December 2 - 3:45pm EST   Canon regained the option of entering into the HDTV business today following a decision by legal rival Applied Nanotech to drop an appeal of a court ruling in Canon's favor. The smaller firm now says it would likely be "futile" to further pursue a now-defeated lawsuit that had claimed Canon's license for some of its surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) technology had been abused in a deal with Toshiba. The lawsuit had forced Canon to at least temporarily shelve its plans in late 2007 but, with the case settled, opens the door to resuming the project. [full story]

December 28 - 12:05pm EST   Next month's Consumer Electronics Show, scheduled for January 7th to the 10th, may see the arrival of some long-awaited TV technologies, according to reports. Laser sets -- which are said to be lighter, less power-intensive and cover 90 percent of the visible color spectrum -- should finally make their public debut, as Mitsubishi has announced a formal unveiling. Models from Samsung and Mitsubishi were originally supposed to premiere by the end of 2007, but unspecified delays pushed the date forward. [full story]