Japan's Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. said Tuesday it had developed a fluorescent lamp that does not use mercury or a gas-discharging process.

In a sign that solar industry and its political allies are starting to flex some real power, the federal government reversed course and announced it would continue to accept new applications to build solar power plants on government land while developing an environmental policy for assessing the projects.

The UK's largest fixed wireless access provider, is moving its network to WiMAX, and the EC has announced a decision that should increase the availability of WiMAX spectrum in Europe. On-Communications, which offers fixed wireless services designed to compete with business-quality leased lines, already operates in London, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Oxford, and will be using equipment from Airspan for a major rollout of "hundreds" of WiMAX base stations. New installations will use Airspan's MicroMax products...

In a major change in strategy, Intel has selected Nikon over ASML for a hotly-contested lithography order for the chip giant's 32nm node, according to sources. At 32nm, Nikon has reportedly won the entire lithography business within Intel, leaving ASML out in the cold, source said. The multi-million-dollar order represents Intel's initial scanners, based on immersion lithography. Up until now, Intel had been using "dry" scanners for wafer processing within its fabs.

OLED faces a renewed attack from rival technology Field Emission Displays (FED), after Sony spin-off Field Emission Technologies (FET) confirmed it will purchase Pioneer's plasma factory next year.

With E12 candelabra base, Model DEC01-B10E12 Flame Tip Chandelier white LED bulb can directly replace E12 candelabra-base incandescent bulbs, allowing lifespan of up to 50,000 hr.

Sony Corp. is considering outsourcing more of its liquid crystal display television production, President Ryoji Chubachi said.

Luminus Devices,the developer and manufacturer of PhlatLight (Photonic Lattice) LEDs that are used in display and lighting applications, today announced it has received its 21st United States patent for its PhlatLight technology.

With all the talk about green alternatives, LED lighting is set to become a multi-billion industry in Australia, with the state and federal governments set to pass legislation dictating to both electricians and installers as to what they can install in terms of new and retrofitted lighting.

Pioneer hopes to start bringing out Blu-ray DVD recorders within the year, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday, as the company takes aim at a rapidly growing market after the end of a bitter format war. Pioneer's product, which it hopes to launch by the year-end shopping season, will be developed with Sharp and make it the seventh Japanese manufacturer to enter the market for the high-definition DVD recorders, the Nikkei said.

The global BWA/WiMAX subscriber base increased by 260,246 in the first quarter of 2008, reaching a total of 1,988,246 subscribers according to figures from Maravedis. “Even with an increase of more than 19% in WiMAX subscribers in the first quarter of 2008, operators are still waiting for the tipping point that will lead to acceleration of WiMAX adoption and deployments,” said Adlane Fellah, CEO and founder of Maravedis.

Almost all the battery-powered televisions stashed in drawers, closets and garages in case of emergency will be rendered useless when broadcasters switch to digital-only signals....nobody manufactures a battery-powered converter box. And the few battery-powered digital TV models on the market start at about US$200 –a costly option for replacing portable sets that have become increasingly inexpensive in recent years.

Wi-LAN Inc., the Canadian technology licensing company, has added LG, the Korean electronics giant, to a growing list of big industry players that it is taking to court. LG joins Motorola, Research in Motion and UTStarCom to the group of wireless handset makers that Wi-LAN believes are infringing its wireless patents.

Thanks to good performances of high-end touch screen phones in the key North American and European markets, LG Electronics is widely expected to beat Motorola to become the world's No. 3 phone maker in the second quarter. According to industry estimates including market research firm Strategy Analytics, the South Korean company will sell a maximum of 29 million phones in the April-June period, while Motorola of the United States is forecast to sell some 28 million.

TSMC is to delay its 40nm process, a bit. It was originally scheduled to start shipping this year, just barely, but now it has been pushed out.