A Japanese manufacturer has developed a rear projection TV that uses lasers as a light source, Kyodo News reported today. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation said that the new prototype can surpass the picture quality of plasma display panel TVs.

Rear projection TVs currently on the market use a traditional mercury vapour lamp as a light source. While relatively popular in the US, they have seen their market share fall dramatically during the past year, as plasma and LCD TVs fall in price.

Mitsubishi lags behind competitors like Matsushita in the development of large flat panel display technology. Development of a practical laser projection system has not been possible until recently, as it requires affordable and reliable blue lasers.

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Leading hard drive maker Hitachi yesterday announced the inauguration of a new hard disk manufacturing centre in China. The plant, in the city of Shenzhen, close to Hong Kong, is part of Hitachi's plan to invest $500m in storage manufacturing in China, the China Daily reported.

The new facility will help Hitachi address booming local demand for its products which it has had difficulty meeting, according to Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) chief executive Hiroaki Nakanishi.

Component manufacturers like HGST are setting up production facilities in China because the country has a rapidly growing local market, and many manufacturers are making products for export. Consumers in China are expected to buy 30 million PCs a year by 2008.

HGST was formed when Hitachi purchased IBM's loss-making hard drive division in 2002.

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A Taiwanese newspaper has reported on rumours claiming that two local contract electronics manufacturers may help Sony build its Playstation 3 games console, which is expected to be launched this autumn.

Without giving a source for its information, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News said today that Asus and Foxconn may receive orders for the PS3, once Sony has worked out manufacturing bugs in its own factories.

The PS3's main competitor, Microsoft's Xbox 360, is largely made by assorted Taiwanese and Singaporean contract manufacturers, with much of the work taking place at these firms' factories in China.