Vizio this week announced several new partners that will bring Internet apps to the company's Web-enabled HDTVs.

New apps include: eBay, Facebook, Radiotime, Revision 3, Rallypoint Services, Showtime, Twitter, and Vudu.

The widgets essentially let you access these services from your TV. Update your Twitter feed or Facebook status or monitor your eBay bids without leaving your couch.

"Consumers are placing high value on connected televisions that open up new content applications," Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates, said in a statement. "Our recent research has identified a likely target of 2.5 million North American broadband households that are ready to purchase an Internet-connected TV."

Vizio offers three, 55-inch Internet-enabled TVs from its XVT line that range in price from $1999.99 to $2199.99.

Other available apps include Accedo Broadband, Amazon, Blockbuster, Flickr, Netflix, Rhapsody and Pandora.

Slowly but surely, Americans with over-the-air TVs are realizing that their analog service will not return. Nearly two weeks after the DTV transition, about 1.8 percent of U.S. households are without digital service, according to data from Nielsen.

That equals about 2.1 million households, down from 2.5 million last week. Since the June 12 switch from analog to digital signals, about 400,000 households have successfully secured digital service, Nielsen said.

The Albuquerque-Santa Fe region remains the least prepared, with about 6.22 percent of all homes without TV service, followed by Austin, Texas with 4.72 percent, and Dallas-Forth Worth with 4.4 percent.

Los Angeles still has the largest number of unprepared households, at 190,549, or 3.37 percent of its population. Last week, that number was at 225,040.

Broken down by race, about 4 percent of African Americans are still without service, as are 2.9 percent of Asians, 2.8 percent of Hispanics, and 1.3 percent of whites.

About 4 percent of people under the age of 35 are unprepared, but less than 1 percent of people over 55 are without digital service.

Verizon on Monday unveiled faster pricing tiers for its FiOS Internet service and announced a promotion that will provide new residential customers with the choice of a free netbook or Flip camcorder.

The company will bump its entry-level, fiber-optic FiOS service from 10 Mbits/s download and 2 Mbits/s upload speeds to 15-Mbits/5 Mbits. Mid-tier speeds will also jump from 20-Mbits/5-Mbits to 25-Mbits/15-Mbits, Verizon said.

For unbundled FiOS Internet service, an annual plan for the 15-Mbits/5 Mbits service will cost $44.99 per month, and a month-to-month plan will cost $54.99. For 25-Mbits/15-Mbits, an annual plan will be $64.99 per month and a month-to-month option will cost $72.99 per month.

In Long Island and the New York City suburbs, entry-level service will be available for 25-Mbits/15-Mbits and mid-tier will have speeds up to 35-Mbits/20-Mbits. To receive 35-Mbits/20-Mbits, however, cutomers must subscribe to a $109.99 per month bundle that also includes FiOS TV Extreme HD plus Showtime, and Freedom Essentials voice service.

To pull customers away from cable to FiOS, Verizon will be offering a free Compaq Mini netbook or Flip Ultra camcorder to customers who subscribe to certain pricing tiers and bundles.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Sony Pictures and Sony Electronics jointly announced MovieIQ and CineChat, two features that, the companies say, will inspire consumers to buy up new BD-Live enabled players.

Blu-ray devices are now in 11 million U.S. homes, according to Mike Abary, senior vice president of information technology products and personal audio. The format's sales grow 400 percent during the first quarter, compared to the previous year. Sony also plans to ship a mammoth 400-disc Blu-ray changer later this year, as well as a Wi-Fi-enabled Blu-ray player next month.

That Wi-Fi connectivity is a key point, as BD-Live requires some form of an Internet connection. Think of MovieIQ as a Web-enabled extra, perhaps a form of the IMDB plus a little more, powered by Gracenote. According to Sony, the feature connects to an updated databases that can provide cast lists, but even set details specific to the scene.

Almost a week after the DTV transition, about 2.5 million U.S. households, or 2.2 percent of the TV public, are without TV service, according to data from Nielsen.

These numbers are an improvement of 300,000 households since Nielsen last collected DTV numbers on June 7. At that point about 2.5 percent of the U.S. was totally unready for the switch from analog to digital signals.

The Albuquerque-Santa Fe TV markets have the largest percentage of unprepared households at 6.85 percent. In terms of actual unprepared households, Los Angeles tops the list with 225,040 homes without service, which is 3.98 percent of its residents.

Nielsen broke out its data by race and found that African Americans are most likely to be unready, at 4.6 percent. About 3.6 percent of Hispanics did not prepare, followed by 3.2 percent of Asians, and 1.6 percent of whites.

Though many people joked on June 12 that their grandparents would not be able to watch TV now, only about 1.1 percent of people over 55 are unprepared. In fact, about 4.4 percent of people under 35 are still not ready. Those numbers are an improvement of about 2 percentage points since June 7 for both groups.

The economy - and the tech industry - is still on track for a recovery in the second half of this year, and while the holiday season will not fully recover in 2009, it will be less dismal than 2008, according to analysts from the Consumer Electronics Association.

The recession could end in the late July, early August timeframe, Shawn Dubravac, an economist and director of research at CEA, said at a conference hosted by the association.

Consumers have cut out excess spending, but the good news is that analysts are seeing the same trends during this recession as they saw during previous recessions, Dubravac said. In those cases, consumer spending usually bottomed out before the economy did, so that this point, it can only get better from here.

Dubravac and his colleague Steve Koenig, director of industry analysis for CEA, have been speaking with tech executives who are part of CEA's advisory panel. On average, "optimists are leading the pack," Koenig said.

Panel members predicted a 0.5 percent growth for 2009, but a 2.9 percent growth in 2010, Koenig said. "That's slightly above the current estimate for GDP, so tech will outpace GDP."

Back in January, the industry was extremely pessimistic, but that has picked up in recent months, Dubravac said. "That's a good sign before the holidays."

Holiday 2009 will be "low by historical standards, but better than 2008," he said.

What will be driving the growth?

Get the rest of this story on pcmag.com.

Vizio this week unveiled its 2009 HDTV lineup, consisting of its first HDTV with 240-Hz technology and an LED backlight.

Although sometimes considered a second-tier brand compared to multinational giants like Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba, Vizio has twice been recognized as the most popular brand of HDTVs within the United States, primarily because the company concentrates on offering inexpensive TVs that contain the same features that its more expensive competitors have, as well as a sales channel that includes Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer.

Click on the images for a larger version.

The XVT lineup is Vizio's premier brand, with the flagship VF551XVT the only one of Vizio's HDTVs to include both an LED backlight as well as 240-Hz technology, which promises to smooth the displayed image even more than 120-Hz technology. Because of the large number of models, we're going to use the blog format to our advantage and present Vizio's lineup as a series of graphics, ranging from the $749, 32-inch SV320XVT on up to the VF551XVT.

Vizio also announced that it has filed a patent-infringement suit against LG Electronics, and that a similar case against Funai is moving ahead.

Light devices are always nice--especially when you have to carry them around for long periods of time. So budding moviemakers are sure to appreciate Panasonic's announcement today that it's releasing two of the world's lightest high-definition camcorders: the HDC-SD10 and the HDC-TM100. Each weighs only half a pound, but has a powerful 16x optical zoom and the ability to record in full, 1,920-by-1,080 (1080p) HD.

The HDC SD10 records on an SDHC/SD memory card and the HDC-TM10 records onto both 8GB of integrated memory and an SDHC/SD card. Both cameras include the new Advanced Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) function, which detects and corrects for hand-shake about 4,000 times per second, helping ensure clear, stable shots even you're zoomed in tight on a subject. The camcorders also have Intelligent Auto (iA), which automatically chooses the most suitable Scene mode for the conditions in which you're shooting; and Auto Focus/Auto Exposure Tracking, for maintaining focus and exposure even while a subject is moving. Both camcorders are compatible with Panasonic's VIERA Link and with VIERA Image Viewer for quick and easy playback on a compatible HDTV.

Both camcorders will be available in September 2009, with the HDC-SD10 priced at $549.95 and the HDC-TM10 priced at $599.95.

In addition to debuting ten new games for the Xbox 360, Microsoft today kicked of E3 2009 by introducing a number of new features for the console's online counterpart, Xbox Live, including partnerships with Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, and the U.K.'s Sky TV.

Music is coming to the platform thanks to an exclusive partnership with Internet radio provider, Last.FM.

The company introduced a number of additions to its existing partnership with Netflix, including the ability to browse categories directly from the Xbox, without having to go through a PC. And users in the U.K. and Ireland will be able to view  movies and TV shows thanks to a partnership with Sky, which offers live TV, including cricket and soccer games, available without the need of any additional hardware.

The platform's video offerings will be renamed Zune Video, offering video selections in full 1080p.  Zune Video will now be available in 18 countries, up from 8.

A newly announced partnership with Facebook will let users browse photos and enter status updates directly from their consoles. Xbox users will also be able to update users on their statuses via Twitter, thanks to a partnership with that company.

We were marginally impressed with the LG BD370 connected Blu-ray player, although reviewer Robert Heron noted two weaknesses: the player's ability to upconvert video, and its lack of sufficient memory to process BD-Live data (a trait shared by competing models as well).

LG has announced the BD390, which may or may not solve the upconversion problem. But the player does add a full gigabyte of memory, which should help with the BD-Live issue. Another bonus: Wi-Fi networking. although LG did not indicate what flavor it uses.

As an additional treat, both players now support Roxio's CinemaNow service in addition to Netflix and YouTube. Existing players will require a firmware update, however.

The BD370 and BD390 are available now at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $299.95 and $399.95 respectively, LG said.

It's no secret that Americans love their TVs, but any old TV will no longer suffice.High-definition TV is quickly becoming the standard, according to a Friday report from Nielsen. As of February 2009, more than a third of U.S. households had HDTVs--up from 19.3 percent in February 2008.

"Not since color TV was introduced more than 50 years ago has a new TV technology been so rapidly adopted," according to a Nielsen blog post.

Nielsen broke out its data by race, finding that Asian households were mostly likely to have HDTVs, at 41.8 percent, while African Americans were least likely, at 25.9 percent. About 34.3 percent of white households have HD, and 32 percent of Hispanic homes use the technology.

But lest you think that the streets will be littered with standard TV sets, Nielsen said that most people are simply relocating the older sets to bedrooms or other rooms to make room for their shiny new HDTV playthings in the living room.

"It's clear that despite the current economic climate, HD remains on course to become the benchmark in TV viewing," Steve McGowan, a senior vice president at Nielsen, said in a statement. "As prices of HDTVs continue to fall--a trend that might accelerate in the current environment--and circumstances such as the digital transition create new opportunities to promote the sets and programming, HDTV will continue to gain a greater foothold in U.S. television homes."

LG today announced two new ultra-thin LCDs. The 42- and 47-inch 1080p displays measure 0.23-inch, thanks to the company's new Light Guide Sheet, which measures in at roughly half the size of standard Light Guide Plates.

The new displays weight 13.42 and 16.06-pounds for the 42 and 47-inch models--about half the weight of other models of their size. The new technology also boasts an improvement of NTSC from 72- to 80-percent.

It's easy to get HD content on your home theater PC, but as soon as the content becomes encrypted--which increasingly more and more of it is--you'll need a CableCard-based PC. And CableCards only come in new PCs. In other words, to get HBO on your PC you'll need to buy a new PC. Thank god for DanITMan, who's devised a way to hack the BIOS on your PC to make it CableCard-compliant, letting you add one of the tuners to your current PC. The technique ain't easy, however, so we point you to EngadgetHD's Ben Drawbaugh. Drawbaugh, who also wrote pretty much the definitive guide to downloading and importing HD into Windows Media Center, just posted a great story on how to install a CableCARD tuner in your DIY Media Center.

Drawbaugh notes, "This doesn't really require any hacking, or anything illegal for that matter--we're not lawyers--but it isn't cheap. The internal version of the ATI Digital Cable Tuner pictured above can be found new on eBay for about $195, or new from PC vendors like Cannon PC for just under $300." In my eyes, replacing your PC's BIOS with something else to add a verboten feature is the definition of hacking, but I'm not one to quibble. If you have an HTPC and you feel up to the challenge, follow his step by step guide and let us know whether you're successful.

Research Group NPD this week released a study tracking the sale of Blu-Ray sales in the US. According to the numbers, players have risen some 72-percent over the same period in 2008. The report also found that consumer awareness of the format is at an all time high of 92-percent.

While the drop in Blu-Ray players has been a factor in their increase in sales (the average price of a player dropped from $393 to $261), the study found that many of the consumers surveyed still find them too expensive. Other consumers said that they are satisfied with their standard definition DVD players.

For more info on the latest Blu-Ray players, we've got a buying guide up at PCMag.com.

Looking for an energy-efficient Blu-ray player that makes even standard DVDs look great? Sony's latest (http://tinyurl.com/cyatrx) just might be the ticket.