Stories by Martyn Williams

Panasonic DVD player a handful

Panasonic has taken the wraps off its latest portable DVD (digital versatile disc) player to reveal a compact model with a 9-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen.

Panasonic unveils new concept camcorder

Digital video cameras have boasted the ability to double as digital still cameras. For some time, however, users wishing to take advantage of this feature have always faced one major hurdle: despite technology shrinking the size of stand-alone video ...

Fujitsu eyes major share of fingerprint sensor market

Fujitsu Ltd. is planning a major push into the fingerprint sensor market and has set out a goal to grab just under 50 percent of the global market by 2004.

Fujitsu to end 3.5 inch IDE hard disk manufacturing

Faced with declining sales as a result of the sharp drop in the desktop personal computer market, Fujitsu Ltd. has decided to end production of 3.5-inch IDE hard disk drives within the year, the company said Thursday. Fujitsu will continue to make 3....

NEC outlines midterm plan, chip division cuts

NEC Corp., one of the world's largest electronics and semiconductor manufacturers, announced Tuesday its new midterm management plan with a sweeping reorganization of its semiconductor businesses in a bid to stay one step ahead of losses.

Hitachi to halt production of PC monitor CRTs

Hitachi has decided to halt production of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) for computer monitors by the end of this year and concentrate exclusively on liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, the company said Thursday.

Japan's chip makers put brakes on production

In the face of weakening demand and still plunging prices, many of Japan's major chip makers are using the upcoming Obon holiday period to idle plants for anywhere between two days and more than two weeks.

NEC plans to enter PDA market later this year

The personal digital assistant (PDA) market is about to get more crowded with the entry of another Japanese hardware maker. NEC Corp. said Monday it plans to follow in the path of Sony Corp., which launched its first PDA last year, and Toshiba Corp.,...

Samsung, Hitachi announce new flash memories

Two of the industry's leading suppliers of flash memory chips, Samsung Electronics and Hitachi, are rising to the challenge of fitting more memory into less space, to enhance the capabilities of tiny portable devices such as phones and digital music ...

Sega to market special-edition Dreamcast

Sega is breathing life into its Dreamcast games console one last time and has announced plans to put on sale a special edition of the device in September as it attempts to dispose of remaining consoles.

LCD makers agree to cooperate on environmental issues

Representatives from the world's largest LCD (liquid crystal display) manufacturing companies have agreed at a meeting in Tokyo to exchange information on environmental matters concerning display panels.

Sharp, Sanyo team on networked home appliances

Sanyo and Sharp on Tuesday announced plans to work together on production of home appliances that can be connected to home electronics networks. The tie-up is part of a larger collaboration between the two companies, announced the same day, in the fi...

Toshiba pushes hard disk density higher with new models

Toshiba announced Monday a line-up of hard disk drives for notebook computers that manage to cram more data than ever into a square inch of disk space.

Use your mobile phone to buy a Coke

Thirsty users in Singapore can now buy drinks from vending machines using their mobile phones, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) and F&N Coca Cola (Singapore) announced Tuesday. Subscribers to SingTel's cellular network will be able to use the n...

Transmeta plans 1GHz Crusoe in third quarter

Transmeta plans to begin shipping a faster version of its Crusoe processor in the third quarter of this year, a spokeswoman for the company said Thursday.