Renesas loses a big chunk of state support
Published in PC Hardware


Could allow it to make acquisitions

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics said a state-backed fund and other shareholders would reduce their stakes in the Japanese chip maker, in a sale worth $2.8 billion.

Exploding tablet stops a speeding bullet
Published in AI


Battery problems

A Japanese bullet train had to make an emergency stop after a tablet computer apparently owned by a passenger caught fire while the train was en route to Tokyo Station, police and railway officials said.

Angry old men patrol Japanese train stations
Published in Mobiles


Walking into smartphone users

Japan’s train stations are seeing a new form of vigilante – grumpy old men who don’t like people using smartphones.

Western Digital goes for Toshiba injunction
Published in News


Auction might be scuppered.

Western Digital is going for a court injunction to prevent Toshiba  from flogging its chip business without the U.S. firm's consent  in a move that might scupper the auction.

AI replacing Japanese white collar workers
Published in News


Beginning of the end


While most people have focused on factory robots and self-driving cars may kill off millions of jobs, the fact that AI will kill off white collar work has been quietly ignored.

Japan plans to build the world's largest super computer
Published in News


130 petaflops 

Japan's government  plans to build the world’s fastest-known supercomputer for developing and improving AI, driverless cars, robotics and medical diagnostics.

Apple stung with another huge tax bill
Published in News

This is going to hurt

On the day that Apple’s iPhone 7 went on sale in Japan, it’s emerged that it’s been told to pay a hefty $118 million (¥12 billion) by government tax authorities in the country.

Panasonic launches lower-cost Ultra HD Blu-ray player
Published in News


Lacks THX certification, analog outputs


Panasonic has just launched a lower-cost version of its flagship DMP-UB900 Ultra HD Blu-ray disc player in Japan, according to a recent listed posting on the company’s Japanese website.

ISC Fujitsu builds supercomputer from ARMv8 cores
Published in PC Hardware


Will crush Chinese rivals

ISC Fujitsu is working on a supercomputer built around 64-bit ARMv8 cores and creating a machine which will clean the clock of the new crowned Chinese king of the supercomputers – Sunway TaihuLight machine.

Panasonic surrenders LCD screen making to Sharp
Published in Graphics


TVs will use other manufacturers’ materials

Panasonic has given up making LCD panels for televisions because the price competition has become a little too steep.