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For years, I've heard about a magical convention - a convention where people like me can go to see the latest, coolest, most cutting-edge electronics that are slated to be "coming soon." We all know it, of course, as the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, and lucky for me the Sound & Vision fairy tapped me with his wand and sent me to the big event in Las Vegas this past Janua

If CES 2009 was any indication, it looked like Philips was getting out of the consumer-electronics business, seeing as how the company had no booth or press conference this year. We know for sure it won't be selling TVs in North America, having reached a deal whereby Japanese electronics manufacturer Funai will market Philips and Magnavox TVs in the US and Canada while Philips concentrates on Europe and key emerging countries.

As we saw at CES in January, Panasonic is bullish on plasma, a point that was driven home at the company's product showcase held last week in New York and this week at the Panasonic Hollywood Labs (PHL) in Los Angeles. The 2009 Viera TV lineup includes no less than 17 new plasmas with screens measuring 42 to 65 inches diagonally and seven new LCDs with screens in the 26- to 37-inch range.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/brokeback.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>In 1963, two ranch hands, Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal), spend most of their time in the Wyoming wilderness watching a flock of sheep. One thing leads to another, and they develop an "emotional bond" between them. The story follows their lives and how their hidden love tears apart the people around them.