LATEST ADDITIONS

<B>Electronics</B>
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<I>by Steven Stone</I>

Consumer electronics giant Sony today announced a major restructuring that will cut 10,000 jobs from its global work force, close nearly a dozen manufacturing plants and will downsize or terminate as many as 15 unprofitable business categories.

Federal lawmakers believe the response to hurricane Katrina was hampered by communication problems among public safety personnel and are pushing for legislation to speed up the transition to Digital TV, which will free up precious analog spectrum for emergency responders.

If you haven't shopped at Costco in a while, you might not know that the giant membership-warehouse chain now accounts for a sizeable chunk of U.S. retail HDTV sales. Most stores prominently display an assortment of HD-capable TVs, ranging from 32-inch direct-view TVs to 70-inch rear-projectors. But pride of place belongs to the sexy (and highly profitable) flat-panel LCD and PDP (plasma) displays, which are mounted up high and carefully positioned to be visible to shoppers from most of the sales floor. (The new industry buzzword for plasma displays, which you'll find in the remainder of this report, is PDP, for plasma display panel.&mdash;Ed.)