Around the web
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Japanese newspaper Nikkei has published a rumor that the Wii U will soon be ceasing production to make way for the upcoming NX. Nintendo is now denying that report.
Kotaku
In a court filing Monday, federal authorities cited a newly discovered "unlocking method" that it hopes won't require Apple's help.
Ars Technica
Three explosions that ripped through Belgium on Tuesday killed at least 23 people, according to Belgian media, and raised the specter of terror once again in the heart of Europe.
CNN
The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have been on sale in global markets for a little while now, giving analysts just enough time to make some early predictions about how they expect the handsets to perform. Their data suggests that the new smartphones have registered healthy sales across the globe so far, boosting hopes of a turnaround in Samsung's mobile profits.
Andorid Authority
The US will temporarily lift trade sanctions against ZTE. The Chinese communications company was hit with sanctions earlier this month after the US said the company improperly exported US technology to Iran.
Wall Street Journal
Andy Grove, a technology pioneer credited with helping build Silicon Valley, died on Monday, bringing tributes from across the tech industry.
The Financial Times
Chipmaker Broadcom, the company created following the merger of Avago and Broadcom, said it would cut about 1,900 jobs globally across its businesses.
Reuters
Samsung Electronics is aiming to change its decades-long hierarchical system to adapt to the rapidly changing business environment.
The Korea Times
Samsung Electronics plans to sharply cut its investments in memory chips as part of plans to focus on offsetting the growing risks of the industry's downturn.
The Korea Times
Canon Inc. agreed to buy Toshiba Corp.'s medical equipment unit for 665.5 billion yen (US$5.9 billion) as the world's biggest maker of cameras seeks new growth. Canon is buying a business that makes diagnostic imaging systems such as MRI, X-ray and ultrasound equipment. It would also take the company into competition with General Electric, Royal Philips NV and Siemens AG for MRI machines that typically cost more than US$100,000 each.
Bloomberg
MediaTek has announced the Imagiq image signal processor for its MediaTek Helio high-end smartphone chipset solutions.
Company release
The outlook for PC shipments continues to call for eventual stabilization as competition from other devices eases, upgrades to new models and Windows 10 boost demand, and economic conditions around the world stabilize or improve. However, the decline in PC volume since early 2012 is still expected to linger through 2016 with later years struggling to boost volumes as economic issues and competing products continue to present headwinds, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.
Company release
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company hit a new 52-week high of US$25.80 on Mar 16, eventually closing at US$25.78.
NASDAQ.com
A virtual-reality version of Mnecraft will be coming to Samsung's portable VR headset this spring. The Oculus Rift version of Minecraft is also slated for release this spring. The key difference, of course, is the Gear VR only costs $99 compared to the $599 Rift. The Gear VR also only needs a compatible Samsung phone (like the new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge) versus a powerful gaming PC.
Mashable
Globalfoundries has announced new advanced radio-frequency (RF) silicon solutions, further expanding the portfolio of Silicon Germanium (SiGe) power amplifier (PA) technologies designed to enable performance-optimized cellular and Wi-Fi solutions in increasingly sophisticated mobile devices and hardware.
Company release
Swiss watchmakers, who once dismissed smartwatches as short-lived gadgets, are now racing to grab a share of a fast-growing market via technology partnerships and stepping up investments.
Reuters
Imagination Technologies, the British company whose graphics power Apple's iPhone, said it would make new cost cuts, including job losses, to speed up a turnaround plan.
Reuters
The transaction is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2016.
NASDAQ.com
Having trailed behind both Intel and Nvidia in the PC graphics market in recent years, AMD is preparing to go all in on virtual reality.
PC World
Kyocera will spend about JPY15 billion (US$132 million) to double production capacity for flip-chip chip scale package (FC CSP)substrates. These items carry the central processing unit, communication modules and sensors, and connect to the printed circuit board which holds other components such as resistors.
Nikkei Electronics Asia
Suntech has announced to cooperate with the new government in Colombo, the biggest city of Sri Lanka. Suntech will provide 378 pieces of polycrystalline solar modules for a roof-top system.
Company release
The laptops-to-nuclear conglomerate said it had overstated past profits by JPY5.8 billion (US$51.30 million) on a pretax basis due to seven new accounting errors, on top of the 224.8 billion in overstated profits it has already announced.
Reuters
Toshiba is in late-stage negotiations to sell its white goods business to Chinese household appliance giant Midea Group, a move that would mark another chapter in Japan's drastically changing home electronics industry.
Nikkei Electronics Asia
Microchip Technology has announced the receipt of antitrust clearance in US and Germany for its acquisition of Atmel
Reuters
Sino King Technology, set up by Yukio Sakamoto, will be a key part of a roughly JPY800 billion (US$7 billion) project by the Chinese city of Hefei to build a plant to churn out cutting-edge semiconductors.
Nikkei Electronics Asia
"We believe Samsung, despite some recent delays, will still be the first mover to 10-nanometer technology," Mark. C. Newman, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research, wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "TSMC and Intel will soon follow, whereas Globalfoundries can hardly keep up. Samsung can still edge ahead of TSMC."
The Korea Times
After announcing in 2014 it would bring an industrial 3D printer to market within two years, HP went mostly silent -- until now.
Computerworld
Once more Google has released the monthly look at the market share of each version of Android. Once more the poor performance of the current version is painfully on show. And once more the arguments about how important this is will carry on. Why is Google allowing this vicious cycle to continue?
Forbes
AMD has introduced XConnect, a form of driver-level support for external graphics cards, as part of its latest Radeon 16.3 driver. XConnect allows users to add and remove a Thunderbolt 3 external graphics device (eGFX) such as the Razer Core, without needing to restart the PC, as well as switch between discrete and integrated graphics on-the-fly.
Ars Technica
MediaTek and Orange have announced a new collaboration to market IoT tailored offerings embedding ready-to-use cellular connectivity to address the growing industrial demand for connected objects. The agreement will address professional developers and manufacturers of IoT devices including consumer electronics products.
Company release
The latest leak on Apple's upcoming 4-inch iPhone suggests Apple might be ready to deliver a two-punch combo to competitors by rolling out not only the new iPhone SE but also keeping the 5s alive.
Forbes
Morgan Stanley's James Faucette today weighs in on the speculation about whether Qualcomm may lose some share of the baseband modem chip business in Apple's iPhone to Intel, concluding that there's a real chance it will happen, but it doesn't threaten Qualcomm overall.
Barron's
Toshiba has granted Canon exclusive negotiating rights for its medical equipment unit after a hotly contested auction, with a report putting Canon's offer at more than $6 billion.
Reuters
Chinese exports have seen their sharpest drop in almost seven years, adding to concerns over the health of the world's second largest economy.
BBC News
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