consumer devices

The release of Barnes & Noble's new electronic book reader, nook, has been delayed. The online and brick-and-mortar retailer said high pre-orders for its device set back the release by one week.

The nook didn't hit store shelves Monday as expected and will instead be available on Dec. 7. And stores that do get the nook will only have a limited number, the company told Reuters.

The number of HDTV sets with an Internet-based movie service increased Thursday with Mitsubishi's announcement that two of its new TVs will feature the VUDU service. The announcement follows a series of similar moves from other TV manufacturers and online video services.

The models are the Unisen Diamond LT-46249 and LT-52249, both 1080p flat-panel HDTVs with a 16-speaker sound system and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound. Both come with an Ethernet port for high-speed Internet.

Two Months Included

The gap between watching movies on your TV and watching them on your computer continues to narrow with news that the Vudu online video service is releasing a second-generation platform "optimized for Internet-capable smart TVs."

Vudu CEO Alain Rossmann said his company will "embed the new Vudu service directly into the TV, eliminating the expense and hassle of purchasing, installing or connecting another device to the TV."

LG TVs Will Be First

There's one more way to watch online video through a home TV with the announcement Thursday that Netflix will stream movies directly to Sony's Bravia Internet-capable HDTVs.

Beginning this fall, some subscribers to the popular movie-rental service will be able to watch any of 12,000-plus movies and TV episodes on these Net-connected sets, as well as on earlier Bravia models that are compatible with Sony's add-on, the Internet Video Link module.

Adobe's Flash technology, omnipresent in virtually every computer and rapidly moving throughout mobile devices, is now rolling into digital home devices, including televisions and set-top boxes.

Android, Google's open-source operating system for mobile devices, is beginning to spread to other devices. According to a report in Sunday's New York Times, T-Mobile is planning to take the lead in that migration, rolling out Android on a variety of new consumer devices.

Microsoft may not be giving its mobile users what they want -- at least not according to CEO Steve Ballmer -- but it plans to in the near future.

Ballmer talked up Microsoft's upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 release Wednesday at the U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit held at the company's headquarters in Washington. Ballmer told the audience that although everything users want is not included in the 6.5 release, it will be in Windows Mobile 7.

From what Verizon has said this week about its plans to build out a new wireless network based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, its 4G technology appears to be on a collision course with the WiMAX technology pushed by Clearwire and Sprint.

Skype is offering its Voice over Internet Protocol service to Android and Java-enabled mobile phones, and to Intel-based Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). This is the first time the software has been released for mobile users in the U.S.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Skype announced Thursday the release of a light beta version of Skype for Android and Java-based phones. Java-enabled phones include those from LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Call Anywhere

Today's LCD monitors and plasma displays are a substantial evolution from the monochrome CRT relics of PC antiquity. High brightness, support for more than 1 billion colors and sharp resolution are just a few of the latest improvements.

Color-Critical LCD