On-wall bipole speakers are usually mounted at head-height and are therefore dangerous obstacles for movie watchers who get up to go to the bathroom in a darkened home theater. (Talk about being able to feel the surround effects!) Sunfire’s new on-wall bipole speaker features the company’s Cinema Ribbon high frequency drivers and a Tweeter Shaping circuit that allows the installer to tailor the high frequency output without affecting the crossover relationship between the Cinema Ribbons and the cone woofer. In addition to being the only on-wall ribbon bipole speaker available, the new CRM-21BP is one of the slimmest on-wall bipoles – only 3 5/8” deep.

Flat-panel TVs and high-tech A/V gear may look cool, but in actual operation they're often physically far from it. Active Thermal Management has a way to keep displays and other heat-generating components (like amplifiers) mounted in tight spaces cool and comfortable. Reducing excess heat generated by these devices can often mean much longer lifespans and higher reliability.

Internet TV service provider Brightcove and TiVo, have agreed to enable broadband video published through Brightcove to be distributed directly to TiVo subscribers' set-top boxes. The new agreement could help push Internet TV one step closer to being the end-all, be-all of digital entertainment. (Or, it could just be another highly hyped deal that sounds cool but doesn't really amount to much.)

In a market that's rapidly becoming crowded with LCD TV suppliers, manufacturers need to do something to differentiate themselves - preferably something other than simply lowering the price. (Although, all other things being equal, a lower price sure gets our attention.)