Without prior fanfare - or even prior leaks - two advanced LCD technologies appeared in TV sets shown at CES in Las Vegas. Sets with one or another of the technologies will be available this year.

Nearly two years ago, Stephen Elop, Nokia's new chief executive, spoke of flaming ocean platforms and shark-infested waters to describe the problems he inherited as the company teetered on the brink of irrelevance.

The M500 SSD utilizes Micron's 20nm multilevel cell (MLC) NAND flash to achieve terabyte-class capacity and enable a new level of SSD price competitiveness; the 960GB Crucial M500 SSD will be initially priced under US$600.

Samsung Electronics is looking to supply chips to more Chinese and other emerging smartphone makers, the head of its system chip business said, to counter any fall-off in demand from Apple, which is weaning itself off Samsung chips used in its iPhones and iPads.

California's rebate program for businesses and homeowners who install solar panels has now funded enough systems to generate 1GW of electricity - a level few countries and no other states have ever reached.

Karim Temsamani, former managing director for Google Australia, has become the head of Google's Asia-Pacific operations.

This is the year of the smart TV. And like the best religious missionaries, the executives of technology's biggest companies insist that the way they see the world is the only view worth having: consumers want smart, connected televisions, goshdarnit, and we will give it to them.

While Apple Inc.'s AAPL -1.59%iPad Mini and other smaller tablet computers with screens measuring about 7 inches are increasingly popular among consumers, Panasonic Corp. 6752.TO +1.93%and Lenovo Group Ltd. 0992.HK +1.46%are looking in the opposite direction, launching tablets with screens as large as desktop-computer monitors.

Samsung today talked up a new flexible display technology, dubbed Youm, and showed off a prototype device that allows a user to bend the screen back and forth with ease.

After years of lagging behind China and the West in the adoption of solar power, some states in India are proposing to build solar farms at a galloping pace that leaves them at risk of falling short of electricity (a familiar problem here) or of paying higher prices for it.

South Korea's overall unemployment rate remained steady at 3% in December 2012.

China plans to more than double its installed capacity for solar electricity this year, a move that could breathe new life into China-based solar manufacturers suffering heavy losses.

Sony has announced a new smartphone that can be used in the shower or bath without the risk of damage.

With the new Vieras, Panasonic has created something called "My Homescreen."

Panasonic readily admits that these are challenging times for the consumer electronics industry. Its answer: An updated HDTV lineup that focuses on a richer, more convenient user experience.

Sony has unveiled the world's first 4K OLED set.

Toshiba gave us a first look at its upcoming line of Ultra HD 4K TVs.

Lenovo on Sunday added yet another new addition to its Thinkpad lineup, the flexible Thinkpad Helix.

Globalfoundries has been awarded a US$1 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the US to ship American-made computer chip-making tools to its operation in Germany.