VUDU's been doing its darnedest of late to keep up with the slew of rivals looking to steal away every piece of market share they can, and a recent report over at CEPro sheds a little light onto how the company plans to both stay afloat and take off. As with most every other outfit, VUDU has also suffered through a few rounds of layoffs. Currently, the company employs about 50, which is down from a high of around 110. Co-founder Tony Miranz seems pretty optimistic about the future, though, noting that the outfit is being "bombarded with inquiries" from potential partners. Speaking of which, he also asserted that VUDU was -- at its heart -- a software company, and thus it was currently looking to integrate its top-shelf UI and movie delivery network into HDTVs, DVD / Blu-ray players and other standalone boxes. It's tough to say how such a shift would affect the firm. On one hand, you've got CinemaNow barely breathing, while Netflix has managed to execute this plan to perfection. Go on VUDU, roll the dice -- we'll be watching.

[Thanks, Ben]

Hey Sony -- we know that experiencing your first annual operating loss in 14 years calls for drastic measures, but this is bordering on downright rash. Barely a month after announcing that 16,000 employees would be axed, Sony has now revealed plans to close one of its two television plants in Japan and rid itself of 2,000 domestic full-time jobs as it attempts to "revive its electronics business." Of note, it's stated that those 2,000 -- which seem to be a part of the previously mentioned 16,000 figure -- will be shed via "early retirement and other programs." Just think what a 40-inch XEL-1 would do for business. No, seriously Sony, just think.

[Image courtesy of DigitalWorldTokyo]

Australia's Courier Mail news is reporting that flatscreen TVs are responsible for 70 house fires over the past five years. But TVs have a long, long way to go if they want to achieve "most deadly home gadget" status (radioactive gases notwithstanding): over the same period, 5251 fires were started by other electrical appliances, including hair dryers and heaters. No word on how many of the fires were caused by failures in the TVs as opposed to shoddy installation or draping fabrics over an Ambilight or Aurea LCD to "set the mood." But if you really need to balance safety concerns with your desire for a flatscreen, we suggest either putting a fire extinguisher near your entertainment center or installing an AQUiVO TV.


[Via WatchingTVOnline, Image courtesy Prosac]

For the second time this season, Charter Communications and its Malibu, California-area customers are dealing with outages stemming from wildfires. Granted, one's cable service is the least of our worries when dealing with situations such as this, but a whopping 12,000 feet of the operator's primary fiber optic cable was recently torched and will have to be replaced. The cable also provides feeds to homes in Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Hidden Hills, and while the firm is working to provide service to those affected, it's having to wait for power crews to sweep through first. Notably, Charter was already in the process of constructing a "redundant path to make the company less vulnerable to fire damage," and the latest word is that it's still a few weeks away from being completed.

If you noticed any outages earlier this week -- particularly when trying to view A&E HD, The History Channel HD, YES HD and NFL Network HD -- chances are an early morning fire at a Stamford, Connecticut building were to blame. Reportedly, the fire broke out in a building "that houses facilities for several programmers and a company that does uplinking for them," and while it took less than a day for A&E HD and The History Channel HD to resume operation, the other two channels took a bit longer to get back on track. Nothing like a brief outage to make you realize how critical HD is to your well being, eh?

There's nothing like oversleeping on a Wednesday, only to realize that all is well thanks to a day we Americans get to celebrate our independence and utter obsession with pyrotechnics. This year, however, you may be better off watching the action from the comfort of your own sofa, particularly if you can tune in to a high-definition broadcast of a Pyro Spectaculars show. The firm will be utilizing a specially formed "HD shell" that's designed to "perform at a lower altitude" and react more cooperatively with cameras. Moreover, the fireworks emit "fuller bursts with more density and deeper colors," which purportedly perform quite admirably when captured in HD. The firm's wares will be used tonight at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and also at Dodger Stadium, and those not in Schwarzenegger's state can catch them at the Macy's New York show as well as in Boston, Seattle, and Houston.

A little too hot as it would turn out, as they've sold about 12,000 plasma displays that are prone to overheating. If you own a 42 or 50 inch Ambilight screen clear some time on your schedule, get out the Maxwell CD and light some candles because you've got a date with the repairman.

Here at HD Beat, we really think Philips should instead tout this as a feature, why waste time watching a Yule Log or Screen Dreams DVD when your TV can just go up in flames by itself?