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Following recent "strategic review" Darty closes down its loss making Spanish business, with 43 stores employing 650 employees to stop trading by June 2013.

The closure costs Darty around €30 million, including €16m pretax loss on sales and €10m in non-cash writeoffs.

“In Spain we have been growing market share and building our service credentials but we remain sub-scale," Darty chairman Alan Parker says.  "Significantly improving our position would be a long and potentially expensive journey with no guarantee of success in what we expect to remain a very difficult market."

Global device (PCs, tablets and mobile phones) shipments are set to total 2.4 billion in 2013 before reaching over 2.9 billion by 2017 Gartner reports, even if the device mix will see changes during the period.

Consumer preference to lower-priced tablets, coupled with growing capability, accelerates the shift away from PCs-- traditional desktop and notebook PC shipments are to drop by -7.9% during 2013, although ultramobile shipments should offset the decline to -3.5% when combined.

"While there will be some individuals who retain both a personal PC and a tablet, especially those who use either or both for work and play, most will be satisfied with the experience they get from a tablet as their main computing device," the analyst says. "As consumers shift their time away from their PC to tablets and smartphones, they will no longer see their PC as a device that they need to replace on a regular basis."

The Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium (HMCC) finishes the first specification for its titular memory technology-- HMC Specification 1.0, allowing OEMs to make 2 or 4GB DRAM employing a stacked, power-efficient architecture.

The result of a 17-month long collective effort led by Micron, Samsung and Hynix, the technology stacks multiple memory dies on top of a DRAM controller. In turn DRAM connects to the controller via silicon Vertical Interconnect Access (VIA), a technology passing a vertical electrical wire through a silicon wafer.

The structure reduces the tasks the memory chip performs, providing an interface 15x faster than standard DDR3 DRAM while reducing power requirements by -70% according to the HMCC.

In total the specification provides for chips with up to 160GBps of aggregate bi-directional bandwidth-- slightly faster than the current 11GBps of aggregate bandwidth of DDR3 or 18-20GBps of DDR4.

Lexmark continues its shift from hardware- to solutions-centric company as it sells off its inkjet-related technology and assets to long-time partner Funai Electric for around $100 million.

Through the deal Funai acquires over 1500 inkjet patents, Lexmark R&D assets and tools, all outstanding shares, a Philippines manufacturing facility and other inkjet-related technologies, allowing the Japanese CE vendor to make own-branded inkjet hardware and supplies.

The 2 companies have had a 15-year relationship, with Funai making inkjet printer hardware for Lexmark. Both companies ensure Lexmark will continue working directly with its customers and distributors, even as Funai takes over aftermarket inkjet supply making duties.

Lexmark stopped producing new inkjet printers in August 2012, but retains its lucrative laser printer business. It also remains an OEM for the likes of Dell and IBM Infoprint.

Go Funai Acquiring Lexmark's Inkjet-Related Technology and Assets