Tempe, Ariz. - Rockford Fosgate has expanded its Punch selection of loaded subwoofer enclosures, all designed for shallow mounting depths behind truck seats.

In launching three new models, Rockford Fosgate is adding an enclosure with 8-inch driver to the line. Two other new models feature 10- and 12-inch drivers like their predecessors.

Washington - Retail sales for the electronics and appliance channel rose 1.7 percent in April to $8.4 billion, the U.S. Commerce Department reported.

Sales were essentially flat from the previous month, edging up just 0.2 percent, the agency said today.

In contrast, April sales at furniture and home furnishing stores increased 7.6 year over year, and total retail sales excluding food and auto rose 6.1 percent, seasonally adjusted.

Irvine, Calif. - Tablet sales' meteoric ascent will continue with 126.6 million units expected to ship in 2012, according to IHS.

The IHS iSuppli Worldwide Tablet Market Tracker report states the 126.6 million units shipped worldwide is an 85 percent increase over the 68.4 million that shipped in 2011. In 2010 16.4 million tablets were sold.

Looking ahead, IHS is predicting sales to jump another 63 percent in 2013 with 360.4 million shipping by 2016.

Santa Clara, Calif. - MiTAC has expanded its selection of Magellan RV GPS Navigators designed specifically for RV users, all with 7-inch screens and RV-related features.

Irvine, Calif. - Western Digital announced today it has completed the divesture of its 3.5-inch HDD assets to Toshiba.

With this acquisition Toshiba will be able to construct 3.5-inch drives for first time.

In addition, Western Digital finalized the purchase of Toshiba Storage Device (Thailand). This facility manufactured storage devices prior to the massive flooding late last fall that shut down most of Thailand manufacturing capacity. Western Digital said it will integrate the former Toshiba site's into its Thai-based operations.

Boston - Worldwide soundbar shipments doubled in 2011 to 2.5 million units, with North America accounting for two-thirds of that volume, Futuresource Consulting said in a new report.

North America is expected to remain the largest world market for soundbars through the forecast period through 2016, the company added. "Vendors and retailers alike have vigorously promoted soundbars to the consumer, and premium TV brands have benefited from bundling TV sets and soundbars, often at a discount," the consulting company said.

New York - Buffalo Technology has started shipping its first two networking devices that utilize the new 802.11ac wireless specification.

Irvine, Calif. - Toshiba will upgrade its Canvio line of external portable hard drives in June, adding a 1.5TB model.

Toshiba announced today that the new capacity drive will be included in the company's Canvio 3.0 and Canvio Basic 3.0 lines. Expected suggested retails are $199 and $189, respectively.

The new models will include a NTSF driver, allowing Mac and Windows computers to share data via the same drive.

Toshiba will continue selling the 500GB, 750GB and 1TB drives in both lines, said Jacky Lee, product manager for the drives.

Atlanta - The Home Depot reported higher sales, comp-store sales and net earnings for its fiscal first quarter, ended April 29.

Sales were $17.8 billion for the first quarter, a 5.9 percent increase from the prior year's opening quarter. Comp-store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 rose 5.8 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were up 6.1 percent.

Net earnings for the first quarter were $1.0 billion, compared with net earnings of $812 million in the same period last year.

Hauppauge, N.Y. - Voxx International reported higher sales but lower net income for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended Feb. 28.

Fourth-quarter sales rose 27.1 percent to $176.6 million, with operating income rising 182 percent to $13.8 million. Fourth-quarter net income fell 37.4 percent to $10.9 million from the year-ago $17.4 million.