April 22 - 2:35pm EDT   Sony on Tuesday introduced four E series projectors that it says can alternately suit both home theaters and users presenting from notebooks. The VPL-EW5 (shown) is Sony's first-ever budget projector to support a native widescreen output, letting it natively display 720p HD footage and exactly match the display resolution of most newer portables. It and the rest of the line also use the company's newer BrightEra 3LCD chipsets to produce a relatively bright 2,000 lumens and a 700:1 contrast ratio. [full story]

December 20 - 8:40am EST   Sony is bowing out of the rear-projection TV business, the company has confirmed. The Japanese electronics firm has effectively halted production and will allow stock of both its 3LCD and SXRD sets to run dry over the course of the next few months. The decision is the result of several months of research which showed a clearly waning interest in such units, which are typically less expensive than direct-view LCD or plasma TVs at the same size but are often bulkier and have narrower viewable angles. LCDs are considerably more popular and better justify the company's focus, a Sony spokesman observes. [full story]