Electronics

san jose -- They've ruined missiles, silenced communications satellites and forced nuclear power plants to shut down. Pacemakers, consumer gadgets and even a crucial part of a space shuttle have fallen victim. The culprits? Tiny splinters -- whiskers, they're called -- that sprout without warning from tin solder and finishes deep inside electronics. By some estimates, the resulting short circuits have leveled as much as $10 billion in damage since they were first noticed in the 1940s.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas -- known in years past for its outsized booths, wall-to-wall crowds and lobster dinners -- is going to be a lot tamer next month. The show's producers are expecting an 8% drop in attendance to about 130,000 people, down from 141,000 in January 2008. Companies such as Cisco Systems Inc., Panasonic Corp., Belkin International Inc. and Sony Corp.

Most Americans think they're helping the Earth when they recycle their old computers, televisions and cellphones. But chances are they're contributing to a global trade in electronic trash that endangers workers and pollutes the environment overseas. Although there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50% to 80% of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year end up overseas.

THE sign above the gigantic television declared it to be the "World's Largest" plasma TV. How large? 102 inches. It was so huge that this TV in the LG Electronics booth at the Consumer Electronics Show last week drew a crowd that took snapshots like tourists. But not far across the jammed Las Vegas Convention Center, Panasonic's mammoth plasma television was drawing an even bigger crowd. A sign right above the screen proclaimed it the "World's Largest." How large? 103 inches.

The iPod vendor stands in the corridor at the Macy's Union Square all day and all night, never growing tired or tempted by the fragrance of rotisserie chicken from the nearby food court. It's the latest trend in self-service: a vending machine stocked not just with snacks and drinks but also electronic gear. Zoom Shops, as they're called, are spreading fast, finding homes in malls, hotels, grocery stores and airports across the country.

Gerald Barker is in the business of making people feel better -- not harming them. His company, Coherent Inc., makes sophisticated machines that produce high-performance lasers. The light beams are used to perform glaucoma surgery and to produce stents that are implanted in arteries to ward off heart attacks, among other applications. But some of the 50,000 materials used to manufacture its products contained minute amounts of six hazardous substances, such as lead and mercury.

A federal trial began Tuesday for a man accused of bank robbery who was nabbed with help from a new high-tech tracking device--an instrument whose workings law enforcement officials are trying to keep secret and prosecutors have asked not be revealed in open court. Since its introduction in Orange County in fall of 1989, the electronic tracking system has been used to catch at least six people suspected of bank robbery and other felony suspects.

A year ago, Nintendo was the virtually unchallenged king of the $3.5-billion American video game business. And the Kyoto-based firm ruled its market with an iron fist: demanding high licensing fees, restricting the number of software companies allowed to develop games for Nintendo machines and barring them from developing software for rivals. Its actions sparked numerous lawsuits from retailers and game developers, who charged unfair trade practices. Now the kingdom of Nintendo is under attack.

Sidney Harman, a philanthropist, polymath and pioneer in high-fidelity sound for homes and cars who tried to resuscitate an icon of American journalism when he bought Newsweek last year, has died. He was 92. Harman died Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., of complications from leukemia, according to a statement from his family on the website of the Daily Beast, which Harman merged with Newsweek in November. He was married to former Democratic Rep. Jane Harman of Venice, who resigned her seat in February to lead the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The sleek Infiniti G37 Cindy Marsh bought last August was the car of her dreams, equipped with the latest keyless electronics technology that allows her to start the engine with the touch of a button. But right away, the system gave her trouble. To get the engine started, she would sometimes have to tap the power button repeatedly. Sometimes it wouldn't start unless she opened and closed the car doors, Marsh recalled. She eventually adapted to the system's quirks but said that even now she isn't sure how to shut off the engine in an emergency.