Last month the projection was 37 inches. Now a more reputable Japanese paper, Nikkei, is reporting a 40-inch target being mass-produced and ready for retail in the same time frame. As always, Panasonic/Matsushita simply confirms that they're investing heavily into the tech and goes about their business. [AP]

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Toshiba and Matsushita's joint display group is about to become the first Japanese firm to jump into the OLED production game, and in a big way--their announced factory will begin producing as many as one million 2.5-inch OLED panels per month when it comes online in the fall of next year. What could they be up to? OLED iPods perhaps?

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Adding to the rumours we brought you a few months ago, the Sankei Shimbun daily newspaper is reporting that Panasonic is planning on having 37-inch OLED screens on sale within three years. And there's more: they'll be setting up a production line in the IPS Alpha Technology factory in Chiba Prefecture, intend to overtake their rivals in the next-gen display tech, and will sell the TVs for US$1,390. Though Panasonic apparently denies having such detailed plans, it seems a plausible timescale to me. [OLEDdisplay.net]

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Columbia University Professor Emeritus Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, the scourge of high-tech companies and freeway drivers, is trying to block imports from Sony, Nokia, Motorola, LG, Matsushita and Samsung, after successfully settling a similar patent lawsuit against Philips last week. The U.S. International Trade Commission is launching an investigation on 30 companies, which will affect products with short-wavelength LEDs and laser diodes that are used everywhere, from mobiles to Blu-ray players:

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Panasonic has developed a recycling technique that uses titanium oxide to convert unrecoverable plastic and other organic compounds to a "harmless" gas. The key focus is on separating wires from their coatings and extract the other rubbers and plastics that make up the non-recyclable 20% of home-appliance waste. Panasonic's stated goal is to "completely eliminate mixed plastic waste." And if that ain't bold enough, the process reduces CO2 emissions, too, because the gasification process itself doesn't require much energy. Here's how it works:

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Yes, Toshiba Matsushita has developed a full-color round LCD display. But before you get too excited about the possibilities, keep in mind that the viewable area is only 62mm (2.44″) across with a contrast ratio of 600:1 and a resolution of 240X240. So, at this point it is not quite ready to be part of your desktop PC configuration--but Toshiba believes that it has definite potential for use in vehicle instrument panels. When this technology does come of age though, Apple could be all over it. [TMD via Technabob

Matsushita Electric, makers of everything exoskeleton, recently annoucned their new Power Pedal robot legs. Designed for the elderly and those needing assistance, the user sits in a bicycle seat and walks somewhat normally—except with 7 times their normal leg strength. (Translation: we can all get 7 times fatter before being restricted to our beds, again). The unit's mobility is respectable, allowing 6 directions of movement while remaining functional on uneven terrain. Today, a Power Pedal will run you $127,000. But by 2015, Matsushita hopes to bring the price down to a nominal $30,000. Hmmm...car or robolegs, robolegs or car? Oh the decisions that the future will burden us with! – Mark Wilson