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Edinburgh University spinout Sofant Technologies claims it has the "world's smallest smart antenna"-- a 7 year development both small and smart enough to fit in smartphones and other mobile devices.

The working prototype features a steerable beam able to lock onto the strongest signal available, combining tunable RF Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (RF-MEMS) modules and Sofant software. Regular mobile device antennas, on the other hand, constantly look for signals in all directions.

The Sofant development reduces power requirements, as well as improves reception.

"Until now, the antenna has acted as a bottleneck to performance in mobile devices... every new generation of smart phone performs less well than its predecessor, resulting in dropped calls, lost signals, weak connections, slow internet and battery drain." Sofant CE Sergio Tansini says.

Sofant is moving the technology twards commercialisation phase before it finds implementation in actual mobile devices.

Go Edinburgh Technology Firm Unveils New "Smart Antenna" (BBC)

"People familiar with the matter" confirm to Reuters Best Buy founder (and ex-chairman) Richard Schulze accepts an offer to examine the Best Buy books-- first steps in a potential buyout worth up to $11 billion.

Earlier in August 2012 Best Buy offered Schulze access to financial data (as part of the due diligence process) in order to improve a 2nd offer of acquisition, following the previous refusal of a first offer from the founder.

Talks had broken down then-- but resumed soon after Q3 2012 results showed profits dropping by 91% Y-o-Y to $12 million.

Apparently Schulze is also negotiating with "at least" four private equity firms in order to form a consortium and submit a buyout proposal to Best Buy. Such a proposal is still in early days, and will probably only be finalised sometime after mid-November 2012.

According to Reuters Schulze estimates Best Buy is worth up to $10.9bn (including debt).

In the meantime Best Buy suspends profit forecasts in order to give time new CEO Hubert Joly time to construct a turnaround plan while it continues to close store and attempt to slash losses further.

Go Best Buy Founder Presses on with Buyout Plan (Reuters)

Go Schulze Can Continue Trying to Buy Best Buy

As the world waits for the launch of the Surface tablet, rumours emerge on Microsoft's future hardware ambitions-- the launch of a Surface-branded Windows Phone 8 smartphone.

The first round of speculation comes from the China Times, with a report claiming a Surface smartphone will be available from H1 2013. More rumours come via BGR, with a "trusted source" saying Microsoft plans to take on the high-end offerings Apple, Samsung... and its own vendor partners.

Does Microsoft want to anger the smartphone vendors, just like it did with tablet makers such as Acer? What about Nokia, who put its entire fortune behind Windows Phone?

High prices and ineffective marketing are the chief reasons customers ignore ultrabooks in favour of hotter mobile devices-- and IHS iSuppli slashes ultrabook shipment forecasts for the 2012-2013 period.

The analyst predicts 2012 ultrabook shipments will total 10.3 million (with Q4 2012 to account for around 50% of the amount), down from previous projections of 22m units for the year.

iSuppli also revises 2013 forecasts-- 44m, down from a far more optimistic figure of 61m.

"The PC industry has failed to create the kind of buzz and excitement among consumers required to propel ultrabooks into the mainstream," iSuppli remarks. "When combined with other factors, including prohibitively high pricing, ultrabook sales will not meet expectations in 2012.”

Intel's tough ultrabook definitions also cause a drop in forecast numbers-- a number of notebooks once known as ultrabooks are now actually classified as "ultrathins."

Do ultrabooks have a place in an increasingly tablet-based future? iSuppli remains (perhaps surprisingly) positive, predicting ultrabooks will "overcome" challenges to get shipments reaching 95m by 2016. Intel also continues pushing the form factor, revealing the 4th generation "Haswell" processor at IDF 2012 complete with Intel Identity Protection Technology, multiple display support and DisplayPort 1.2.

New features seen at IDF 2012 should also make next-generation ultrabooks more consumer-friendly-- touch-based input, voice recognition, multiple sensors (GPS, accelerometers, gyroscops) and hand-gesture recognition.

Go Dude, You're Not Getting an Ultrabook: 2012 Forecast is Slashed (IHS iSuppli)