Ken C. Pohlmann

First, congratulations on your brilliant presidential campaign, convincing election results, and historic inauguration. I am impressed by your fresh thinking and your eloquent call for change. I was therefore surprised when your administration recommended that the switchover to digital TV be delayed beyond the February 17 deadline.

"DO I FEEL LUCKY?" (Well, do ya, punk?) That's the question that millions of people are asking themselves as they think about buying a new video player. In particular, should they go for Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD? If you choose one and buy a few hundred movies for it, but the format goes bust, you'll be lucky to recoup pennies on the dollar on eBay. That's quite a gamble.

I trudged through booth after booth, aisle after aisle, mile after mile, becoming increasingly depressed. The Consumer Electronics Show - held mainly in vast, warehouse-size buildings - was like an inventory manager's nightmare. Some idiot had leaned on the "TV" button and unwittingly ordered up a zillion screens.

"Hey, stop hanging around! You're blocking the doorway!"

That's what shop owners were shouting at teenagers who were loitering outside stores and in malls. The kids were supposedly deterring adult customers - that is, the ones with more spending power.