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IHS iSuppli predicts the global DRAM market will grow by 3.3% Y-o-Y in 2012 with revenues reaching $30.5 billion, up from the -25% Y-o-Y decline the industry faced in 2011.

The outlook from the analyst remains positive for the 2012-2016 period, with revenues exceeding $30bn for each year until reaching $39bn by 2016.

Part of this newly found industry stability comes through the Micron acquisition of bankrupt Elpida-- a purchase causing a boost to Micron technology base, revenues and market share while brinking stability to DRAM and "helping lead renewed growth to the market."

Before Elpida's bankruptcy, the DRAM market was flooded by excess DRAM manufacturing capacity driving down prices and causing revenue decline.

As a result of the purchase, Micron is also the 2nd biggest Q1 2012 DRAM vendor, with 24.8% market share according to iSuppli-- beating Hynix (24.2%) for the #2 position.

Samsung remains on top, with 40.8% share and revenues reaching $2.5bn.

Go With Elpida Acquisition, Micron Becomes No. 2 DRAM Supplier (IHS iSuppli)

Are humble soap bubbles key for the ultra-thin displays of the future? Scientists from the University of Tokyo and Carnegie Mellon University say so,  following their developments in bubble-based "colloidal displays."

A "colloidal display" consists of the surface of a soapy bubble (or "membrane screen"), over which a projector beams images. In this case the bubble is made out a complex colloid solution, and is far stronger than anything from your bubble bath or dish washer.

Since the surface of a soap bubble is a "micro membrane," it is both transparent and reflective. The researchers use ultrasonic vibrations to control the membrane screen, changing its transparency and reflective surface properties. Images are then beamed on the micromembrane using a regular projector.

One can also combine multiple membranes for dimensional effects.

"The combination of ultrasonic waves and ultra-thin membranes makes more realistic, distinctive, and vivid images on screen. This system contributes to a new path for display engineering with sharp images, transparency, BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution function), and flexibility," lead researcher Yoichi Ochiai says.

The micro membrane screen is flexible and displays both 2D and 3D images. The researchers claim it makes the thinnest transparent display available.

Of course the technology is still at its very early days, but is already patent pending.

Watch Colloidal Display Overview

Go Colloidal Display

Klaus Hellmich resigns as CEO of ALSO-Actebis following over 20 years of service in IT distribution, citing personal reasons "in order to pursue other interests outside of the Group."

Replacing him is former Prof. Gustavo Möller-Hergt, the man responsible for the integration project of ALSO and Actebis.

The appointment of Möller-Hergt also eliminates the dual management structure of CEO and COO-- resulting in the simplification and shortening of decision processes.

ALSO-Actebis management starts reporting directly to Möller-Hergt from July 2012.

Go ALSO-Actebis Change in Top Management

The Nexus 7 tablet is not the only Google-branded hardware emerging from the I/O developer conference-- Google also reveals the Nexus Q, a spherical media player or "social streaming device."

At first glance the Nexus Q looks like a piece of modern sculpture or the "intoxication orb" from the Woody Allen film Sleeper. A matte black, satin-finish 4.6-inch sphere, the Nexus Q streams online content and boosts audio with a built-in 25-Watt class D amplifier.

The Q pulls content from either a limited selection of online sources (Google Music, Movies and Youtube) or Android devices (no iOS support), connecting to the internet via wifi. It runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and plays MP3 files at up to 320 kbps quality.

It even has lights-- 32 RGB LEDs, glowing through a 1mm gap slicing the sphere in half.

Inside are an OMAP 4460 dual-core ARM CPU, an SGX540 graphics core, 16GB of NAND flash memory and 1GB of RaM. Connectivity comes through Micro HDMI, TOSLink (S/PDIF), Micro USB, ethernet and Banana jack speaker outputs, as well as wifi, Bluetooth and NFC.

Will Google take over the world's living rooms, or will it simply cannibalise Google TV STB sales? We will know once the Nexus Q ships on July 2012.

Go Google Nexus Q