Sharp Corporation will start selling world's largest LCD display

Famous Japanese electronics company, Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753), announced that it is going to start shipping the world’s largest LCD display from next month. The 108-inch display would cost roughly 11million yen and would be made to sell to various business organizations. Next year, another Japanese company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (TYO:6752), is planning to sell its 150 inch plasma display for billboards. Network World.com reports:

Sharp has begun offering a monitor based on the 108-inch LCD panel that it first unveiled over a year ago. The panel, which is the largest yet to be shown by any LCD maker, was first unveiled in January 2007 at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and promised for later in the year but was delayed. Now it's available to customers worldwide, built-to-order, for ¥11 million (US$102,000).

The Full HD (1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels) monitor comes with a wide array of input sockets. There's analog RGB and DVI computer inputs, 3 HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) inputs, two composite video inputs, two sets of component video inputs and one S-Video input. The entire set weighs an impressive 195 kilograms and consumes 1.1 kilowatts (kW) when in use.

Weak demand for big televisions has hurt major manufacturers like Hitachi Ltd, Pioneer Corporation (TYO: 6773), and Sharp Corporation. Hitachi and Pioneer incurred losses on their TV operations. Initially, Sharp had plans to focus on larger displays but it shifted switched to 40 inch and smaller displays in the middle of 2007.

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Panasonic introduces newly developed fluorescent bulb

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (TYO:6752), the producer of leading electronic brand, Panasonic, today announced its new Pa-Look Ball Premium Q (quick) compact fluorescent light bulbs. The product will be available in Japan from the next month.

The main problem of fluorescent bulbs is that, they do not reach their full brightness instantly like the incandescent bulbs. Well, the new Pa-Look Ball Premium Q (quick) is the first to be produced under “hybrid lighting method” which helps the bulb to regain 60% of its full brightness in its first second. JCN Network reports:

To solve the problem, Panasonic has successfully developed the "hybrid lighting method" by installing a newly-developed compact "quick lamp" in the "quick lamp" allows the bulb to obtain 60 percent of full brightness within the first second after it is turned on, which is 50 percent faster than current Pa-Look Ball Premium bulbs and stands as the industry's quickest ramp-up time[1].

A built-in timer automatically turns off the "quick lamp" when the spiral arc tube lamp develops enough brightness. As a result, the new Premium Q bulbs achieve brightness equivalent to that of 54-watt[2] incandescent bulbs with an energy consumption of only 10-watts[3], cutting down CO2 emissions and electricity bills by 80 percent[4].

Fluorescent bulbs are increasingly becoming popular for their energy efficiency, environment friendliness, and long lifespan. However, they can not be used in places like bathrooms where the lights are frequently turned on and off for they take some time to reach their maximum brightness. The new Pa-Look Ball Premium Q (quick) does not have this problem.

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Panasonic is shifting production from the USA to Asia

Because of the economic slowdown in the USA, Panasonic is closing its plant at Berea in Richmond, Virginia and shifting to Asia. This will result into job loss of 51 employees in the Panasonic Berea plant. On Thursday, the employees learned that their employment will be terminated on September 30. The Berea plant of Panasonic opened in 1996. It makes motors for small household appliances such as vacuum cleaner, computer ventilating systems and so on. During its peak period, the company used to employ 300 people. Richmond Register reports:

Tom McCay, Berea’s economic development director, said the city had been informed of the closing, but had been asked to referred all inquiries to Panasonic’s corporate office.

The closure will mean a monthly loss of approximately $3,000 from the Berea’s payroll tax, according to city Finance Director Carol Richmond.

In 2007, the city council raised the property tax rate from 3 to 10 cents per $100 of evaluation and levied a 3 percent tax on restaurant receipts and a 6 percent tax on most insurance premiums, except health insurance.

Panasonic has another plant in Danville which will remain opened.

Berea is just another tragic story of the USA economic slowdown. Because of the economic slow down job losses are increasing day by day in the USA. In the last five months including May, the rate of job loss has risen to 5.5%, the highest in the last three years.

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