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Panasonic to spend $9.4b on buying out Sanyo and PEW shares, posts robust quarterly profits

Vlad Savov — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:44:00 +0000

Clearly dissatisfied with what it sees in the mirror, Panasonic has today announced its decision to bulk up. A new share issue expected to raise ¥500 billion ($5.7 billion) will be enacted soon as part of raising the cash to complete the buyout of Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works. Don't ask us why a company named Panasonic has to buy another company with Panasonic in its name, but them's the facts. The total outlay is expected to come in at around $9.4 billion and is justified by Panasonic as fundamental to its future strategy of expanding into environmentally friendly tech and developing a three-pronged operating paradigm by 2012. The Osaka-based company is also reporting a ¥43.7b ($498 million) profit for the last quarter -- a major upswing from a ¥53b loss in the same period last year -- though that's information the market seems to have ignored. Panasonic shares have plunged down 7.7% in the immediate aftermath of the acquisitions being announced, while Sanyo's have shot up. Click past the break for the novella-sized press release explaining the details of the deal.

Continue reading Panasonic to spend $9.4b on buying out Sanyo and PEW shares, posts robust quarterly profits

Panasonic to spend $9.4b on buying out Sanyo and PEW shares, posts robust quarterly profits originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nissan Leaf gets early review: you might just forget its an eccentric electric car

Darren Murph — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:24:00 +0000

It still won't be widely available until 2012, but Nissan's Leaf is already leaking out to a few select media outlets. Our comrades over at Autoblog managed to get behind the wheel of the all-electric whip down in San Jose, and while they didn't find anything that changed the admittedly developing game, what they did find was a solid, refined EV that's "ready for primetime." They were quick to praise the design, which doesn't scream "oddball" like some of the earlier electric automobiles. As for the ride? That was deemed "suitably smooth," while the interior was found to be "a few degrees better than what you'd find in an economy car of similar size." In fact, the overriding tone of the review was one of unsurprised satisfaction, with critics noting that the "gadgetry is impressive, but no more so than some of the hybrid options available from Nissan's competitors," and in the end, the Leaf doesn't aim to "change the driving experience, just change the method of motivation." Hit the source link for the full skinny.

Nissan Leaf gets early review: you might just forget its an eccentric electric car originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Terra-Gen lands major funding, expects to complete America’s largest wind farm next year

Darren Murph — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:46:00 +0000

And you thought that 1,000 megawatt wind farm planned for Lake Erie was going to be huge. Terra-Gen Power recently secured a staggering $1.2 billion in construction financing, which it fully intends to use on 3D projectors, PlayStation 3 consoles and parts necessary to build America's largest wind farm. Granted, only one of those points is actually true, but we suspect you're hanging with us. The latest round of cash will help build four wind power projects with a total of 570 megawatts of capacity at the company's Alta Wind Energy Center in Kern County, California. But when you put that with projects already in motion, you're left with a 3,000MW wind power initiative, which should be completed and operational "in the first and second quarters of 2011." So, anyone feeling up to topping this?

Continue reading Terra-Gen lands major funding, expects to complete America's largest wind farm next year

Terra-Gen lands major funding, expects to complete America's largest wind farm next year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Turbine-powered hotspot

John Baichtal — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:00:00 +0000

Dan Lampie and David Brenner built a turbine that powers a WiFi repeater and VOIP server.

The project uses a pair of Linksys wireless router with DD-WRT firmware to bring Wi-Fi and VOIP connectivity to remote areas without well-established infrastructure. Potential applications include extending internet connectivity from urban to rural areas, providing weather and trail condition information at trailheads in National Parks, and a rapidly-deployable and inexpensive communications network to aid disaster recovery teams. In addition to providing connectivity, the power produced by the turbine and solar cell is monitored and reported back to a central server using an Arduino microcontroller connected to a hall-effect current sensor. The total cost of this project was less than $500, which is a fraction of the cost of existing solutions to provide wireless communications and remote power!

Wind and Solar Communications Node

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