It’s Official. After much speculation, Panasonic has bought up rival Sanyo to make it the biggest electronics company in Japan. Nikkei is reporting the companies have come to an agreement and the sale should be completed by April of next year. The end result will be a mega-corporation with revenues of over ¥11.2 trillion (around $1.1 billion.)

Panasonic promises Sanyo will not be disappearing as a brand and that most of their employees will remain intact.

Electronics giants Panasonic and Sanyo Electric have begun engaging in preliminary acquisition talks. According to an unnamed Panasonic official, the company is already in talks with Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumimoto Mitsui Banking about buying up a controlling stake in its smaller rival. The talks are in the preliminary stages, so price is not yet on the table. That same official does say they expect Panasonic to issue a formal acquisition proposal soon.

Panasonic has shipped it’s micro Four Thirds camera, the Lumix DMC-G1, two weeks early. The company’s website previously listed the device for release midway through November. Panasonic is charging $799.95 for the camera. Click here to place an order.

The G1 has gone through a teardown so we can see what makes it tick. Several surprises were unearthed during the teardown, including that the trackball is basically identical to what RIM uses. Also of note: Panasonic built the main board and the compass was built by Asahi Kasei. Detractors note that the keyboard element seems too thin; ditto for the plastic bar connecting the sliding display to the phone.

I can’t think of any recent sci-fi movie that’s predicted as much near-term technology as Minority Report. First, there are all the touch-screen technologies with finger wagging and hand waving and such for arranging and accessing information. Now, Panasonic’s gone and developed an iris scanner that doesn’t require the scanee to concentrate on any given area. It uses a number of digital cameras to locate the iris and scan it, then identify the individual in only two seconds. A lot of practical applications, of course, like security checks and such, but I can’t help imagining walking through a mall and having my name called out. Just a little creepy, while also being pretty cool.