Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) provided the model numbers of the products in question August 19, 2008. The model numbers that METI announced are MA004J/A (sold 708,000 units), MA005J/A (sold 393,000 units), MA099J/A (sold 424,000 units) and MA107J/A (sold 287,000 units). METI called on consumers to be aware of these models in particular, as it has heard of multiple cases where they have caused an accident while charging their secondary batteries.

Rigid PCB shipments are up 2.9% and bookings are down 4.5% in June 2008 from June 2007. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are up 5.8% and bookings are up 6.6%. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments increased 11.8% and rigid bookings increased 21.1%. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in June 2008 slipped to 0.94.

T-Mobile (owned by Deutsche Telekom) said the software was available for users to download to their iPhones on Tuesday, but that it was not yet clear if the upgrade would fix all the connection problems. AT&T, the only U.S. network operator carrying the iPhone, confirmed that Apple had provided a software update but declined to give details about what it was aimed at fixing.

That's why earlier this year Google kicked off a competition that awards cash prizes to companies creating innovative applications for its Android mobile platform. The search giant has earmarked US$10 million for the Android Developer Challenge, for which it says it has received more than 1,700 submissions from around the world.

..."Inventory days for our supply chain basket of approximately 130 companies declined for the most recent quarter to 44.1 days, from 45 days last quarter and 45.2 days following 2Q. On a trailing 12-month basis, inventory days declined to 43.8 days, which compares to 44 days exiting 1Q and 45.4 days following 2Q 2007," Harrison said..

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued Tuesday morning a sea warning for Typhoon Nuri, which was upgraded from a tropical storm the same morning, weathermen said. The bureau is likely to issue a land warning today as Nuri is approaching waters south of Taiwan.

...the challenge involves three products introduced after 1996, namely cable boxes that can access the Internet, flat-panel computer monitors, and certain computer printers that can also scan, fax, and/or copy. In short, the EU is claiming that these products are not information technology products because of the advancements made to their original designs. The EU’s opinion is that flat-panel monitors that show videos are TVs, not PC components, and therefore should see 14% duties...

Orders for Japanese equipment used to make semiconductors fell 27.8% in July from the same month last year as chip makers reined in spending, calculations based on industry data showed on Tuesday. Orders in July came to 93.90 billion yen (US$856 million), down 0.2% from June, based on monthly order values taken from the industry group's preliminary report.

With India planning to invest US$5 billion in building the world`s largest solar power generation system, which needs for 5,000 megawatt of solar cells, the big order would accelerate Motech`s plan to tap the Indian market to seize the huge business opportunity in the future.

"Intel believes a Wimax-ready laptop could be available in the Indian market at around US$300-400 dollars in a few months," Intel India's newly appointed Managing Director for Wimax division C S Rao told PTI.

Malaysian WiMax operator Packet One Networks began commercial services Tuesday, marking another step in the ongoing rollout of the broadband wireless technology. "Our plan is to target 100,000 subscribers in the next 12 months," said Michael Lai, Packet One's CEO, in a telephone interview.