Allowed to wander freely through the factory, Weir found that building electronics is hard work.
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That means that Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) is building consumer electronics devices (most spectacularly, the Xbox videogame console), while Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) is working on an operating system.
The first division to move into Building 20 was the Research Laboratory of Electronics, which grew directly out of the Rad Lab.
It powers manufacturing as well as food and commodities production, it fuels transportation, and it is a building block for industries like plastics and electronics.
Officials in charge of three key international treaties said delegates agreed by consensus to a gradual phase out of the flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane, or HBCD, which is used in building insulation, furniture, vehicles and electronics.
"These results open the potential for visibly transparent polymer solar cells as add-on components of portable electronics, smart windows and building-integrated photovoltaics and in other applications, " said study leader Yang Yang, a UCLA professor of materials science and engineering, who also is director of the Nano Renewable Energy Center at California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).
ENGADGET: UCLA creates transparent solar cell, dreams of current generating windows
The product comes with normal building components, decorations and then wires and electronics to put in lights, bells and other jazzy features.
Retail sales data excludes volatile categories like autos, gas and building materials and includes discretionary purchases such as electronics, furniture and apparel.
That realization comes at a time when Apple, Amazon and even Beats Electronics have been reported to be building out their own streaming capabilities, while Spotify, Pandora and Berlin-based SoundCloud continue to thrive in unique audio verticals.
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Sales were also healthy at building materials and garden supply stores, as well as electronics and appliance stores.
The installation at the Battery Maritime Building was constructed to be entirely acoustic, meaning no electronics are employed to create the sounds.
Several such applications would be enabled by high-performance visibly transparent photovoltaic (PV) devices, including building-integrated photovoltaics and integrated PV chargers for portable electronics.
ENGADGET: UCLA creates transparent solar cell, dreams of current generating windows
Then a couple of days later a flagship South Korean investment in an electronics factory in Scotland was put on hold: Hyundai's microchip building in Fife will be completed, but its opening will then be delayed for at least a year.
One was a kitchen chemistry set for growing crystals and the other a simple electronics kit, based partially around parts of a Snap Circuits set, that has kids building an electromagnet and lighting up an LED.
"LG is building a brand that is synonymous with great picture quality, " said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company.
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There are plenty of kits out there designed to help kids learn the ins and outs of electronics, but LightUp hopes to stand out from the crowd with not just easy-to-use building blocks but an accompanying augmented reality app as well.
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