According to an insider news tip, Circuit City will be closing 155 stores this Monday and will be withdrawing from the consumer electronics business for good. Employees in most divisions within the company will find themselves unemployed within the next 48 hours. The source indicates, however, that warrantys purchased at the store will still be honored. This unfortunate news comes at the heels of a host of financial setbacks that has fallen on the company this past year.

Sharp has introduced the new slim-profile AQUOS BD player (model BD-HP20U), its first in the US market. Combining full digital 1080p video output with an AQUOS HDTV Liquid Crystal Television, the BD-HP20U allows consumers to view the latest high-definition films as well as enhanced definition titles in stunning high-definition quality.

“Consumers have become comfortable watching high-definition programming, and now they want to transform their entire home theater experience into high-definition,” said Bob Scaglione, senior vice president and group manager, Product and Marketing Group, Sharp Electronics Corporation. “Our new Blu-ray disc player produces a breathtaking and vivid picture with enhanced audio quality that closely mimics a true cinematic experience.”

The $549.99 unit will have a "piano black finish with one of the slimmest designs in the industry."

The specs are impressive: 100,000 times faster write speed than flash memory, lifespan of 100,000,000 writes vs. 100,000 for flash, and it has a really cool name. Phase change memory, baby! STMicroelectronics will be making small lots this year, but the future probably belongs to, what, PCM (?), even though it uses more power. Personally, I can’t wait–I want my data written before I even think about it.

It may all "be in your head" according to some "experts" but the symptoms described by people who claimed these cell towers were causing illness, were still experiencing real symptoms and effects.

A recent study done by Britain’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) said that they could find no scientific evidence that feelings of anxiety, nausea, and fatigue were at all caused by electronics, or GSM and 3G cell phone equipment.

"Belief is a very powerful thing," said Professor Elaine Fox, of the University of Essex, who led the three-year study.
"If you really believe something is going to do you some harm, it will."

Campaign group Mast Sanity said "history has shown that many now commonly accepted physical conditions were initially dismissed as psychological".

"Isn’t it time that the government woke up to the reality of electrosensitivity instead of attempting to persuade sufferers that it is all in their minds?" said spokeswoman Yasmin Skelt.

So, nothing has really been solved.

Sharp Electronics has announced that they will release their first Blu-ray player, the BD-HP20S, this fall. No price info but here are some specs: output 1080p at 24fps (and 60fps) and supports Dolby TrueHD; comes equipped with HDMI v1.3 as well as 5.1 analog outs.