Tokyo - Japanese electronics giant Matsushita (NYSE: MC) announced on Thursday that it will change its official company name to Panasonic, the brand name its products are known by in the U.S. and elsewhere outside of Japan. The company had been using the Matsushita name -- after founder Konosuke Matsushita -- since 1935. All Matsushita products, including those sold under the National brand in Japan, will be labeled Panasonic by the end of 2010.

Chiba, Japan - Japanese consumer electronics firm Matsushita (Panasonic) on Tuesday announced plans to release a new line of advanced Blu-ray disc recorders next month that includes a one-terabyte model capable of storing 381 hours of full HD programs, Reuters reported. The $2,600, 1TB device along with other Blu-ray recorders with 18-hour HD capacity will go on sale Nov. 1 in Japan. The company will also introduce three new DVD recorders that can record full HD programs on conventional DVD discs.

Tokyo - NTT DoCoMo, the largest mobile network in Japan, on Monday introduced a new handset from Mitsubishi that features a motion sensor for use in controlling action in mobile games, Reuters reported. Set to ship next month in Japan, the D904i lets users swing the phone like a sword or tennis racket, similar to the remote for Nintendo's Wii video game console. NTT DoCoMo also introduced two phones from Sharp and Matsushita in its 904i series that use built-in cameras to detect motion.