NEC has unveiled a new LED projector that is aimed at being as portable as possible for the mobile pros that need a projector on the go. The projector is called the NP-L50W and it is LED illuminated for a long life and cool operation.

NTT DoCoMo will partner with several Japanese hardware makers and Korean manufacturer Samsung Electronics to develop core chips for use in future smartphones, Japan's biggest business newspaper reported Monday.

These aren't your father's vending machines. For instance, the Diji-Touch has a 46-inch Samsung touch LCD screen that lets consumers see the product, its ingredients, and nutrition facts.

As smartphones get larger and buttons disappear, one technology constantly finds itself in the limelight: display technology.

Dell plans to release a smartphone shopping application this week, a move that mimics the tactics of competitor Apple as the tech giant ramps up marketing toward consumers ahead of the holiday shopping season. Dell's application, which will run on phones powered by Google's Android operating system, will let customers choose and pay for a computer, as well as customize its features. The app will also include product reviews in order to help tech buyers make their decisions.

Apple's latest chip technology won't appear in the next-generation iPad until June 2012 at the earliest, according to a firm that tracks the mobile processor industry.

Toshiba is planning to withdraw from its mobile phone joint venture with Fujitsu in the first half of 2012, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Wednesday.

HiSilicon Technologies has licensed a range of ARM technology for use across the breadth of its communications chip design activities including: 3G/4G basestations, networking infrastructure and mobile computing applications.

Samsung Electronics, maker of the Galaxy mobile phone, may have surpassed Nokia and Apple in smartphone sales for the first time on demand for devices that run on Android software, a research company said.

Smartphone manufacturer HTC is considering switching to Samsung's mobile application processors, industry sources said. HTC currently uses Qualcomm processors.

TSMC has begun trial manufacturing of next generation chips for Apple's mobile devices, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Mosaid Technologies has announced that it is suing HTC America and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (USA) for infringing three US patents that are essential to all cellular telephones that implement the emergency 911 (E-911) standard, as mandated by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Apple agreed to pay the mobile phone maker a one-time sum, which was not disclosed, to settle a long-standing patent disputes.

The acquisition will give RIM access to Scoreloop's developer toolkit for building cross-platform social mobile games. Scoreloop said it will continue to build toolkits for other platforms but that the experience would be better on a RIM device.

The number of internet connected devices is set to explode in the next four years to over 15 billion - twice the world's population by 2015. Cisco predicts the proliferation of tablets, mobile phones, connected appliances and other smart machines will drive this growth.

The fact that Nokia's new chief had to deal with a long-shot of a rumor regarding a supposed buyout deal from Microsoft - at a big discount to its current valuation - shows how far the world's largest mobile phone company has fallen.

Senior Apple executives are in discussion with Samsung to secure supplies of Retina Display-like screens for the iPad 3, even while the two firms turn to the courts to settle some of their differences over mobile device design.

Near Field Communication (NFC) connectivity technology transforms smart phones and other mobile devices into wallets, tickets and keys. Infineon Technologies backs this development and is launching its latest security microcontroller for NFC applications.

Knowles has reached another major milestone in the history of its MEMS technology with the shipment of its two billionth SiSonic MEMS microphone. SiSonicTM microphones are found in all Tier 1 mobile phones and in many other consumer electronic devices including notebooks, headsets and digital still cameras.

Spreadtrum Communications has launched two low-cost multimedia chipsets for multimedia-rich mobile phones. The SC6610 and SC6620 possess Spreadtrum's highly integrated design, and combine PMU, multimedia accelerator, touch screen controller, backlight controller, 16M/32M pSRAM and up to four SIM card interfaces into one chip.

Microsoft will buy Nokia's mobile division for US$30bn, and the deal will be completed this year because "both companies are very much in a hurry."

Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) has selected ST-Ericsson's Thor advanced HSPA+ modem to bring lightning-fast connectivity to its new Infuse 4G smartphone for the US market.

ARM expects to "compete at a consistently high level" in the mobile device market despite the news that rival Intel has a new process for making chips that could prove to be attractive to makers of tablets, smartphones and other similar devices.

Nokia board chairman Jorma Ollila said Tuesday that he would leave his post by the year 2012 as expected, but that he would not "throw in the towel" at the world's leading mobile phone maker before then.

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 19.8% on year in the first quarter of 2011 fueled by high smartphone growth, especially in emerging markets, and gains made by market challengers, according to IDC.

Nokia, the struggling market leader in mobile phones, has said that it intended to cut costs by nearly 20% over three years, a move that will likely eliminate thousands of jobs as it enters an alliance with Microsoft.

Smartphones and tablets will be the first devices to use ARM's upcoming Cortex-A15 processor, and will be available starting late 2012 or early 2013, said James Bruce, the US mobile segment manager at ARM.

Zoom Technologies has signed a licensing pact with chipmaker Qualcomm, allowing the Chinese mobile phone maker to develop and sell 3G devices using Qualcomm's chip patents.

Renesas is in talks to outsource production of auto microcontrollers to Globalfoundries Singapore, and some mobile phone semiconductor production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Shino Inokuma, a spokesman for Renesas, said by telephone.