Staples is dipping into the CE retail management ranks as it seeks to turn around a struggling business in China.

Congress shouldn’t require mobile devices to include FM-radio chips, six manufacturers and wireless service providers said in a letter Monday to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders of both parties. CTIA, CEA, TechAmerica, the Telecommunications Industry Association, Rural Cellular Association and Information Technology Industry Council questioned the NAB’s and MusicFirst’s right to make the proposal in the groups’ performance royalty talks. The CEA and CTIA had objected to any legislation sought by radio broadcasters and music labels requiring chips in cellphones (CED Aug 16 p5).

Dell’s e-waste disposition policy “exceeds the requirements” of the Basel Convention, the company said Monday in its fiscal 2010 corporate responsibility report. The company expanded the definition of electronic waste to cover all computer nonworking parts or devices, “irrespective of material composition,” and required that they be tested and certified as “working” before being exported, it said. The last change was aimed at preventing the “unauthorized dumping of electronic waste in developing counties,” Dell said. During the year, the company became the first major computer maker to “officially” ban exports of nonworking electronics to developing countries, it said.

The burgeoning market in online video is “highly unlikely” to become a full-fledged pay-TV competitor anytime in the “foreseeable future,” Comcast, NBC Universal and NBCU parent General Electric told the FCC. Consumers and programmers alike see Web video as a complement to and not substitute for service from multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD), they said in the last round of comments on commission review of Comcast’s planned purchase of control in NBC Universal.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- The Basel Action Network’s e-Stewards certification program for e-waste recyclers is imposing huge fees on participating recycling companies and is penalizing larger companies unfairly, Dan Fuller, president of EPC USA, one such e-Steward, told us in an interview at his shop Thursday. BAN officials responded by saying if Fuller doesn’t like the voluntary e-Stewards program, he’s free to drop out. They also said the fees BAN charges are fair and for the average e-Steward will more than pay for themselves in new business generated from the certification program.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Hewlett-Packard has been a big role player “behind the scenes” in such massive 3D projects as Avatar, but wants to do more to promote better live 3D sports telecasts and other 3D content, Phil McKinney, chief technology officer in HP’s Personal Systems Group, told the DisplaySearch Emerging Technologies Conference Thursday. The company has devised an ultra-widescreen 3D format in full HD that it’s willing to license to CE and media companies, McKinney said.

Executives at Dell and Hewlett-Packard gave updates on their companies’ tablet PC plans, in earnings calls late Thursday, while reporting mostly improved results for their most recent quarters. Despite the improved results, shares in HP fell 91 cents, 2.23 percent Friday possibly in part due to it reporting weakness in the consumer sector. Dell closed up 3 cents in an otherwise down market.

Comparable store sales of video at Trans World Entertainment grew 3 percent in Q2 ended July 31, “driven by the performance of Blu-ray” at its f.y.e. (For Your Entertainment) and other chains, CEO Robert Higgins said. “We are starting to see broad acceptance of the format,” he said on an earnings call.

GameStop is getting strong initial results from its PowerUp customer-loyalty program and in-store downloadable content (DLC) sales pilot program, executives said Thursday on an earnings call. Based on that success, the retailer said, the programs will be rolled out across all its U.S. stores in Q3, which runs through October.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Natural Resources Defense Council’s point man on the California Energy Commission’s TV energy rules was noncommittal Wednesday when asked whether his group would intervene as a co-defendant on CEC’s behalf if CEA sues to block Tier One of the rules from taking effect in January, much like it joined the suit to defend New York City’s e-waste program when CEA sued to block it from taking effect. “CEA doesn’t like regulation of any kind and they have threatened a lawsuit,” NRDC Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz said at the DisplaySearch TV Ecosystems Conference. “There’s rumors they're trying to prevent other states from setting similar regulations. If there’s a lawsuit, we will evaluate it at that point."