The new “streamlined rating process” that the Entertainment Software Rating Board introduced Monday is being tested now for downloadable console and handheld videogames only, ESRB President Patricia Vance said in a phone briefing with reporters. There are “no current plans” to use the new partially automated system for games sold at retail, which will continue to use the lengthier existing ESRB ratings process that’s been in place for many years, she said. The ratings in the new process themselves are identical to the existing ratings.

Research in Motion’s PlayBook tablet is the first of many products that will deploy the QNX operating system that will spread across all Blackberry devices by early 2012, Product Strategy Manager Jonathan Wong said.

White spaces rules waivers are likely to be given by the FCC to many or all of the several dozen TV stations that sought protection from interference for outlets far away from the antenna of the broadcaster that originates the content, industry officials predicted. Those who have filed the requests, which were due April 5 but continued being posted last week to docket 04-186, and engineering officials said they're hoping the waivers won’t be controversial. Under last year’s white spaces order, those with sites receiving the TV signals of other stations, and located more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the protected service area of the originating station, can seek such waivers.

The Xbox 360 remained the best-selling home videogame console in the U.S. in March, outselling the PS3 and Wii, according to NPD data. Meanwhile, “just shy of 400,000” 3DS handheld systems were sold in the system’s first week in the market, Nintendo of America (NOA) said, citing NPD’s data. NPD stopped providing hardware sales data to reporters, but Microsoft and NOA announced sales for their systems, citing NPD’s data, and we were able to figure out March PS3 hardware sales based on data from an industry source who receives NPD’s monthly sales information.

The International Game Developers Association “has significant concerns about” the distribution terms that Amazon is using for its recently launched Android Appstore (CED March 23 p7) and “the negative impact they may have on the game development community,” IGDA said in an open advisory letter. The letter was made available to IGDA members and others who regularly receive its notices by email. IGDA urged developers “to educate themselves on the pros and cons of submitting content to Amazon."

LAS VEGAS -- It was easy to find NAB show attendees skeptical about mobile DTV’s prospects, asking around at the Las Vegas convention that concluded on Thursday. Some said they're frustrated about what they perceive as the lack of progress toward starting a viable business. Executives working on just that said they remain optimistic and that doubters need to be patient. “In less than a year, there have been some truly concrete steps to move the ball forward,” said Fox Senior Vice President Erik Moreno. Along with NBCUniversal’s Salil Dalvi, he runs the Mobile Content Venture (MCV), a joint venture between Fox, NBC and several top station groups. “It’s going to be incremental progress for some time, but it’s real progress,” Moreno said.

Best Buy will add its Connected World format to another 40 locations this year as it slowly rolls out a concept giving more play to Internet-connected products, executives said Thursday during an Analyst Day conference at the chain’s Richfield, Minn., headquarters.

Silicon Image will “aggressively drive” down the cost of implementing WirelessHD, building on its proposed $25.5 million purchase of Sibeam, CEO Camillo Martino said Thursday on a conference call held to describe details of the acquisition. Silicon Image will pay $14 million cash and $11.5 million in stock in a deal that is expected to close in Q2, the company said.

A day following Sharp’s coming-out party for its $3,799 70-inch LC-70LE732U, the 120Hz LED-based LCD TV was already discounted by 22 percent at Sears and hhgregg, Consumer Electronics Daily found in an online search. In our survey, retailers who had the product were not shipping the TV from online sites but were directing consumers to retail stores instead. The Sears.com website didn’t list a price for the TV, but asked shoppers to use its Click to Call service for ordering information. We were directed to the Kings Plaza store in Brooklyn based on ZIP code and were told by phone that the store had two 70-inch models in stock at a retail price of $2,969.

Sidney Harman, 92, audio industry pioneer, Harman Kardon founder and former CEO of the Harman International empire, died Tuesday in Washington of complications from acute myeloid leukemia, according to a statement issued by his family. Harman, who was active in Newsweek operations until his death and was founder and chairman of the Academy for Polymathic Study at the University of Southern California, learned of his illness a month ago, the family said.