Japan semiconductor facilities that suspended manufacturing after the March 11 9.0-magnitude quake won’t be able to start full production again until the aftershocks completely stop, IHS iSuppli said. With every tremor exceeding magnitude-5.0, equipment “automatically shuts down,” it said.

Nintendo’s introduction of the 3DS game system next week could have a profound effect on children’s vision in the future, but not in the way Nintendo has warned, said a panel of optometry experts who want to use 3D content to screen for potential vision problems.

Sigma Designs will increase sales 12 percent annually through 2015 en route to $500 million in revenue, driven by new business in cable and satellite set-top boxes, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Gay said at company investor conference in New York.

People in 83 percent of U.S. homes recognized the Energy Star label in 2010, up from 77 percent a year ago, said a survey by the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE). The results show that “long-term consistent brand promotion” by consortium members, trade groups and federal government has paid off, said the group, representing energy efficiency program administrators in states and in U.S. and Canadian utilities. The CEE sets standards and draws up programs that utilities can use to provide incentives for energy efficient products, including TVs.

Samsung has splintered the tablet market with the introduction of four- and five-inch “ultraportable” models designed to provide “more choice” to consumers, the company said at its spring line show in New York. “We wanted to deliver solutions for different sets of users,” Tim Baxter, president of Samsung America, told us. Prices haven’t been set for the handheld devices, which squeeze into the Galaxy lineup between the company’s smartphones and its 7-inch tablet. Scheduled for May delivery, the ultraportables will be Wi-Fi-only models, Baxter said, and there are no plans now for 3G versions. The models are designed for the “youth market,” he said, but also for any consumers “looking for a second device” who want to stay connected with social media through a product small enough to fit in a purse or pocket and not requiring a wireless data plan.

The CE industry hailed the passage in Utah of an e-waste bill (SB-184) that it says is consistent with what it wants to see nationwide. The measure was voted out of the Legislature last week, and it doesn’t have a collection mandate or goal. The CEA is also backing a Texas TV recycling bill (SB-329) that passed the Senate Natural Resources Committee Wednesday with amendments that the group proposed. A Washington bill (SB-5824) that failed to get out of committee last week, would have expanded the state’s e-waste program to cover several CE peripherals, including videogame consoles. But state regulators are girding for the bill’s resurrection in the next session of the Legislature in January, according to a source in the state Department of Ecology.

Samsung is deepening deployment of the Smart TV this year as it builds a services business that reduces its reliance on Yahoo Widgets and other applications stores, Eric Anderson, vice president of product and content solutions, said at the company'e spring line show in New York.

Wireless carriers and cable companies aren’t “hoarding” spectrum, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at a Mobile Futures conference Wednesday, answering in part accusations lobbed by the NAB against the NCTA. But he also offered reassurance to broadcasters, clarifying that a proposed incentive auction will be voluntary and acknowledging that broadcast TV remains critical.

The FCC went on the defensive Wednesday, saying it had implemented 80 percent of the National Broadband Plan, countering media reports that more than half of the plan’s recommendations were lingering in the agency’s backlog. Of the action items released in April, 80 percent have been completed, a commission spokesman said Wednesday. The broadband plan’s first anniversary is Thursday. The plan carried 218 recommendations with it, but only about half involved the FCC’s jurisdiction, the spokesman said. Another quarter involved Congress and the rest went to state and local regulators, the spokesman said.

The supply of LCD and DLP components for some front projectors may tighten following Epson and Texas Instruments suspending production at plants in Japan damaged by Friday’s record quake, those suppliers said Tuesday.