Puerto Rico is investing $6.6 million in solar energy panels that it plans to install in homes, businesses, airports and schools across the U.S. Caribbean territory.

Commerce and Economic Development Secretary Jose Perez-Riera says the government will invest a total of $290 million in the next decade to promote renewable energy projects.

One of the first projects will be the installation of panels at a regional airport in Ponce, Puerto Rico’s second-largest city.

Port Authority Director Alberto Escudero said Wednesday that the $1.7 million project will supply 750 kilowatts of energy.

Puerto Rico uses petroleum to generate nearly 70 percent of its power, which costs twice that of the U.S. mainland.

The good folks at Sonos just stopped by our office to give us a preview of their brand new Controller application for the Apple iPad, and boy is it sexy. If you’re a Sonos fan (you know we are) and you have an iPad, this will be a no-brainer when it’s released within the next two months in the App Store for free. For starters, just by taking advantage of the extra screen real estate, the software guys at Sonos have masterfully developed a three column view that just looks incredibly slick and functions even better. We’re talking a completely new spin on the Sonos remote control experience, and we can easily see these things taking over living rooms, kitchen tables, and practically anywhere else music is listened to.

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Motorola means business when it comes to its upcoming breakup and it is throwing cash and moving debt around around like crazy. The split will form a new Motorola Mobility which will encompass the struggling mobile phone division along with the profitable home hardware division that manufactures set-top boxes and DSL/Cable modems. The remainder of Motorola, which is responsible for two-way public safety radios, handheld scanners, and telecommunications network gear, will be rolled into the new Motorola Solutions. The Mobility company will get a much needed shot in the arm with an infusion of cash that will total $3 to $4 billion and the removal of pension liabilities and other encumbering debt. The Solutions company will shoulder the burden of this split by assuming these pension and other liabilities and will receive any remaining cash reserves. With that much cash in hand and momentum with its DROID series of smartphones, Motorola Mobility has an opportunity to make some waves in the mobile marketplace. For competition sake, let’s hope they do.

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Toshiba and Fujitsu confirmed on Thursday that the two Japanese companies will be merging their mobile phone business units. As part of the merger, Toshiba will spin off its mobile division into a new company with Fujitsu acquiring a majority stake in this newly formed venture. The resulting company will become Japan’s second largest mobile phone maker with an estimated 18.7% market share. Details are expected to be finalized in July with the merged company beginning operations in October of this year.

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HTC’s patent-related legal action against Apple took a huge step forward today, as the ITC announced it will formally investigate the claims made by HTC. At the heart of the matter are five patents which HTC alleges Apple is using without permission. The patents include personalized software phone dialers, a phone dialer with memory access, and power-management technology. HTC, which filed the complaint in response to Apple’s very own patent lawsuit against HTC, is asking that the ITC block the U.S. importation of iPhones iPads and iPods.

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