The Philips 56PFL9954H Cinema 21:9 uses the same aspect ratio of most movies out there, which means that it eliminates the black bars while watching a Blu-ray title. And while every single consumers electronics expert in the UK is raving about the amazing quality of this 8.3-million-pixel TV set, the Philips Cinema 21:9 still has to do zooming to make the movie to fill its 1080-pixel vertical resolution. In other words: It looks great, but it's still not perfect. [Daily Mail]

The video at left was Mays' recent visit to The Tonight Show, where he pitched his new reality show, Pitchmen. [FOX News]

Television broadcast ads during The Simpsons cost $20-$40 per thousand viewers. On the web, the rate jumps to $60.

Shows like The Simpsons and CSI are now commanding higher ad rates on Hulu and TV.com than on television. It's a byproduct viewers being twice as likely to recall web ads than TV ads, according to Neilsen. (Which I would argue is a byproduct of Hulu showing us far fewer ads.)

But before we all declare TV dead, remember that Hulu has only 37 seconds of ads per "30-minute" show while a Fox broadcast includes a whopping 9 minutes of sales pitches. So there's still technically more money in TV, which will change as soon as Hulu begins cramming 9 minutes of ads into each program.

Lots more on the story here: [Bloomberg via PCWorld]

DirecTV currently only sends out two feeds—one to the east coast, one to the west—which each broadcast uniform content and advertising across their various markets. For advertisers with limited reach, this is wasteful; likewise, for viewers, this can mean annoyingly irrelevant ads.

More often than not, though, it just means that local or regional advertisers don't even bother with DirecTV, which is bad for its business, and most importantly deprives its customers of the crucial information they need to choose the right repossessed furniture dealership. [WSJ]

Intended to be a bit less intense than BSG's post-apocalyptic doom and gloom, Virtuality is about 12 astronauts on Man's first starship, the Phaeton. They're on a 10-year journey (feeling confident, aren't we Mr. Moore?) and will kill the time by plugging in to their own customized virtual reality worlds—a sort of holodeck meets the Matrix. That killing of time seems to be the focus of the show.

Our sister site io9 has been covering Virtuality quite a bit over the last year from inception to production, so they're a good resource if you'd like to read more about the pilot and potential new program. [io9]

* Wait, another promising sci-fi pilot is coming to Fox? Never mind, it's doomed.

Being Monsters, you know they're gonna cost a ton. Four feet of "high speed" SuperThin cable has a suggested price of $90, going up to $100 for 8 feet, and $120 for 16 feet. Standard speed cables start at $80 for 1 meter, $90 for 2 meters, $100 for 4 meters and $120 for 5 meters. I'll leave the judgments to you guys in the comments.

Monster Introduces Breakthrough "SuperThin Cable™ for HDMI™"
— Developed in Collaboration with RedMere, New Powered SuperThin Cables for HDMI Are
Ideal for Elegant Flat-Panel TV Installations and Use with Mobile HD Devices —

New York, NY, June 10, 2009 - Monster, the world's leading manufacturer of cables,
AV accessories, and power conditioning products, today announced the introduction of
a new line of "Powered" SuperThin Cables™ for HDMI™ Cables specifically designed
for use with a wide variety of electronics devices, ranging from today's super-slim flat-
panel TVs to digital video cameras, home theater systems, gaming systems or portable
computers. The new Monster SuperThin Cables for HDMI are the first fruits of a
recently announced collaboration with RedMere, a leader in advanced silicon chip
development. Monster Super Thin Cable for HDMI products will be available in 4-, 8-,
and 16-foot versions in the DigitalLife line of products (DL HDMI HSMI-4, DL HDMI
HSMI-8, DL HDMI HSMI-16).Monster's Core line of cables for HDMI will also offer a
SuperThin cable design in 1, 2, 4 and 5 meter lengths.

HD Signals Are Boosted in the Cable Itself
With the introduction of SuperThin Cable for HDMI, Monster is continuing to follow
through on its commitment to provide consumers with a comprehensive range of high-
quality, reliable connectivity solutions for every need and budget. The key innovation
that made the creation of Monster SuperThin Cables for HDMI possible is the
RedMere™ MagnifEye™ Active technology. Requiring no external power supply the
technology enables industry-leading data speeds and ultimate-quality performance by
boosting the HD signals directly in the SuperThin cable itself. This eliminates the need
for heavy-gauge copper, making the cables extremely light, thin and portable.
SuperThin cables measure just 3.5 mm in diameter, approximately 65% thinner than
normal HDMI cables.

Noted Noel Lee, the Head Monster: "Monster built our reputation on thick, heavy
gauge high-quality cables with unequalled performance capabilities. Now, thanks to
our alliance with RedMere and the leading-edge MagnifEye Active technology, we're
able to provide our customers with the same level of Monster quality and reliability in
a brand new type of ‘magically thin' cable. The difference is immediately apparent –
SuperThin cables are much smaller and lighter, matching the sleek appearance of
the consumer electronics products they connect. Whether you want a totally clean-
looking virtually invisible installation option for your HDTV or you just want a much
better and more convenient way to access HD content while on-the-go, there's never
been anything like our new super-thin cables."

Digital Life™ SuperThin High Speed Powered Cable for HDMI (SRP) 4ft. $89.95, 8ft.
$99.95 and 16ft $119.95

Digital Life SuperThin High Speed Powered Cable for camcorder; Mini HDMI to HDMI
8ft (SRP) $99.95

Monster's Core Line of SuperThin Powered Cables for HDMI 1m $79.95, 2m $89.95 4m
$99.95, 5m $119.95.

"Super-Slim TVs Need Monster SuperThin Cables"
Monster's new SuperThin cables for HDMI are poised to usher in a new era of
convenience and elegance in high-performance cable management, both at home and
on-the-go. Featuring a built-in LED indicator that instantly lets users know they are
active, the virtually invisible cables are ideal for use in aesthetically designed home
theater installations utilizing flat-panel TVs. Consumers can literally hide the cables
away in plain sight, as well as fit them into any tight corners for a new level of
installation flexibility. Additionally, the compact and lightweight cables, which include
handy cable ties, are ideal for taking on the road with camcorders or other mobile digital
devices. Their easy portability provides users with a fast and convenient way to connect
camcorders or other digital devices to notebook computers or other display. For total
reliability and performance, the new cables feature corrosion-resistant 24k gold
contacts.

[Monster]

Sadly, most gadgets are made out of far more toxic, environmentally devastating materials than plain Jane cardboard.

But hey! There's no reason to burden your mind with all that depressing stuff tied to a global economy dependent upon the sale of such fragile and quickly obsolescent goods. Just look at the cardboard gadgets. Neat, right? [Kyle Bean via Unplggd]

[JustJared via David Cho]

As mentioned, the Lechner Distance chart illustrates that there are specific distances at which the human eye has the best chance of processing all of the detail that HDTV resolution has to offer. According to the data collected in the poll, many of you are probably sitting too far away, especially those of you who sprung for a 1080p set.

Poll results in the 1080i/1080p group for sets under 40-inches indicated that a whopping of 60% of respondents were sitting over six feet from the screen. This is definitely too far away to see all of the detail.

For sets between 40 and 52 inches, 43% of you are sitting over eight feet from the screen. Again, too far away to see it all.

For sets over 52-inches, 35% are sitting between 8 and 10 feet, while 30% are sitting over 10 feet away. To put it in perspective, a 60-inch 1080p set should be about 8 feet (or closer) from you to get the full experience. Even a huge 70-inch 1080p TV should technically only be nine or so feet from your head!

In case you haven't yet checked out the full chart at HDGuru, here are the optimal viewing distances—based on screen size—for some common-sized 1080p HDTVs:

1080i/p
• 28-inch set: 3.7 feet
• 32-inch set: 4.2 feet
• 37-inch set: 4.8 feet
• 40-inch set: 5.2 feet
• 42-inch set: 5.5 feet
• 46-inch set: 6 feet
• 50-inch set: 6.5 feet
• 52-inch set: 6.8 feet
• 60-inch set: 7.8 feet
• 63-inch set: 8.2 feet
• 70-inch set: 9.2 feet

Analysis
You will notice that we didn't go into detail about those of you who responded to the 720p portion of the test, and that's because, by and large, you are watching at about the right distance. 720p TVs can be set out farther than 1080p, yet because they're cheaper, they find their way into smaller living rooms. Because of the interplay of these two factors, 720p sets are all the more likely to be set up at an optimal viewing distance.

But 1080p, considered better, winds up in larger living rooms, but not always at larger sizes. The joke is, by keeping it as far off as we noted above, you are not much better off with that fancy 1080p set than you would have been, saving some cash and going with 720p.

A final observation is that 6 to 8 feet is far and away the most common distance across all TV sizes and resolutions for you folks—we don't know what it means except that there are other factors besides Lechner distance that play a larger part in the decision to place the TV, and that most of us—Giz editors included—are unaware that we are not getting the full bang for our HDTV buck.

The situation can be easily remedied by consulting the Lechner chart and whipping out a good old tape measure. In some situations this may not be possible given the dimensions of a room, so it is up to to decide what your priorities are—like should I move the TV to a smaller room, or go out and buy a bigger TV? [Original Survey]

Chen and I are in disagreement as to whether or not this is intentional. I say it's a coincidence, but he's convinced that Mario was a definite inspiration for this background. What do you guys think? [Serious Lunch]

The resolution you see is determined not just by the screen, but by its size and how far you sit from it, as detailed using the Lechner Distance chart. For example, if you sit 12 feet away from your 1080p TV, it would have to measure 92-inches in order for you to see all the detail.

Later, you can use it to set the optimum viewing distance between your couch and TV. But first, tell us how you have your gear set up now.

720p TVs

1080i/1080p TVs:

[Image via Flickr]

First Place — Snickers McPickles
Second Place — Miguel Lopez
Third Place — Ana Andrade

Cooler than books on tape and way more fun than subtitles, the ezRead transforms your reading material into televised material.

What? Cooler than books on tape? More fun than movies with subtitles? This is surreal.

Of course, people with serious sight problems can connect this to a huge TV to read books and drugs prescriptions—like they say at the end of their product description. But how many of this limited set people have a huge TV? And would they be willing to use this instead of just grabbing a large, perhaps cheaper magnifying glass?

I'm afraid the ezRead is just one of those devices that overuse technology directed to an extremely limited market that already have their needs covered with low-tech solutions. But everyone's getting old, including the technologically inclined, so there may be a market for this. [Scientific Online via Red Ferret]

It's simpler than the crazy ion blaster technique Samsung used to produce their flexible OLED display, adapting the "traditional" process of manufacturing OLED displays (UDC uses vacuum thermal evaporation) in a more "benign" way so that it can be implemented directly on a soft piece of plastic, hence the potential for mass production. Essentially, the plastic substrate is glued to a piece of glass while they process it, and then it's carefully peeled off. What you end up with is an OLED implemented directly on plastic.

That said, while FDC believes "most of the key manufacturing roadblocks have been addressed and it's time to start thinking seriously about commercial production," commercial gadgets with flexible OLED displays are still a few years away. And we're talking like 4-6 inches, not even 8-10 for a bendy tablet thing. On the upside, they think they can get the price premiums down to "no more than 10 percent" above existing display prices within the first 5 years of commercial production. We'll see.

FDC and Universal Display Corporation Make Breakthrough in Flexible Display Manufacturing Process; Advance Flexible OLEDs Closer to Mass Market

TEMPE, Ariz. – June 1, 2009 - The Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University and Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: PANL), today introduced the first a-Si:H active matrix flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display to be manufactured directly on DuPont Teijin's polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate. Implementing Universal Display Corporation's phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (PHOLED) technology and materials and the FDC's proprietary bond-debond manufacturing technology, the 4.1-inch monochrome quarter video graphics array (QVGA) display represents a significant milestone towards achieving a manufacturable solution for flexible OLEDs.

Flexible OLEDs are designed to target a number of military and commercial applications that require more rugged displays. With Universal Display's PHOLED technology and materials, the new display achieves the same brightness as traditional displays with extremely low power consumption. Additional advantages of the technology include lower operating temperature due to less heat being generated, easier to drive, longer battery life, and more stable transistors.

"Being a founding member of the Flexible Display Center, Universal Display is pleased to see the significant progress enabled by our cooperation," said Mike Hack, Vice President of Strategic Product Development at Universal Display. "Together, the FDC and Universal Display have demonstrated technology paths which will accelerate the introduction of exciting new flexible OLED displays on plastic substrates."

"This development of flexible AMOLED technology gives the industry a solid starting point towards manufacturing, mass production and commercialization of flexible OLEDs," said Shawn O'Rourke, director of engineering for the FDC. "The fact that we have achieved a functional flexible OLED manufactured directly on plastic using the Center's manufacturing process represents a significant achievement, and continued developments over the next few years will lead to full color, full motion video flexible displays."

The flexible backplane display was manufactured at the Flexible Display Center utilizing a 180°C thin film transistor process. The FDC's facility implements traditional flat panel and semiconductor tools and processes to achieve flexible displays, enabled by its proprietary bond-debond technology to secure the plastic substrate to a rigid carrier during manufacture.

The integration of Universal Display's PHOLED frontplane delivers a key enabling technology for the flexible OLED. The PHOLED materials allow the OLED to convert up to 100 percent of the electrical energy into light, as opposed to traditional fluorescent OLEDs which convert only 25 percent, providing up to four times more energy efficiency. Universal Display integrated the FDC backplane designed for its PHOLED frontplane to produce the display.
The FDC and Universal Display will present a paper discussing the active matrix flexible OLED on Friday June 5th in session 65.4 at SID 2009. Additionally, the FDC will demonstrate this device and other flexible display technologies in booth # 523 at the show. Universal Display, located at booth #676 at the show, and DuPont Teijin are members of the Flexible Display Center.

About the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University
The FDC is a government – industry – academia partnership that's advancing full-color flexible display technology and fostering development of a manufacturing ecosystem to support the rapidly growing market for flexible electronic displays. FDC partners include many of the world's leading providers of advanced display technology, materials and process equipment. The FDC is unique among the U.S. Army's University centers, having been formed through a 10-year cooperative agreement with Arizona State University in 2004. This adaptable agreement has enabled the FDC to create and implement a proven collaborative partnership model with over 20 engaged industry members, and to successfully deploy world class wafer-scale R&D and GEN-II display-scale pilot production lines for rapid flexible display technology development and manufacturing supply chain commercialization. More information on the Flexible Display Center can be found at www.flexdisplay.asu.edu.

About Universal Display Corporation

Universal Display Corporation is a world leader in developing and commercializing innovative OLED technologies and materials for use in flat panel displays, solid-state lighting products, electronic communications and other opto-electronic devices. Universal Display is working with a network of world-class organizations, including Princeton University, the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan, and PPG Industries, Inc. Universal Display has also established numerous commercial relationships with companies such as Chi Mei EL Corporation, DuPont Displays, Inc., Konica Minolta Technology Center, Inc., LG Display Co., Ltd., Samsung SMD Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corporation, Sony Corporation, Tohoku Pioneer Corporation and Toyota Industries Corporation. Universal Display currently owns or has exclusive, co-exclusive or sole license rights with respect to more than 940 issued and pending patents worldwide.

It's a media center type of application—like Front Row or Boxee or Netflix or Windows Media Center—that gives you full access to Hulu with an Apple Remote or Windows Media remote or just your keyboard and mouse. In other words, freed from the constraints of the browser, it's like real TV. The app is beautiful, fast, easy to navigate and simply amazing—everything you'd expect from Hulu, honestly.

There are thumbnail previews that pop up as you move alongside the scrubber, like Netflix's streaming app. You can queue episodes too—you need a Hulu account for this. There are bunch of different ways to find content: via search, Hulu channels, by studio alphabetically or just through suggestions.

There are ads, but that's part of it simulating TV, no? Also, all of the usual Hulu catches do apply—only a few episodes back catalog of current shows, your favorite shows could vanish at a corporate whim, that kind of thing, which keep it from totally replacing your cable subscription for some people. That said, it+Netflix have definitely helped me live without TV for the last couple of years, though I still miss being able to flop in front of the History Channel for a couple hours on weekends sometimes.

One other small gripe so far is that the onscreen keyboard looks a bit small to punch with a remote, but ideally, you won't need it very often. It's also not a light application, as you can see:

It's available for Mac and PC, though you need a relatively modern machine (2GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and 2Mbps internet connection). There are a few more goodies at Hulu Labs as well, like time-based browsing. Hulu Desktop's definitely gotten us pretty excited, but at the very least, it's worth checking out, and makes us even more hyped for that iPhone app, since it shows Hulu's not going to stop at just one screen. [Hulu Desktop]

Send your best work to me at contests@gizmodo.com with "Classic TV" in the subject line. Name your files FirstnameLastname.jpg with the name you want used as credit, and save your files as JPGs, PNGs or GIFs. Send them in by next Tuesday morning and I'll post the top three winners and best of the rest in our Gallery of Champions.

The loss isn't actually as severe as they expected, and TiVo execs are playing it down. Thing is, the company isn't suffering because of some obscure recession-related credit problem or internal restructuring—they're actually seeing subscriptions decline. Not coincidentally, they expect next quarter to be worse. [CNET]

I'll CC You in the FL
With LCDs, it's all about the backlighting. This defines contrast, brightness and other performance metrics. When you watch plasma TVs, OLED TVs or even old tube TVs, there's light emanating from each pixel like it was a teeny tiny bulb. Not so with LCD—when you watch traditional LCD TV, you're basically staring at one big lightbulb with a gel screen in front of it.

The typical old-school LCD backlighting tech is CCFL—a cold cathode fluorescent lamp—which is an array of the same kind of lights that make people's lives miserable in offices around the world. The reason they aren't the greatest as backlights for TV watching is that they light up the whole damn display. Because LCD is just a massive screen of tiny doors that open and close, light inevitably leaks through the closed doors, when they're trying to show black, resulting in more of a glowy charcoal. Check out this shot from Home Theater mag to see what I mean:

LEDs (light emitting diodes) are different from say, an old school incandescent bulb, which heats up a filament to generate light, in that they're electroluminescent—electricity passes through a semiconductor and the movement of the electrons just lights it up. Instead of having one lightbulb in the bottom of the screen, shining up through all of the LCD pixels, you can have arrays of LEDs that shine through smaller portions of the LCD screen, leaving other portions in the dark, so to speak.

OLED—"organic light emitting diode"—is slightly different. Since the electroluminescent component is organic and not a chip, each point of light can be much tinier. That's why an LED TV still needs the LCD screen in front: there's no way to have a single LED per pixel unless the screen is huge, and mounted to the side of a building in Times Square. OLEDs don't: HD OLED displays are made up of red, green and blue dots, no LCD panel required.

LED Is As LED Does
So, Samsung's term "LED TV" is more accurately—and more commonly—described as an LED-backlit LCD. But not all LED displays are created equal.

There are two major kinds of LED backlighting: Edge-lit and local dimming. Edge-lit displays are what they sound like—the LEDs are arranged in strips running along all four edges of the TV, like you can see in this gut shot from Cnet. A light guide directs the glowyness toward the center of the screen. The advantage of edge-lit displays is that they can get incredibly thin, are 40 percent more power-efficient than regular LCDs and are a bit cheaper than local-dimming TVs. But because they're still shooting light indiscriminately across the LCD panel, they can't pull off the black levels that a local dimming backlight setup can.

LED backlighting of the local dimming variety is how you build the best LCD TV in the world. It's called local dimming, as you probably guessed, because there are a bunch of LED bulbs—hundreds in the Sony XBR8—arranged in a grid behind the screen. They can all be dark or brightly lit, or they can turn off individually or in clusters, making for the actual Dark Knight, rather than the Grayish Knight you'd see on many cheaper CCFL LCDs. Sets with local dimming are pricier than edge-lit—the Samsung's local-dimming 46-incher started at $3,500, versus $2800 for one of their edge-lit models. They are thicker too.

What Color Is Your LED?
The color of the LEDs matters too, separating the best LED-backlit LCDs from the the merely great. Most LED sets just use white bulbs. The reason Sony's XBR8 started out at $5,000—as much as Pioneer's king-of-TVs Kuro—is because it uses tri-color LEDs in an RGB array. In each cluster, there are two green bulbs next to one red and one blue (greens aren't as bright). The result is high contrast plus super clean, incredibly accurate color.

LED displays are getting cheaper, more quickly than originally expected, so we could see them go mainstream sooner. You already see the lower-end edge-lit LED tech used in mainstream stuff—MacBook Pro and Dell's Mini 9 to name a couple. Which is a good thing, since the prophesied ascendancy of OLED in 2009 completely failed to happen. So we'll have to make do with LED in the meantime. Just be sure to find out what kind when you're buying.

This is totally uncorrelated a huge deal, according to the NYT, who managed to report nearly 400 words on this story without making a single joke. They even pestered Fox and AT&T for statements on the issue, getting the cold shoulder from the network and this response from the carrier:

In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community. A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested.

Oh god. This goes all the way to the top, people. [NYT]

Oh, come on—you can't tell me you don't see where this is going. Even though the format has grown 72% in the last quarter, every Blu-ray player we choose to review has an abundance of features that have nothing to do with Blu-ray. In fact, they all have to do with delivering movies in a different way, with more instant gratification.

The joke is, when we were pushing for Blu-ray 2.0 with BD-Live a year ago, we didn't realize that the ethernet port was really not about enhanced Blu-ray at all, but about video on demand. I own a few Blu-rays, like Wall-E, that have BD-Live components. Never even bothered with them. No point. But you'd be a 'tard to buy a Blu-ray player without an ethernet port, and you'd be a 'tard to buy a Blu-ray player without Netflix on demand, and at this point, another service for new-release movies, like Amazon VOD or CinemaNow.

Netflix gives me back seasons of 30 Rock and The Office in high-def. Pop quiz: Will I ever buy them on Blu-ray, or even DVD? No. I can even get stuff I'd have previously hunted down on disc, like The IT Crowd. I can get lots of the movies I previously owned on DVD instantly on demand for no cost other than the $10 monthly subscription. People don't even bitch about DRM with Netflix, because it's instant and always there, so even the copyright owners should be happy. Time Warner's boss even said he's thinking about offering a Netflix-like VOD distribution channel for HBO—nothing like all-you-can-eat Rome, Wire and Band of Brothers to kill DVD sales, and HBO still gets their mad money.

You want to talk video quality? Fine. I own The Dark Knight on Blu-ray. That movie is freakin' awesome, and I am happy to watch it on a Blu-ray player, while I sit exactly 47 inches from a 50-inch 1080p plasma television. But what about Billy Madison? I love that movie too, but I first owned it on a VHS playing in 4:3 at what you might call 240i, and I can verify that the high-def version is no funnier. In fact, instead of fishing out the HD DVD of it I have, and hooking up the HD DVD drive to my Xbox, I'd probably sooner try to find it on Netflix, in whatever video quality they're offering.

Besides, most people—most Giz readers, I'd wager—are watching "high def" movies on LCD TVs they bought at Costco for $899, so you can't tell me that they can see a difference between so-called VOD high-def and real bonafide Blu-ray high-def, even though there definitely is one.

The Criterion Collection belongs on Blu-ray. But six films by Wes Anderson, Terry Gilliam and Akira Kurosawa do not an industry make. Like our discussion of audiophiles, there's a need to preserve (and even appreciate) video at very high quality, but that need doesn't trickle down to the masses, and especially doesn't matter for every single film, or even the vast majority of middle-of-the-road movies and TV. DVDs were a hit because they were the smartest way to deliver most video in the years 1999 to 2007. Now, the smartest way to deliver most video is over broadband, not on high-density shiny discs.

Don't get me wrong. You'll buy a "Blu-ray player." Stats show many of you already are. You may even buy some Blu-ray discs, or pay the extra $2 or $3 for Netflix Blu-ray rental. But the amount of time you'll spend watching Blu-ray on it will continue to dwindle, until, maybe one day, the disc tray just refuses to open from lack of use.

The 100Mbps data deal happens through HDMI Ethernet Channel (HEC) which will let internet-connected TVs share internet with other HEC devices through the HEC-enabled HDMI port. In other words, internet through HDMI ports, if it's got the right brand mojo. There's also easier audio streaming, and Automatic Content Enhancement will automagically optimize the picture based on the type of content, besides already being ready for future 3D video stuff.

Ah yes, stupid, stupid cables. Looks like I need to update the master list, since HDMI 1.4 not only requires special HDMI 1.4 cables, there are two new kinds: Low data rate, and high data rate. Hurray for confusion and new business opportunities for Best Buy. [Engadget]

Tim Alessi, LG's director of product development stated that his company is still committed to the format claiming that "LG will include some of our newest technology in plasma sets, technology such as advanced design, NetCast Entertainment Access for connection to a wide array of Internet-based content and THX-certified displays" in the coming years. According to their estimates, "plasma will account for more than 40 percent of the 50-inch and larger screen size sales." And this volume should continue for another 3 to 4 years.

(Mind you, LG sells a lot more LCDs than plasmas, and plasma not long ago accounted for a majority of 42-inch and larger screens, so for it to be less than half of screens 50 inches or more suggests a lot of decline here, despite the enthusiasm.)

Bob Perry, an EVP at Panasonic US, agrees. In fact, as the largest maker of plasma, Panasonic is still growing. It announced it will open a new plasma factory that it had put on hold last fall when the market for televisions took a steep nosedive.

We clearly see in the industry numbers that LCD growth, particularly in the US market, has leveled off, and it's growth rate is slower than the growth rate of PDP. PDP, used principally in larger displays, continues to show growth as consumers in the US shift to larger displays (50'+), and as PDP, a fairly immature technology from a cost perspective, continues to show improved cost effectiveness.

That sounds more convincing, but it has to be: Panasonic has no significant LCD business (yet), so it better be running its plasma business well, and with increasing efficiency and lowered cost. Does it mean sub-$1000 50 inchers by Christmas?

John Revie, SVP of visual display marketing at Samsung had this to say:

Plasma is an important part of the Flat Panel industry, representing approximately 30% of the 40"+ market and 50% of the 50"+ market. Plasma TVs provide the consumer great picture performance and value. As such we will remain committed to this technology and continue to make [capital expeditures] and R&D investments to improve our production capability and product design.

This sounds optimistic, like the others, but it doesn't change the fact that if you walk into any store to buy a Samsung TV, you can bet the retailer assumes you're talking about LCD.

There is more from each company spokesperson in the HDGuru story, but you can already see that while plasma isn't yet on its deathbed, it's clear that plasma is being relegated to higher and higher screen sizes as LCDs gobble up the rest of the market. [HD Guru]

Seems that while critical darlings Samsung and Sony were hawking 40-inch sets average selling prices of $1,000 and $1090, respectively, Vizio was busy selling 42 inchers for an average of $850, and doing it through Walmart. They even offered a 120Hz premium set for an average selling price of $1000, where Sammy and Sony were at around $1400 for the same on-paper specs, at the smaller 40" size.

People who read both TV reviews and The Economist don't appear to have been in the mood to buy flatpanel TVs as the fate of our global economy was being hashed out, but people who just absolutely needed an LCD bought Vizio mostly. Its North American market share was 21.6%, but to be fair, LCD sales were down nearly a quarter from the holiday season.

As iSuppli's release puts it so bluntly: "Rather than stopping their purchases of LCD-TVs, consumers are focusing on lower-priced sets." [iSuppli]

We've seen this product before, but it seems like it's finally available for import/sale now here.

Thankfully, the Plus Minus Zero features a compact 8-inch LCD screen tucked inside that retro CRT shell. It's a kooky throwback item that would be a stylish addition to a kitchen, workout room, office, etc. It also features a wireless receiver so you can stream content to it from anywhere in the house. On the other hand, the absurd $1223 price tag means that most intelligent folks will opt for a decent-sized flat panel. [Japan Trend Shop via RGS]

First off, it depends on which Enterprise you're talking about. The original Enterprise of the '60s, which I've been watching Season 1 of on Blu-ray (quite a good restoration, btw), had what seemed like a tiny ass screen when compared to the IMAX-like experience of the new movie Enterprise. But it's not actually that small.

Using the combined knowledge of the Star Fleet Technical Manual and some screenshots of the episodes, I was able to determine that the screen is a 136-inch display with a 1.73:1 aspect ratio. That's actually smaller than the retina-searing 150-inch Panasonic plasma that we played with before. Yes, Adam Frucci and various captains of industry that have way too much money have viewed things in their own home on a larger display than a captain of a STARSHIP.

But Picard isn't going to be showed up by 21st century technology. His glorious Enterprise D has a 212-inch screen with a 1.92:1 aspect ratio, which is big enough for Riker to jam chairs through while Picard's off in a fantasy land with Whoopi Goldberg. Nice job, Riker.

Not only is this screen gigantic, it supposedly displays stuff in three-dimensions, shifting views or something so Jean-Luc can put a face to Troi's feelings of "he's hiding something". The Star Trek Wiki explains thusly:

While it is a subtle effect, the viewscreen seen throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation clearly displayed 3-D images. This effect was created in some scenes by providing multiple angles on the viewer, with the image on screen displayed at a corresponding angle, rather than a flat, single angle shot.

But what about the newest technology? What have we learned from years of actual consumer electronics development that the tech-consultants on the movie set could incorporate into the latest iteration of the Enterprise? "Bigger is better."

The display on new-Kirk's ship looks massive, but only because it's so wide. If you're measuring the screen diagonally in display-talk, it's around 326-inches, which is larger in absolute terms than even Picard's screen. It also has a 3.25:1 display ratio, making it wider than most film ratios. But if you're talking pure width, it measures about 26 feet across. Quite impressive.

If they ever do remake TNG, I suspect that the viewscreen will wrap entirely around the side of the bridge all the way to the back where neo-Worf and neo-Geordi will be able to see what's going on behind the Enterprise. It's easier to turn your head to see a display than to tell someone to press a button to change the view.

So yes, this is our dream for when we go into space. Not only will we be able to be in space, we'll have really, really big screens to watch stuff on.

TiVo designs and develops Flash Lite applications. It's all about balancing user experience, technical capability and time-to-market. Easy? No, but we make it look that way for our customers. If you've shipped large and complex Flash applications (preferably on an embedded system), we'd like to talk to you.

Then again, it's somewhat unconfirmed that this posting is related to the UI, so TiVo could also be getting into free and casual browser games. [TiVo Blog - Thanks, Alexander]

Sure, the island nation is slowly falling underwater, but all hope may not be lost yet. Valleywag points us to a USA Today article from 2004, which says there are exceptons—.su domains from the old Soviet Union are still active. But DomainNameWire refutes this, mentioning that factoid came from a VeriSign, a company that handles all domain transactions for Tuvalu, and their reasoning might be skewed. They instead reference an ICANN rule which states that domain names from any defunct country must be phased out.

So who knows what will actually happen when Tuvalu decides to swim with the fishes. But seeing that .tv domains have big time marketing appeal, I'd have trouble believing they'd just nix the domains. Still, I'm no internet domain lawyer—domain squatters, you might want to heed this warning: BEWARE OF SINKING ISLAND. [Wreck and Salvage via Eddie Codel via Boing Boing and DomainNameWire]

Now is clearly Hulu's time: It just became the third most-watched video site in the world a few days ago, and three of the four major broadcast networks stream their biggest shows (except, oddly, the reality programs) on Hulu. All that's missing is CBS.

The deal includes shows from ABC, ABC Family, ABC Daytime, SOAPNet, Disney Channel and "popular library titles from The Walt Disney Studios." [AllThingsD]

Get Organized
First things first—gather all of your monthly bills and take stock of your situation. Ask yourself questions like: "Do I need this?", "Is this the best service provider?" and "How long has it been since I made changes?"

How About that Landline?
If you are really honest with yourself, there are probably several services that you are paying for that don't produce a good return on their investment. One of the top issues on my list is a landline phone. Obviously there are extenuating circumstances, but fax machines and security systems are often among the excuses people use to hang on to these relics.

For most faxing situations, a scanner and some kind of email or e-fax service will work just fine—we recommend emailing PDFs with embedded signature images where possible.

And, of course, you always have the option of going with VOIP. Vonage offers unlimited local and long distance for $25 a month while unlimited US and Canada Skype accounts start at $3 per month (plus it is also available on cellphones for extra savings). Keep in mind that this price is on top of your current internet connection, so it may be advantageous to investigate bundles.

Take Advantage of Bundles
If you insist on keeping a landline, now is a great time to take advantage of bundled services. As a recent article in the New York Times pointed out, companies like AT&T offer several options for bundling services. Another example is Verizon Fios. If you are fortunate enough to have this option where you live, you can get double and triple freedom bundle packages—the latter combining landline, Fios internet and TV for $95 a month (a $38 savings).

While we are talking about bundles, keep an eye out for upsells. For instance, when I moved recently, I decided to try Road Runner Turbo over their standard service. I found that in my situation, the speed upgrade was barely noticeable and therefore not worth an extra $10 a month—so I dropped it. It's as simple as that.

Fight For Your Rights
The NYT article also made clear that the tried-and-true art of bitching can sometimes make a world of difference. If you feel you are paying too much, let your voice be heard. And don't be afraid to threaten a switch to another provider. Often the representatives you are speaking to are empowered to make a deal.

Security Without the Monthly Fee
A lot of people keep landlines just for security systems, and that's not a bad idea. E911 services from traditional telecoms and VOIP networks automatically tell cops and ambulance services where you live, and where you want to continue to live.

But a lot of security systems can be ripoffs. For one thing, the equipment installation can be riddled with extras. And second, what's the monthly monitoring fee for? In reality, the monitoring service is just a middleman. So in addition to paying a huge installation fee—a new ADT system can easily cost over $1000 (depending on the deal)— and you pay at least $25 per month on top of what you pay for the landline (GSM add-ons can cost even more).

One way to eliminate the cost of a monitoring service and possibly save some money on installation without compromising security in the house is a home security kit. One suggestion is SecureLinc. It doesn't require in-home wiring, and it calls up to four numbers when tripped. You still have to keep the landline, but you wouldn't be paying for monitoring and you still have the option of a GSM modem. Instead of dialing out to a landline, the modem uses a SIM from your wireless carrier. There would be a monthly fee associated with that of course, but it will most likely be cheaper than a monitoring service and maintaining a landline—and you don't have to worry about the line being cut during a break-in. If all else fails, dogs and guns (maybe even dogs with guns) is always an option.

Going on a TV Diet
Looking at my own bills, it's pretty obvious that I spend a great deal of money on my DirecTV service. At the moment I'm taking advantage of a 12-month deal at around $50, but after the year is up the price will shoot up to $75 to $80. To be honest, I really only watch a handful of networks and shows consistently.

So would it be traumatic if I gave up that service completely? Probably not. With Bittorrent and the growing availability of my favorite shows streaming legally online, it is conceivable that I could get by without making a huge sacrifice. Engadget contributing editor Ben Drawbaugh has found success in ditching cable for over-the-air TV and Netflix, along with internet-based extras. Four months and counting.

Obviously, this solution isn't going to work for a total TV addict, but it makes sense for most of us to re-examine our situations to see what might be excessive. I mean, there are often great shows on HBO, but sometimes even HBO can be dry for months at a time, and you can find a lot of their shows online or catch them on DVD/Blu-ray. With all the money you save, you can pay an extra couple of bucks for the Blu-ray bump at Netflix.

Speaking of Netflix, how many movies do you really watch? Is three out at a time too many? If you are not churning and burning these discs, you might be able to get away with a cheaper plan. Even the $9 plan gives you unlimited Watch Instantly, which you should try to take advantage of when possible. (If you are on the $5 plan, for two DVDs per month and up to two hours of Watch Instantly, you may want to drop Netflix altogether, because maybe you need that $5 more than Netflix does.)

Dust Off Your Service Plans
Like most of us, you have probably been sitting on a cellphone or TV plan for years now. If you think your provider will alert you when there is a money-saving change you could benefit from, think again. Many years ago I was on a Sprint plan where night minutes started at 9pm. Sometime later, the plan changed to 7pm. Since I make most of my calls in the evening hours, that change had a big effect on my minutes usage. If I had not done a check at the end of the year, I would have never known. Make sure to check the offerings of your provider and the offerings of competitors to make sure you are getting the deal that fits your needs best.

Go Green
Last but certainly not least we arrive at the energy bill. There is no doubt that energy bills can be one of the biggest monthly expenses. Obviously, elaborate solar arrays are out of the reach for many individuals, but there are plenty of simple, affordable eco-upgrades that will pay for themselves sooner rather than later:

• Ditch the incandescent bulbs. You already know that you should change out those energy sucking incandescent lights for CFLs or LEDs. Seriously, a 60W CFL that only uses 13W of power is a no-brainer. Over the life of that single bulb you might save $40 or $50 in energy costs. It is more expensive up front, but you can bounce into any Walmart and get a decent deal. Besides, how many incandescents will you buy over the course of a CFLs seven year life span?

• Buy Energy Star appliances. Again, there is a premium for Energy star devices up front, but these devices use 10% to 50% less energy or water than their traditional counterparts. You will more than make up for that in energy cost savings in a short amount of time.

• Kill the electricity vampires. You may not know it, but many of your gadgets constantly suck standby power even when they are "off." On the lower end, power strips like the Ecostrip and the Visible Energy UFO help to control this problem. If you are looking for a more elaborate solution, a company like Greenswitch can quickly re-wire the outlets in your home—designating each one as green or standard as needed. If you want to turn off all of the gadgets in your home using standby power, it is as easy as flicking a single switch. A solution like this could potentially save 8-10% of your energy costs and pay for itself in a year or two.

• Get an efficient water heater. There are several options here, but spending the extra cash on something like a tankless water heater could result in a savings of up to 50% on your hot water bills (depending on your usage) because it doesn't store and heat water when it's not needed. It costs significantly more than a traditional heater, but there are usually tax credits that help to subsidize the cost. This goes for other green upgrades as well. Green incentives in your state can be found at DSIRE.

•Go low-flow: Replacing your current shower heads with low-flow versions can reduce your water consumption in the shower by as much as 50%. They cost about as much as regular shower heads, and despite consumption rates between .5 and 2.5 gallons per minute, they can still deliver great water pressure. You can also go low-flow with your toilets and use about half as much water per flush for a price that is comparable to a standard version.

• Get or make a rain barrel. Seriously, we waste far too much water irrigating our lawns. Even if you're not a greenie, there's money to be saved. At the very least you can make a simple rain barrel for less than $40 or buy one for $50-$100 (depending on capacity).

In the end, saving money on your bills is about being proactive and taking action when necessary. Ideally, going through your monthly expenses should be part of a yearly self-audit. It also pays to investigate the financial viability of eco-friendly options because many basic upgrades will start paying off right away.

Prof. Dealzmodo is a regular section dedicated to helping budget-minded consumers learn how to shop smarter and get the best deals on their favorite gadgets. If you have any topics you would like to see covered, send your idea to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Professor Dealzmodo" in the subject line. [Image via Utilityweek]

The announcement, if true, would signal the launch of Sony's 2nd generation OLED TVs. The first gen, as you'll remember, were showcased as tiny XEL-1 prototypes and consumer models throughout 2008 (notably at CES 2008, later as a swank kitchen knife set).

Hopefully, the second coming means an end to the OLED no-show we experienced late last year/this year, which manufacturers (rightly or wrongly) blamed on this crappy economy of ours.

Interesting coincidence: It was nearly one year ago that Sony said it would invest about $210 million into larger OLED TV development. Way to take your sweet time, fellas! [Korea Times via OLED-Info - Thanks, Ron]

It's true, you'd fill up the entire Philips Ultra-Widescreen with picture on a 2.40:1 movie, but you're just exchanging having black bars on the top and bottom when you're watching movies with black bars on the side when you're watching TV. You don't actually "miss" any of the action.

But still, that's a pretty awesome video, and that's a slick looking TV. [Philips Cinema and Beam.tv - Thanks Dave!]

Weatherproof TVs are nothing new, of course, but this one pushed the envelope in terms of size with its mammoth 65-inch HD LCD screen. It's also wireless, with a transmitter that allows campers (people) and camper (Winnebago) to be separated by more than 150 feet of wildlife, lush green lawn or, in the case of my house at the ol' alma mater, patches of dead grass, beer cans, and the occasional prone body or two.

Alleged "glare reduction coating" helps when viewing the outdoor TV behemoth in direct sunlight, but the equally large $35,990 price tag doesn't really help anyone but Innovizion. Seriously, if you're going to spend that kind of money anyway, might as well buy a few dozen "normal" HDTVs in a smaller size. As they burn out from moisture, dirt or the rain, simply replace them with a reserve. Stupid, yes, but so is spending $36,000 on a TV. [Innovizion via Born Rich]

Yep, right before Chevy Chase (sorry, "Ted Roark," which we're really, really hoping isn't an obtuse Ayn Rand reference) walks out on stage, you can hear the strains of "Around the Bend" by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, otherwise known as "that song from the iPod touch commercial." Chuck has made their version of Apple, Roark Instruments, a software-only company sort of reminiscent of Google, at least in their casual but high-tech office building, but this announcement is pure Apple. The nerds' rapt attention is great, but the best line is "Must be my rock star magnetism." Oh, Chevy Chase, even in your ornery old age you don't fail to charm. [Official Site, thanks Isaac!]