1. Nintendo has released financial data suggesting it's slipping mightily--versus last year, its net sales of $12.4 billion until March 31st are down 29%, and profits have slumped 66%. The new 3DS console is selling well, with 3.6 million sold worldwide, but the Wii's sales have slipped 25% on its previous year total. Good news then that Nintendo has confirmed the successor to the Wii is due in 2012, and a playable demo will be shown at E3 2011.
2. Lenovo is still a powerful name in enterprise portable computing, so news it's got a ThinkPad edition tablet en route is interesting. The 10-inch device will run Android Honeycomb, have a Tegra 2 CPU, dual cameras, and may support a stylus on it's capacitive touchscreen. Rumors are pinning its price at $499 starting, exactly the same entry point to the iPad, which may give the "X Slate" chops to sell well to business people.
3. Apple's white iPhone 4 is strongly rumored to be arriving this week around the world, after nearly a year of delays, but the hotly anticipated handset is already in the shadow of a more interesting device--a test module of the phone that's configured to run on T-Mobile USA's wireless 3G frequencies. It's also packing an updated A5 chip, like the iPad 2's, which gives it significantly better performance. Is this a leaked field-test unit for September's iPhone 5 launch?
4. SpaceX may be among the newest names in the international space industry, but it's already aiming high: In an interview, CEO-Founder Elon Musk suggested it aims to put a man in space in around three years and an astronaut on Mars in 10 to 20 years--potentially beating NASA's tentative schedule. Earlier this month SpaceX revealed its Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful rocket that even challenges the mighty Saturn V's used during Apollo.
5. China has released its updated official list of technologies it will "encourage" with loans and tax breaks, and those industries it's discouraging. Construction materials and some steel products have seen over-capacity and will be unfavored, but new energy products, inner-city rail products, and (worrying-sounding) "public security" products are now favored. The list is a recipe for foreign investors and sellers to follow, as it shapes internal business in the nation.
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[Image: Flickr user Chuckdawg]