LG Electronics said it plans to demonstrate at CES this week 3D broadcasts and reception to a prototype mobile DTV receiver with a seven-inch LCD screen that requires no 3D eyewear. The demonstrations, coordinated by LG engineers in South Korea, will include beaming 3D TV signals from at least one Las Vegas commercial station to the CES exhibit floor, said company spokesman John Taylor.

The HES and PRO buying groups have taken their alliance to the next level, formally merging the two organizations to form ProSource, the AV specialty division of BrandSource. The two organizations, which established an alliance in September 2008, said last week they'll merge to boost the power and relevance of the independent retail channel but will remain separate entities. The merger gives the combined group $3.6 billion of buying clout through PRO’s 16 dealer members and 550 HES members, the group said. Total storefronts number 950. The groups plan to maintain independent dealer meetings for PRO and HES and will add combined meetings for the larger organization, according to Jim Ristow, executive vice president of HES.

In an open New Year’s letter to members of the CE industry Wednesday, Richard Glikes, executive director of Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA), appealed to vendors to launch new technologies through the struggling specialty AV retail channel in 2011 following disappointing introductions of Google TV and 3D TV through the nation’s largest electronics retailer, Best Buy.

Colorado vNet, whose assets were purchased by Russound when it ceased operations in October 2009, will shut down operations for a second time, company executives said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. After “much discussion and evaluation,” CEO Charlie Porritt said, “we've decided to discontinue shipping the Colorado VNet product line and wind down sales operations.” Porritt said the company will reassess the product line “as it relates to the evolving custom install market and focus on R&D for the future."

Connected TVs are expected to account for 21 percent of all TVs shipped globally in 2010, DisplaySearch said Wednesday. The research firm predicted connected TV shipments will soar to more than 122 million units globally in 2014. Connected TVs accounted for 9.5 percent of all flat-panel TVs shipped globally in 2009, it said.

A veteran Silicon Valley venture capitalist says the Internet is turning nuisances into serious, persistent problems, and problems into crises, from spam to economic disasters. In a book to be published Tuesday, Bill Davidow says the availability and use of enormous amounts of information all the time, and almost instantly and worldwide, creates a snowball effect that can quickly outrun the ability of markets and governments to respond adequately.

Two surveys released within a half hour of each other Tuesday morning painted sharply different pictures about consumer confidence in the U.S. economy during the month of December. By far, the more upbeat was CEA’s Index of Consumer Technology Expectations, which CEA says measures consumer sentiment regarding technology purchases. It jumped eight points since November to the highest level since CEA started tracking such data three years ago, CEA said. “Consumer confidence in the overall economy also showed improvement this month,” CEA said, reaching its highest level since June 2009.

3D is “not the panacea studios had hoped,” said BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield, who downgraded the 6,705-screen Regal Cinema shares to “sell” in a report on the BTIG website Monday. Regal shares closed 1.2 percent lower at $11.81 in Tuesday trading. In the 10 days ending Sunday, total movie industry box office was down more than $152 million, or 30 percent, year over year, “a staggering number,” Greenfield said, “for an industry that expected 3D technology to motivate people to get out of their houses and go to the movies.” Total attendance for Q4 is likely to end up down 12 percent, he said.

Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) announced its eighth annual vendor awards, rewarding vendors for margin support, versatile product lines and reliability. The honors will be distributed at CES next week. Panasonic took overall vendor of the year honors for “outstanding product margins” and going “above and beyond to create a program that all could embrace.” The buying group, comprising specialty and custom dealers, tapped Lutron as custom vendor of the year citing its ability to “consistently manufacture and integrate high-quality lighting systems” and for “great training, bulletproof product and serious in-field representation.” Panasonic’s TC-P65VT25 plasma 3DTV was named product of the year, and Jim Sanduski, senior vice president of sales for Panasonic, was named man of the year for combining “industry intelligence with a soothing demeanor."

Further patent details are emerging about LG’s development work on active 3D TV displays that can be viewed with the type of inexpensive passive polarization glasses that RealD hands out in theaters (CED Dec 17 p1). Used instead of expensive active-shutter glasses, the displays deliver full 1080p HD to both eyes instead of the half-resolution HD available from existing LG polarizing sets which cover the display with passive filter strips.