Stories by: Martyn Williams

Japan's largest consumer electronics company, Panasonic, plans to launch a tender offer for shares of Sanyo Electric with the hope of acquiring a majority stake in its smaller rival, the company said.

Looking back at 2008 and some of the coolest and most impressive robots we saw during the year.

Review of the coolest future-tech we saw during 2008.

North Korea has taken a massive leap forward in telecommunications and launched a 3G cellular network but details about the service, how much it costs and who is eligible to use it remain a mystery.

Don't look now, but this advertisement is watching you.

Don't look now, but the advertisements are watching you.

It's been three years since it was launched in Japan and things have been tough going but the console finally appears to be gaining some traction.

It was recently ranked 29th on the Top 500 supercomputer list and is the second fastest computer in Japan but that's not what makes it so special.

Sony plans to cut 8,000 jobs, close factories and reduce electronics investment by nearly a third in response to the current economic conditions, it said Tuesday.

When you enter the computer room on the second floor of Tokyo Institute of Technology's computer building, you're not immediately struck by the size of Japan's second-fastest supercomputer. You can't see the Tsubame computer for the industrial air conditioning units that are standing in your way, but this in itself is telling. With more than 30,000 processing cores buzzing away, the machine consumes a megawatt of power and needs to be kept cool.

A U.K.-based mobile phone maker plans to start selling in 2009 a novel smartphone originally built for the British military.