
Sharp unveils seven-inch tablet with power-saving IGZO panel
October 17, 2012 9:57 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsSharp Corp. unveiled a 7-inch tablet computer Wednesday equipped with its state-of-the-art IGZO power-saving liquid crystal display in a bid to recover its flagging earnings performance. The Aquos Pad SHT21 with high image quality consumes only one-tenth the power...
China critic to sell Taiwan media holdings
October 17, 2012 9:26 am | by PETER ENAV, Associated Press | News | CommentsA Hong Kong media magnate highly critical of China is selling major media holdings in Taiwan to a group headed by a local businessman whose family has substantial interests on the mainland. A source at Hong Kong-listed Next Media Ltd. said Jimmy Lai would sell Next Media Entertainment Services Ltd.
Satellite imagery of Typhoon Prapiroon over Japan
October 16, 2012 1:01 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsTyphoon Prapiroon has been meandering in the western North Pacific Ocean over the weekend of Oct. 13 and 14, and NASA's TRMM satellite was able to identify where the strongest rainfall was occurring in the storm. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed directly above...
