Cable operators are working on plans to provide more IPTV services to new devices such as laptops and iPads when they're used in a subscriber’s home, executives told investors Thursday during earnings calls. Time Warner Cable and Cablevision are both at work on new products along those lines. Eventually, that could drive down the need for traditional set-top boxes in the home, TWC CEO Glenn Britt said. “Over the next few years we will gradually have fewer set tops,” as new devices with Wi-Fi and home networking standards such as Multimedia over Coax are introduced, he said.

TVs were among the weakest-selling products in July for BJ’s Wholesale Club and Costco, the companies said Thursday. Target, meanwhile, cited “soft sales in electronics, videogames, music and movies.” But all three companies still saw increases in overall sales for the month versus July 2009, they said.

Smartphones with bundled navigation are taking a bite out of the personal navigation device (PND) market, Garmin executives said Wednesday on the company’s Q2 earnings webcast, and the company’s stab at the smartphone market has fallen short of expectations.

TVs used in hotels, restaurants and other “hospitality” settings can continue to use for Energy Star 4.1 qualification a temporary CEA-developed test procedure to measure energy used in the download acquisition mode, the EPA said. The temporary test procedure was set to expire July 31. DAM refers to the power used when the TV is downloading things like channel listing information for the electronic program guide when the device is “not producing a sound or picture.”

Glitches in 3D implementation at the home theater level have prompted test equipment company SpectraCal to upgrade its HDMI test device with 3D features to help integrators identify issues more easily in the field, the company told Consumer Electronics Daily.

Time Warner’s deal with Netflix to put off the distributor’s access to DVDs until 28 days after they're released for sale has helped the cable programmer’s home entertainment business, CEO Jeff Bewkes said. Time Warner is seeing DVD sales for hit movies stronger and more sustained that first month than they were before the deal, he said. It also could increase VoD revenue through Time Warner’s pay-TV partners, Bewkes said. “You still have a fair amount of upside room for activity and effort” in marketing VoD to consumers and putting more content on that platform, he said. “We think this is working already, and it’s going to work better as we go along."

Barnes & Noble put itself up for sale. B&N may have a hard time finding a buyer willing to take charge of bricks-and-mortar stores struggling against surging e-book sales, analysts said. With 720 retail locations and 637 college bookstores, the company had less than $61 million cash and $510 million in debt June 30, leaving the chain with the daunting task of trying to find a buyer willing to assume risk, analysts said.

Q2 is “shaping up well” for Electronic Arts, with NCAA Football 11 “off to a good start,” Chief Operating Officer John Schappert said Tuesday on an earnings call. He didn’t say how many copies had been sold, saying only that EA’s “retail checks” indicated that this year’s entry in that game series was “doing well” compared with last year’s version. Madden NFL 11, meanwhile, “has solid pre-orders” that “are pretty much on par with last year and our marketing is just kicking in,” he said.

The California Energy Commission scrambled late Monday to post on its website the “final statement of reasons” for the TV energy efficiency regulations it adopted in November, after recently sending the regulations to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for approval. CE executives said the commission could be in violation of the state Administrative Procedure Act by not making public the final statement of reasons as it sent the regulations for OAL approval.

The new BlackBerry Torch from Research in Motion (RIM) likely will strengthen the company’s hand in smartphones and broaden AT&T’s assortment as it appears to near the end of its exclusive deal for Apple’s iPhone, analysts said. While the length of AT&T’s iPhone exclusive among wireless carriers has long been the subject of speculation, reports have emerged that Verizon could start selling the device in early 2011. And while AT&T hasn’t disclosed terms of the agreement it originally signed with Apple in 2007, the carrier is throwing its weight behind Torch.