NTT DoCoMo is to launch an Apple-style application platform for its mass market "i-mode" mobile handsets, a move seen as a reaction by Japan's biggest mobile operator to the success of the iPhone.

Just5 phones boast big buttons. They can be turned up louder than the average celly. An emergency SOS button can be preset with five phone numbers (i.e. 911, doctor, relative, etc.). It can send and receive calls and text messages, and it has Bluetooth and an FM radio. And that's about it.

Smartphone use is gathering steam in the U.S., new research shows. 40% of American adults use their cell phones to surf the Web, e-mail, or use instant messaging, according to a study from Pew Research Center in Washington.

Agricultural Bank of China, a lender which boasts more customers than the entire US population, has raised US$19.2 billion from investors, according to several news reports. Shares of the company are expected to begin trading July 15 in Shanghai.

"However, global economic recovery that started in the second half of 2009 is in danger of slowing down due to macroeconomic problems such as the Euro crisis, continued high unemployment in the US...," said IDC analyst. "In such a scenario, the expected growth in the second half of 2010 may be pushed into early 2011."

British householders who have installed the expensive technology are unable to start generating electricity because of a shortage of "inverters".

Shanghai-based JA Solar announced that it had agreed to supply solar panels to MEMC Electronic Materials.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster should make us look to the sun, and start a revolution in how we meet our energy needs.

Shares of most DRAM makers have underperformed their respective benchmark indexes in Asia so far this year, as European sovereign-debt troubles surfaced and clouded views on global economic growth.

The maker of high-speed memory chips changed its focus during a downturn, from retail to direct sales to device makers and sellers, and the company's shares have soared.

Renesas Electronics and Nokia are deepening their collaboration by forming a strategic business alliance to develop modem technologies for HSPA+/LTE and its evolution, according to Renesas. As part of this alliance, the companies have entered into an agreement whereby Renesas is to acquire Nokia's wireless modem business for US$200 million.

Sanyo Electric has decided to sell its semiconductor business to ON Semiconductor for 20-30 billion yen (US$228-341 million), Kyodo News reported Friday, without citing sources.