Barry Willis

A business model pioneered by <A HREF="http://www.netflix.com">Netflix</A> during the dot-com era appears to be one that consumers love. An increasing number of retailers are adopting it, including movie-rental giant <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com">Blockbuster</A>, with its "<A HREF="http://www.filmcaddy.com/home-v1.asp">Filmcaddy</A>" service, and retail chain <A HREF="http://www.walmart.com">Wal-Mart</A>, which launched its nascent DVD rental program in late October.

Set-top box (STB) maker Scientific-Atlanta reached its lowest stock price in almost four years on Friday, October 18, after posting quarterly results well below expectations. The company's stock closed at $11.45, a drop of 14%, making it one of the biggest losers on the New York Stock Exchange that day.

In a move that bodes well for the rollout of digital television, if not specifically for manufacturers' bottom lines, discount chain Wal-Mart has announced that it is jumping into the DTV market.

<A HREF="http://www.sim2USA.com">SIM2 USA</A>, a division of SIM2 Multimedia S.p.A., has become the first manufacturer to launch a projector and monitors using Texas Instruments' new HD2 Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) chipset. The company's new projector is the HT300 Plus, the latest addition to the renowned line of Grand Cinema DLP projectors. Also new are two models in its Grand Cinema RTX line.