We encourage our customers to do their first production batch with FPGAs, says Willem Roelandts, chief executive of San Jose-based Xilinx.

FORBES: Chips that change their spots

This means that economies of scale arise on the supply side of the market, on the savings from a larger production batch with the same fixed resources, on gains from improved bargaining power with suppliers.

FORBES: Is Groupon's Business Model Sustainable?

The first batch of pre-production superhero gloves will hit the streets of LA later this year for testing and evaluation.

ENGADGET: BodyGuard stun-glove leaps out of comic books, into the arms of LA Sheriff's Department

In our opinion, the Plair is a neat little gadget for its price, but you'll have to wait until early April for the next batch coming off the production line.

ENGADGET

Much like the run-up to the previous flagship product launch, Qualcomm-backed Xiaomi has just announced that it'll be selling a small batch of pre-production second-gen Xiaomi Phones, in the hopes to get some keen users to perform last-minute checks before mass production.

ENGADGET: Xiaomi Phone 2 pre-production units available on September 22nd, limited to 600 lucky buyers

Given the importance of all kinds of chemicals to industry around the world and the ease with which virtually any fertilizer, pharmaceutical or plastics manufacturing plant can be used, when required, to make a batch of weapons agent, no ban on production can solve or even substantially mitigate the chemical weapons problem.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Blowing Smoke About Making Deadly Gas

France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, had insisted the uranium, about 75% of Iran's production so far, be got out of the country by the end of the year in a single batch, rather than in dribs over months.

ECONOMIST: And still no end to Iran��s nuclear story