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Hoping to turn around its unprofitable TV business, Japanese auto and consumer electronics manufacturer Pioneer has decided to halt the production of its 42-inch plasma panels and other smaller sizes effective March 2009.

According to the Asahi newspaper, it will purchase these smaller panels from other established players like Hitachi and Panasonic maker Matsushi ta Electric Industrial. On other hand, 50 inches or larger plasma panels will still be manufactured at other plants.

It is undeniable that Pioneer is no match against its bigger players such as Matsushi ta and LG Electronics in this segment. This year, the company’s sales target is 480,000 units of plasma TVs or a mere 10% of Matsushi ta’s 5 million annual target.

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It seems the craving for LCD and plasma TVs in the U.S. will continue to surge in the next 4 to 5 years. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Association (JEITA) estimates that global demand for flat panel TVs will double to 180 million units by 2012.

Robust sales in the US and China are expected to drive the industry. From 74.8 million units sold in 2007, the liquid crystal display (LCD) TV’s is projected to reach 155 million units in 2012. Moreover, plasma TV’s will double from 11.4 million last year to 25 million units by 2012.

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Aside from “hustling” Yahoo, software giant Microsoft wants to shed away its monopolistic practices by promoting interoperability. Today, it promised to be extra kind by sharing more technical information about its products and technology to help outside developers create solutions compatible with its Vista operating system and other key products.

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Despite the bland overall performance of consumer electronics last holiday season, research firm IDC reports that bargain deals helped boost digital camera shipments in the 4th quarter of 2007 and consequently lifted full year performance to exceed expectations.

Full-year shipments of digital point-and-shoot and SLR cameras in the US market last year reached 37.7 million units or 23% growth while 4th quarter of 2007 posted 16.6 million units or 31% growth compared to the same quarter in 2006.

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The mobile plans war is getting more exciting every single day. After Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and AT&T announced their flat-rate calling plans for $99.99 per month, there are speculations that Sprint Nextel will offer its own unlimited plan at 40% lower or $60 per month.

It’s a very surprising move knowing that this struggling mobile operator recently announced its Unlimited Access Pack for $119 per month. Though there is still no official announcement about this move, analysts speculate Sprint will go for a $60 to $80 monthly plan.

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Though Yahoo rejected its “undervalued” bid, Microsoft’s part-time chairman Bill Gates said the show must go on and the software giant will continue to invest heavily on Web search to snatch sizeable share away from Google.

Gates boasts Microsoft has enough resources to invest in engineering and marketing. However, he also admitted that Yahoo’s superior engineering technology and manpower will help fast track development. But the whole Microhoo deal may not be over yet. Many analysts expect Microsoft to sweeten the deal and open negotiations with a bid of $35 per share. Although Gates reiterated that the offer was “full and fair”, he did not elaborate further on the next steps of this acquisition talks. Going solo may not be the best move for Microsoft, considering the dominant leadership and know-how of Google. Without Yahoo, it will be very difficult or even hopeless to advance.

Good luck with that, Microsoft. If your plans don’t work out, you can always change the Wikipedia entry and say it did.

Read [Reuters]

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Though Google’s open source mobile platform Android is poised to take mobile technology to greater heights, it will also trigger the influx of new viruses and other threats to our cellphones.

In fact, security software firm F-Secure believes that its “risks are greater than with the current platform kings such as Symbian.” Even Apple’s decision to open its door to outside developers also carries potential risks.

Even though thousands of people complain about security issues on mobile phones, only a trivial portion of the users were infected. According to a research of another software security firm McAfee, only 1 in 7 users worldwide are exposed to serious mobile viruses today.

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Let’s hope the widespread rumors about Toshiba’s plan to kill HD DVD are true. If not, it might as well prepare for its hara-kiri as soon as possible. It’s because the country’s largest retailer Wal-Mart has announced its allegiance to Blu-ray.

Poor Toshiba, only DreamWorks remains as a major studio loyal to HD DVD. Recently, Best Buy and online video renters Netflix also betrayed the weakened DVD format.

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Hounded by the growing number of irate users about its absurd privacy policies, the social network drama queen Facebook said it will add a one-step option enabling users to easily and permanently delete their accounts.

Currently, many Facebook users are complaining about the deactivation option because it still retains personal information on the site’s servers. In defense, Facebook claims many users are quite fickle and they tend to come back to reactivate their accounts for various reasons.

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Joining the “openness” bandwagon led by Google’s Android to remove the barriers in the mobile industry, AOL has announced at the Mobile World Congress its own AOL Open Mobile Platform.

It will basically enable outside developers to create innovative mobile applications that can run on major mobile device platforms such as BREW, Java, Linux, RIM, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. Here’s the technical version as explained by AOL:

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