Mark Fleischmann

Look out, Dolby and DTS. The 3D Audio Alliance, a consortium put together by SRS Labs, is developing a new "object oriented" surround standard that would rethink surround sound as it's currently constituted.

The 3DAA standard would focus not on channels but on objects within the soundfield, specifying their location and movement. The playback system -- whether stereo, 5.1, or 11.1 -- would then deploy the objects as well as possible within their inherent limitations.

The next time you hear someone complain that today's TVs are energy guzzlers, feel free to say "shut up, you don't know what you're talking about." A study by the Consumer Electronics Association on TVs made since 2003 shows that video displays have only become more and more energy efficient during that time.

It makes sense. While screens are getting bigger, the waning of the direct view and rear projection categories in favor of more energy efficient flat panels means you can get more picture size out of fewer watts. Moreover, today's LCDs and plasmas are more efficient than earlier generations.

Super Bowl Sunday will bring more than a game and some high-profile ads. It's also when Best Buy is expected to announce a new program that will offer consumers a small degree of price protection and encourage them to upgrade old purchases to new ones.

To enroll in the Buy Back program, enroll your product purchase for a fee. Best Buy will then offer to buy it back for a percentage of the original price within six months. The longer you wait, the more the percentage goes down. Good deal? That's up to you. But if the product is something whose value would depreciate quickly, and you're inclined to update often, it may be worth considering.

If you're a Charter subscriber, you are fortunate indeed. But if your provider is Clearwire, you're in ISP hell—at least that's what Netflix says in a blog post.

"We find ourselves in the unique position of having insight" into ISP performance thanks to the many streams Netflix delivers over the internet, says Ken Florance, the company's director of content delivery. "The throughput we are able to achieve with these streams can tell us a great deal about the actual capacity our subscribers are able to sustain to their homes."