Martyn Williams

Engineers at Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. say they have developed a new manufacturing process for thin film transistors (TFTs) that will help them realize their goal of building a PDA (personal digital assistant) directly onto a sheet of glass, possibly as early as 2003.

At the Group of Eight (G8) economic summit in Genoa, Italy, over the weekend, leaders of the world's seven richest nations and Russia endorsed an action plan designed to help bridge the growing "digital divide" both within and between nations.

Having a Coke and a smile may come in a new way as thirsty users in Singapore can now buy drinks from vending machines using their mobile phones, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) and F&N Coca Cola (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. announced Tuesday.

Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corp. doesn't just want to own your living room, it wants all of your money too. The company launched Monday its latest push into consumer finance with the opening of Sony Bank Inc.

The semiconductor industry has seen its fortunes slide dramatically in the last few months as a steep downturn in business hit the entire sector, but now some industry leaders think they can see a light at the end of the tunnel. How far away this light is, however, depends on who you talk to.

NEC Corp. took the wraps off its MG8000 Gigabit Ethernet multiplexer on Wednesday as the Networld+Interop 2001 Tokyo exhibition opened its doors.

"The money may be gone, but the infrastructure is there, and the infrastructure was put there in record time."

The wait for third-generation (3G) cellular services ended Wednesday in Japan, at least for 4,500 lucky users, as NTT DoCoMo Inc. launched public trials of its W-CDMA-based service.