LATEST ADDITIONS

In the past two years, more than 8 million households returned recently acquired electronic products. Most of the returned goods were thought to be defective, but a new study released September 11 indicates that three out of every four "defects" are actually "operator error"—the owners didn't understand how the products were supposed to work. More surprising is a finding that most consumers are really pretty happy with the industry's return and repair policies.

Thanks to an agreement announced September 8 by <A HREF="http://www.philips.com/">Philips Electronics NV</A> and software giant <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/">Microsoft Corporation</A>, "Enhanced TV" is coming your way. "Philips will license Microsoft TV software and collaborate with Microsoft on the development of a range of set-top boxes based on the Microsoft TV software and Philips Nexperia&ndash;based hardware platform," said the joint press release.

B<I>rad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter. Directed by David Fincher. Aspect ratio: 2.40:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0 (English, French), THX-certified. 139 minutes (film). 1999. Fox Home Entertainment 200035. R. $34.98.</I>

The antitrust battle being waged by <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com/">EchoStar Communications Corporation</A> has escalated. The operator of direct satellite broadcast service Dish Network announced September 6 that it has hired attorney David Boies to lead the litigation against its bigger rival <A HREF="http://www.directv.com/">DirecTV</A>. Boies successfully prosecuted the US government's antitrust suit against software giant Microsoft.