It has not been a good time to own a carbon-spewing power plant in California and today it just got worse. Regulators have approved a first-in-the-nation rule requiring the state's three big utilities to obtain technology to store 1,325 megawatts (MW) of electricity from wind, solar and other renewable but intermittent sources of energy by 2020.

Renewable Energy Generation Ltd. (WIND), a developer of low-carbon assets that's backed by BlackRock Inc. (BLK), may invest 300 million pounds (US$478 million) in onshore wind, solar and bio-energy projects over the next three to four years.

ZTE is working with governments and enterprises across 15 African countries, including Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Niger, to deploy the use of renewable solar energy.

Qualcomm's own Pixtronix and Sharp have collaborated on an all-new display that keeps image quality high while power consumption stays low.

Will Apple's next iPhones and iPads feature this new anti-reflective technology? A recently filed patent uncovered by Patently Apple suggests that the Cupertino-based company is close to implementing an improved display technology in its electronic devices.

The new wrist computer is slim, waterproof and lasts at least three days on a single charge.

Applied Materials is launching a trio of new manufacturing systems that are designed to address the limitations keeping next-generation displays out of reach of consumers.

Samsung isn't known for its software, but that hasn't stopped the company from pushing its Smart TV interface, which offers access to video streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, and MLB.TV, as well as a selection of other utilities.

Chinese tech giant Huawei said in a report Friday on cybersecurity that it never has been asked to provide information about a citizen to any government.

The download seeks to address some of the criticisms levelled at the original version of Windows 8.

Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo said Apple Inc's iPhone 5C "undersold expectations" in the third quarter, while its pricier iPhone 5S was in short supply.

Xilinx has reported adjusted earnings per share of 49 cents in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 52 cents per share. However, reported earnings increased 6.6% from the year-ago quarter.

The biggest selling point of the Adidas miCoach SMART RUN is that the user does not have to rely on a smartphone for it to work.

SanDisk more than tripled its quarterly profit, beating analysts' estimates, after a fire at a rival chipmaker increased prices at a time when Apple and other users of its flash memory chips were launching new products.

Lenovo Group is actively considering a bid for all of struggling Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest sign of the voracious appetite of Chinese companies for foreign acquisitions.

ASML said it sees first-half sales in 2014 at similar levels to the second half of this year - which would translate into sales of about EUR3.12 billion if the company meets its full-year sales forecast of EUR5.2 billion in 2013.

Windows XP users will get another 18 months free of worry from security holes in Google's Chrome browser.

Samsung likes software. Anyone who bought the Galaxy S4 already knows this; the handset comes loaded with proprietary software. There's eye tracking, advanced touch functionality, and an enterprise package called Knox. There's also a custom camera app, a TV remote app, a workout app, a travel app, a translation app... the list goes on and on.

One of the highlights of AMD's Hawaii event last month was the introduction of AMD Mantle, a new, close-to-metal API that would supposedly unlock huge additional performance and address many of the issues that plague DirectX.

Chipmakers including Broadcom and Renesas Electronics are ramping up in-car entertainment with faster processors and networks for wireless HD movies and navigation, aiming to keep drivers informed and passengers entertained.

Apple announced Tuesday that it hired Angela Ahrendts, the chief executive of Burberry, the British luxury fashion company, as a member of its executive team.

Admitting what many of us already knew, a Microsoft manager has said the "Surface RT" product name confused people.

Today Microsoft announced its third update to Windows Phone 8. This is the set of new features and upgrades that will carry the smartphone platform through the holiday sales cycle. Included among the new set of code is support for faster processors, larger screens, higher resolution displays, better Internet sharing, and a set of quality of life changes that will be welcome to current handsets owners.

Shopping for a laptop or portable computer these days feels a lot like shopping for a toothbrush. There's an inexhaustible variety of sizes, colors and shapes. There are Windows tablets, Windows tablets that become laptops and then just your average Windows laptops. There's the iPad and then a massive selection of Android tablets. There's also Apple's family of MacBooks.

Robots, surprisingly low-tech machines that a start-up company called Alion Energy is betting can automate the installation and maintenance of large-scale solar farms.

Investment in clean technology for UK has risen to 瞿1.6bn, but sector remains under pressure amid growing energy bills.

When Ed Miliband, leader of the UK's opposition Labour party, promised in September to freeze energy prices if he won the country's next general election, it caught Britain's business elite by surprise.

These "so-called" LED TVs use a series of LED bulbs to light up the screen. But what is backlighting anyway?

Another one bites the dust. Panasonic is departing the plasma TV business after being its biggest champion for two decades.

A roundup of the best products and most interesting stories this week from Reviewed.com.

LG's LA9700 is the company's 65in Ultra HD television for 2013. Available in 55 and 65in sizes, the LA9700 features an integrated sound-bar, uses a full sheet of LEDs for backlighting, and has an Ultra HD-resolution that can show four times the detail of current Full HD panels.

Toshiba has announced that the L9300U series of 4K ultra HD TVs is now available at select retailers the US.

Imagination Technologies has announced the first MIPS Series5 ?？arrior P-class' CPU, representing a major step forward in feature set for high-performance MIPS CPU IP cores.

InvenSense and Analog Devices have entered into a definitive purchase agreement for InvenSense to acquire all of the assets of ADI that are exclusively related to ADI's MEMS microphone business line including intellectual property, goodwill and certain tangible and intangible assets.

The letter, due to be published on Tuesday, admits the firm is facing "challenging times", but adds that it is taking measures to tackle them.

BlackBerry announced last month that it plans to lay off a shocking 40% of its global workforce by the end of 2013. The first round of cuts began this week, with 300 employees let go.