Love it or hate it, the annual International CES is the way the year begins for many people in the consumer electronics industry. Next week in Las Vegas, companies will present their vision of things to come, some of it grounded in fact and some pure speculation. For all the solid technology on show, there's an equal amount of "throw it out and see what sticks" gadgets and gizmos.
Home appliances, cars and computers could soon be talking to one another thanks to an open source framework that has the backing of consumer electronics manufacturers in a new industry alliance.
HP has filed suit against seven makers of optical disk drive technology, claiming that over a six-year period the group conspired to drive up the price of products sold to HP and others.
Sony is set to become the first company to offer a consumer-grade camcorder that shoots at four times the detail of today's best high-definition images.
Panasonic's Toughpad 4K UT-MB5 is mostly for professional users, but the tablet's 20-inch, 3840 x 2560 pixel screen may attract some consumers, as long as they are willing to part with €4,500 (US$5,900).
Panasonic on Wednesday announced the company's first 4K TV, which allows users to play content from a USB drive or the Internet, and briefly showed its Windows 8-based, 20-inch 4K tablet.
Panasonic and its subsidiary Sanyo have agreed to plead guilty to price fixing conspiracies involving laptop battery cells and automotive parts. They will pay a total of $56.5 million in criminal fines, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said.
Panasonic and Fujifilm say they have developed a new image sensor using organic materials that is far more sensitive than anything currently on the market.
An exhibition in Osaka, central Japan, has assembled a hall of fame for Japanese tech products, with hits including Sony's Walkman and Aibo, an original Tranformer toy, and Paro the baby seal robot on display.
Panasonic has developed a tiny, low-power chip for sensor networks and Internet-connected appliances, which it says is the first to support a broad range of frequency bands.
Try this, try that and see what entices customers. That's the mantra for tablet makers that are experimenting with new tablet features in the elusive quest to deliver the next big hit.
Toshiba will soon begin shipping flash memory cards that support the new SeeQVault mobile DRM standard it is backing with Samsung Electronics, Sony and Panasonic.
Panasonic has developed a new way to drastically increase the color and light sensitivity of digital cameras including those used in smartphones.
IBM earned 6,478 utility patents last year, topping the list of patent winners for the 20th year in a row, according to data from IFI CLAIMS Patent Services. With its record haul, Big Blue bested its 2011 patent tally by 5%.
Panasonic has grabbed headlines this week with impressive 4K TV and tablet demos, but the company is also stressing expansion beyond its struggling consumer electronics business, announcing partnerships with the likes of IBM and General Motors.