Clearly dissatisfied with what it sees in the mirror, Panasonic has today announced its decision to bulk up. A new share issue expected to raise ¥500 billion ($5.7 billion) will be enacted soon as part of raising the cash to complete the buyout of Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works. Don't ask us why a company named Panasonic has to buy another company with Panasonic in its name, but them's the facts. The total outlay is expected to come in at around $9.4 billion and is justified by Panasonic as fundamental to its future strategy of expanding into environmentally friendly tech and developing a three-pronged operating paradigm by 2012. The Osaka-based company is also reporting a ¥43.7b ($498 million) profit for the last quarter -- a major upswing from a ¥53b loss in the same period last year -- though that's information the market seems to have ignored. Panasonic shares have plunged down 7.7% in the immediate aftermath of the acquisitions being announced, while Sanyo's have shot up. Click past the break for the novella-sized press release explaining the details of the deal.

Continue reading Panasonic to spend $9.4b on buying out Sanyo and PEW shares, posts robust quarterly profits

Panasonic to spend $9.4b on buying out Sanyo and PEW shares, posts robust quarterly profits originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did the recent reappearance of the Phantom console spark a tiny bit of nostalgia in you? If so, you'll be happy to hear that NZXT has picked up the moniker for its latest full tower chassis, and it's a fittingly futuristic-looking beast of burden. The angular steel enclosure provides tool-free access to five 5.25-inch drive bays plus the room to fit in 7 HDDs, 7 fans (up to a mammoth 230mm size), and a dual radiator within its walls. A top-mounted mesh window is accessorized with a slightly more useful array of USB, E-SATA and audio ports, while the innards are specifically designed to accommodate the bulkier graphics cards and CPU coolers out there. Sounds like a winner to us, and the $139.99 price seems about right for a flagship product that aims to tick all the boxes -- see the Phantom on video after the break and expect it to arrive, in all its glorious hues, this September.

Continue reading NZXT Phantom proves there's still life in chunky desktop towers

NZXT Phantom proves there's still life in chunky desktop towers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Study shows Verizon smartphone customers using 25 percent more data per month than AT&T's iPhone customers, which are among the company's biggest data hogs.

The rental service has often said that once the streaming-movie business took off, it would mean bigger bucks for the studios. That transition has begun.

Here's a picture you probably won't see in the tabloid racks while waiting in line at the grocery store. This is the famous "Face on Mars," and is the closest image ever of the this landform, taken by the best Mars camera ever.

Earlier this summer, Sony closed another fiscal year of being in the red, but it's starting the 2010/11 ledger with its quill dipped firmly in the black inkwell. For the quarter ending June 30, the Japanese megacorp clocked up ¥25.7 billion ($293 million) in pure, unadulterated profit off the back of a ¥67 billion operating income. When you compare that to the performance this time last year, a ¥37 billion loss, you have to agree that the Stringer purse-tightening program seems to have delivered the desired effect. The primary drivers for the current resurgence are pinpointed as the PlayStation 3 and Bravia lines (frankly, we consider the two utterly inseparable), and Sony's feeling so buoyant about it all that it's revising its projection for the coming year's revenues upwards today. The good news is tempered, however, by the threat of a rising Yen, which has already claimed Nintendo's profits as its first victim.

PS3 and Bravia sales boost quarterly Sony profits above expectations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Find the headline confusing? Well, the explanation won't help to assuage the muddle much. A Nintendo spokesman told Bloomberg Japan that Ninty plans to announce the Nintendo 3DS price and release date on September 29th. Thus far, we've only seen speculation about pricing (between $249 and $299) and release dates (between October and March, 2011). So yeah, we still don't know when or for how much but at least we know when we'll find out when and for how much. Make sense?

Nintendo issues a 3DS release date date originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"Global warming is undeniable," and it's happening fast, a new U.S. government report says.An in-depth analysis of ten climate indicators all point to a marked warming over the past three decades, with the most recent decade being the hottest on record, according to the latest of the U.S. National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration

js_sebastian writes "According to an article on the New York Times, a historical cross-over has occurred because of the declining costs of solar vs the increasing costs of nuclear energy: solar, hardly the cheapest of renewable technologies, is now cheaper than nuclear, at around 16 cents per kilowatt hour. Furthermore, the NY Times reports that financial markets will not finance the construction of nuclear power plants unless the risk of default (which is historically as high as 50 percent for the nuclear industry) is externalized to someone else through federal loan guarantees or ratepayer funding. The bottom line seems to be that nuclear is simply not competitive, and the push from the US government to subsidize it seems to be forcing the wrong choice on the market."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Although foreshadowed, it's hard to believe that the once mighty Ninty, a company with unshakable profits even during last year's global economic downturn, just recorded a Q1 net loss of ¥25.22 billion ($288 million) compared to a net profit of ¥42.32 billion during the same 3-month period a year earlier. Revenues dropped from ¥253.50 billion to ¥188.65 billion. Lower DS portable gaming machine prices coupled with a strong Yen (86.5 percent of its sales were outside of Japan) helped pull Nintendo into the red. Regardless, Nintendo continues to forecast a full year net profit of ¥200 billion on revenue of ¥1.4 trillion. We'll see.

Nintendo posts Q1 loss on strong Yen and lower DS prices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Site ChipChick nailed it when noting the similarity between this 8GB steampunk USB drive and Rosie the Robot of Jetsons yore. The drive's creator, however, says it was inspired by a "narrow bridge" sign seen on a old country road. Really? Just look at that barrel-shaped cap staring down at you from atop a frilly gear collar; hands on hips in a tempestuous pose that makes us feel like we've somehow wronged her. Regardless, for $300 she'll make a fine addition to your alternate-history abode.

A steampunk USB drive that could clean H. G. Wells' house originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Sky 3D channel has so far been officially available only in 1,500 or so UK pubs, but now its residential launch for all Sky+HD customers is slated for October 1. The 2010 Ryder Cup will serve as a launch event with three days of live coverage from Celtic Manor as the US and European teams do battle; the first ever in 3D, but the third such event it's covered in high definition. Golf fans won't be the only ones catered to, Premier League football will be returning once the season starts and today's announcement coincided with a SkyArts 3D filming arranged by the English National Ballet. Hollywood's major studios have already agreed to provide 3D movies including Bolt, Monsters vs. Aliens, Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince and more, while Sky has commissioned its own original 3D flick, Flying Monsters presented by Sir David Attenborough. Not quite ready for the 3D revolution? Feel free to put that on the backburner -- at least until the 2012 London Olympics -- as the network is also adding content from HBO, a large slate of new comedies, Anytime+ VOD, and a Sky Mobile TV iPad app. With an HD channel count of 43 and plans to reach 50 by year-end, there should be a little something there for everyone to enjoy.

Continue reading Sky 3D channel comes home October 1 with Ryder Cup, EPL, movies and more

Sky 3D channel comes home October 1 with Ryder Cup, EPL, movies and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Researchers reporting in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin last week say people are drawn to others who resemble their parents or themselves. This may explain why incest taboos are found in many cultures - to counter a natural tendency.

If his recent Facebook activity has to be believed, than Facebook's founder and CEO might have just ditched his iPhone for Android. It was only last month when Mark made the headlines for switching to iPhone (it was 3GS, not iPhone 4) from BlackBerry. But the experience wasn't all that great as he posted about his frustrations with the device...

storagedude writes "The FTC wants a do-not-track mechanism that would allow Web users to opt out of online behavioral tracking, similar to the national do-not-call registry. The agency's preferred method for accomplishing this would be a browser-based tool that would give users the option of blocking data collection across the Web. The only problem is that the agency may not have the authority to require this, thanks to concerted lobbying efforts by the advertising industry. The first step may just be voluntary measures, to be released this fall."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nokia's Symbian^3 flagship -- the 3.5-inch N8 with 12 megapixel camera -- just went up for pre-order on Espoo's Italian storefront showing an end of September availabilty. Now before you get up in arms about the €469 price tag (about $610), remember, the €370 estimated retail price announced was pre tax and pre carrier subsidy. That's just how Europe does things, deal with it. We're not seeing the preorder available elsewhere but we'll update you if that situation changes.

[Thanks, Faisal]

Nokia N8 up for official ?469 pre-order in Italy, available in September originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A wordy headline, to be sure, but a pleasing one nonetheless. We came across HTC's Chinese web portal listing the Desire as coming with Android 2.2 (with Sense!) and simply had to ping the official source for confirmation. It turns out the info up there is no mistake: all HTC Android handsets shipping to China -- which includes the Wildfire and Tianyi -- will do so with Froyo preloaded, cutting down on your upgrade angst at least until the Gingerbread man comes a'knocking. HTC has also reiterated that a 2.2 update for its phones already on the market will be delivered "very soon," so if all goes all, we should be looking at a Froyo-dominated August in the land of High Tech Computers.

[Thanks, Christian]

HTC will ship all Android phones in China with Froyo on board, fuels fire for immediate update closer to home originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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