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A dash of algebra on wireless networks promises to boost bandwidth tenfold, without new infrastructure. Academic researchers have improved wireless bandwidth by an order of magnitude—not by adding base stations, tapping more spectrum, or cranking up transmitter wattage, but by using algebra to banish the network-clogging task of resending dropped packets. By providing new ways for mobile devices to solve for missing data, the technology not only eliminates this wasteful process but also can seamlessly weave data streams from Wi-Fi and LTE—a leap forward from other approaches that toggle back and forth. "Any IP network will benefit from this technology,"...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/houston/press-releases/2012/russian-agent-and-10-other-members-of-procurement-network-for-russian-military-and-intelligence-operating-in-the-u.s.-and-russia-indicted-in-new-york Russian Agent and 10 Other Members of Procurement Network for Russian Military and Intelligence Operating in the U.S. and Russia Indicted in New York Defendants Also Include Texas- and Russia-Based Corporations; 165 Persons and Companies ‘Designated’ by Commerce Department U.S. Attorney’s Office October 03, 2012 BROOKLYN, NY—An indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging 11 members of a Russian military procurement network operating in the United States and Russia, as well as a Texas-based export company and a Russia-based procurement firm, with illegally...

Dissolvable electronic materials could be used in medical implants and environmentally friendly gadgets. A team of researchers has designed flexible electronic components that can dissolve inside the body, and in water. The components could be used to make smart devices that disintegrate once they are no longer useful, helping to alleviate electronic waste and enabling the development of medical implants that don’t need to be surgically removed. So far, the team has designed an imaging system that monitors tissue from within a mouse, a thermal patch that prevents infection after a surgical site is closed up, solar cells and strain...

Small is big for Murata: The Japanese electronics maker has developed the world's tiniest version of a component known as the capacitor. And that's potentially big business. Capacitors, which store electric energy, are used in the dozens, even in the hundreds, in just about every type of gadget—smartphones, laptops, parts for hybrid cars, medical equipment and digital cameras. Smaller componentry allows for other innovations and improvements from thinner devices to longer battery life. The latest capacitor, measuring just 0.25 millimeter by 0.125 millimeter, is as tiny as the period at the end of this sentence. Murata Manufacturing Co.'s focus on...

Monitoring a location or person with a camera or microphone has become a lot easier in recent years due to cameras having much higher resolutions while being fitted into ever smaller devices. Just about every smartphone now carries a high resolution camera capable of recording video along with a decent microphone. If you want to record someone covertly though, you still have the issue of hiding your recording devices from view. You’re also going to want to leave them recording for long periods of time without being discovered. Qwonn, a manufacture of security products, has come up with the...

<p>I wish IKEA good luck. I don't know much about the market for home electronics in America, but If they manage to compete over here in Europe with the German chain of Media Markt, I'll readily admit Mr. Kamprad (founder and owner of IKEA) to be the greatest business genius on Earth.</p>

Best Buy on Saturday announced the locations of 50 stores that it is closing this year, including seven in California, six in Illinois and six in the company's home state of Minnesota

Best Buy Co reported weaker-than-expected sales for the key holiday quarter, prompting the world's largest electronics chain to close 50 U.S. stores and cut 400 jobs in corporate and support areas. -excerpt- Best Buy is now trying to focus on its smaller format stores. It will close 50 U.S. big-box stores and open 100 Best Buy small-format, stand-alone stores in the current fiscal 2013.

Driven by robust sales of smartphones and tablet computers, Apple Inc. has secured its position as America's most valuable company, with its share price rising to US$522 per share last Friday. By contrast, Japan's once-mighty electronics firms have experienced a rapid fall in recent years. The country's largest DRAM maker Elpida Memory Inc. finally filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. The rise and fall of these two companies provide food for thought for Taiwan, which mainly engages in contract manufacturing. According to U.S. analysts, Apple reaps a 58 percent gross margin on the sale of each iPhone. The costs paid...

The Consumer Electronics Association is gearing up for another round of fighting with the state of California over energy regulations for consumer electronics. The group came out strongly against a new round of regulatory standards. "California should not distinguish itself as the enemy of innovation. We continue to be concerned about how regulations are being justified and supported by the California Energy Commission,” Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA, said as part of the announcement.

Enlarge Image The new graphene. Graphyne may be less famous than graphene, but it could have better electronic properties. Credit: D. Malko et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (2012) Graphene, a layer of graphite just one atom thick, isn't called a wonder material for nothing. The subject of the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics, it is famed for its superlative mechanical and electronic properties. Yet new computer simulations suggest that the electronic properties of a little-known sister material of graphene—graphyne—may in some ways be better. The simulations show that graphyne's conduction electrons should travel extremely fast—as they do in graphene—but...

Bookstore owner Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS.N) on Thursday said it is considering splitting off its Nook electronic reader business, which has been the main growth engine for the company.

Electronics retailer Best Buy is headed for the exits. I can’t say when exactly, but my guess is that it’s only a matter of time, maybe a few more years. Consider a few key metrics. Despite the disappearance of competitors including Circuit City, the company is losing market share. Its last earnings announcement disappointed investors. In 2011, the company’s stock has lost 40% of its value. It’s forward P/E is a mere 6.23 (industry average is 10.20). Its market cap down to less than $9 billion. Its average analyst rating, according to The Street.com, is a B-. Those are just...

LAST year, Christmas was the biggest single day for e-book sales by HarperCollins. And indications are that this year’s Christmas Day total will be even higher, given the extremely strong sales of e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook. Amazon announced on Dec. 15 that it had sold one million of its Kindles in each of the three previous weeks. But we can also guess that the number of visitors to the e-book sections of public libraries’ Web sites is about to set a record, too. And that is a source of great worry for publishers. In their eyes, borrowing...

Boeing military products may contain counterfeit Chinese parts Allegations of counterfeit Chinese parts being used in U.S. military aircraft are surprising to Frank Houston, senior vice president at Esterline Technologies Corp. in Bellevue, a key supplier of The Boeing Co.’s electronics systems. Some of these parts allegedly were installed on Boeing (NYSE: BA) aircraft. The accusations of counterfeit Chinese parts being used in U.S. defense equipment were raised during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee Nov. 8, and were widely distributed in the press. According to a story about the hearing in Bloomberg, non-approved Chinese parts have been...

Years ago, I remember hearing that there was a minute quantity of gold in certain television tuners or channel selectors ...

Taking another step towards creating devices that could be meshed with brain function to help those with brain damage, or perhaps one day, to improve on abilities, researchers at Tel Aviv University, led by Professor of Psychobiology Matti Mintz, have developed an adjunct to a part of a rat brain. The team, who will be presenting their results this month at a biotechnology meeting in the UK, has created a computer chip that is able to emulate one of the functions of the rat cerebellum. The cerebellum is the small odd looking part of the brain that looks like a...

Legacy Electronics, a high-tech contract manufacturer, has opened its new 40,000-square-foot headquarters in Canton, S.D., closing its San Clemente facility. Engle earlier explained the move: “California, unfortunately has become … a more difficult place to do business, a more costly place to do business, especially for manufacturers.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of the largest manufacturers of computer memory, Samsung, have created a new kind of flash memory that uses graphene—atom-thick sheets of pure carbon—along with silicon to store information. Incorporating graphene could help extend the viability of flash memory technology for years to come, and allow future portable electronics to store far more data. Chipmakers pack increasing amounts of data in the same physical area by miniaturizing the memory cells used to store individual bits. Inside today's flash drives, these cells are nanoscale "floating gate" transistors. Recent years have seen the...

A hair-thin electronic patch that adheres to the skin like a temporary tattoo could transform medical sensing, computer gaming and even spy operations, according to a US study published Thursday.