Ken C. Pohlmann

It's not easy being green. For starters, you have to add water. Panasonic put a new twist on the traditional Press Kit URL piece of paper. Yes, the URL is still there, but a closer look at the slightly thick and textured paper reveals that it is, in fact, also a flower garden.

JVC introduced the company's first Blu-ray-equipped home theater in a box system. The TH-SB100 is a 2.0 system, with a Profile 2.0 player, powered soundbar and wireless subwoofer. The player provides BD-Live capability, and an Ethernet port.

The term "Home Theater in a Box" formerly had about as much cache as "wine in a box." HTiB was, in fact, a very pejorative acronym used only with extreme prejudice. But, that is changing. Increasingly, HTiBs are going upscale, with Blu-ray drives installed in their head units.

Things are tough, especially in consumer electronics. Circuit City is really taking it on the chin.

If you can possibly remember back that far, back in September 2004, it looked like TiVo and Netflix would strike a deal to stream movies to set-top boxes. It was a terrifically brilliant idea. But nothing ever came of it.